In looking back over the past three years, if I had to pick one new practice that has been most helpful to me, it would be starting my day with an intentional power hour.
I first learned about the idea of establishing power hour in an online workshop through Jamie Wheal and the Flow Genome Project. A power hour is basically an hour that I purposefully carve out each morning as a foundation for my day.
I break my power hour into three areas: planning, mindfulness and movement.
- Movement: After walking my dog and feeding her upon waking up, my power hour starts with three different movement practices that I found to complement each other and get all the kinks out of my body after sleeping:
- Tibetan 5 Rites: These are a series of 5 exercises reported to be more than 2,500 years old that remind me of yoga practices.
- Junan taiso (ninja stretching and warm up exercises): There are many different exercises. I perform a series called the “9 Gates” which involves moving all the joints in my body starting with my ankles and moving up my body to my neck.
- Yi Jin Jing: Daoist practice of 12 exercises for cultivating Qi energy.
- Mindfulness: I do a combination of breathing exercises and meditations to quiet my mind and bring focus. I also take cold showers to teach my body to relax quickly after the initial cold shock.
- Planning: I journal to acknowledge what I’m grateful for, what I’m looking forward to and what my three most important tasks for the day are. At the end of the day, I identify three wins for the day and one way I can improve. I found the Panda Planner to be a helpful tool for doing this.
Utilizing the concept of test and learn, my power hour continues to evolve as I experiment with new practices to optimize around the practices that work best for me.
If you’re interested in starting a power hour, the first step is to make the commitment and block off the time (I recommend doing in the morning before other activities). Your power hour doesn’t have to be perfect. Maybe start with 15 minutes. Give yourself time to settle in and experiment. Have fun!
Kindly,
David