Morning rave a great way to start your Monday

Morning People morning dance party organisers celebrated their 5th birthday in July with Weird Together at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Alison Smith

Monday mornings at dawn are my favourite time of the week. They never used to be.

It's "deadline day" for the Hauraki Coromandel Post, and tempting to silence the alarm clock with a thump of the fist and to venture no further than the warm duvet.

I turned around my attitude to Mondays at the beginning of the year, when joining the morning rave at my local gym.

For readers not up to speed, a rave, according to one definition, is a large dance party featuring either DJs or live performers playing dance music.

We haven't quite achieved the "large party" yet.

But we have a small group who arrive each Monday bleary-eyed (and sober), and the music is turned up on the speaker for our one-hour dance party until the sun has well and truly risen.

This Monday we followed it up by joining the polar swimmers at the ocean beach, a group that meets every morning in their togs, and they dip, laugh and chat in the wintry Pacific Ocean.

Their group is growing in popularity. Sometimes more than a dozen turn up to bask in the chilly waters and finish with a dash bare-footed in the sand - which is colder still - to the familiarity of warmth and comfort.

It is an invigorating start to their day.

Late last month on a Saturday morning from 7am I joined several thousand ravers at Morning People's fifth birthday event at the Auckland Town Hall, with live band Weird Together followed by DJing by New Zealand's Sambora of Shapeshifter.

We drank our coffees and danced til... 9am.

Morning People organisers have, from "humble beginnings", hosted more than 160 early morning parties, creating a cult following among people of all ages who love to dance.

We can't travel overseas to warmer climes right now and not all of us can get to the snow, so finding fun, recreation and healthy relaxation in our own backyard is more important than ever.

Wellbeing is something we can all do for ourselves.

For those of us on the Coromandel, we have some of New Zealand's most magnificent natural beauty to enjoy. But I believe that shouldn't hold us back from a morning rave now and again.

What routine starts you off on the right path? If you'd like to share, email alison.smith@nzme.co.nz.

- A "rave-a-thon" fundraiser for youth mental health is being held (in the evening) at Paradise Gym Tairua 28 August from 6.30pm.

Fundraiser for Mike King's youth mental health charity the Rave-A-Thon will be held in Tairua on August 28. Photo / Supplied