Strengthen mental focus and inspired action each day.  Cultivate insight and inner and outer peace.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.  -(Attributed to) Aristotle

How you start your day is impactful to your well being.  Turning on the news, checking emails and scrolling through social media first thing might give information about the outside world.  However, it's easy to get distracted by what everybody else is doing, without first tuning into yourself.  Spending the first waking moments like this can catapult into comparing yourself to others, feeling not good enough and letting fear and worry lure you into reactive mode.  And this can quickly grow into stress, anxiety and depression, major culprits of disease. 

Sleep is like a reset button.  It gives you a chance for new perspective when you wake up.  How do you rise to the opportunity to cultivate your unique excellence?  Showing up can be the biggest hurdle, so let's best equip you for that...

Enrich Your Life with Morning 21

Visualize the first 21 minutes of your day: As the sun greets you good morning, you ease right into a comfortable seat.  Before anyone else's voice gets into your head, you sit to observe your mind. Freshly awakened, you can still enjoy restful brainwaves and a strong connection to your creativity and unconscious mind. You have ready access to the unlimited possibilities within as you meditate. When old thought habits may arise, you've already set the stage to see past them. You get to decide which seeds of thoughts and emotions to water and let grow.  With clarity, you sharpen your ability to direct your energy to what you want to create.  

Elated to discover how grace will flow into your day, you eagerly tune your body instrument.  Inspired action fuels your movements and yoga postures with focus, strength and agility.  You skillfully open your channels of energy and harmonize your inner and outer being through strategic breath work.  Versed in time-tested scientifically-proven yoga and mindfulness tools, you glow with confidence knowing that whatever arises today, you are in the driver's seat of your mind, and your body and breath are on your team.  

These 21 minutes to recharge yourself is not selfish; Your most thriving presence is medicine for this world.  Your alignment to your best self radiates intention and positive impact on those around you.   You are plugged into your inner wellspring of peaceful vitality and ready to share it.

And did you know...yoga and mindfulness help manage stress, anxiety and depression?  LEARN MORE  in 21 Benefits of Daily Yoga.

Not sure you can commit to a daily practice?

If your WHY is strong enough, you can do anything.  How important is inner peace to you?  What about your freedom to think and act creatively and aligned to your core values?  Do you value feeling grounded, energized and inspired when you start your day?  There's a reason why globally successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, impactful world leaders like President Obama, resilient activists like Mahatma Gandhi and influential speakers like Oprah Winfrey have mindful morning habits.  They all start their day intentionally aligning their body, mind and spirit.  

​What are the activities you already practice habitually day after day?  Brushing your teeth, sipping your coffee or tea, changing clothes, showering, checking your messages...  Attach this new habit just before what you already do everyday.  As you fall in love with the direct effects of your morning ritual for 21 consecutive days, it will fall easily into your category of non-compromisable habits.  Like any daily habit of MUST DO self-care, you won't leave home without having done it.  

Need help with the logistics?  Schedule this daily 21-minute appointment with yourself on your smartphone calendar, with a reminder.  Choose and create an inspiring and inviting space you can access right out of bed.  You might already have your yoga mat laid out there the night before as a visual reminder.  Clear that area of anything that may distract you into digressing or procrastinating.  Place any artifacts, images, candle or meaningful objects that tell your senses that it's your SACRED SANCTUARY.  

Next, get started with Morning 21, your guided 21-day series, crafted and recorded for you by 10-year experienced yoga teacher, Michelle Chua, with a passion for empowering morning rituals.  Practice along with the videos to learn the ropes of different yoga techniques and get into the swing of a daily rhythm.  Let Morning 21 be your first step into a deeply rewarding lifelong journey of excellence, as you continue your daily morning ritual using the techniques that worked best for you.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
-Lao Tzu

Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire.  -Rumi

What's Included in Morning 21

(1)    Private access to 21 days of 21-minute video recordings of various physical yoga practices, breath work, meditations and practical yoga and mindfulness wisdom

(2)    Guided practices made accessible for different ability/experience levels, including beginners.

(3)    Progressively increasing your meditation period from 5 minutes in week 1 to 10 minutes in week 3, while developing your ability to continue on your own after 21 days

(4)    Learn from a professionally-credentialed teacher trained in the methodology of intrinsic motivation, effectively designing curriculum, student-centered learning and making practices clear and accessible for different learning styles and physical abilities.  

(5)    Draw from Michelle's passion for optimal wellness, love for inspiring personal growth and experience of creating and sustaining her own impactful daily morning ritual for over 11 years.

​(6)    Receive content informed by Michelle's training in mindfulness, meditation, yoga psychology, healthy lifestyle, balancing energy centers (or chakras), dance and meditative movement, yoga as lifestyle, yoga physical alignment, intelligent yoga sequencing, trauma-informed yoga, and accessible yoga teaching.

21 days x 21 minutes each is over 7 hours' worth of skillfully planned and wholeheartedly guided practices.  

Develop a daily meditation practice.  You'll start with 5 minutes a day in week 1 and progress to 10 minutes daily in week 3.

Meet Morning 21 Creator + Facilitator, Michelle Chua

My own daily morning ritual of yoga with meditation, postures and breath work is where I recharge my body-mind to see life more clearly and remember that my optimal well being empowers my positive impact in this world.  It's when I source inner wisdom to color my lens for the day.  (Watch this video sharing my backstory.)

As we share 21 days of morning ritual together, my intention is to help rekindle your love for your body and let you directly experience your vast wisdom, strength and resilience to live each day fully and share your greatest presence with this world.   
​Read Michelle's Bio here.

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As you begin your day mindfully and skillfully, you equip yourself with mindfulness and skillfulness for your day ahead.

Reviews of Morning 21 & Michelle's Online Offerings

I have been taking Michelle's yoga classes for eight years. She has an inner peace that permeates each class and leaves her students with a feeling of calm.  I have been joining as many of her classes as I can attend in a week, because they keep me sane, centered, and rooted in a very challenging time. She brings a sense of joy and depth to the practice. Michelle does an excellent job including poses and movements to build heat and then cooling down in a meditative way. I would recommend her classes to anyone I know!

​- Shona Ganguly (Sun Valley, CA, USA)

Being new to yoga, Michelle's yoga sessions have been eye-opening for me. Her step-by-step, calm, and succinct instructions have been instrumental for a beginner like me. Michelle connects well with her students and cares enough to ask if there are any areas we want to focus on during class, and she implements those seamlessly into her routine. The philosophies she explains are well integrated into the classes. She enjoys instructing so much that it is contagious.

- Jonathan Calzada (Sun Valley, CA, USA)

Read more reviews further below and on Root 2 Rise Yoga's YELP! page here.

3 Steps to Register

​​Complete the 3 steps below to receive private access to 21 days of 21-minute video recordings of Morning 21, which include daily guided yoga postures, breath work and meditation with Michelle Chua. Each private-access video will be provided daily at 12am PST and viewable anytime after, from October 1 through 21, 2021.  

2. ​Choose the amount you can afford to invest.

In the spirit of community, tiered pricing allows those who can afford to pay more to help offset the costs of production, preparation,  administration and professional development that make Morning 21 accessible.  Consider:

• How much can you honestly afford to balance the energy exchange?
• Which amount helps you seal a sincere commitment to your 21-day practice?

(A) $51 USD

(B) $71 USD

​(C) $91 USD

3. Process your payment.

Choose to process your payment through any of the following methods:

1. Send a payment via ​Zelle app to Root2RiseYoga@gmail.com.
2. Send a payment via Venmo app to @Root2RiseYoga.
3. Send a payment via PayPal to PayPal.me/Root2RiseYoga
4. ​Mail a check to Michelle Chua at 5757 Franklin Ave. #202 LA, CA 90028 (Please ensure arrival prior to Oct. 1st to start the program on time.)

Q+A about Morning 21

1. After I complete the registration form and process my payment as energy exchange for Morning 21, what happens next?  You'll receive an email confirmation to the address you provided on the form welcoming you to the program with a link to the home page where you will access all your exclusive videos.  You'll also receive tips on how to prepare for a successful, enjoyable and fulfilling daily morning ritual to start on October 1, 2021 for 21 days and beyond.
2. If I have never practiced yoga before, will I be able to do the practices?  Yes, Michelle offers variations of physical postures, movements, breathwork and meditations for you to tailor your own practice to your needs.  
3. If I live in a different time zone than Pacific Standard Time, can I still participate?   Yes.  Use a timezone converter to translate 12am PST to your time, and that's when each video will be available for you each day.  You can view the videos anytime after 12am PST, starting October 1, 2021 for 21 days.  
4. I have a hard time meditating.  How does the guided meditation work?  We will explore different approaches to meditation--from breath as anchor, visualization, mantras, movement meditation, mindfulness meditation and more, understanding that different learnings styles might resonate with certain techniques more than others.  We'll start the first week meditating for 5 minutes each day with guidance.  You'll progress up to 7 minutes by week 2 and 10 minutes by week 3 with more independence, so that you can continue to practice on your own after 21 days.  Michelle will guide you through preliminary focusing techniques and in warming up your body to help sit still for meditation.  Come to the practice with an open mind, ready to experiment!
5. What do I need in order to participate in Morning 21? ​You'll need a quiet open space where you can access internet through a device where you can watch and listen to the videos clearly. If you have the option, choose to use a computer screen over a smartphone for better viewing.  You'll also need a yoga mat, 2 yoga blocks, a yoga strap, a bolster and a blanket or beach towel. Any of those yoga props can be substituted with household items, like pillow as bolster, stably stacked books for blocks and a belt for strap.  If you will opt to practice variations of postures sitting in a chair, have ready a simple chair that can remain still and help you sit upright comfortably.