The Morning Routine

I wake up at six. Not because I have to — because the hour before the world gets loud is worth protecting. The morning is when I make decisions about my body before the day makes them for me.

Yoga first. Before anything.

I practice with HAB Yoga — an intense session, not a gentle stretch. I'm not interested in movement that feels like a warm-up for something else. Yoga is the thing. It builds heat, clears the mind, and reminds the body what it is capable of before 7am. If you treat it as optional, it becomes optional. I treat it as the anchor.

The ten-ingredient juice

After yoga, before solid food: the juice. Ten ingredients every morning — ginger, turmeric, amla, cucumber, spinach, lemon, apple, beetroot, carrot, and a pinch of black pepper. This is not a recipe I stumbled on. It took months to settle on a combination that works — energising without spiking, nourishing without heaviness. The black pepper is not optional. It triggers the absorption of the turmeric's curcumin in a way nothing else does.

Peeled almonds. Every morning.

Eight to ten almonds, soaked overnight and peeled in the morning. The peel contains tannins that inhibit nutrient absorption. Peel them and you change what the almond does for you. Soaked almonds are softer, more digestible, and their vitamin E content becomes more bioavailable once the skin is off. It takes two minutes. It is worth it.

Breakfast — and why it varies

I do not eat the same breakfast every day. Some mornings it is a millet dosa — crisp, light, fermented batter. Some mornings it is eggs. On days when I have been travelling or when the body wants something restorative, sometimes it is pho — bone broth and rice noodles, warming and easy to digest. I follow what the body asks for. The principles stay constant. The plate changes.

What this routine is actually about

It is not the juice or the almonds or the yoga in isolation. It is the act of showing up for your body before the day begins. When you eat breakfast with intention — when you know why each thing is on the table — you make different choices at lunch and dinner too. The morning is the foundation. Build it deliberately.