Nourish Your Relationship with Movement
What word describes your relationship with moving your body?
In the list of universal human needs, movement is among the most complex. We are born using movement to learn from our environment, to grow, and to connect with the world and people around us. Back then, your relationship to movement was simple. Your body knew how to move well, it knew how to progress your movement well and it used movement to Be Well Now.
As we grow older though, our relationship with movement becomes skewed. If you were "chubby" as a child or adolescent, you likely found out quickly that movement along with dieting was a way to try to "fix" that "problem" with your body. If you were an athlete, movement was to overcome an opponent and to win. If you were not an athlete, moving in gym class next to all the 'jocks' was embarrassing!
How has your relationship with moving your body changed as you have aged?
This week in our Celebrating December Well series we are focusing on nourishing well. We have discussed nourishing mental and emotional well-being. Movement is part of nourishing because emotions, especially stressful ones, create ready-to-move tension in the body.
Nourishing your body goes beyond eating to sustain life. Nourishing well is caring for your body in ways that allow you to feel and function well. Movement is a universal human need because it allows you to learn from your environment, grow, and connect with the world and people in your life. This doesn't stop when we grow older. We just gain more ways to use movement to nourish well.
When you are reading this, you might think, "I know Janet, you are going to tell me I should exercise and then you will list all the reasons it's so great for my physical health and wellbeing". 🙄
Actually, no.... Why not?
After close to four decades of telling people why they should exericse, I realized hearing the benefits of exercising for your health does not nourish well. Instead, they nourish stress by triggering feelings of guilt, shame, and fear.
The information we are given about the importance of physical activity for your health changes our relationship with movement. Frankly, it's why I still have a job. The more we promote the benefits of exericse for health issues, the more the should's cause the struggle with using movement to nourish wellbeing.
Now I wonder, how do we Un-should movement? Well, I'll share more about this next week as we head into the new year. But in the end, no words I say or write will heal your relationship with movement. That can only happen when you experience movement differently, in a way that gets you back to what your body knew as an infant, that movement is nourishing.
Today, nourish your relationship with movement. Stay curious as you go through the day. When you are running around getting ready for the holidays, notice your relationship with that moving-to-get-things-done type of movement. When you use an activity monitor to track your steps, notice how those numbers affect your relationship with movement. As you see ads for new year's fitness programs, notice how their marketing affects your relationship with movement.
Awareness with curiosity is the first step to restoring your relationship with moving your body to nourish well.
Share this with someone you know who wants to celebrate December in the Well State.
Why wait until January? Be Well Now!
Exercising Well is so much more than an exercise program. It's a pathway to rewiring mindsets so you know how to Be Well Now. This is a short-term program that gives you lifelong skills for moving well, nourishing well, and resting well. Move on with confidence in your self-motivation skills. even when you are limited by pain, medical issues, stress, or lack of time.
