Elevate Your Morning Routine: 5 Life-Changing Spiritual Practices to Cultivate Daily

“Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”

—Buddha

I've noticed my life flows much better if I do something spiritual each morning, even if it's only for a few minutes. 

There's a few inspirational practices I keep coming back to that I've had amazing results with—some of these practices you can do in five minutes or less, others take a little more time. 

Anyway, here are a few of my all-time favorite morning meditation rituals that will instantly add a dose of joy and tranquility to your day.

1) Practice Gratitude

Gratitude practices are my #1 morning ritual—they're so simple, yet so powerful! 

I've found writing my gratitudes in the morning gives me a nice boost of joy and energy for the day ahead. 

I've got a couple of options for you when it comes to gratitude practices—just choose the one that resonates most with you. 

Instructions:

Gratitude Journals:

Write down what you're grateful for inside a gratitude journal. If you’re new to gratitude journaling, or if you’ve been I published a guided journal filled with step-by-step writing prompts and uplifting exercises to help you find the blessings in everyday life. Learn more →

Gratitude Jars:

Write your gratitude on a slip of paper, and put it into a gratitude jar each morning before you start your day. Click here to read how using a gratitude jar transformed my whole life!

Gratitude Meditations:

Here is a link to a lovely free guided gratitude morning meditation right here:

Watch Now: Powerful Guided 5 Minute Gratitude Meditation for Morning or Evening

2) Tone Your Chakras

I recently had an incredible energy healing session with a spiritual intuitive. She told me one of the most powerful things you can do to heal your body is toning with your voice.

Repeating a mantra like "OM" or holding a vowel sound like "A" or "E" can actually change your brain waves and balance your emotions. 

I also discovered there are tones that correspond with each of your chakras (energy centers in your body), and when you use them you can get them back into harmony if they're unbalanced.

I love this chakra toning practice because you can use it in the shower, driving in your car, etc. And, even better, it only takes a few minutes to do.

Instructions:

• Chant each of the following mantras for each chakra one at a time, or in sequences (see photo below).

• Focus on the area the chakra is located while you're toning the sound.

• To deepen this practice, think of the color of the chakra as you're toning it. For example, when you're toning the sound "LAM" for the root chakra, visualize the color red washing over your body. For the next chakra, the sacral, visualize the color orange...and so on.

Image courtesy ar-yoga.com

3) Sun Salutations

Daily morning yoga is one of the best ways to invigorate your mind, body, and spirit.

One of my favorite yoga practices to do in the morning is the simple, classic, Sun Salutation.

I love practicing Sun Salutations in the summertime outside in my backyard, facing the East while the sun is rising.

I always say a prayer of gratitude to the sun while I'm doing my poses because I think it enhances this practice.

Personally, I think this is what the Sun Salutation practice is about—giving gratitude to the amazing, life-giving sun and honoring it for sharing its light with us every single day. 

Instructions:

• Do five Sun Salutations in the morning (five in numerology is the number of the sun.)

• Give gratitude to the sun for its amazingness while you're doing your Sun Salutations.

Here's a great video on how to do Sun Salutations if you're unfamiliar with how to do them:

4) Morning Pages

This simple practice is from an incredible book called The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron.

She recommends writing Morning Pages every morning to clear your mind of clutter and open you up to creativity and inspiration.

I personally think every creative person should read The Artist's Way at least once in their life. It's so inspirational!

My dog-eared copy of The Artists Way. :)

Instructions:

• Write three pages, longhand, about whatever you want to every morning.

Yes, it's that simple.

Just get a blank notebook, and every morning write three pages about anything. 

I've found doing morning pages helps me clear out the clutter of my mind and gives me a greater perspective of where I want to go in the future.

Morning pages always help me “unblock” my writer’s block to get my creative juices flowing and finish whatever writing project I might be stuck on.

5) Take a Sound Bath

Sound therapy has been used since ancient times by the Greeks, Hebrews, Persians, Romans, and indigenous people around the world for healing. 

There's also been all sorts of modern research into the benefits of sound therapy.

Here's a few benefits of sound therapy that researchers have found:

• Lowers anxiety & blood pressure

• Releases endorphins

• Massages internal organs

• Helps release trauma embedded in our tissues

• Reduces stress

• Aids in cell repair

Pythagoras, one of the most influential philosophers in history, said sound, especially music, was one of the most powerful forms of healing available to man.

Unfortunately, our modern world is filled with inharmonious sounds that knock us out of balance.

Electrical hums, sirens, beeping appliances...all these things keep us out of tune.

The best way to get back into tune, back into balance and harmony, is by taking a daily sound bath.

I recently started doing sound baths for 5 minutes each morning and have noticed a huge change in the way I feel.

It's sooooo healing—I definitely recommend you try it at least once a week if you can.

Instructions:

• Lie down in a comfortable position, and play your favorite relaxing music.

• Let the sound wash over you, cleansing your body of any sound pollution from the outside world.

• Breathe deeply, and release any tension in your body.

I like to listen to Clare de Lune by Debussy or anything by Beethoven because I find classical music really healing.

I know other people who like other types of music, or even nature sounds, for their sound bath.

Sometimes I swap out classical music and put on 5 minutes of whale and dolphin noises because I find them really healing too.

Either way, find what sounds resonate with you, then use them for your sound bath to rebalance your body. 

I found this practice in a book called, The 5-Minute Healer: Self-Healing Techniques for Busy People.

I bought this book forever ago, but I still use it all the time. There's a ton of super powerful self-healing practices in it.