What is Joyful Movement? 🏋️
I remember a time where the word “joyful” and “movement” didn’t feel grammatically correct in the same sentence.
There was a period of my life when the buzzing voice of diet culture had its volume waaaay up. You know, the constant nagging of: “you need to exercise every single day to be healthy” and “you need to work-out hard”, or “if you want to eat XYZ you have to workout today” for the *insert unrealistic body rule/ideal/social construct*. Ew, cringey times.
And let’s be real, the way I interacted with movement those days left no, no, NO room for joy.
Shall I paint the picture we all know too well? The sweaty, crowded, stinky, brightly lit gym. The Disneyland length lines for a medieval guillotine-like machine that left me in a painful pretzel. The mirrors on mirrors on the wall, watching you, watching me watching you👀.
And let’s not forget the LOOOUUD diet culture brain chatter that equally said “you need to exercise for this, this, and this reason” while equally feeling the guilt of “oh how embarrassing you haven’t been back in *insert number* of days/weeks/years and it probably won’t ‘stick’ this time either!!”.
So… joyful, no. Hell-ish, very.
Fast forward to a place where I am SO thankful for the pioneers of the anti-diet and joyful movement… movements. They’ve helped me navigate my relationship with movement as one that is possible to be filled with much more satisfaction, gratitude, and yes, joy!
So how can we move (ha) from movement being a chore/bore/sore into a means of connecting to our bodies and minds, connecting to nature, and tapping into true joy?
HEY THERE, *INSERT MOVEMENT RULE*
Similar to challenging our diet-culture food rules, it can be really empowering to acknowledge and get curious about the movement rules we’ve sponged-up and held onto throughout our lives.
For example, one of my “where the heck did you come from?!” movement rules that I held onto tightly in my diet-culture days was…
“I need to workout for at least 1 hour for this to ‘count’.”
Um… say what?
From this one little rule, I created a blanket of all or nothing behaviors around what is classified as “enough” movement.
A study conducted by Harvard Psychologist Ellen Langer on the impact of mindset on exercise and the placebo effect on hotel maids in NY highlights how this rule can easily show up unconsciously.
These hotel maids, who far exceeded the U.S. surgeon general's “recommendation for daily exercise”, didn’t consider their time spent cleaning, walking, and lugging heavy equipment around endless hallways as “working out”.
When the informed group was TOLD their daily work activities were considered exercise, their perception ALONE changed their health! The study showed that just changing how people think about their physical activity (aka: letting people know that moving their body in any way is us actively being... active) can have tangible effects on health outcomes.
We talk more about this in our Joyful Movement Guest Expert Workshop hosted by Wendy, founder of Joyful Inclusive Movement (JIM)!
Now, I know annnnytime I move my body (even if it’s getting up from my couch to make a snack in the kitchen) IS considered movement! An exercise snack if you will!
Why? Because movement literally consists of the activation of muscles or muscle groups in order to move a part of the body through space. Period.
You heard it here:
There’s no moral timeline or set intensity needed in order for movement to be considered “real” movement. Any change in any part of the body from this position to that position is inherently MOVEMENT!
FINDING JOYFUL MOVEMENT IN YOUR LIFE
Now let’s talk about the fun part, or the other half of this movement equation: J O Y!
After many years, or possibly even decades of engaging with movement from a place or fear or obligation, it can feel hard to connect with it from a place of joy. Here are a few tools to get you started as you begin exploring your relationship with joyful movement.
Reconnect with what once felt joyful.
It might be helpful to take a trip back in time and reflect on the ways you experienced movement as a kid.
🧘🏼♀️Take a few minutes and reflect on the ways you moved your body joyfully as a child
(climbing trees, jumping, running unabashed until you were out of breath, or a slow walk picking up little treasures you found)
What activities do you think you could do that connect you back to that feeling of joy?
Check in with yourself as you try these activities and notice if your body is giving you a yes or a no.
Is there anything that might help that form of movement feel more like a yes?
For example, one of my client’s shared that swinging, hula-hooping, and twirling around were the childhood activities that brought her joy. We noted that all of these things involved swaying, they didn’t feel competitive, and provided her some regenerative alone time. From there, we identified activities that might recreate these experiences as an adult (spoiler alert: swinging, hula-hooping, and twirling all made the list!), which then opened the door for her to experiment and reconnect with joyful movement in a new and meaningful way.
Rediscover what you really like.
As adults, we are taught what ways we should move our bodies, regardless of how these things make us feel.
Often, the “acceptable” forms of movement tend to be very structured, repetitive, specific, and in some cases, even boring, uncomfortable, or exhausting. While these traits aren't necessarily bad things in and of themselves, there are other characteristics of movement that can be motivating, sustainable, and life-giving, which often get overlooked.
So, take a second and ask yourself...
What do you really truly enjoy when it comes to food and movement?
What do you feel in your body when you are connecting with joy?
What needs (play, connection, challenge, etc.) are being met when you engage in different types of movement, and what needs do you want to meet through movement?
OUR TRIED-AND-TRUE TIPS TO TAP INTO JOYFUL MOVEMENT
So now that you have some tools for identifying what types of movement might bring you joy, here are some additional tips and tools to help you connect with joyful movement in the moment. Give ‘em a go and see if it sparks joy in your movement too!
The “Take 10” TIP
An object in motion (our brain) wants to stay in motion, right?
When I get the nudge that my body and mind need to switch jobs, I let the feet do the walking and the brain do the… resting.
Buuuut, of course, this is easier said than done *cut to me in a mental fit of a racing brain while I’m moving in beautiful nature for the first time all day*.
Let me now introduce my “Take 10” TIP:
Offer yourself a mind, body, soul permission slip that allows for the first 10 minutes of any outdoor activity to be filled with thought and little to no presence.
This tip is an acceptance that moving from a cerebral day full of screens on screens on screens will inevitably take some time to transition into the presence of movement.
So be gentle in those first 10 minutes and allow the transition of brain momentum to take some time to slow down.
Ideas for sloooowing down the brain:
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Listen to a song that brings down the tempo in your brain.
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Find and hold a rock or leaf or herb or flower for extra sensory grounding.
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Take 3-5 deeeeep breaths to oxygenate the bod and breathe in presence. Just keep breathing.
