Early bird...

(Photo courtesy: Google search)

Till about a year back I used to be like a night owl, sleeping late and waking up late. It's different when you are studying in a B-school; there you dont have a choice but to make your days as long as possible. But when you get to doing the normal things in life and get set into a routine of going to work every morning, waking up early becomes inevitable.. Even then I used to wake up just an hour before leaving for office, leaving me with enough time to get ready and scoot!

My schedule completely changed once I started doing yoga in the mornings. Waking up at 6AM sharp seemed quite difficult initially, especially during monsoon & winters when you feeling like snuggling up! But now, after a year of waking up at 6 everyday, I realize that my biological clock is so well tuned that I wake up without an alarm at 6am sharp including weekends and it seems so easy and natural and feels great... Sometimes seems like a miracle, how our bodies are made up to function this way!

Why am I writing all this? Well, few people at work often ask me why I am an early riser and what I get out of it...I thought this would make a good post!

We've all heard of this famous quote since childhood days -

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” - Ben Franklin

I don't know about the latter two but makes u healthy for sure!

I've derived a lot of benefits switching from being a night owl to an early riser-

• Amazing start to the day by doing yoga/exercise. Maximum amount of calorie burning happens when you exercise the first thing in the morning and also improves your metabolism. So obviously your health improves!
• Grow yourself - Quiet time for yourself to meditate, contemplate and introspect!
• Watching the sunrise feels good (Well you cant literally get to watch amidst these concrete buildings in bangalore, but u get my point? :) )
• Fresh air - which otherwise is impossible to get in a crowded city!
• Productivity increases - I sometimes keep my most important work for mornings coz the mind is fresh, concentration levels are high without many distractions
• Beat traffic - starting early means less traffic and commute time, so in turn lesser stress
• Enough time to have a heavy n healthy breakfast which is the most important meal of the day

Read this article - Tapping the power of your morning routine by Jim Citrin. He says "The quiet of the morning is often the time when your mind is at its clearest and most well-suited to solving important problems". 80% of the executives he questioned, wake up 5.30am or earlier.

So you get to grow yourself professionally, emotionally, spritually, mentally and physically!