Nazanin Boniadi – Own Your Morning Your Way

Maybe you bound out of bed, ready to take on the day. Maybe you roll out and force yourself to function. Maybe you, like actor Nazanin Boniadi of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, recently revamped your routine to serve you better. Or maybe you haven't even thought about it! Don't worry, we've got you. Ahead, you'll find the a.m. vibe that's juuust right for you.

- By Amy Wilkinson

Rushed. Chaotic. Jarring. Those are the words actor and activist Nazanin Boniadi, who stars in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (debuting on Prime Video on September 2), uses to describe her mornings. Or rather, those are the words she once used to describe her a.m. routine: waking to a blaring alarm, jumping into a quick shower, stuffing her face with food, and running out the door.

"I knew something was missing," Nazanin says of her formerly frenetic pace."1 wanted to do everything to the best of my ability and give everybody what they needed, but with that comes a high level of anxiety, because [1 was] on the go all the time."

Realizing she needed to slow down for her mental health, Nazanin set out to make over her mornings. A break from filming The Rings of Power gave her the chance, in April 2021, to attend a mindfulness program where each day began not with the incessant beeping of an alarm but with the rejuvenating thump of a gong. She wasn't allowed to use her phone for six days (bye-bye, endless scrolling!), so instead, she dedicated mornings to yoga and plant-based eats. As Nazanin tells it, the experience was "transformative."

"What I learned was just how important it is to spend the morning awakening our minds, bodies, and souls before we connect to the outside world," she says. Though the gong may have stayed behind in New Zealand, Nazanin did bring home souvenirs-she now tries to reserve 45 minutes in her morning for centering herself through meditation, yoga, or stretching.