This article is written in partnership with Yoga Wake Up—a mindful app that replaces your usual alarm with easy, audio-guided yoga and meditation from bed. Result? A relaxed, happier version of you…and who couldn’t use that every damn day? ~ ed.

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In 2015, I fell head over heels for the first time in my life.

Even before we signed the lease to our cute little one-bedroom apartment, we’d find a way to spend almost every night with each other; our bodies braided together like a pretzel.

The whole getting to sleep thing was easy for us. We cherished sleep. But the mornings were definitely not all sunshine and rainbows (despite the literal sunshine that peeked through the blinds).

I’ve never loved using an alarm to wake up in the morning. I’m one of those who usually wakes up with the sun, with wide eyes, eager (anxious, if I’m being honest) to start the day. My partner at the time…not so much. He needed his alarm. And not just once, but again and again…and again. He was a snoozer.

Press Snooze on your Snoozing Habit for FREE (don’t even enter your credit card info) >>

I loathed the offensive beeping that screamed out of his phone. Hello, anxiety. What a wonderful way to start the day, right?

Well, according to research, I’m clearly not the only one who has been forced to start their days like this. More than one in three adults press snooze three times before getting up in the morning. And more than half of adults in their 20s and early 30s say that they hit the snooze button every morning (1).

I’d imagine many of us are shacking up with these snoozers. Or maybe the snoozer is you.

My morning routine is crucial for my mental health and sets the tone for the rest of my day. But when my mornings are filled with anxiety-inducing, deafening tones over and over and over again, my morning routine becomes less peaceful.

Our relationship didn’t work out. I couldn’t handle his snoozing, so I broke up with him.

Okay, I’m totally kidding. That’s obviously not why it didn’t work out, but if I’m being real, his daily habits (including his damn snoozing) were a big part of why our lives no longer aligned.

Fast-forward three years after we split, and I finally found the app I didn’t realize I needed: Yoga Wake Up—an “alarm clock” that wakes you up (and puts you to bed) with yoga and meditation paired with the perfect tunes to ease you in and out of your day.

Take 15% off your subscription price after your FREE trial of Yoga Wake Up >>

Where was this when I needed it most?!

This app definitely could have saved my relationship. Okay, again, I’m kidding. No app is going to save any of our relationships, but damn, maybe it would have helped?

Yoga was just beginning to become a big part of my life back in those days, and I desperately craved to create a calm, sacred space for my practice. Our old, little apartment was just too small for me to escape the buzzing of my partner’s phone.

Created by the wake up wizards, Lizzie and Joaquín Brown, Yoga Wake Up is the first-ever yoga alarm clock and it is chock-full of grounding, relaxing, and energizing meditations and breathwork, as well as tons of different delicious yoga sequences that often can be done from our bed (yes, please!).

Let’s be honest: waking up is hard. That’s something Lizzie and Joaquin know. The married duo designed the app because Lizzie chronically set multiple alarms to snooze through…until Joaquin got tired enough (literally) to design Yoga Wake Up as the solution.

I genuinely believe that if I found this app earlier and encouraged my partner at the time to try it out, we both would have benefitted from it. He would have been able to wake up to the comforting voices of the various teachers offered on the app, connect to his breath and body, and start the most sacred part of the day with mindfulness and ease.

And me? I wouldn’t have had to have my own morning routine so rudely interrupted by the blare of his basic alarm clock.

Give the Gift of Waking Up with a Mindful Practice >>

It’s time to break up with basic—starting with our alarm clocks.

I’m especially lookin’ at you, snoozers.

Don’t worry, though. You can still snooze; the app has that feature. Phew.

But, of course, that’s not the point. Just one of the many beauties of this app is that it truly supports those who do have a complicated relationship with their snooze button and would like to ditch it. But, since studies show that snoozing is actually bad for us and causes us to:

>> Feel more tired
>> Start the day with an increased heart rate from the shock of our alarm audio
>> Feel more sluggish for our entire day (2)

I’d imagine that many of us would prefer to ditch it. I mean, who wants that?

With Yoga Wake Up, as one of my colleagues can attest to, yes, you’ll probably still snooze every now and then. But eventually, you and your body will genuinely start to look forward to your Yoga Wake Up going off in the morning. And that’s when you’ll lose the snooze—because I mean it when I say those yoga sequences are damn delicious (and the cravings are real!).

They even have a whole series to help you slip out of the grips of your snooze habit.

Slip out of your snooze habit and into asanas instead.

Yoga Wake Up’s 5-day “Master Your Mornings” series teaches us all to ditch both the dozing and immediate morning doing, for once and for all—and all we need is 10 minutes a day.

Yep, you read that right. It’s not just for the snoozers.

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Learn to Master your Mornings for FREE (check out the Day 1 clip below) >>

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In the series, we’re taught to replace our sleepy or speedy morning “usual” with a new, healthy a.m. routine that’s gentle and actually helpful. (Think energizing breathing techniques, much-need affirmations, and easy asanas.)

To my fellow anxious, must-get-out-of-bed-immediately people, I know what you’re thinking, because I was thinking it too: I don’t need this app. I don’t need any alarm! Well, I hate to break it to you, but honestly, we probably need it more than those snoozers.

We could all benefit from slowing.the.eff.down.

Even if we wake up naturally with the sun, it’s probably (definitely) better for us not to jump out of bed and immediately start doing all the things. Sometimes the early bird doesn’t need to get the damn worm right away. Sometimes the early bird just needs some yoga to start the day off right.

This was a hard truth for me. Even when I was first presented with this app, I said, “Nah.” Why? Because I didn’t have time for that. (So I thought.) My mind is running a mile a minute from the second I wake up. Before I tried the app, I would allow that go-go-go energy to seep into all my self-care practices that I’d jam-pack into my morning.

When I was still with my ex-partner, I would wakeup in the morning with two anxieties: the sound of his alarm and my need to do everything all at once—right then, in that moment. I got rid of the first and didn’t realize I never faced the second.

Instead of rushing out of bed to kickstart my morning routine, I finally gave in to my resistance and tried the app myself. And I love it. I authentically and wholeheartedly love it because it has totally transformed the energy of my days. When I start my day with Yoga Wake Up, it allows my mile-a-minute mind to slow down and it gives me the space to check in with my heart.

Slow your Mind in the Mornings with guided Yoga Wake Ups (& take 15% off your subscription) >>

When I drop into my heart and stop letting the chatter in my mind control me, I go about my day with more authenticity. And even though my former morning routine still included my own yoga practice, what I never realized was that I needed that yoga practice the second I woke up—because if I didn’t connect to myself right away, my mind would start to steer the ship.

Now, here I am. Letting go, as they would say.

I’m a new and firm believer that Yoga Wake Up is the app that so very many of us need (and don’t even know it) if we want to take back our energy and feel a lot less sluggish (once we truly lose the snooze, that is).

Had I found this app earlier, maybe I’d have learned to quiet my mind first thing in the morning, and cultivated more patience for his inevitable snoozing. Maybe he’d have found “Master your Mornings,” and lost the habit altogether.

And maybe, too, our relationship wouldn’t have survived, and I’d have found Angela Leigh’s Farewell Flow to help me truly let go of my partner sooner and thank him for the imprint he left on my heart, for the lessons he taught me, and for the love we shared.

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Check out the full Farewell Flow here  (or a clip by clicking play, below) >> 

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Begin your Day with Centering & Serenity.

Whether a snoozer, or a snap-into-actioner, this app is exactly what the world needs to begin the day from a more calm, centered, and maybe even compassionate space. It’s good for the mind, it’s good for the body, and I’d even go as far as to say it’s good for our souls.

Start your FREE (don’t even enter your credit card info) trial of Yoga Wake Up & get 15% off your future subscription >>

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Resources:
1. https://amerisleep.com/blog/negative-impact-snooze-button/
2. https://www.reverie.com/blog/blog-why-hitting-snooze-bad-idea.html