“Move because you love your body, not because you want to change it”.
Shake that booty for no other reason than it's glorious and deserves to be shaken all around.
The ufortunate truth is that many of us forget this over time and our booties go unshaken because we lost the joy of movement in our lives.
We learn to equate movement with exercise and otherwise live stationary lives. In addition, many of us exercise because society has taught us to believe that we need to change out bodies to fit a specific mold.. and the way to do that is diet and exercise.
Soooo for many years, I spent hours of my life in the gym “working off” whatever “bad foods” I had eaten recently.
I would “earn” dessert and cheese sticks by counting the calories I burned on the treadmill.
Movement was strictly a way of burning calories.
I didn’t necessarily enjoy it.
I didn’t look forward to it.
It was something else I had to do with my time.
Who can relate??
But the more I learned to accept and appreciate my body without wanting to change it, the more I enjoyed moving it.
I began to enjoy movement again.
I wanted to explore new movements.
It was fun again.
What is movement for you?
Is it fun or is it work?
If you need help improving your relationship with movement and your body confidence, keep reading…
What is movement really?
By definition, movement is just the changing of posture, position or place.
That’s it… nothing about calories burned, weigh lifted, reps completed.
Just moving the body.
There are so many amazing benefits to movement.
Movement can help improve your brain health, help reduce the risk of disease, help strengthen bones and muscles, and help improve your ability to do everyday and/or fun recreational activities.
Movement can also help improve your immune health, bring social engagement and help improve and maintain cognitive function.
Movement helps decrease diseases like arthritis, heart disease, dementia and diabetes while also boosting the immune function.
Movement can also help improve mental health in many ways. The act of moving itself release endorphins inside the brain. Movement can also help relieve stress , improve sleep and make you happier.
Movement can be a fun way to get out, meet new people, make new friends and try fun new things.
Movement also helps you improve posture, flexibility, balance, coordination and fine motor skills helping improve and maintain your overall cognitive function.
Movement also is a great way to positively influence people around you to also move more... especially the younger generation. You never know who is watching you, so set a great example and move your body.
Move in as many ways as possible
There is no one way to move the body.
In fact, it is best to move the body in as many different ways as possible.
There are so many types of movement available to us.
And it's not just the movements done in gyms.
Movement can be all sorts of things!
Part of my goal the next few months is to explore and introduce you to as many different forms of movement as possible. I am going to work within the local community to spotlight some of the most fun, creative, new, cutting edge forms of movement that are available to you to try out!
Stay tuned and let’s have some fun getting out, getting active and trying new things.