Simple Morning Routine for Chronic Pain and Illness Relief

[00:00:00] Hey there and welcome to Heal with Grace. I'm your host Grace Secker
[00:00:04] and I'm a holistic licensed therapist and nervous system coach who believes that the chronic and often unseen symptoms
[00:00:10] you're living with are a sign of something deeper going on. A sign that your nervous system needs attention. In each episode
[00:00:17] I'll share the science behind the most common chronic health disorders plus holistic health tips using mental physical and spiritual practices.
[00:00:25] You'll hear what I've learned in my journey and the true stories from our trusted guests
[00:00:30] so you can feel less alone in your experience and give yourself grace no matter what you're going through.
[00:00:35] So without further ado, settle in and get cozy. It's time to Heal with Grace.
[00:00:41] Hello, hello everyone. Welcome back to the Heal with Grace podcast.
[00:00:47] I'm your host Grace and
[00:00:50] first and foremost, if you cannot hear already, it's a little mild today, but I'm getting over a very long cold.
[00:00:58] Who gets a cold in the summer? I do. And
[00:01:02] actually when I say that I kind of want to stop for a second because that it kind of feels like I'm identifying with that, right?
[00:01:09] Like, oh, of course I get sick in the summer and I mean, I'm not gonna lie. I've gotten sick a lot in my life.
[00:01:14] So it's not super surprising and I was traveling.
[00:01:17] So that used to be a history of mine where I would travel a lot and I
[00:01:23] used to be completely fine and then for a while I started getting really sick whenever I traveled.
[00:01:28] It was literally my body's response would just shut down and
[00:01:31] I've worked with that a lot and it happened again. Whether that was like a true response or I mean people get sick when they travel, right?
[00:01:39] But anyway, for me, that is where I it just is where I am right now
[00:01:44] and I'm gonna talk a little bit about that and then also that was this is a little bit of inspiration for today's episode because
[00:01:52] I'm gonna talk about what everyone wants me to talk about, but I haven't really so far
[00:01:59] is morning routine.
[00:02:01] Everyone always asks me like, what's the morning routine that you do?
[00:02:04] Like, what should I be doing to help regulate my nervous system and calm down my my brain's response?
[00:02:09] And to be honest, I've always been hesitant because I don't like a lot of prescription for people because everyone's different and
[00:02:18] especially for me, although I can be a very
[00:02:22] routine oriented and sometimes rigid person, I also have a lot of flowiness and flexibility within how I like to do things.
[00:02:30] So I'll take something on that someone's taught me and I will do it and you know,
[00:02:34] quote-unquote do my homework and be the good girl.
[00:02:37] But then after a while, I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore.
[00:02:39] And I also have this very stubborn part of me that is like, I'm gonna not do something just because someone told me to do it.
[00:02:45] So I know that's a little conflicting, but long story short,
[00:02:48] I just, I think it's been so, so valuable for me to learn essentially how to create my own
[00:02:57] skills and tools and sense of safety in my routine that works for me, not for anyone else because
[00:03:04] again, all of our nervous systems are different. We need different things at different times.
[00:03:08] And so that is why I have not created this yet. At the same time,
[00:03:13] I will calm down that part of me and
[00:03:16] and really recognize that I have learned my things from other people who've told me, right?
[00:03:22] So like, I really just want you to take this on as guidelines,
[00:03:27] as tools, as things to try and then integrate it into what feels good for you.
[00:03:32] So yeah, what I've learned so much around this past,
[00:03:37] I'm on day nine of this and so annoying.
[00:03:42] I might actually pause here in a minute to take care of myself,
[00:03:46] blow my nose, all the things. But you know how I talk about on here
[00:03:53] is to really meet yourself where you are with compassion and with love
[00:03:57] and that you can't just change everything in the moment.
[00:04:00] And so really our response to our physical body is the most important piece of this.
[00:04:08] Well, I have taken a dose of my own medicine.
[00:04:10] It takes me a minute to get there. It takes me like a day or two to really settle
[00:04:14] into that and be like, okay, I'm here. All right, body.
[00:04:18] I will take care of you. I love you. I'm here for you.
[00:04:21] But those first day or two, I am like, fuck this. I don't want it to happen.
[00:04:25] Why am I sick? I'm ruining my trip. I can't not going to be able to work.
[00:04:29] Everything's going to go to shit, blah, blah, blah, blah, and go down the
[00:04:32] whole freaking rabbit hole. I'm human. It happens.
[00:04:36] I've gotten so much better at that. Sometimes it doesn't actually even happen.
[00:04:40] This time the spiral happened because I was just disappointed.
[00:04:43] Like truly, I was just disappointed of feeling bad on a trip.
[00:04:47] So at the end of the day, all of this of what I'm talking about,
[00:04:51] not only about getting sick, but also about having a routine is the way you approach it.
[00:04:59] The way you approach it, right? With a sense of
[00:05:05] intuitiveness, checking in with yourself. Does this fit you?
[00:05:09] Not just because someone told you to do it, but does it work for you and for your body?
[00:05:15] That's what I really want you to listen to when you try these things.
[00:05:19] Okay. So let's jump in. First and foremost, in the mornings,
[00:05:26] no screen, no phone. Don't turn it over and check it. I mean, okay, if you have to,
[00:05:33] if you're a parent, if there's something that you need to check really quickly,
[00:05:38] do it. If you very, very much have to, but I highly recommend do not disturb all the way
[00:05:46] through this routine that I'm about to talk to you about. Okay. It will change your life
[00:05:51] if you do that. Please, please, please, please, please, please. Since I started doing it now,
[00:05:55] if I even, I mean, I never do, but if there's by some random chance that I get on my phone
[00:06:01] in the morning, I feel it feels icky. I feel like very disoriented and like I'm up in my head
[00:06:09] and I'm just like, I'm just not able to be in my body. So no phones, no screens. Do what you
[00:06:17] need to do. If you have kids, take care of the kids. If you have pets, take care of the pets,
[00:06:22] do things around the house just for a little bit. Like obviously do what you need to do,
[00:06:26] nourish yourself, hygiene, all those things. If you do have kids, it'd be great if you
[00:06:32] could get up ahead of time or after whenever. But my point being, if you can give yourself
[00:06:39] some time, especially when you're working through chronic symptoms, setting yourself up for the day
[00:06:45] can be really important and really helpful and grounding for your nervous system because really
[00:06:49] what we're helping you do is expand your window of tolerance for stimuli, for environmental factors,
[00:06:56] for a lot of things that happen throughout the day. And the way that we can expand your
[00:07:00] window of tolerance is we can, as first, we have to help yourself connect to your body
[00:07:06] and ground within yourself. So I think of it as like this vessel. If you're watching me on YouTube,
[00:07:11] you'll see it, but essentially this vessel from the top of your head, and it kind of goes all
[00:07:16] the way down your body. And we're expanding that vessel to be this place of holding, of
[00:07:22] grounding, of wisdom, of strength within your body, within your nervous system.
[00:07:28] And we need time and space to connect to that and build it and strengthen it.
[00:07:33] So that is the importance of a morning routine. Also, your brainwave states are at a place in
[00:07:39] the morning, right when you get up that are a little more, you could say vulnerable, if you
[00:07:44] will, but it's in that place. It's not super unconscious, but it's not super conscious yet.
[00:07:49] And so it's a great place to help change some of those pattern neural networks that we're
[00:07:53] trying to change when we're regulating your nervous system. That is why morning and evening
[00:08:00] routines are just out there all the time. It is really helpful. It is. I don't mean you need to
[00:08:07] have some three hour morning routine. If you have the time and space, 1000%, great, great, do it.
[00:08:14] But it is, it is important. Please do not just roll out of bed and click your computer or
[00:08:21] whatever. You need the stability in your nervous system to expand your tolerance levels throughout
[00:08:26] the day. So after you've done all the things like nourishment, no phone, whatever you need to do
[00:08:33] for yourself, if you can be outside, that'd be awesome. If not, it's really not a big deal.
[00:08:39] So find a place where you're comfortable and I'm going to walk you through four
[00:08:45] different things to do. And I'm going to walk you through them in this order,
[00:08:50] but this is where you can pick and choose for yourself. You can move around these.
[00:08:58] So for example, you can, well, you'll see it first and foremost, this is really helpful
[00:09:05] at the beginning, just ground and arrive in your body seated or lying down feet or back on
[00:09:12] the floor, hand over your heart, hand over your belly, taking deep breath in through your nose
[00:09:19] and out through your mouth. This signal safety initiates presence and begins nervous system
[00:09:28] downshift. So we're just tuning in to you taking some breaths, closing the eyes, placing
[00:09:36] your hands on your body and take five to 10 deep breaths and through your nose and out through your
[00:09:42] mouth just to gently check in, just gets you a little bit more settled in your body. Some type of
[00:09:49] somatic movement or nervous system regulation can be helpful to not only open up the body,
[00:09:55] but also help you tune into yourself. So this is something you can do before or after
[00:10:01] you're checking in with journaling. That is really up to you. I flip flop it somewhat often,
[00:10:08] but I'm going to go through it this way. First, if you start with opening the body,
[00:10:12] you can help you kind of understand maybe what's going on in your mind, what's going on in your
[00:10:17] body, what are your feelings, your emotions, your thoughts that maybe you need to work with
[00:10:21] this morning. And I'll explain that in a minute, but first when it comes to somatic
[00:10:27] movement, we're talking about gentle neck rolls and shoulder circles, seated cat cow,
[00:10:34] opening up the chest and the body. You can do some tapping along your head
[00:10:42] all the way down your body. And if you're listening in this and not watching the video,
[00:10:49] you can find different practices that I have on my Instagram page. If you're in the
[00:10:53] mind body healing method, you can find these practices and the somatic module.
[00:10:59] I would open up with maybe some spinal twists to get some movement in the body. This is where
[00:11:06] intuitive movement comes in handy. Move your body in circles, stretch your legs,
[00:11:14] just do some gentle stretches, whatever comfortability you have in your body's movement right now,
[00:11:20] meet yourself where you are. It can be really helpful to use your voice, some vagal tone,
[00:11:25] vagal nerve release, some humming or sighing, maybe some voo, like voo, or just some humming to
[00:11:38] a nice song. We've also learned this one before in terms of fascia movement. So gently, really
[00:11:53] gently, but somewhat in a way that squeezes your arms all the way down to your wrists and your hands
[00:12:03] very slowly. But give it a squeeze, open up the fascia in your body. This doesn't need to be
[00:12:13] more than five minutes. It's just to help you get into your body. It could be as long as you
[00:12:19] would like. The next thing that I'm going to talk you through is parts work in journaling.
[00:12:27] So I have a podcast episode on emotions-focused journaling, and a lot of this comes from
[00:12:34] Nicole Saxe Journal Speak. Now, if you're working through chronic symptoms, I cannot
[00:12:40] recommend it enough. It is the deep emotional piece that I think a lot of people are missing
[00:12:46] from their healing. And it's really important to do it every day. And the whole point of this,
[00:12:53] again, I'll link the episode below. So please go back and listen to it. I'll also link
[00:12:59] Nicole Saxe Journal Speak below as well. And the whole point is to really feel into what
[00:13:05] you're noticing. Maybe you have an activation or trigger coming up in your life right now.
[00:13:09] Maybe you're frustrated by something. You're upset by something. Maybe you're not. And
[00:13:14] actually that's okay because you need to go back and write and figure out how to tune into the repressed
[00:13:20] emotions you have in your body. When I say figure out, I really mean writing about it, feeling it,
[00:13:27] understanding it. This is your space to write about anything, anything you've ever wanted to
[00:13:33] say or not even realize you wanted to say or feel. This is your space to do it. Take 20
[00:13:39] minutes in the morning to journal. Now, journal speak doesn't have to be in the morning. So if
[00:13:45] you're not the person that if you're someone that's like, okay, I cannot just get to that place early
[00:13:51] in the morning, that's okay. Do it a different part of the day. And maybe this journal practice
[00:13:56] is checking in with yourself. What part of me is active this morning? Am I tired or anxious
[00:14:02] or hopeful or angry or scared? What does this part need from me today? That's what I want you to
[00:14:10] start to tune into. What emotion is asking to be seen today? By the way, all these questions
[00:14:16] can be prompts for your journal practice in the morning. Maybe you ask yourself, what would I
[00:14:22] say to the part of me that's struggling? Or what truth do I need to speak for myself this morning?
[00:14:28] Maybe you ask if my body could speak. What would it say right now? No censoring,
[00:14:34] write free form and let it be messy if needed. This brings the unconscious patterns forward
[00:14:40] and allows emotional release without any hesitation or fear that someone's going to hear
[00:14:47] you or someone's going to judge you for it. Truly let it out and tune into what's present.
[00:14:55] Now, something that I usually suggest after you do this is turning the page and writing out some
[00:15:02] belief systems that you're wanting to shift in your neural network. So if you have noticed a pattern
[00:15:07] of not feeling good enough or you're noticing a pattern of people pleasing or you're noticing a
[00:15:12] pattern of fear, so much fear and anxiety, what are the antidotes to those that you want to
[00:15:18] start instilling in yourself? Maybe it's truly just I meet myself with kindness today. Maybe it's
[00:15:24] I am worthy of so much peace in my body. I am worthy of health. I am worthy of love. I deserve
[00:15:32] space and time and presence and to truly enjoy my life. I am smart and good enough.
[00:15:41] I am worthy of love and to be seen. Whatever it is, I would just start writing, writing,
[00:15:49] writing, writing, line after line, write these out so that this is kind of part of,
[00:15:55] Nicole Sachs talks about having a compassion practice after journal speak. This could be
[00:15:59] part of it. This ends up being just part of my journaling and I have another practice I do
[00:16:04] after, but at the same time, writing out the belief systems that you're trying to continue
[00:16:09] to instill in your body is really important when you start off the day. What are the beliefs that you
[00:16:14] want to hold for the rest of the day? How do you want to feel for your day today? Write those out
[00:16:21] embody those feelings. If you're like, I don't know what the hell that means. Think of a time
[00:16:27] where you have felt this way. Maybe you have felt some love from someone or a pet. Close your
[00:16:31] eyes. See if you can bring that feeling up in your body. Even if it's a tiny hint,
[00:16:36] it doesn't need to be some overwhelming, huge feeling, but some sort of hint, hint that
[00:16:44] you have that availability within you. And you do, you 100% have that availability in your body.
[00:16:49] So when you are in this space, in this journaling space, let it be a practice. It's not going to
[00:16:57] be perfect. It might feel messy. It might feel like you don't even know what to write about,
[00:17:01] but that's completely okay. You can do that. You can skip around and that's just part of it.
[00:17:10] Let journaling be uncomfortable. You're not going to want to do it. Believe me, I am
[00:17:16] first and foremost, someone to tell you, I've never been that person that's like,
[00:17:19] Oh, I have to journal all the time or I want to journal all the time. It has often been
[00:17:23] a something that I have forced myself to do because I know it's helpful.
[00:17:27] And it is a practice. There's so many times where I sit down and I'm like,
[00:17:30] I don't know what to write. I don't know what to write. I don't want to do this,
[00:17:33] but it is a way to connect to yourself. Now you don't have to write. You could type. You could
[00:17:39] voice note it. Just let yourself have a practice of connection. It could be a long meditation
[00:17:47] that you're listening to and you feel a lot because you're guided to. I would be a little
[00:17:52] cautious of that. Meditation is wonderful. And I suggest it after journaling to
[00:17:58] come to a state of presence with yourself. And again, if you're someone who's like,
[00:18:02] I don't meditate, I don't know how to do that. I can't sit still. Yes, you can.
[00:18:06] You can. I know that you can because you're going to start with one minute.
[00:18:10] You're going to start with one minute of breathing and pausing. I highly suggest something
[00:18:16] guided. I have a lot of guided practices. I have some throughout the podcast. You can
[00:18:20] find a million on YouTube on any kind of meditation app, but it is a very important
[00:18:25] part of this process. So after you journal, you're going to close it. You're going to
[00:18:31] set some sort of intention for your meditation and that could be just tuning into your breath,
[00:18:38] doing a somatic tracking with your body. That could be a compassionate presence meditation.
[00:18:45] You could do a walking meditation. Listen to a walking meditation as you go outside because
[00:18:51] one of my next things that I would like for you to add in your morning routine is to get
[00:18:56] some sort of outside time. We are not meant to be inside all the time as humans living beings.
[00:19:02] We are inside so much more way, way, way, way, way more than our bodies are really meant to be.
[00:19:09] Now that's not supposed to put any kind of shame or guilt on you if you sit inside all day
[00:19:14] because everyone has to work. And if that's you and you work inside, that's what it is,
[00:19:18] but that's why before you work, highly suggest getting outside, going for a short walk,
[00:19:24] getting some sun on the skin, grounding into the earth, into nature. It's one of the most
[00:19:31] helpful things to regulate your nervous system, ground, breathe, connect to the earth.
[00:19:37] So I'm going to wrap all of that up. First and foremost, morning routine, no phone,
[00:19:45] do what you need to do, nourish yourself, get some food, take care of what you need to do,
[00:19:50] arrive in your space where you feel comfortable and safe. Close the door, make sure you have a safe
[00:19:56] space that could be on a patio, that could be in a room, it could be in a, well, I was going
[00:20:02] to say closet, but I want you to move. I don't think a closet is the best place for you,
[00:20:08] but make it really important that you have a space like that you can have to yourself
[00:20:16] for this time so that you're not worried about someone coming in and watching you or bugging
[00:20:21] you or whatever. Make sure it's your space, ground and arrive in your body, take some deep
[00:20:27] breaths, check in with yourself, just allow yourself to arrive to where you are.
[00:20:31] Notice what's coming up. And then you can either start with journaling or you could
[00:20:35] start with some kind of somatic movement to get into your body and into the present moment.
[00:20:42] Could use some Vegas nerve activation tools. You can do a gentle yoga, spinal twist,
[00:20:49] stretching. You can do some tapping on your body. You could do some Qi Gong or Tai Chi,
[00:20:57] something to help you really be in yourself and know what's going on with you, some
[00:21:03] fashion movement, something along those lines. And then again, this could go before or after
[00:21:08] journaling, but then I want you to journal, check in with yourself, go or scroll back
[00:21:14] into this episode and list out the prompts that I just had. Listen to Nicole Sachs journal
[00:21:21] speak and start a journal speak practice or truly just check in with yourself today
[00:21:27] and then really look at the belief systems that you are wanting to bring in.
[00:21:31] So I actually have people that write lists of the beliefs that they want to,
[00:21:36] that they want to bring in, remind themselves of every single day. How do they want to be on a
[00:21:40] day-to-day basis? How do they want to feel? What do they want to see in their life?
[00:21:45] What kind of relationships do they want to have? Keep orienting yourself to these beliefs,
[00:21:51] these feelings, these emotions and to have a list on your phone, on your computer,
[00:21:55] in your journal, whatever it is, just so you can go, you could read them every day
[00:21:59] or you could write them every day. Highly, highly suggest that. And then last but not least, get outside.
[00:22:06] Be outside for some part of this process, whether that is your walking meditation,
[00:22:11] whether that is walking as your somatic practice to get into your body before you journal,
[00:22:17] be outside for a little bit. I get it if some days it's really crappy, but even if it is,
[00:22:22] it can still be really beautiful to be outside, whether it's snowing or raining,
[00:22:27] depending on how hard. And at some point during this too, probably after journaling,
[00:22:33] some sort of meditation practice to ground you into your body, using your breath,
[00:22:39] using your heart-centered space and awareness and compassion and really allowing yourself to be
[00:22:46] into comfort and to care for you. Start, if you are new to meditation,
[00:22:52] start for just a minute to five minutes and go from there. I know that you can.
[00:22:58] The fact that you don't want to and your body is really anxious and doesn't want to let you do that
[00:23:03] is actually the reason that you need it. A lot of what I do and what I teach is based in some
[00:23:09] sort of mindfulness or meditative practice, some sort of connection to ourselves into the present
[00:23:16] into nature because it is so invaluable. I cannot tell you how much it's changed my life and other
[00:23:22] people around me. And it's a lot of what I teach as well in the mind, body, healing method. And so
[00:23:29] if this is something that you want to continue being guided through, I would love to have you
[00:23:38] in the mind, body, healing method. And if that is something that you're not sure about
[00:23:44] or you don't even know what it is, find the link below. It is my group program to help you release
[00:23:50] and remove chronic symptoms from your life and learn how to regulate your nervous system.
[00:23:55] I teach you all the things that we talk about here and so much more
[00:23:59] so that you have the tools for your own self to self heal and to be guided through that.
[00:24:05] You can apply, ask me some questions and we can figure out if you're a good fit.
[00:24:10] So there's a couple adaptations that I want to add in here.
[00:24:15] If you feel like you're really low energy, maybe you're working through a chronic fatigue
[00:24:19] crash or something like that, maybe skip the movement and extend your breath and journaling.
[00:24:24] If you're really overwhelmed or disassociated, maybe you focus only on the grounding in the
[00:24:30] breath and the meditation. If you're in any kind of pain or heightened symptoms,
[00:24:35] modify it to suit your needs, but I really would not skip things like
[00:24:39] journal speak or checking in with yourself. All right. Thank you for listening.
[00:24:44] I hope that this has helped you and please let me know if you have any questions.
[00:24:49] And thank you for listening even when I sound stuffy and you know what? We're showing up anyway.
[00:24:56] We are showing up anyway in our life and we're telling our body you cannot take us over
[00:25:00] anymore. That's what I'm working on. I am working on showing up in my life regardless
[00:25:05] of how I'm feeling. And that doesn't sound like a push. I'm not trying to like push, push, push.
[00:25:10] It's more of I'm meeting myself and allowing myself to be however I am and not be okay. All right.
[00:25:16] If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to me if you could do these
[00:25:20] couple things. One, go to the Heal with Grace show page wherever you listen and tap the plus
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[00:25:31] While you're there, if you could give a five star review so that this podcast can reach more people,
[00:25:36] it would mean so much to me so I can continue sharing episodes that help you as well as others.
[00:25:42] Thanks for listening and I hope this brings you hope on your journey.