Movement is Life
Last month in my newsletter I shared a little about how a business failure helped me clarify my purpose as a yoga and movement teacher - my passion and purpose is helping people improve their health and connect with their inner resources through meaningful movement practices. I defined meaningful movement as any movement that brings the mover both the intended results and positive effects in other realms of life. I concluded by saying the good news is there's something for everybody when meaningful movement is so broadly defined.
Since then I've been thinking about all of the different ways and whys we move. In his podcast, Andrew Huberman has discussed how movement evolved to ensure an organism's survival (shelter, food, reproduction) and scientists and authors Daniel Lieberman and Katy Bowman talk about how species' evolution and their environments shape our movement. Movement is life; we evolved to move to survive. Think of all the micro and macro ways we move, what that movement might have been originally adapted for, how we use them now, and how we don’t use them. Fascinating stuff!
Movement is central not only to our survival but to our thriving and yet, as life and society have evolved for the majority of us, we are moving less and in fewer ways. We're still the same animals, but we're existing in very different times and moving (or not moving) in very different environments. We are outsourcing many of our movement opportunities to, as Lieberman describes them, labor saving devices. For most of us, food is abundant, highly-palatable and produced far away and transported to us. Cars and suburban sprawl have decreased our walking, and our work often takes place in front of a screen while seated at a desk. Where we used to have to move our bodies to survive; our basic needs are mostly an arms length or key stroke away. Now, to stay healthy and fit, we have to elect to engage in exercise.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines exercise as bodily exertion for the sake of developing and maintaining physical fitness. In his book, Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy, Lieberman provides an alternate definition for exercise - to cause alarm, anxiety or indignation in. In my experience, lots of folks feel exactly that way about exercise. They know they should be exercising. They may enjoy the after effect, but they don't particularly enjoy the experience. They may hate it all together, avoiding it completely.
No judgement here. In fact, challenge accepted! Let's start here: movement is part of who and what we are. Let's separate it from our perception of "something we have to do, but would rather not" and starting thinking about it as "something we were designed to do." Let's go further - there's a whole world of movement out there to explore and a lot of different reasons to do it! Be curious and don't stop trying new things and in new environments.
Walk, run, dance, golf, row a boat (cast line and catch a fish!), lift weights, take a yoga class, try tai chi, start a garden, go roller skating (wear pads and a helmet), pole vault, learn to play the drums. You're not too old, too inflexible or weak. Your mind is probably your biggest obstacle, or maybe your ego. Either way, the next time you see someone moving in a way that intrigues you, ask them how they got started and then, if necessary, work backward. I guarantee you this, there is ALWAYS an entry point. Also, you're not likely to be competing or performing (but what's stopping you?), so it's not about perfection. You may never actually pole vault, but you could probably learn to run and jump and experience some enormous benefits from doing so!
I really do believe that there is meaningful movement for everyone, and I love helping people connect moving their bodies to the physical health benefits as well as the mental health and social benefits. So, whether you're someone who hates the idea of exercising or someone who is already moving but looking for more variety and depth, I'd like to invite you to a class. I teach a variety of movement classes. Below is the weekly class schedule. I hope you can find some time to check out a class. I also have a couple of openings for 1:1 coaching in the movement of your choice. In the meantime, thank you so much for reading. I hope to see you in class soon or check out my youtube channel for yoga classes.
-Jennifer