Inspiration
What is your motivation to keep moving? To keep yoga-ing? To keep exercising? I was thinking about this as I laid down for sleep last night, once again, about two hours later than I should have been. I usually get up at 6am to work out a minimum of 5 days a week. Some days its to go teach, others to go to various gyms for a specific style of workout, but each weekday, the alarm blares at 6am and the only thing that gets me out of bed is motivation. I never considered myself a morning person, and it is not the pure joy of wanting to start the day the wakes me at 6, but the drive to keep moving.
When I don’t exercise, I am not a happy person. I am irritable, sluggish, and have trouble sleeping. I wasn’t always this way though. For many years, before I began to exercise regularly, not exercising was fine. It was the status quo and my body accepted it as such. Our bodies crave routine, both physical and fuel wise. Eat something out of the ordinary and your digestive system will let you know. Spend a day on your feet moving? Your lower body will be sure you know that it didn’t like that. Our physiology is set up to give us signals regarding the operation of our body – you move quickly and you breathe heavier to keep up with the demands of your body. Regular movement just pushes the limit of your body’s capabilities a bit further. Instead of being out of breath at floor 2, you can make it up to the 4th floor (taking the stairs, of course), while maintaining a conversation and hardly breaking a sweat. This is being fit.
Or is it? Could it be that this making an effort to move regularly is simply choosing not to settle for a sedentary lifestyle? Yes, there are day when I do not want to get out of bed, and there are days where I stay there. But each morning that I do make it into the gym, yoga studio, or out in nature, is a day where I stand taller, walk lighter, and feel better about myself, both physically and emotionally.
Movement and exercise are not about fitting into you LBD for that hot party you plan on going to next month. It’s about bettering yourself for today, and ensuring you will be here for tomorrow. Our bodies were made to move. It has only been in the last 80 years or so that being sedentary was accepted. There were no drive thru’s, no cup holders to stow your Big Gulp, and schedules were not so jam packed that weekends were for gardening and spending time with the family. Things have changed. And so we need to make more of an effort to move each day. It is not about having the time; it is about making the time. It is about getting your butt out of your seat regularly during the day so you can get water, go pee, or stretch. Even if you don’t have the time for a 60-minute workout, I am sure you have a few 10-minute breaks during the day, or even 6-minute breaks. And if you don’t – I highly recommend you create some, for your own sanity. Living a sedentary lifestyle is not normal for your body, even if has been the MO for the last XX years. Do something nice for yourself and move today, and tomorrow, and next week.
So what are you waiting for? Get moving…
What is your motivation to keep moving? To keep yoga-ing? To keep exercising? I was thinking about this as I laid down for sleep last night, once again, about two hours later than I should have been. I usually get up at 6am to work out a minimum of 5 days a week. Some days its to go teach, others to go to various gyms for a specific style of workout, but each weekday, the alarm blares at 6am and the only thing that gets me out of bed is motivation. I never considered myself a morning person, and it is not the pure joy of wanting to start the day the wakes me at 6, but the drive to keep moving.
When I don’t exercise, I am not a happy person. I am irritable, sluggish, and have trouble sleeping. I wasn’t always this way though. For many years, before I began to exercise regularly, not exercising was fine. It was the status quo and my body accepted it as such. Our bodies crave routine, both physical and fuel wise. Eat something out of the ordinary and your digestive system will let you know. Spend a day on your feet moving? Your lower body will be sure you know that it didn’t like that. Our physiology is set up to give us signals regarding the operation of our body – you move quickly and you breathe heavier to keep up with the demands of your body. Regular movement just pushes the limit of your body’s capabilities a bit further. Instead of being out of breath at floor 2, you can make it up to the 4th floor (taking the stairs, of course), while maintaining a conversation and hardly breaking a sweat. This is being fit.
Or is it? Could it be that this making an effort to move regularly is simply choosing not to settle for a sedentary lifestyle? Yes, there are day when I do not want to get out of bed, and there are days where I stay there. But each morning that I do make it into the gym, yoga studio, or out in nature, is a day where I stand taller, walk lighter, and feel better about myself, both physically and emotionally.
Movement and exercise are not about fitting into you LBD for that hot party you plan on going to next month. It’s about bettering yourself for today, and ensuring you will be here for tomorrow. Our bodies were made to move. It has only been in the last 80 years or so that being sedentary was accepted. There were no drive thru’s, no cup holders to stow your Big Gulp, and schedules were not so jam packed that weekends were for gardening and spending time with the family. Things have changed. And so we need to make more of an effort to move each day. It is not about having the time; it is about making the time. It is about getting your butt out of your seat regularly during the day so you can get water, go pee, or stretch. Even if you don’t have the time for a 60-minute workout, I am sure you have a few 10-minute breaks during the day, or even 6-minute breaks. And if you don’t – I highly recommend you create some, for your own sanity. Living a sedentary lifestyle is not normal for your body, even if has been the MO for the last XX years. Do something nice for yourself and move today, and tomorrow, and next week.
So what are you waiting for? Get moving…
