Honour Yourself: Get Moving for Life™
I recently began to read Live a Life You Love by Vancouver wellness expert, life coach, author, media presenter, flamenco dancer and medical doctor, Dr. Susan Biali. One thing that really struck me was that we need to learn to honour ourselves more. We both agree that our lifestyles greatly impact our health and well being
Our bodies are meant to move and too often we get so wrapped up in the other things that “must” be done that we lose the joy of movement. We also ignore the signals our bodies are telling us until they turn into major issues that we have to go see our Doctors for.
Dr. Biali encourages her clients and patients to get moving. There is increasing research that lifestyle changes can either prevent or help manage many chronic diseases, stress and anxiety. These changes include our nutrition habits as well as movement. I admit, that with all the changes and growth that Lifemoves has being going through I lost momentary touch with movement, so much that I started to crave it and my happiness suffered.
I kept putting off my own training while thinking that it was more important to take of my business and our clients. This choice was completely contrary to my own values and what I am trying to instill in our clients. Our health is not something that can’t be bought, but we can invest in it everyday and reap great rewards, some immediate and more long term. Fitness levels decrease quick in the first two weeks of inactivity and even more over the next six months. It is a lot easier to maintain our health than to regain it.
Today I decided it was time to Get Moving for My Life again. I invested in myself this morning by attending a Hot Yoga class. Each class the instructor asks you to set an intent – mine was honour. During this session my focus was to show respect for my body by acknowledging its need to move, but also by paying attention to how much it was willing to move. By this I mean that with each move there were particular directions that were a little sticky; I wasn’t going to push through it.
After just one class of Yoga, my happiness and serenity levels improved.
The other thing I started today this week was a little more planning into how I was going to incorporate more movement and training into my life. For the first time I bought a GroupOn, this time for Kayaking. Several years ago when I had a knee injury I was able to Ocean Kayak almost every day from Spanish Banks for a couple of hours. It was wonderfully relaxing, but also increased my fitness level for my winter sport – Biathlon. After 12 years of having a free gym membership I am now looking for a new gym. There is one that is not too far from my home, which I will look into for the weekends and then block off time during the day in between clients to train at our offices.
Find an activity that brings you joy, bring a friend or spouse along. Try putting on your shoes to go for a walk a 15-20 min walk, which as an easy first step. Instead of going for coffee, go for a walk or bike ride to reconnect.
Are there activities that you used to enjoy that find it difficult to do now? We have one client who curls once a week and plays golf during the spring and summer. He came in very stiff which made it difficult for him to curl or swing a golf club. With some Fascial Stretch Therapy, home stretches and resistance training with exercise tubes he is re-connecting with the joy of movement. His exercise therapy sessions support his recreational activities. We assist you by showing how to move more freely so that you can honour yourself with more movement.
