How to move your body for optimal health
When it comes to living a healthy life in a thriving body and feeling at ease with oneself, movement is the best vehicle I know to get here. However, to truly be well and at peace, we can’t be at war with ourselves. Since most who grew up in a Western society learned to value the mind without much focus on also appreciating the body with all its wisdom, many have learned to let the mind rule over the body. As a result, I see so many people today - including myself previously - living in a way where the mind exhibits control over the body. If it doesn’t perform as we want, we hate on it and oftentimes we punish it through starvation or pushing it beyond its boundaries. And it’s not that we want to be mean, we just don’t know any better. However, if we learn to move with the body, we get to know it. Here we’ll find its wisdom, true strength and power, making it impossible not to value, respect and care for it. Rather than being an enemy or subject, the body becomes an ally. This is a game-changer for our health and well-being.
Read on for pointers on how you can move your body in the most supportive way and care for yourself better so you can foster optimal health & longevity.
WHY CONNECTING WITH THE BODY THROUGH OUR BREATH IS MEDICINE
The breath is the way we can consciously connect the mind and body. It’s the only autonomic response we can control. Meaning, that whilst all other unconscious tasks performed by our autonomic nervous system like our heartbeat are beyond our conscious control, the breath is not. Hence although we breathe automatically without needing to think about it, we can also choose how we want to apply it.
When helping any client improve their health, well-being or life, the very foundation I always begin with is to remind them of their breath. Breathing is the best way I know to help someone tune in with their body. When we notice our body’s physical sensations as we breathe, we are curious about the body. From here we can bring ease into tight spaces, comfort to states of stress, and connection and movement to muscles we have forgotten. The things we learn, when simply noticing our body and its signals, help guide us to navigate forward for more ease, strength and better health. Therefore before we begin ‘doing’, taking action and moving we must tune in with the body to find out which direction to go regardless of the goal we’re working towards.
WE CAN’T MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT RE-ESTABLISHING TRUST IN OUR BODY’S RELATIONSHIP
For someone who simply wants to see results and has been controlling their body their whole life, it may seem like a waste of time to start anything by breathing consciously. Or it may seem like a waste of time to include the body’s experience if all we’re looking for is physical changes to our appearance. However, our nervous system plays a huge role in whether we store or burn fat during exercise so in any case, the emotional state and physical experience of our body matters.
When we starve our body, overeat or disregard its signals overall to push it beyond its limits, we become unsafe for our own body. It learns we are not trustworthy. As a result, it goes into a state of continuous stress and survival mode. This affects our hormones. In stress mode the body releases cortisol, but over time too much cortisol may lead to stubborn stomach fat. When stressed we also tend to breathe into the shoulders, which contributes to poor posture and ineffective muscle activation. In severe cases, continuous states of stress and a failure to respond to the body’s signals may also lead to more cribbing conditions such as anxiety or burnout. To build viable health improvements, we must therefore start by rebuilding our body’s trust through responsiveness. It means the strive to satisfy the mind, ease a guilty conscience or ‘do enough’ to deserve a rest has got to go. The feeling of safety doesn’t come from the lack of threat, but rather from the presence of safety. Trust is therefore rebuilt by continuously tuning in with the body’s signals and providing it proper rest, nutrition, movement and emotional validation accordingly. This will help return the body to its natural state of ease and relaxation and go into states of stress when we need it to. From here the body can work with and for us. It will rise to meet the challenges we give it and evolve to be as healthy, strong and beautiful as it was designed to be.
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T FOLLOW FITNESS TRENDS
A few years ago high-intensity training was wildly popular. Then CrossFit became a hit. Today I see reformer pilates being promoted everywhere and paddle tennis centres opening up left right and centre. As with fashion and diet trends, there are also popular currents when it comes to movement and exercise. It can be difficult to not get carried away on these waves, however, I’d strongly urge you not to. It’s so easy to give away our autonomy and listen to others or trends to determine what is good for us. However, to choose movements that are right for our body, we must tune in with it specifically. Notice which things you need more of to be balanced, healthy and strong. Perhaps you do a little bit of the things promoted in the media because you think it’s fun, but first and foremost, allow yourself to move based on the following questions:
- What does my posture need to be better?
- What pain points need stronger muscles around them to protect the area?
- Where is inflexibility inhibiting my movements?
- How can I support my body better through a regular exercise routine?
BE KIND TO YOUR BODY BY MOVING WITH AND FOR THE BODY
Movement and exercise are meant to be fun and it’s great to try new things, but we must make it a habit to scan through our body and not simply listen to our mind. This is how we’re being kind. As an example, whenever I start movement sessions with clients, I tend to casually ask how they slept in the night and when they last ate. Both things tell of the state of the body before choosing what kind of exercises are available for us to work with on this particular day. It is important to show up for ourselves and move our bodies regularly, but we can’t just push through and stick to the plan in our heads at any expense. If we want to do explosive reformer pilates, we need to make sure our body is ready for it by having had the proper rest and nourishment beforehand. If not, we risk injury.
Another thing to account for is our daily stress levels. High-intensity training sessions can be so fun, however, if we’re already stressed from work commitments and social situations, we do a much better service to our body by moving with deep breaths that allow us to calm our system. Yoga for instance would be great for that. Nourishment and long-term results are all about bringing ourselves balance whilst staying committed to caring for our body through movements that support it.
INJURY PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION
When it comes to movement - and especially as we grow older - to support our bodies we must ensure not to pressure it beyond its limitations or move forward too fast. Not only due to the trust and stress issue mentioned earlier but also because injuries can really stop us in our tracks when we’re well on our way to health goals. Our lives are so set up for dopamine rushes and wanting to feel a sense of accomplishment, productivity and invincibility, that often we don’t even notice when we push our bodies more than what’s good. Rather than working with and respecting the feedback we get from our bodies, we override it to feel a sense of control. Furthermore, if an injury occurs it’s important to note that we, of course, must care for and take it seriously. It sounds so basic, and it is! But far too often I see people doing so much harm to themselves as they cannot let themselves rest and heal up. Truly, for so many people the drive to go faster and do more comes from trying to ease off our inner critic. But this leads to injuries, self-pressure and a feeling of never being good enough. If we truly want to be well, we must support our bodies, ask what they need and move forward at a sensible pace, so the body can evolve safely. And, we must let ourselves feel that we are a work in progress and a masterpiece, all at the same time.
Much love,
To book a movement session with Mai, inquire here.