MINDFULNESS & WELLBEING June 2026

Mindful Morning Rituals

In this month’s mindfulness and wellbeing updates we’ll be thinking about how to start the day in the best way by adopting positive early-morning habits to boost our overall physical and mental wellbeing.

Firstly, a good morning routine starts with a good evening routine the night before, so in order to ensure a restful night’s sleep it’s worth observing all of the usual good sleeping habits such as sleeping in a dark, cool room and avoiding excess screen time late at night. It’s also worth choosing an optimum time to set your alarm clock so that you have enough time to prepare for the day ahead but still wake up refreshed after an appropriate period of rest. Interestingly, hitting the snooze button on your alarm can apparently confuse your body and make you feel more tired because it tends to lead to you falling into a shallow, restless sleep rather than the deep sleep that your body needs, so try to be realistic about when you’re likely to get up and don’t set your alarm either too late or too early.

While on the topic of alarms, it’s also worth considering using an old-school analogue alarm clock rather than your phone, since this means that you’re less likely to be instantly distracted by on-screen notifications as soon as you wake up. And although it can feel incredibly difficult to do, it’s a good idea to try to resist checking emails or the news immediately after you wake up, since this will at best distract you and at worst place you in a worse frame of mind for starting the day. If you can, try to stop yourself from checking your phone until you’ve reached a certain point in the morning, such after you’ve made your first cup of coffee, since in doing so you’ll benefit from a few more minutes to enjoy the greater sense of clarity that we often experience in the early morning.

Before getting out of bed, you might like to try engaging with some mindful breathing exercises to help focus your mind on your body. There are lots of different exercises available on the internet, and if you experiment with a few then you’ll probably find one that works for you. It’s also a great idea to start the day with a few gentle stretches, either while still in bed or immediately after getting out of it, since this will help to increase blood flow to your muscles and get you moving for the day ahead.

On the topic of movement, it’s a great idea to go for a short walk in the morning, particularly if you work or study from home and you don’t have a natural reason to get out. Walking at any time of the day is beneficial for a wide range of reasons, since it helps to release endorphins, improves our overall physical fitness, and even boosts creative thinking. Over and above this, fresh air reportedly contains improved levels of oxygen, and sunlight exposure can increase serotonin while also providing vitamin D exposure, therefore helping both your mental and physical health. If for whatever reason it’s not possible for you to get out for a walk then having a quick dance at home can have similar effects, even if it’s only for five minutes and even if it makes you feel ridiculous. And if you have any kind of access to the natural environment then try to enjoy this as much as possible, even if you live in an urban environment and your only contact with nature is feeding birds or watering plants.

Some people like to engage in artistic hobbies in the morning, since this tends to be a time of day when a lot of us feel particularly in tune with our creative side. This can be a difficult habit to adopt if you work a nine-to-five job or you otherwise have a lot of demands on your time, but if you have any creative hobbies that you can pick up and put down easily in morning, such as knitting or sketching, it’s worth dedicating a short amount of time to this since it can help place you in a good frame of mind for starting the day. If you’re more pushed for time then you might like to engage your creative side in a more passive way by listening to mood-boosting music, reading books of quotations, or even looking through magazines or any kind of visual content, ideally on paper rather than on screen.

Some people like to journal or write gratitude messages in the morning, but if that’s not your thing then you might like to write down your dreams or even write a list of things to do during the day. Doing puzzles or sudoku can also be a restful way to start the day, and if you’re studying then it can be good to take a quick look over your flashcards or other learning materials so that your mind can subconsciously be working over them during the day. If you’re learning a language then reading notes or otherwise practising in the morning can be particularly useful since you can then practise again later in the day, helping you to engage with the kind of regular repetitive exposure that is so beneficial when learning other languages.

Lastly, some simple but easy-to-adopt tips include opening the curtains early in order to give you a feel for the ambient conditions outside while helping you to adjust to being awake, and making your bed as soon as possible, or at least before leaving the house, because ticking off one easily-achievable task early on in the day will give you a confidence boost and help set you in the right frame of mind for tackling the bigger challenges, as well as providing you with a nice tidy bed to come home to at the end of the day.

And that winds up our suggestions on how to make mornings more mindful! We hope these tips have inspired you, but don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts in the comment section if you have any other suggestions on how to get the day off to a good start.

Stay mindful, and see you again for next month’s updates!

Sources

Alison Hazel Art

7 Morning Rituals for Artists and Creative People

https://www.alisonhazelart.com/morning-rituals-for-artists-creative-people

Guardian

Rise and shine: the daily routines of history's most creative minds

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/05/daily-rituals-creative-minds-mason-currey

Healthline

9 Benefits of Stretching

https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-stretching

Healthline