Episode Resources:
- Down Dog app
- Listen to ‘Open Wide’
- Watch the ‘Open Wide’ music video
- Living By The Code
- The Power Of Having a Nighttime Routine
- Feeling Stressed? Try This
Welcome back to The Nick Broadhurst Show. I’m your host Nick Broadhurst, and you can catch all of my music at www.iamnickbroadhurst.com, and my music videos, blog posts, podcasts etc. If you listen to Spotify, you can get all of my music and this podcast at iamnickbroadhurst.com/spotify. That tune you were listening to is my latest single called Open Wide and it’s very, very fitting today because what I’m going to share with you today is a super awesome tip on how to start your day open wide.
What do I mean about “open wide?” I mean just getting back into your truth, getting back into a more of a heart-based state, operating from love. Love is the ultimate operating system and I do believe that today’s episode is going to make a big difference to get your day off to the right start. So let’s dive in.
In episode 5, iamnickbroadhurst.com/5, I spoke about the power of having a night-time routine and I focused on the night-time routine because it’s kind of like the forgotten cousin of the morning routine. But it’s so important. But I do want to shift into the morning routine a little bit today, not to give you my full routine, but to give you what I believe is a full-on secret weapon. This one thing is so cool, so, so, so cool. I’m very excited to share it with you.
Part of my code, and if you haven’t listened to my episode Living by the Code, it’s iamnickbroadhurst.com/1. Part of my code, non-negotiable, is that when I get out of bed, the first thing that I do, and I know what it is every morning, is I roll out of bed and I do yoga. So as long as I get my butt on that yoga mat, then my day is going to flow way better because following on from that yoga session is a whole sequence of events that’s triggered by just starting with yoga. So basically it puts my day in order, if that makes sense.
Now, the thing about yoga is that it’s one of those things which — I’ve always loved it, always loved it, but I’ve also kind of struggled to keep it interesting. And I’m not a huge fan of classes because for me they take up just a lot of time. I don’t always want to do an hour or 45 minutes, or an hour and a half sometimes.
Sometimes I just want to do 15 minutes, and to be honest, most of my mornings I do a 15 minute routine. That to me is kind of enough, right? I’ve got a lot of things to do in the morning. I have got to record the show; I have daddy duties; I’m a husband; I have to run multiple businesses; I have to write music, not to mention all the other things that I like to do in the mornings.
Now, I know I love to talk about things like spirituality, consciousness and all that deep duty stuff, but sometimes you just need a power tip that can radically shift your performance and this is one of those things. Anything that can save me time and get me real results is a huge bonus.
So yesterday in the show we talked about a technique called One to Two Breathing, which is in episode #12, and that was the same sort of thing. It was about getting this minimum effective dose or using the 80/20 rule, things that are simple that give you big returns on your time, and this is one of those things.
So I want to share with you today an app; don’t you love technology, especially when it comes to making your life more balanced. Like using technology for balance is just so cool. This app is called Down Dog, and I have to say the guys who created this have absolutely nailed it. This is so good.
Why do I love Down Dog? Now, I can pull my phone out wherever I am in the world and I can use it very, very easily, very quickly. It’s one of the reasons I love it. So I can sort of get access to a yoga class wherever I want. It keeps it really interesting for me whether you’re a beginner, you’re advanced, doesn’t matter.
The reason it’s so good is that it’s kind of like yoga DJing, so you kind of mix what you want to do that morning, and every single session is different. Every one is different. It’s never the same. I’ve never got bored using Down Dog. It’s absolutely extraordinary. So what you can do is you can choose your type of program, so you can do a full practice, a short practice, quick flow, restorative, and I must say that my sensitive vata constitution loves the restorative.
I tend to do restorative most of the time, especially on my off-days when I haven’t been working out. Because three days a week I lift heavy stuff because I like to maintain strength, lean muscle mass, and it also boosts my testosterone, and let me tell you, life is just better when you’ve got more testosterone. So restorative for me is my go-to. But on my days when I’m feeling stronger and I really just want to give it a bit of a nudge, I might do a full practice.
There are four levels you can choose from. You can do — what is it — beginner, can’t remember. Beginner One, Beginner Two, Intermediate and Advanced. I think that’s what it is. You can also choose the length; you can choose the music type or no music; you can choose the pace, and what I love, is you can focus on a specific part of the body.
Like you know when you go to a yoga class and you just want to focus on say twists or hip opening; there’s something that you know is feeling a bit tight and the teacher doesn’t quite touch on it in the class? Well this app does that. So what you can do is choose the focus for the session.
This is a game-changer. It is so cool. Now, I like to focus on hip opening, hip flexes, ham strings and twists. I think, you know, just so much time sitting down, they’re the main things that I just feel pretty yucky about every day. Even sitting here I can feel my hip flexors are a bit tight. So I would love for you guys to check out Down Dog, and if you do, tag me and tag the creators of it because I think they deserve a lot of credit for creating such an amazing app.
So that is my power tip. It’s my secret weapon for the morning routine. Definitely, definitely check it out. If you don’t like yoga or if you haven’t done it before, I promise you if you try this, it will become part of your day. Seriously.
And another thing that I love is part of your night-time routine, which I mentioned in my previous episode, is just doing a short bit of yoga before bed, which I love, right? For that you would choose the restorative and just do like 10 minutes. Just really relaxed and you can even do some candle-gazing, something like that which can really calm your nervous system down. So check it out.
Thank you so much for joining me. I love, love, love doing these podcasts so much. For all the show notes on this and a link to Down Dog, you can go to iamnickbroadhurst.com/13, and you can also get the full transcript of the show as well which is awesome. And as always, I’d be so grateful if you could leave me a review on iTunes or any app that you use. If it feels like five stars, awesome. Please leave me five stars but leave me a comment. Tell me what you like. I want to hear from you. I want to hear more. What do you want to hear more of?
I’m totally at your service, but I do have a little favor to ask you today. If you could share this podcast with just one person, or even on your social media, then this podcast would grow exponentially. If we all did that, literally it would double every time a podcast episode goes out, which is super-awesome. So if you do that, please do tag me if you do it on social media. I promise you I will personally respond to any messages or comments because as I said, I’m at your service.
I love you, heaps. Have an amazing day and thank you so much for being here. Ciao!
I would love to hear from you, so please tag me @IAmNickBroadhurst on social media, and use the hashtag #TheNickBroadhurstShow, or leave me a comment below ( I read every single one!). And if you could take a minute to leave me a 5 star review on iTunes I would be very grateful.