The Mindful Mover 

Can mindfulness improve the way you move? 

You are only as young as your spine is flexible This quote from Pilates founder Joseph Pilates is a great reference to remind us that we move for a multiple level of reasons and benefits throughout our lifetime. To keep healthy, to stay calm, to prevent injury and above all, to offer the body the best chance to stay young and feeling alive. 

In this blog I am going to offer you a new perspective on how to approach your relationship with your body and invite you to stay fit, in a diverse and satisfying way. 

Movement and mindfulness 

The Oxford dictionary definition of movement is, an act of moving the body or part of the body. The definition of mindfulness is a mental state achieved by concentrating on the present moment while calmly accepting the feelings and thoughts that come to you used as a technique to help you relax.

Independent of each other, mindfulness and movement are complementary to our wellbeing. However, when both disciplines are applied together in a conscious manner, the benefits are elevated. Paradigm shifts can occur for individuals which lead them through personal growth spurts and a greater understanding of self-acceptance.

Work smarter not harder 

We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf Jon Kabat-Zinn

The mindful mover proactively makes healthy lifestyle decisions over three main arenas of wellbeing; self-education, the long view and illness prevention. They make a dedication to themselves to learn and discover how to function better and also how to listen to their own bodies’ needs. 

The first step is to understand how the body functions. Sharon George, a mindfulness and yoga teacher, explains that challenges will most certainly arise in our lives. And through practices like mindfulness and meditation, there is an effective and beneficial transformative way to affect change, healing and growth. This in turn helps us to understand the challenges and waves in our lives.

Many of us move all day long without any conscious thoughts of how we are moving. Why is it important to know how you move? It creates a deeper sense of awareness between you and your body. As you begin to put this awareness at the driving seat of your mind, you build a stronger and more balanced relationship towards what is right for you and in equal measures what truly motivates you. 

The impact that this plays in your life is vital to adopting the long view approach to movement. You begin to pay less attention to the superficial motivators like what you look like and how much weight you have lost and instead pay more attention to how movement makes you feel, how it improves your health, how it reduces injury, and how it releases stress. With precision, care and kindness you can become fitter with less exertion and more precision. 

The Benefits of Moving 

Your body is always working for you. Homeostasis is the body’s drive to keep the internal conditions in the same state. Whatever you throw at the body, it tries its very best to get you back into balance or homeostasis. The mindful mover is excellent at stepping aside and letting their body teach them what it needs. 

Varying factors affect our ability to move, including age, injury, pregnancy, stress, menopause to name a few. The body also undergoes hormonal changes constantly which can have an unexpected impact on the results of our efforts. There are no rights or wrongs! We can all move! We can all meditate!

Mindfulness is at the core of a peaceful and fulfilling life - Osho

Somewhere along the line in our ancestry, active resting (such as the savasana pose practiced at the end of a yoga session) has deemed to be less important than the physical work. When we rest in this way, we are teaching the body to integrate and absorb all the learnings from the physical activity. The body then becomes conditioned to remember new and healthier patterns. And the parasympathetic part of our nervous system, responsible for rest and digestion, can bring the body back to balance. 

A client of mine wanted to lose weight she had gained after breaking her foot which left her immobile for 3 months. She had been trying for a year with no physical results just a decline in her motivation and self-esteem. Once she understood that her stress levels where too high and she was producing too much cortisol in her body, she mindfully vowed to give up the diet and gym plan and turned to Pilates and Yoga. When her stress levels had reduced, she started to feel more balanced and then began to naturally lose weight.

If we focus on the problem, we are only ever fed back to the problem. Let go and rise above this and you will begin the steps to practising becoming a mindful mover helping you to balance your hormones, perceptions, negative conditioning and bring your body back to an optimal state of health. 

Your body is amazing - it is worth looking after it. 

Whatever your physical practice ritual is then make it varied. Vary the styles! Vary the music you listen to! Vary the teachers! Most importantly vary the language you adopt in association to your movement practise! The one person who is always listening to you is you! The unconscious mind responds with the instructions it is given therefore we must make sure we programme it with information which is relevant and benefits our health in a positive manner. 

When you choose activities which motivate you, you begin to move with awareness. This  keeps your mind present and allows your body to move at its optimal for that day. And in that exact moment making you are the mindful mover. So, whether you choose to be a mindful mover with joy in your feet at a salsa class, or to sweat it out in a hot yoga class or to running a marathon, bring balance to your body always by programming and teaching it to perform and rest in an intelligent and proactive way. 

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