Do you like to exercise?
Exercise…do you like it? Love it? Hate it?
Many of us struggle with the idea of exercise because we equate it with things like running, pushing ourselves the gym, swimming repetitive laps, etc. It’s so often linked with the idea that it has to be painful or some form of punishment – just think of all those sayings like ‘pain equals gain’ or ‘it doesn’t count if you’re not sore the next day’. It’s also all too often linked to the goal of weight loss, manipulating our bodies to look a certain way and a means to ‘burn off food’.
Just like many people can have a troubled relationship with food, many can also have a troubled relationship with exercise. And just like with food, we’re taught not to trust our bodies when it comes to exercise and movement. In a strange and ironic way, we’re encouraged to totally disconnect from our bodies (and to ignore things like pain or fatigue) and instead just ‘push harder’. There seems to be some moral value attached to exercise – the more you push yourself, the better and more successful you are. Instead of focusing on moving our bodies in ways that actually feels good and that we enjoy, we feel like we should pick the hardest thing we can imagine or the latest trend that some influencer swears by.
WELL, I have a radical idea. Instead of thinking about physical movement as some sort of punishment or way to manipulate your body…why not think of it as joyful movement instead. It’s something to enjoy, a way to unwind and release stress, to reconnect with your body, to socialise with others, to have some ‘me time’. The ability to move your body is a beautiful celebration of what it can do, not punishment for what you ate or your self perceived image of how your body looks.
I’d also love for you to tune in to your body at any given time and see what you feel like. Just like I love to encourage people to connect with food in an intuitive and embodied way, the same goes for movement. One day you might have a tonne of energy and want to do something that requires fast paced movements, another day you may feel stressed and yearning for something slow and gentle to help you feel calmer, another day you may be really tired and not wanting to do anything at all. The idea is to reconnect with your body, to listen in to what you actually feel like and to respect that. One type of movement does not have any higher value than another.
Enjoyable movement comes in soo many shapes and forms! Here are just a few ideas:
Gardening
Stretching
Dancing about your room to your favourite music (or along to a fun videos like Mark Kanemura on Instagram…hell why not learn the WAP dance!)
Going for a walk alone, with a friend or your doggo
Playing with kids (or playing without kids) - think things like hopscotch, hula hooping, handball, frisbee, cartwheels or jumping on the trampoline
Going to the park and playing on the play equipment
Hiking or bush walking
Wading in the ocean
Joining a pole dancing class
Signing up to a self defence class
Thai chi
Cleaning the house (hey…it’s enjoyable for some people!)
Riding a bike through your favourite neighbourhood or park
Teaming up with a friend to play a game of tennis
Doing something on the water like paddle boating, rowing, kayaking, signing up to some surfing lessons or having a go at stand up paddle boarding
Ice skating
Roller blading
Indoor rock climbing
Skate boarding
Joining a group sport like dodgeball, touch football or basketball
Yin yoga
Horse riding
Archery
Signing up to a dance class like salsa, belly dancing or hip hop
Anything else you want!
