Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Wake Up & Stretch - Mastering Yourself

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

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If you'd like to enjoy Wake Me Up completely ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content, check out the link in the show notes for the Wake Me Up premium feed. Hey there, good morning and welcome to Wake Me Up. I'm Tyler, your host, as always, and I'm so thrilled to have you here with me. This is a wake-up and stretch episode where we'll get out of bed and prepare the mind and body for a great day. This week's episodes are all based on a common theme, mastering yourself. And this doesn't mean being perfect. It means understanding yourself, knowing what fuels your fire or burns you out,

leaning into your strengths and mitigating your weaknesses. Leonardo da Vinci said, one can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. Truly, the journey of life is a journey of learning and mastering yourself. And this week, we'll take strides toward doing just that. Now let's go ahead and get started. This episode is designed so that you can start it from bed. But if you're already up and about, that's just fine.

It'll work perfectly well for you too. Wherever you find yourself right now, just pause for a moment. And let's take a few deep breaths together. So inhale, fill all the way up, hold at the top, and then exhale, release. Once more now, inhale, filling even deeper this time, hold and release. And I encourage you to use this moment of quiet to ponder some questions about yourself. And there's no need to land on a specific answer to see what comes up and what resonates. Here are those questions.

Who are you? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Who do you want to be? What do you want to achieve? And how do you want to be remembered? Now, I appreciate these are complex questions. And the thoughts and answers you come up with may change over time.

That's okay. To a certain degree, they should. that's because you are not a static being. You're going to change. And this just goes to show staying in touch with yourself is crucial to the path of self-mastery. So it's important to keep asking yourself

these kinds of questions. Remember, you are great and you've got all of the tools you need to succeed. So take one more breath in and fill up with gratitude for being you. and then exhale, release. And what do you say we get this day started?

So if you're in bed, roll over and make your way to standing up. All right, now that we're all up and out of bed, let's do some stretches. And as always, I just want to let you know, my stretches are just suggestions. You should feel free to change them up if you'd like. And of course, don't do them if you're not able or if you're not in a safe space to stretch. Today, especially, I want to encourage you to listen to your body. Make your own modifications where you see fit. Give yourself what you need.

And start being the master of yourself with something simple, like a few easy stretches. First off, let's get the blood flowing a little and the breath moving. So start standing up straight, arms down by your sides. crown of the head to the ceiling. Take an inhale and slowly raise your arms forward and all the way up to the sky. Reach, reach, reach at the top. And then exhale, slowly lower your arms

all the way back down to your sides. We're just trying to get moving nice and easy, real slow here at first. So let's do that a couple more times. Inhale, reach your arms slowly forward, And all the way up. When you get to the top, stretch even higher just a little bit.

And then exhale, slowly lower your arms back down, all the way to your sides. Once more now, inhale, reach forward and up, stretch even farther at the top, and then exhale, release your arms back down. Now let's loosen up the shoulders a little with some arm circles. And we'll start with the right arm. arm. All you're going to do is take your right arm and draw it in a big circle all the way around

your range of motion, like your arm's a windmill. Go nice and slow, no need to rush. If you have some creeks or some pops, that's okay, move slowly through them. We're all a little bit more tight in the morning. Once you've done a few circles in one direction, pause, and do a few more in the opposite direction. Again, if you have some tension, just try to move through it slowly. But be sure to notice the difference between tension and pain. If you feel pain, you should stop. If it's tension, you can work through it. Nice and gentle, nice and slow. All right, relax your right arm back down now, and let's switch to the left arm. So do the exact same thing, drawing those big circles with your arm all the way around your range of motion, nice and slow, easy does it. And if you feel like

you need to adjust this a little bit while you're doing it, feel free to do that. Again, you are the master of yourself, and you should modify exactly how you need to. So now, if you've done a few circles in one direction, pause and switch directions, do a few more in the opposite way. And here's a reminder for all stretching. Make sure you keep breathing while you move. We're opening up our muscles, and your muscles need oxygen to work. So getting that breath going while you move is very important. Alright, relax your left arm back down now. And let's end with a good old forward fold.

So inhale, reaching your hands to the sky, reach all the way out of your shoulders. You can add a little back bend at the top if you'd like, and then exhale, fold forward at your waist. Just let everything hang towards the ground. Relax your neck. Relax your shoulders. And feel free to do this stretch in whatever way feels best for you. Again, you are the master of yourself.

You know your body like nobody else. So if you feel like you need to modify this stretch in a certain way, then please take the initiative and do it. Let's take one full round of breath here. So inhale as deeply as you can. and release. Now slowly roll all the way back up to standing, vertebrae by vertebrae. And when you get there, two times roll your shoulders up, back, and down. Once more around. Up, back and down, and just let them settle. Great. So it's about time to wrap up now.

I hope your body is feeling nice and loose and you're ready to start a great day. As you go about your day, remember who you are, remember who you want to be, and start building a deeper awareness of yourself. Pay attention to what you're good at, your strengths, and try to lean into them. But don't ignore your weaknesses either. Look for ways you can work around them, mitigate them, or rely on other people who might be better at those things. Self-mastery isn't about being perfect.

It's about knowing yourself. Recognizing the tools you have and the tools you're lacking. And then using that knowledge and controlling it to build something beautiful. Tomorrow, we'll dive deeper into these ideas in our weekly meditation. It's going to be an inspiring one, and I think you're really going to love it. So I'll see you back here tomorrow morning, And until then, go out and have an absolutely fantastic day.