The Pleasure of Mindful Movement

You might have added some kind of physical movement on your New Year’s resolutions list, even if you have unsubscribed from the diet culture’s exercise prescriptions. You might have already decided to find joy in moving your body this year and experiment with various types of activities to find the one that suits you best. If you have reached this stage in your anti-diet and weight-neutral self-care journey – congratulations!

Now, what?

Do you feel somewhat overwhelmed by all the options for movement activities out there? Do you have difficulties evaluating different types of activities? Are you unsure whether you have picked certain exercises because they are bringing you joy? Are you worried that you are perhaps still exercising to achieve your body-shape and size goals?

If so, read on.

Physical movement is a natural and instinctual need of all living organisms. Even single cell organisms will move towards potential food source, for example. Complex animals, including humans, have an in-built pleasure system that ensures that we not only move our body to pursue other goals (like aforementioned food), but also experience pleasure while moving our bodies. That’s why many of us can enjoy the serotonin highs after going for a run.

Sadly, in some cases the physical strain and pain caused by moving the body, may completely take away any joy or pleasure experienced because of the activity. In my case, any high intensity exercise unfortunately triggers a migraine, so I am avoiding running, HIIT, or similar movement options. It can take a while though to figure out what body movements may be unsafe for us. This is especially tricky if we have internalized the message “no pain – no game” and think that only uncomfortable movement will be beneficial.

Now, it may be true that for a professional athlete, pushing one’s limits (a little) is necessary to improve the results. However, for the health benefits, the pain experienced during or after exercise is not helpful – and can even be dangerous. If the strain or damage stops us from any future physical activity, how can it be beneficial to our overall wellbeing, right?

After experimenting with many various physical movement options in my weight-neutral self-care journey, I can offer you the following simple guidelines on how to assess which exercise is good for you in the long run. The below lists of questions are inspired by: Safe Exercise at Every Stage (SEES) guidelines.

Ask yourself first:

• Do you get or have any physical injuries, pain or illnesses resulting from this movement?
• Do you feel excessively tired or exhausted after completing the exercise?
• Do you have any issues with your sleep afterwards?
• Are you choosing this movement purely because it “burns” a lot of calories?
• Are you choosing not to eat nourishing meals or snacks before or after exercise in hope of “burning” more calories?

If you answer “yes” to any of the above questions, the exercise is unlikely to be beneficial in the long run. By not paying attention to the physical cues such as tiredness, pain, or hunger, you may cause more damage than gain benefits of being physically active.

Here’s a few more questions for you:

• Do you feel energized and rejuvenated in both your mind and body after the exercise?
• Do you feel more connected with your body, more able to feel into its signals and sensations afterwards?
• Do you feel more relaxed and less stressed after the chosen activity?
• Do you feel genuine joy and pleasure either during the activity of afterwards even without receiving any external rewards (such as improved fitness, improved run times or any other goals you might have set for yourself)?
• Are you adequately nourishing and hydrating your body before and after the exercise?

If you answer “yes” to the five questions above, you are on the right track. The physical movement option you are engaging in is very likely to be beneficial for your physical, mental, and emotional health. It may be useful to try out more activities to find ones that are meeting your personal goals even better!

There are as many movement goals as there are people and your movement preferences may be very different to mine. I might want to feel energized while you are looking for stress-reduction. I want to feel present in my body while you wish to increase your strength and flexibility. We all have our own values, goals and preferred movement activities.

If we treat the search for our favorite activity as a fun experiment guided by pleasure and mindfulness, we can satisfy our bodies’ primal needs for movement without any negative consequences. Let’s enjoy our exploration of all potential movement goals and ideas this year – and if you would like to explore them with me, get in touch.