What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? If you’re like most people in today’s age it’s likely reaching for that delicious cup of coffee or another caffeinated beverage. I absolutely love coffee. I worked as a Starbucks Barista for over 5 years. Believe me when I say that coffee is a very important part of my morning routine.

But what if I told you that there was another way to get that morning boost without the jitters of caffeine and that it’s completely free.

“Breathe in, breathe out.” You certainly don’t need me to remind you to do this as breathing is involuntary and an automatic process. That being said there is something very interesting that happens when we bring our awareness to our breath. If we are experiencing stress then our body goes into “fight or flight” mode and the sympathetic nervous system is activated. This causes our heart rate to elevate, a spike in adrenaline and our breathing to quicken.