Part One – The Morning (or thereabouts)

I thought it would be useful to post my morning ritual. This process has evolved over the years. I implemented the latest iteration about 6 months ago. I will continue to update this post as my process evolves and I make changes. Philosophically, I think of this process as something I live within. Not something I follow mechanistically. Living within this process helps center me. It provides me direction and yields rewards such as reducing anxiety on days when it seems the world is swirling around me while also giving me an infrastructure for promoting my own health and wellness. I welcome any feedback or comments on the process.

Wake time: Most weekdays at 6 AM.

Bathroom time, collect Weight, CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) at Levels Health, and Oura ring data.

Consume 1 g of Resveratrol mixed with 3 ml of olive oil, 12 ozs of water mixed with fresh squeezed lime juice and pink Himalayan sea salt, 1 g NMN, 800 mg Fisetin, 400 mg Spermidine, and 800 mg Quercetin.

Most days I will also grab a cup of either Pu’Er Fermented Black or Green tea from Pique to sip during after workout. I also sip Xendurance Hydro Stix during and after workout. It has only one gram of carbohydrates and I take the view that it doesn’t break my morning fast — at least for my purposes. Depending on the anticipated workout, particularly if it’s going to be a long chipper or a long aerobic grinder, I will take one or two Santa Cruz Medicinals CBD Infused Adaptogenic Mushroom caps. I have found them to be really useful for these types of workouts — or at least my mind believes that.

After that, it’s off to either a 6:30 or 7:15 AM Crossfit Class at @Veracity.Athletics. I usually do crossfit 4 to 5 times per week. I vary it on Saturdays with a hot powerflo yoga session @leapfrogpoweryoga. Some weeks I try to squeeze in a second yoga session in the evening.

Post-workout I grab a shot of double espresso. My favorite currently is Blue Jaguar from Redbird Coffee in Bozeman, MT.

If it is warm enough I take my double espresso out to my Zen grotto under the Tibetan Prayer Flags for 10 minutes of Mindfulness meditation using the @wakinguppapp. Otherwise, I do this from a quiet place indoors.

Following the 10-minute meditation, I try to journal for anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes. Periodically, this is interspersed with some reading from Stoic philosophy. I recently completed the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and have begun working through the Discourses of Epictetus. The unstructured journaling picks up on anything that has crossed my mind that morning, prior evening, or that otherwise requires working through mentally.

I recently added a sauna session to the morning ritual — after using outside cold plunges throughout the winter.

I try to do five twenty-minute sauna sessions per week — 20 minutes per session at 175 degrees or higher.

If I cannot fit in the sauna session in the morning routine, I will try to add it at some point in the day.

Following meditation and sauna, if it’s cold enough (as I mentioned above), it’s time for a 3 to 5 minute cold plunge in my 150 gallon stock tank which is cooled by Mother Nature. Otherwise, it’s time for a shower. At the end of the shower I will turn the water all the way to cold for 2-3 minutes. It’s important that cold follows the hot — and not vice versa. #soebergprinciple

Following an after-shower espresso shot, It’s time for work. If I have a busy day and need immediate focus, I will also throw down one or two capsules of Santa Cruz Medicinals CBD Infused Nootropics Caps.

In future posts regarding my ritual, I will explore what processesI have for the remainder of the day — particularly around the breaking of my fast midday. I try to limit eating to an 8-hour window each day. The purpose of doing so is primarily to promote longevity and wellness. I am not pursuing any direct caloric restriction through the limited feeding window. I do, however, count macros in an effort to live in a caloric deficit. This has had mixed results.

Note: I have no economic or commercial relationship with any of the products mentioned in this post.