“Movement is the song of the body” Vanda Scaravelli.
This is one of my favourite quotes. It makes me think of freedom, flow, ease, even a sense of lightness around my body. The definition of movement is simply “a change from one position to another”. There is movement within us all the time, the rise and fall of the body as we breathe, the flow of blood around our body, our hair in the breeze, the blinking of the eyes. The body is always moving.
But of course that’s not what this piece is about. This is about the movement of the body as a whole, exploring the feelings that movement creates and the reasons that movement is a ideal tool for our daily self-care. Regular intentional movement boosts the happiness hormones, as well as easing stress and anxiety, and improving your physical health. Movement helps our energy levels, our sleep quality and encourages better food choices. Imagine if all those benefits where in a little capsule….you’d take it right!?
“Movement is medicine….”
…for the body, mind and spirit. There’s a freedom around the word movement, you can make your movement mindfully yours. For me movement outside, be it in nature, in the garden, by the sea, or walking down the street beats being indoors, but then that is just me. The additional benefits of being in fresh air or surrounded by nature have their own content for an article. Movement for me is a pleasure and a necessity, but if it’s not like that for you here are some ideas to encourage intentional movement into your daily life.
Encouraging daily movement
Practice gratitude for what your body allows you to do, for how it allows you to move. Also send gratitude to the parts of your body, you might not be quite so keen on, a gentle sorry for being so harsh!
Know that the more you move, the more you will move freely. If you don’t move, you’ll get better at not moving!
Introduce movement that encourages self expression! How freeing is this! Put on your favourite song, close you eyes and dance. Literally like no-one is watching. There is joy and smiling right there!
If you are craving connection as a basic human need, join a group, find like minded people to move with.
Take a daily walk.
Move away from your desk. Stretch, do squats, dance, start an office trend…..just don’t sit for hours on end, we are not made to sit!
Make it enjoyable. What will you look forward to?
How do you want to feel during movement? Imagine movement being like the flow of water, the gentle roll of the waves, the swaying of the trees in the breeze or the movement of the clouds in the sky. Your response to movement will be just like the ebbs and flows of movement, sometimes excited and free, and flow like, sometimes unmotivated, stiff and uncomfortable. But always of benefit, always growing, always singing the song of the body.