Who else hates the thought of traditional exercise? What if I told you that there’s actual reasons why, aside from sheer laziness that you resist breaking a sweat on the treadmill or forcing squats with heavy weights? Lord knows, there are tons of options for getting a good workout in. What if the gym is just not the right place for you to get moving?

Beyond Laziness

There’s a connection between the stories we tell ourselves about our judgements around our body image, as well as chronic health conditions that make it next to impossible to gather up the will to do traditional exercise. Being “lazy” is an overused term for a much more complicated issue. Why is there heaviness? Let’s go there, instead, where root cause awareness will help us find real solutions instead of blaming symptoms.

Yoga is Not for Everyone

Yoga has long been a viable option for a gentler approach, but if you’re like me, you’ve gotten hurt by practicing poses you didn’t know weren’t safe until 12-24hours later. For people with chronic pain like arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, certain poses may feel fine in the moment, but suffer flare ups after the fact.

It’s frustrating to want to find an activity that feels right, I urge you to keep searching!

Learning to listen to our bodies is a challenge in these times where our focus is persistently shifting from one priority to the next. We seem to have very little, if any, downtime. I invite you to go a little deeper into why exercise is so very hard for so many.

Exercise Resistance

Exercise resistance is rooted in not feeling safe and comfortable in our own skin. People who have suffered physical or sexual abuse are especially susceptible to this, as pain or discomfort can be a trigger for old memories of distress. In today’s highly critical and perfectionistic culture, most of us have been shamed for moving in certain ways and our protective responses are to shut it down by going up into our heads (aka intellectualizing). We learn to live up in our heads and become disassociated from our bodies. We start to subconsciously believe that sensations are a threat. The good news is that there are ways to reconnect to the body without pain. Therefore, I invite you to explore conscious and mindful movement with me or find resources in your area.

In many studies including the National Institute of Health, gentle exercise is shown to reduce anxiety and depression, as well as relieves symptoms of fatigue and pain. When we start to do exercises that actually feel good with no pain whatsoever, it becomes a positive feedback loop. Now, if only we had the time!

Putting Ourselves on the Priority List

If you were to really take a full inventory of how your time is spent in a day, what amount of time do you think is focused on some form of escape, entertainment, or stress-relief? So many of us spend our time taking breaks using social media and “doom scrolling” because it takes no effort and stimulates the reward centers of the brain. The hardest part of any shift, is making the decision and taking action.

I invite you to try out a virtual movement session with me. Start out my just setting up a 15min chat and try out a mini-session. I can assure you the chances of you feeling better than before the call are almost certain. Drop the negative self-talk and start making your physical and mental health important.

You’ll be happy you did. 🙂

https://calendly.com/lisabethlent/15min

LB

PS. Stay tuned for upcoming Ecstatic Dances in the Danbury region! I’ll be offering them soon!