Mornings with Sabrina Rose: Slow Starts, Sacred Spaces & Matcha

The writer, herbalist, and podcast host talks cyclical living, creative spaciousness, and the rituals that keep her grounded

Thanks for digging into The Dirt! This series shares the morning rhythms of creative, curious, plant-loving people—how they start their days, what fuels them (literally and figuratively), and the small rituals that shape everything that follows. Like all things in The Dirt, it’s a little wellness, a little culture, and a lot of perspective.

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Sabrina Rose (she/her) is a writer, herbalist, podcast host, and women’s health educator based in Washington, D.C. Through her platform, Moonbeam by Sabrina, she explores the intersections of cyclical wellness, reproductive health, and storytelling. As the creator of Cycles, a membership community dedicated to supporting body, spirit, heart, and shadow through cyclical wellness 🌝, and the host of Chaos & Control, a podcast delving into the history and impact of birth control in America 🎙 (listen here), Sabrina brings a thoughtful and deeply researched perspective to her work. You can connect with her through her newsletter or follow along on Instagram/Threads (@moonbeambysabrina). Today, we’re getting an inside look at her morning routine and the rituals that fuel her.

TL;DR?

Sabrina’s Morning Routines:

Honor the cycle, not the clock. Sabrina’s mornings aren’t about rigid schedules—they’re about spaciousness, intuition, and tuning in. Some days stretch into research rabbit holes, others are quiet, grounding, and reflective. The key? Letting her rhythm lead.

Find presence in the small things. A second (or third) matcha, a tarot pull, the scent of beeswax and incense curling through the air. Sabrina’s mornings are woven with sensory rituals that anchor her creativity and curiosity.

Begin again, always. Whether it’s resetting a scattered morning or reinventing a practice entirely, Sabrina leans into the fluid nature of routines. Because, as she eloquently states, “Reinvention is always possible—at all scales, from the micro to the macro. We are fluid and evolving. Nothing is static.”

Picture this: It's a crisp Tuesday morning, and you're about to embark on your ideal day.

Could you paint us a vivid picture of your morning routine, from the moment your eyes flutter open to when you officially declare your day 'begun'?

7-7:30 am: Struggle to regain consciousness, then take my basal body temperature (body literacy!)

7:30 am: Oil pull, scrape my tongue, brush my teeth, spray rosewater on my face, and do some light lymphatic drainage.

7:45 am: Time to take my herbs. 🌿 I strain my overnight nettle infusion and take my herbs and supplements. Lately, that's looked like vitex, magnesium, NAC, vitamin D, and turkey tail, but it's always shifting, especially with the seasons.

8:00 am: Make my matcha and head to my office for floortime. Floortime is where I sit on my floor and it is extremely sacred to me. I light a beeswax candle and some incense. Sometimes I play music. I stretch. I think. I read a few pages of a nonfiction book. My favorite book of all time is Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. I have several copies, and one of them has completely fallen apart. Sometimes I revisit my favorite passages.

Excerpt from Women Who Run with the Wolves

I am also an enormous fan of bell hooks. Right now I am reading remembered rapture: the writer at work, a collection of essays she wrote about her writing practice. Sometimes I read poetry. Whenever I'm feeling stuck, I use poetry as an entry point. Nothing feels as electric to me as a good poem. My favorite poets are Ada Limón, Audre Lorde, Marina Tsvetaeva, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and Warsan Shire. Women who aren't afraid to feel deeply and allow themselves to be seen feeling it. When I was in research mode for Chaos & Control, I was reading a ton of history, sociology, and social theory. I learned so much from the brilliant work of women like Angela Davis, Dorothy Roberts, Loretta Ross, Deirdre Cooper Owens, and Rickie Solinger. I also read a lot of herb and health related texts. Right now I'm reading Trauma and Recovery by Judith Lewis Herman. I read a lot.

At some point during the morning, I journal. My journal is very important to me. I've journaled consistently since I was 14 years old, and still have all of my old journals. They could fill an entire bookshelf. I always say if I had to leave my home in a rush and just take one thing with me, it would be my journals. It is such a grounding, steadying, creatively generative practice. My journals hold everything: thoughts, ideas, poems, quotes, lists, memories, recipes, dreams, spells, plans, bits and pieces of knowledge gained and transformed. Journaling is a way of keeping time. So many lives have been lived within them, with moments of deep grief, profound joy, adventure, love, pain, and revelation. Looking back at old journals and tracing through lines to the present. It gives me deep compassion for my past self, understanding of my present, and hope for who I can become.

Somewhere within this I usually go make a second (or even third) matcha, and drink a lot of water. Sometimes I water my plants, or work on a collage. If the weather is nice, I'll sit on my balcony. Sometimes I'll pull a tarot or oracle card.

10:00 am: Pilates. I'm obsessed with pilates, especially moves that involve the pilates ball. I find it to be so much fun. I only do it at home though, never at a studio. Sometimes I go for a walk with my partner. Occasionally I'll go to the gym.

10:30 am: Breakfast. To be honest with you, I'm not a big breakfast person. Which is terrible, because I'm always telling other women how important breakfast is. During the summer I'll have a raspberry vanilla collagen smoothie, or chia pudding with raspberries. When it's colder, I like buckwheat porridge with raspberries. Raspberries are my favorite fruit. Sometimes I'll have bone broth, or a fried egg on some homemade gluten free sourdough (with a side of raspberries).

At this point, I'll take a shower and consider my day more or less begun.

Whether it's a carefully crafted coffee ritual, a herbal elixir, or something entirely unexpected, we'd love to hear about your morning potion of choice.

My morning beverages are very precious to me. First things first is a shot of aloe vera juice (inner leaf fillet!).

Then, a huge glass jar of the nettle infusion I started brewing the evening before. If I'm in my luteal phase, this will be a nettle and red raspberry leaf infusion.

Next up is matcha with homemade vanilla almond milk, raw honey, and a teaspoon of shatavari powder for added hormone balancing benefits. Always hot, never iced (even in the summer).

My journals hold everything: thoughts, ideas, poems, quotes, lists, memories, recipes, dreams, spells, plans, bits and pieces of knowledge gained and transformed.

If your morning routine had a background song, what would it be?

Chill Baby by SZA.

We'd love a glimpse into a special corner of your morning world.

Could you describe one space that plays a role in your morning routine?

A cozy nook in the corner of my office. It's right by a window, so it gets a lot of natural light. I sit on the floor beside my big snake plant and my bookshelf-altar hybrid. It has my journals, my poetry books. Dried flowers. My ivy plant that has died and been nursed back to life on multiple occasions. A special photograph of me and my grandmother from when I was little. A note my partner wrote me. My incense cauldron. Other special, meaningful items. It grounds me and reminds me what's important.

Morning routines walk a fine line between structure and spontaneity.

Anna Wintour famously starts each day at 5:45 am with an hour of tennis, while Frida Kahlo preferred to let her mornings flow with her creative inspiration and health needs.

On the scale of 'strictly scheduled' to 'go with the flow', where do you fall?

If strictly scheduled is 1 and go with the flow is 10, I would put myself at an 8 or even a 9. My morning routine is full of some of my absolute favorite things, and if I let it, it could easily stretch into the afternoon. Sometimes it does. It depends on what I have scheduled for the rest of the day. Sometimes I will read something that sets me off on a research rabbit hole, and suddenly my entire day is rearranged. Sometimes I'll get an idea while journaling, and immediately move to my desk to flesh it out. There isn't always a clear distinction between "morning routine" and "work" because much of my work comes from ideas and insights gleaned during my mornings.

There isn't always a clear distinction between "morning routine" and "work" because much of my work comes from ideas and insights gleaned during my mornings.

In our digital age, where smartphones often double as alarm clocks, technology is an inextricable part of our lives (and mornings).

What digital companions do you love or loathe? Share the apps that enhance your mornings or those you deliberately avoid to maintain your ideal start to the day.

I try to be quite analog when it comes to my mornings - I sleep with my phone in another room. That said, I do like to play music, so I use Spotify a lot. What I listen to depends on the vibe, what's going on with the moon, the phase of my cycle...but generally speaking I'm playing SZA. She's my favorite, hands down. l also really love Dianna Lopez. The only other app that is a regular feature in my mornings is Read Your Body. I practice (and teach) the symptothermal fertility awareness method, and that's my preferred app for keeping track of my basal body temperature and other biomarkers. It's a community-driven, women-led non-profit app where your data is fully encrypted and only stored on your phone, which is super important, especially these days.

Sometimes I check my news app, but typically I try to save that for later in the day. If I check any social media app in the morning, I get a headache. I still do it sometimes, but it's always a big mistake.

In a world full of wellness trends and "should-dos," what's your personal mantra or north star that keeps your morning routine authentically you?

And, how do you navigate daily disruptions to find your way back to your personal rhythm?

I am a cyclical being - and my routines in general should reflect that. We are all cyclical beings, and what we need from one day to the next will ebb and flow. I find that when I try to force anything, I end up feeling frustrated and stuck. My work requires me to be creative. Creativity requires—demands—spaciousness. I try to allow for as much spaciousness as possible. Spaciousness to devote time to what makes me feel more alive.

As for daily disruptions, I live by the idea that you can always, always, always start over. Whether that's starting over with your day or within something much bigger. Reinvention is always possible—at all scales, from the micro to the macro. We are fluid and evolving. Nothing is static.

I live by the idea that you can always, always, always start over.

Final Thought:

If I'm on my period, I'm absolutely sleeping in.