Waking up in pure bliss, listening to the birds outside and feeling cozy smelling the coffee coming up… is a miracle for the most of us.

For a lot of years anxiety was my best friend in the morning: she would come with the familiar feeling of tightness in my chest, shoulders and neck, a super active mind and a feeling of despair.

If this sounds familiar to you, you are stumbling in the right place.

Today I will talk about how creating a morning Yoga routine for Anxiety that helped me during the last years, as a way to begin the day in a completely different way.

Before we dive deep, I would love to clarify that I will talk about general anxiety.

If what you are feeling is a paralyzing state that leads to anxiety and panic attack (been there too), plese reach out to a specialist.

My Path

When I was in a very anxious state, it was very hard for me to observe my thoughts.

I felt like a ball of tension- physical and emotional – with my head spinning around. I only wanted the feeling to stop, to discharge – but I didn’t know how. Instinctively I took my drug of choice: hyper control, studying like a maniac, working.

Basically, I never gave myself the chance to stop and just be. Because then, anxiety would come up again – and I didn’t want to.

At a certain point of my life, at 24 years old, Yoga showed up. Class after class I began to release one tensions after the other, one layer after the other.

This incredible system taught me a fundamental and essential skill: step back, and become an observer of myself.

Yoga is a path for self-discovery and self-enquiry, with humbleness, curiosity and courage.

The more I was doing that, the more I was able to:

1. Be present with my experience, without judgment

1. Slow down my experience and observe my thoughts

1. Observe pattern of thoughts that would lead to my emotions and then behavours

Chitta Vritti

At the beginning of Yoga Sutra, one of the main sacred Texts in the Yoga tradition that explains and guides thought the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, we have a clear definition of what Yoga – at least in that system is:

“Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha” – Yoga is calming the fluctuation/vortex (chitta vritti) of the mind. Sutra 1.2

When our mind spins around, our thoughts can really be seen like a vortex, or a fluctuation: if we stay and feed the vortex, it becomes louder and louder, stronger and stronger.

This hyper active mind influences the state of our emotions –becoming anxiuos, nervous, agitated –and with a ripple effect, our emotions influence our actions and behaviors.

Our spinning mind triggers the sympathetic nervous system, landing in a stress response: fight, flight or freeze.

Yoga tells us to step back, out of our vortex, and observe it.

Using the power of the breath, awareness of movements and state of meditation we can:

• Slow down the fluctuations of the thoughts, releasing the grip of the SNS
• Release stress and physical and emotional tensions
• Be more present, clear and focused
• Observe our thoughts and patterns with clarity, getting to know ourselves better and on a deeper level

The power of the Morning

When I wake up, feel anxious and don’t do anything about it, I know I have two choices:

1. doing nothing about it and the rest of my day will be a reflection of what is going on in my mind: spinning vortex, agitation, restlessness, hyper control

1. Stop, step back, take time for me to slow down, to breath and move with awareness: then I know I can start and influence the rest of the day, navigating my responsibilities in a completely different way.

Building a morning Yoga Practice gives you the opportunity:

• Calm the vortex/fluctuations of the mind
• Set an intention for the day, using affirmations

Yoga gives us to many tools to not only calm down, observe ourselves but also set an intention for the day to choose the color and the tone you want to experience during the day ahead.

If you want to put already in action what I wrote I created a 5 Morning Yoga Practices to begin the day with more intention and less anxiety.

Click HERE to learn more or check our FREEBIES page to access more free resources.

Of you can practice a 30’ Slow Flow that you find at the end of this page- with the same intention.

My purpose in Corpo Giardino – Yoga Practices is to support you, as an overachiever yet sensitive woman, to bring balance and wisdom back into our life.

So please, if you have questions, feedbacks, wishes, reach out!

I am here for you, for this Kula (community) 100% with my heart open.

Enjoy the ride of your Yoga Journey,

With gratitude

Andrea