I use the word ‘cosmic’ a lot and people think: hippies, flares, flower-power.

But it’s origins are ancient. In Daoist texts there are references to cosmic connection and cosmic chi as well as finding the cosmic self. It’s deeply spiritual but not religious.

Cosmic chi is said to shower the earth from 3am. 

This is also when our soul returns to our body from the astral realms (if we’ve been sleeping). This is why early morning is a super spiritual opportunity. Yogis, monks and gurus mediate at 3am then to catch the magic, but that’s a bit excessive for most of us and around 5am (or before) is the sweet spot for those who want their day to begin in their cosmic self.

We don’t have to go it alone in life, there’s so much support for us, we just have to tune in.

Within each 24-hour cycle, for example, there is a series of invisible ‘destiny gateways’ that keep our spiritual selves on track. The first, the Mysterious Pass, (said to be in the mystical Kunlun mountains) appears around 5am. Breathing, meditating and doing a chi practice at that time allows entry and, once through, later in the morning the next destiny gateway slowly manifests. Chi is the key!

This all sounds trippy, and that’s not surprising when you think that chi practices were created (or appeared) centuries, if not millennia, ago on top of remote mountains or deep in distant jungles by people who were not interested in having a boring or normal life. They knew we could connect to the cosmic realms. The practices developed to not only build and improve physical health, but to provide an on-demand escape from ordinary reality.

Being stuck in ‘reality’ all the time is not good for us.

Being entangled in emotionality and pain dulls the spirit (especially now) and derails us from our mission. Working the early morning with breath and chi awakens cosmic chi (which is stored in the Dantien or lower abdomen). The cosmic chi then finds the cosmic self and draws it into your body. So the day ahead unfolds on a foundation of spiritual belonging and purpose.

We come from the stars and we are connected to the stars.

Each acupuncture point in your body aligns with a star. Getting up early and into chi aligns your body with the stars, and the chi-cycle lifestyle aligns your day with the destiny gateways. This holds you in place. You always know who you really are and what you are here for.

And the more of that we all have the better right now, with so many things capable of dragging us off path and into reactivity and the ‘acquired self’. But getting up early and into it is not easy (not even for me and I’ve been doing it for decades), so here’s some tips:

Five tip to make getting up early easier

• First of all tell yourself you’re not a worker, you’re a soul on a journey. You need to get up for yourself, not for work. This is the mindset for spiritual success. Work comes second, especially if your work is not in line with your passion or purpose.
• If you’re in the habit of sleeping with your phone and checking in on it in the morning in bed, use an alarm clock to wake. So you won’t be tempted to ‘just quickly check’ emails, texts or social media. Your mind (AKA the enemy of Dao) is already going to come up with a bunch of reasons to not get up (it’s too cold, it’s too hot, I’m too tired…) and having a screen within reach makes it easy to give in. I treat lots of people who wake up and immediately check work emails and texts, that’s a Spleen deficiency / obsessive type behaviour and not good for the soul. It opens people up to toxic chi right when we have the opportunity  immerse in healing celestial chi.
• Get a water filter. You need lots of water in the morning to rehydrate and get your energy moving and you don’t want to be adding toxins with unfiltered water while your natural 5am-7am detox is underway. Have a non-plastic water bottle with some inspirational motifs on it (everything helps), full of filtered water by your bed ready to drink.
• Do yourself a schedule so you know exactly what you are going to be doing. Be your own personal chi trainer and spiritual guide. Example: up by 5am, breathing 5.15, ‘hug the tree’ (Qi-Gong posture not actual tree!) 5.30. Yoga / tai chi etc 6:00am, then TRX or resistance exercises. My morning is scheduled down to the minute (it actually starts the night before when I mix up my porridge. Scheduling this stuff is way more important then scheduling chores or work tasks.
• Invest in chi workout clothing that you love and have it ready to put on as soon as you wake. What we wear sends messages to our organs about how we see ourselves and we want to be saying ‘I’m celestial’.

Plus this is the morning routine that will help you stop self-censoring and have you speaking your truth appropriately, harmoniously and peacfully. Check out this vid How to Speak Your Truth and Why for more on that: