Rise & Revitalise: What happens at 6:10am when you stop hitting snooze
Rise & Shine: Two Weeks In
Dear friends,
At 6:10 this morning, while most of the street was still asleep, a circle of us sat down, closed our eyes and sounded nine long Oms together. Eighty minutes later, we opened our eyes warm, glowing, muscles humming and minds clear as glass, ready for the day before most people had finished their first coffee.
That has been every morning for the past two weeks. I want to tell you what it has been doing to us, because something real is happening here, and I don’t want you to miss it.
Turning up for ourselves, together
The heart of these two weeks has been a simple discovery: we have all learned to turn up for ourselves.
I’ll be honest with you. Some mornings, when the alarm goes off, the old self is still there, screaming: You’re too tired. You need rest. There have been days when I’ve had to challenge that voice and turn up anyway.
And here is what I’ve learned. Whether you feel like it or not, turn up. Especially when you don’t feel like it, because those are the mornings that turn out the sweetest.
Turning up for myself has become a way of serving my higher self, the part of me that wants the very best for me. And here’s the beautiful thing I’ve found. When I serve my higher self, my higher self turns up for everyone. It becomes the well-wisher of all. The sages had a phrase for this: sarva bhuta hite ratah, delighting in the welfare of all beings. Nobody has to force it. It grows through the practice, morning by morning.
And when each of us turns up for ourselves, the circle becomes far more powerful than any one of us practising alone. Everyone is fully present, living in the moment, at the same hour, with the same intention. You can feel it, even through a screen.
The burn, then the growth
The workouts have teeth. On Physical Friday you feel the burn: that honest ache that tells you something is being built. Then, a few days later, you feel the growth. What challenged you at the start begins to feel within reach. There is nothing quite like feeling your own body get stronger week on week, and knowing you did it before 7:30 in the morning.
A clearer, sharper mind
My clarity is on another level. I’m staying awake and alert longer into the day. My mind is sharper. And I worry far less. Things that used to circle around my head simply don’t take hold the way they did. The breathwork clears the head at dawn, and that clarity carries right through.
The finger work: a workout for the brain
On Keep It Moving Monday we do something that looks deceptively simple. Fingers held together, you circle one finger at a time, forwards and backwards, while the others stay perfectly still.
Try it now. You’ll find the other fingers desperately want to join in.
Here’s the secret. You don’t focus on the fingers. You feel what happens in your head as you move them. And you can feel it: a buzzing, lighting-up sensation as the brain builds new pathways in real time. Each finger also carries a quality: your sovereignty, your power to act, your willpower, your sense of order, and your openness. The more you practise, the more the brain wakes up.
More of me
Something else has been happening that I didn’t expect. I’m more outspoken. I’m having more fun and laughing more. My communication with the people around me has deepened: clearer, warmer, more honest.
And underneath it all, there is a stronger sense of autonomy, of sovereignty, of authority over my own existence. I feel like the author of my own life again.
Resilience: the quiet superpower
I’m much harder to knock off balance. Things that would once have rattled me now pass through more gently. I notice the ill tempers and the heaviness that so many people carry, and I can feel my consciousness quietly building boundaries, steering me away from whatever disturbs my peace and toward what brings joy.
That’s what happens when you start every single day by grounding yourself, waking the mind with sound, choosing your mood, breathing deeply and thanking your heart for every beat. You get stronger on the inside too.
So happy I could cry
And then there is the joy. There have been moments when I’ve realised I am so happy I could cry, and I don’t even know why. I just feel so happy inside.
Through the heart, I’ve begun to contemplate the realm of the unseen. Not just wondering what is out there, but feeling a strong sense of belonging in that space. It has strengthened my sense of my own immortality: my eternal place in life, and with life.
And somewhere along the way, I’ve started to feel young again.
Becoming: our Black History Month
This October is Black History Month, and I want to say something about what it means to me and to this practice.
So much of what we practise each morning comes from ancient African wisdom. In Kemet, the rising sun was Khepri, from the word kheper: to come into being, to become. The Akan people of Ghana gave us Sankofa, the bird that reaches back to fetch something precious and carries it forward into the future. Notice what the bird carries. It goes back for the treasure, not the wound.
That is the spirit of Rise & Shine. We are not here to relive old pain or dwell on what once was. We are here to reclaim the wisdom our ancestors held, and use it to become.
Every morning, we turn our faces toward what we can become. We breathe ourselves free of the pressures of our surroundings, the noise and the weight of the world, and in that freedom a whole new confidence begins to grow. It is a confidence that doesn’t depend on circumstances. It is rooted in the body, the breath and the heart.
And that confidence brings a resilience for this time, this place and this reality. It doesn’t just help us overcome. It helps us expand: to grow rather than shrink, to rise rather than regret. That, to me, is the most powerful way to honour those who came before us: by becoming everything they dreamed we could be.
How it has grown
We started with simple breathwork and mindfulness. Now each morning flows through the full journey: grounding, the nine Oms, setting intentions, Bhramari and Kapalbhati, gratitude to the heart, a full workout, Nadi Shodhana, box breathing, the Breath of Life, and finally the Gayatri, the Mahamrityunjaya and Om Shanti to seal it all.
And every day has its own flavour:
Keep It Moving Monday: arms, legs and that brain-buzzing finger work
Stand Tall Tuesday: spine and posture, building the pillar that holds you up
Waistline Wednesday: a strong, powerful core
Terrific Thursday: balance and coordination
Physical Friday: full-body strength, where you feel the burn
Stretch It Out Sabbath Saturday: a day of rest and release, long slow stretches that let go of everything the week has stored
Serene Sunday: our longest, slowest, deepest gathering, with mantra, affirmations and inner child work, from 6:30 to 9:00
In their own words
I could tell you all of this myself, but it means more coming from someone in the circle. Have a listen.
What you’re missing
Over one hundred people registered. Not everyone has come along yet, and that’s okay; everyone arrives in their own time. But those who have come are staying, and the circle is growing every week.
If you’re one of the ones who hasn’t made it yet, here is what has been happening without you. People who’ve been coming are already two weeks stronger, two weeks clearer and two weeks more joyful. They’ve felt their bodies change. They’ve felt their minds sharpen. They’ve felt what it’s like to start the day already full, before the world asks anything of them.
Two weeks from now, that could be you.
Share what you’re learning
If the practice is touching your life, let it touch someone else’s. Invite a friend, a partner, a colleague or a family member to join you one morning. Share what you’re learning: show them the finger work, teach them a round of Bhramari, tell them how you’re feeling. That is the well-wisher of all in action. Every person who joins makes the circle stronger for everyone.
There’s still time to join
The door is open, and you’re welcome whenever you’re ready.
Monday to Saturday: doors open at 6:00am; we begin at 6:10 and finish around 7:30
Serene Sunday: 6:30 to 9:00am
Live on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/M889AlNATlWz31MVVZ2Wcg#/registration
Come as you are. Come tired, come curious, come for one morning and feel the difference for yourself. The sun will be there, and so will we.
With love, and see you at sunrise,
Tarun
Om Shanti
P.S. Try the finger exercise once more before you scroll on. Feel that strange buzz in your head? That’s just the beginning. Come and find out what happens next.
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