Happy New Year and Welcome to Week 3!

                                     This week we will be talking about Mindful Movement! 

With Mindful Movement we aim to bring our full attention to the present moment and experience the here and now. We bring our awareness and focus on our breath or the way our body feels as it moves. Mindful movement helps us nourish our body by stretching, strengthening and toning, or even just by paying attention and bringing awareness to how our body feels. But we can also use mindful movement to elevate our emotional wellness. As we have learned over these last few weeks- practicing mindfulness we can shift the activity of our autonomic nervous system which influences reactions like our heart rate, blood pressure and fight-or-flight responses. This means that mindful movement can give us access to shift our emotions and moods from the outside - in. 

Many of my clients experience challenges with their relationship with exercise and moving their body. Many of them have a tendency to avoid exercise, view exercise as a way to "make up" for eating "bad foods", and struggle with the all-or-nothing mentality of doing strenuous workouts daily or nothing at all. I have heard from them how exercising isn't something they enjoy doing much less look forward to it in their day. One of the things I work on then is to shift the concept of "exercise" to Mindful Movement. By finding a way of moving that feels good for your body and is enjoyable, you can transform your relationship with exercise, develop more consistency with moving your body, and reap all the benefits of exercising. Instead of simply working out to master a skill or build muscles, you can move and breathe in a way that shifts you from feeling busy and distracted to feeling strong and capable.

Joyful movement is an approach to exercise that focuses on moving your body in a fun way that feels good for your unique body and transforming your mentality with exercise from something you "have " to do to something that you look forward to doing because it helps you feel your best! The truth is you can bring mindfulness to ANY type of workout by being present and connected to your body as you move. You can find anchors for your attention in the motion of your movement. Maybe it's the point when your right hand enters the water while you swim, or the contact of your feet on the pavement as you run. Weight lifters might use the up-and-down repetition of a barbell. The point is to harmonize your mind and your body ... within this connection you will find power and joy. 

Journal Prompt:

To start this week off use this time to explore your relationship with movement. Make a list of exercises that you have explored in the past. What did you enjoy about the movement? Identify any obstacles that you encountered that might have presented challenges or cause you to change your course. 

Are there any activities that you have thought about trying but haven't? Identify the roadblocks and brain storm ways to work around them. 

Welcome to 2024 my friends, I am so thankful that you are along side me on this journey to health and wellness! 

I'll see you back tomorrow for a Mobility workout video!

Much love,

Katie