Morning Routines

A quest for the perfect morning. Why? Because a morning routine sets the tone for the entire day. It can't be arduous, unless a high level of discipline has already been established. But it can still culminate in a sense of personal accomplishment, so that whatever else happens during the course of the day, we know we are moving forward in important, incremental ways. My sensei is found of saying: "the end depends on the beginning." Starting everyday with this feeling of accomplishment makes whatever we do afterwards more fulfilling, even if we do nothing else  at all. 

Morning routines are very personal rituals. Once established, like any ritual, they are easy to maintain.The better adapted to support our specific requirements, with the resources they build, the more valuable they become to us. Here is mine currently, along with resource links and rationale.

1. Meditation. 30-45 minutes, immediately after I wake up I go to the next room and sit on my zafu. It prevents my mind from jumping into things I need to do and gives a nice buffer to start the day with equanimity. With a good zafu you don't have to twist yourself into a full lotus and can maintain a straight back with loosely folded legs. Meditation has a host of psychological and neurophysiological benefits. Besides exercise, it's the most important instrument in my toolbox.
2. Recumbent Bike and Rebounder. 5 minutes each. These wake up my legs gently after a long meditation and start the blood flowing again. The rebounder flushes the lymphatic system and strengthens the joints of my ankles and knees from many different angles. It also has a number of benefits.
3. Stretching for Sports Mobility. A 10 minute routine from Full-Body Flexibility. I've experimented with numerous yoga formats but finally settled on this as feeling the best. In time I might step this up to a 20 or 30 minute routine, but 10 minutes feels nice now, especially after the warm-up above.
4. Coffee. I start the coffee and hit the shower. At the end of the shower, whatever the season, I cycle to cold water for a minute or so. 
5. Dual-n-Back. Sitting down at the computer now with my hot java, I run through 10 sessions of this mind exercise for increasing fluid intelligence.
6. Chess Tactics. After which I solve 3 or 4 tactical problems on the chess board using CT-ART 3.0.
7. Anki. I haven't yet incorporated these next two as I'm still setting things up. Anki has things I'm learning: vocabulary, models, information, poems, etc. I am currently orchestrating it to add Japanese and then will be folding it into my daily.
8. Image Streaming. A great way to wake-up both hemispheres of the brain. I'm setting up an low beta SMR/entrainment session to use at the same time for even more benefits.

Before incorporating 7 & 8, this routine takes approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. It will probably bump up to 2 hours with the last two ingredients.