My Morning Routine: Jacy Cunningham
We’ll have what he’s having! We love Jacy Cunningham’s positive, uplifting vibes (and his signature sense of humor). Find out how this fitness trainer and motivational speaker gets into the right mindset for his day.
My morning routine can change day to day depending on what I have planned. Nonetheless, there is one thing I say each day I wake up: thank you. I'm always thankful for another day because we truly can't decide when or how we'll leave this experience of living. All we can do is march step by step, moment by moment, day by day. Because of my work as a traveling trainer and speaker, my mornings truly do fluctuate. So I'll try my best to give you insight into my most common morning routine.
7:45 a.m. - I'm a big morning person. The first thing I do every single morning is say “thank you” as an honoring to the universe for keeping me here and allowing me to see another day. Then I write down 3-5 things I'm grateful for — sometimes it's simple, other times it's all over the place. Next, I try and perform 10-15 minutes of movement. Often it's me dancing in my room to a number of songs (of a variety of tempos) to wake up my sleepy body. I never miss a morning. Movement serves as my bridge into the day. Once I cross it, I can then deal with whatever comes my way.
8:00 a.m. - I drink about 10-12 ounces of water followed by my vitamins, which include a liquid multi, CoQ10, and turmeric. CoQ10 possesses the potential to lower blood pressure and nurture heart health, and turmeric is terrific at fighting inflammation. This is something I try to mimic when I travel, as I carry a container of pills with turmeric, multivitamins, and products from a new CBD company I've fallen in love with, Prima.
8:30 a.m. - Brush teeth and try to figure out what I'm doing with my hair. I haven't had this much hair since I was 12 years old. I struggle with the maintenance at times. It's a secret (not anymore) dilemma I face each day (just kidding).
9:00 a.m. - I change my clothes into my workout sweaty attire, which during the winter season, includes one hoodie without much ventilation (I call it the "trash bag" hoody) and I wear a heavier hoodie over it to truly trap the heat. Let's just say I love to sweat. I head outdoors and typically run down the street once or twice as a warmup, and then I jump rope for about 20-25 minutes before sets of burpees and finishing with a two-minute plank. This particular sequence is my go-to and I rarely miss a day. If I'm at a hotel, I substitute a five-minute interval run on the treadmill. Often I capture these sessions on IG to keep my community motivated to get up and get after the day.
9:55 a.m. - After my sweat sesh, I always close the session with meditation. I truly believe in silence after sweat. There's a stillness found following movement that I find so healing. Some would call it a cool down, but I would call it a rise up. When I am silent after sweat, there's so many things that come up in my mind. Emotions which need release. It's quite therapeutic if you ask me.
10:20 a.m. - I spend this time each morning posting to my IG stories to continue watering my community with inspiring messages, videos, quotes, and informational articles I may come across through my navigating the internet. I enjoy serving people, and I value the content I create and the messages I try to articulate.
11:20 a.m. - Computer vibes. Emails, emails, and rabbit holes down Soundcloud for new music. I'm a collector of different musical sounds from all over the globe. Thanks to a short stint in Rio during the summer of 2016, I fell in love with baile funk music and Brazilian culture.
12:00 p.m. - Calls with my mentors (if I can get ahold of them).
If you can't tell, I thoroughly enjoy spending my mornings alone. It's my favorite time of the day.
This article is part of our monthly blog series, My Morning Routine. Stay tuned each month as we highlight the morning routines of your favorite yoga teachers on Alo Moves!
Want to sweat with Jacy Cunningham? Check out his classes here.