Emily Hazel is a coach for women claiming their fire and leader in the new paradigm of productivity. Through online programs, Emily disrupts the suckery of self-help with a flavor of playfulness and pleasure. She’s the founder of Spirited Studio, supporting soulful small businesses in brand identity, website design, and strategy.
What time do you wake up in the morning and how do you wake up?
I wake up at 5:55am each day to an alarm that is labeled with the emoji’s of what I’m currently manifesting to a song I’ve intentionally chosen to enter me gently into a new day.
What’s on your bedside table?
I have been traveling the majority of the last six years and change environments frequently. Sacred space is incredibly important to me so wherever I am, I set up an altar of sorts by my bed with cedarwood essential oil, ethical palo santo for clearing the space, a quartz crystal, and whatever book I’ve got my nose into.
Do you prepare for your mornings the night before? If so, how?
When I close my computer down on a workday, I treat it like a closing ceremony so I can enter into rest mode for the evening. To support this transition, I check my calendar to know what time I *need* to be online (if I have a client call, for example) and choose one action that will be the most impactful for my overall intention for the day.
What are your skincare/body care rituals?
I’m currently loving evening epsom salt baths with vetiver essential oil to soothe my nervous system and get sleepy! My skincare is super simple – warm water and rosehip oil. Once a week I use my coffee grounds and blend it with organic honey for a facemask/scrub!
What does your morning routine flow look like?
My phone stays on airplane mode between 8 pm – 8 am, so the first 2 hours of my day are sacred and act as the opportunity to deeply connect with myself, before output for the day ahead.
Over the years I’ve tried so many different regimes that now I have a solid consistency of showing up for my morning rituals without needing to be too controlled about them. They unravel with what I need most on that particular day and are intuitively driven.
At the moment, I wake before dawn and meditate in bed – sometimes with breathwork or a pleasure wand to land in my body and open up my creative centers. Then I pour a cup of tea and head out for a 30-minute walk in silence out in nature (I have a track at the back of my house that goes straight to the bush). This supports my circadian rhythm by exposing myself to natural sunlight while hydrating and moving my body in a slow and sensual way.
Connecting to Pachamama (mother earth) is a daily non-negotiable for me, to ground and attune to the natural cycles and more true version of time, rather than focusing on linear time and the contraction that can sometimes bring. I’ll head home for a 20 minute HIIT workout outside on the deck to get my sweat on, then shower + ‘lush up’ – even though I work from home, I find it invaluable to ‘dress up’ for my business as it shifts me into badass boss mode. I then have an almost daily ritual of pressing play on my ‘slow sips’ playlist and brewing a bulletproof coffee infused with cacao and medicinal mushrooms to activate my fierce focus for the day.
When do you kick off your workday? And do you have any starting-work rituals?
Before I open emails or my schedule, I set an intention for the day and type it into my browser using the Chrome extension ‘Momentum‘.
As a creative, I can work on multiple things at once, but I’ve found the liberation in discipline, and multitasking is a juice-drainer of my creative energy! This one simple act streamlines my work and creates a lot of ease in my system so I can work from a relaxed state rather than hustle. If I’m feeling a little uninspired, I do a quick tapping session (EFT) to shift my state or listen to a quick audio to drop me into my WHY behind this work (my favourite is called ‘The Awakened Entrepreneur‘ by Steve Nobel on Youtube).
How does your morning routine change on the weekends?
Each Sunday I have a quiet coffee or cacao with my planner and review the week, write lists of appreciation for all the incredible things that happened and then tune into the coming week ahead. I pick three desired feeling-states that I want to cultivate + experience that week, and let them drive the actions I schedule. I also pull an oracle card as guidance and have it on my business altar for that week. This creates a ceremonial approach to pausing time in a sense, and taking the space to acknowledge what moves and manifests, instead of getting swept into the ‘more, more, more’ mentality of our culture, and makes the mundane feel a bit more magical and multidimensional!
What does your mindset look like at the beginning of the day? Do you have any tips or tools for getting in a good mindset?
According to the law of attraction teachings, all momentum within us subsides when we sleep, so the first waking moments are important AF for setting the tone for the day ahead. That’s the intention behind the alarm that anchors me immediately upon waking to take it slow, sensual and steady.
I don’t rush in the mornings. I don’t have kids yet, so I’m unapologetic about using the morning time as indulgence for my pleasure and self-connection. If I wake a little ‘kinky’ (not in the good way!) I usually find that movement, in any form, allows me to shift that energy when I decide to just drop it and return to a clear slate of Being-ness.
When we try to control our mindset, we create more resistance because we’re trying too hard – letting it be easy is my mantra. If you’re not feeling the morning vibes, put on one song and simply move to it the way that your body wants to. I find this is the quickest and most accessible way to transform your mindset, because you’re not focusing on the mind work itself. You’re melting all that frenetic mental energy into the whole body, which is where the true power of the feminine can be harnessed.
What’s non-negotiable vs. what does an extra-luxurious morning look like?
They’re basically the same for me! I don’t take calls before 8 am, and have a few other boundaries in place for ensuring the time I need in the mornings to be just for me. We make our own rules – whether we like to really claim that as our responsibility or not – and lifestyle design is the cornerstone of everything I do in my work so I am the embodied example of that.
What would you like to improve with your mornings?
I’ve refined my rituals over the last decade, as I’m obsessed with optimizing my morning to have the most kickass days I can. Rather than an improvement, I know when to pivot my morning practices to better support me when they no longer light me up.
If I’m getting bored of the same workout regime, or guided meditation, I’ll find something more aligned with my intention. This is super intuitive and is felt as a stagnation, which is typically the precursor to a change in my routine. As a feminine-essence person, whether you have a womb or not, it’s imperative to know that you’re a cyclic being and will encounter different energetic phases – each month and every time your life demands a different version of you.
My magical medicinal mornings are my first point of radical responsibility for my state of being and I make adjustments in accordance to what I need for that particular phase. Let yourself be flexible and flow, instead of rigid and committed to something that doesn’t serve you that might work for someone else. For example, if I’m in the mountains in the wintertime, my body wants to sleep longer hours, so I alter my wake time to cater to that need.
What’s your #1 recommendation to others who struggle with mornings?
When you climb into bed, review your day through the lens of seeking the gold and really take notice of all the things that work for you. Each night, I thank my wifi! This small practice evokes a feeling of appreciation, which means you’re drifting off to sleep with that as the last flavor of the day, which becomes like muscle memory the more you do it.
When you wake, then, before you remember “who you are” (ie, your to-do list, schedule, stressors, etc), essentially before your identity comes back ‘online’, your underlying vibrational signature becomes one of intention and appreciation. From this space, everything becomes easier.
It doesn’t resonate with me to offer a prescription of practices for someone’s morning because we’re all wired differently and have different needs – I’d ask the question “What rituals bring ME into alignment (rather than what I’ve seen someone else do)? What are the elements I require to thrive?” then build on the response to that.
It’s so deeply personal, but if I could offer a quick and dirty equation it would be: awaken, hydration, gentle movement (stretching, walking), meditation/visualization. This covers nourishing the physical body, the mental mind and your core essence: the creator.