As a team of busy event planning professionals, making the time for yoga is somewhat an achievement. A relatively success-focused, productive culture, children, jobs and families can make it difficult to find time for zen. Instead, people choose to spend any spare time in activities that we feel are going to help us to stay productive and on track – and unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to be skipping the self-care.

When London events and venues experts at eve took to their mats for a morning of sunrise yoga, we learned that making time for yoga can in fact aid productivity tremendously, feeding both the mind and body with a whole load of goodness.

Rise and Shine

The last time I was up at 5am was Christmas Day in 1997. Giving sunrise yoga a go kind of made the early start essential and I was immediately dubious based on that very fact. Heading up 36 floors to an indoor rainforest started to make it feel worthwhile, but I had no idea how practicing yoga would really affect me.

You can expect to find a true mix of young and old, male and female, beginners and advanced yoga partakers, all taking instruction from Roanna Rose whose relaxing voice somehow has you feeling immediately more chill.

“You are strong, you are powerful, you are focused”

The words repeat throughout the class with meditation in between each yoga pose. It was empowering and uplifting – it doesn’t take too long to find your zen as the sun rises.

The Benefits of Sunrise Yoga

Traditional texts state that the best hours for yoga and meditation are between 4 and 6am – when your mind is at it’s most calm and the world around you is still.

We know the benefits that this can have for our mind, but what about our bodies?

• Stress reduction – the average daily commute takes around 40-60 minutes which can start the day off as stressful for many of us. Instead, waking up to a complete state of relaxation with yoga can help to reduce stress and anxiety for the day ahead.
• Yoga can help to improve digestion and even boost your metabolism, so can really set you up for the day.
• Hormone balance and sleep regulation – some yoga poses used in Sunrise Yoga stimulate the pineal gland which produces melatonin. This is key to regulating sleep patterns for improved overall health.
• Yoga can be a caffeine alternative – without the jitters. Some types of breathing exercises practiced in early morning yoga actually help to wake you up by stimulating you with fresh oxygen.

Ultimately, we learned that making time for morning yoga can set you up for the day and improve creativity and productivity all day long. It’s worth making the time for, even for those with busy lifestyles.