Body

“Love the way you move

Throughout this site, you will hear me talk about the interconnectedness of everything. The gut, mind, body and soul feed each other, so when one is out of balance, it throws the rest out. Each of these potential happiness-pods affects how we think and feel because each release signals that let us know if something is out of whack. How do we receive these messages?

Through our feelings.

Most physical symptoms first began as a thought.

Our thoughts get converted by the body into hormones which make up our biochemistry. This biochemistry becomes our blood which feeds our body.

In a practical sense it works like this…say you go to a social gathering and you have a wonderful experience, your thoughts are filled with enthusiasm, your body produces the appropriate hormones like serotonin and endorphins, and so your body learns to associate social gatherings with pleasure.

In reverse, perhaps your first experience was horrible, you had thoughts of escape and withdrawal so felt tense, stressed and irritated. Your body produces adrenaline which results in the production of the stress hormone, cortisol. Your body has learned that social situations are dangerous so it needs to activate the fight or flight response for you..

This in itself is not too damaging, but say you go home and replay these thoughts, your body won’t know you are no longer at the event, and will continue to produce the appropriate hormones for you.

The next time you go to a social gathering your body will assist you in whichever way you have programmed it. If it was pleasurable, just the thought of the next party will have your body tingling with excitement or if it was stressful, you will be riddled with discomfort.

 

UNCONSCIOUS EMBODIMENT

Prolonged exposure to these thoughts lead to “unconscious embodiment” …meaning, you won’t understand why, but your anxiety of social situations will seem to have escalated, even though not every outing was that bad. And no matter how much you want to change your feelings about social events, whenever the topic comes up, it seems to send you spiraling.

This is because you have moved conscious thought from your thinking mind into your body which is now running on autopilot making it nearly impossible to change. Your body is now running the show telling you how to feel.

Repeated stress hormones on the body lead to a lowering of the immune system which ultimately leads to fatigue and then illness. It is no wonder that emotions such as depression set in. Such a dis-empowering feeling to think you can’t control how you feel.

This is what Harvard has to say;

“Vast scientific literature has detailed how negative emotions harm the body. Serious, sustained stress or fear can alter biological systems in a way that, over time, adds up to “wear and tear” and, eventually, illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Chronic anger and anxiety can disrupt cardiac function by changing the heart’s electrical stability, hastening atherosclerosis, and increasing systemic inflammation”.

Source: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/happiness-stress-heart-disease/

Bruce Lipton, ex Harvard lecturer and founder of stem cell research, epigenetics and author of The Biology of Belief, describes how his research led him to uncover conclusive evidence that our emotions drive our genetic makeup. Simply put, you can create your body’s health or sickness purely by thought alone – https://www.brucelipton.com/ 

Right now, you may be thinking “oh boy”, too much! But, in reality, this information is liberating because it means that by altering the way you think about things, you can make remarkable changes to your body. 

I provide many tools throughout this site to assist with improving your thoughts and emotions. Moving your body and powerful visualisation techniques allow you to consciously give the body a different experience. Flooding your body with good feeling hormones will  literally change who you are at a cellular level.

Harvard health describes a biological cascade of events that results in many health benefits, such as protecting against heart disease and diabetes, improving sleep, and lowering blood pressure. The improvement in brain function makes you feel better. “In people who are depressed, neuroscientists have noticed that the hippocampus in the brain—the region that helps regulate mood—is smaller. Exercise supports nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, improving nerve cell connections, which helps relieve depression,” explains Dr. Miller.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/exercise-is-an-all-natural-treatment-to-fight-depression

“You should only ever follow inspired movement”

As with diet, in my practice, I don’t prescribe a set “application” for exercise. Moving is a personal experience. What lights one person up can send another into hiding. The goal is to locate the body’s emotional or physical resistances and then find an enjoyable, achievable outlet for release.

Any kind of movement or energy release into the body is of great benefit, but when your mood has gone to extremes so you are experiencing anxiety, depression or physical pain, it is best to start in the other areas of gut, mind and soul. Once you have lightened your physical or emotional body from pressure, you will feel the inspiration to move. 

Tips for bringing movement into your life 

 

What do you love? 

Getting to know yourself is crucial in this exercise (pun intended). If you’re struggling with feelings associated with depression and anxiety, then trying to push yourself into fast, vigorous exercise is never going to get you out of bed. But you might be enticed into deep, slow breathing (like yin yoga) which will get you to connect to your body and calm the mind. Similarly, if you experience anxiety related symptoms then doing slow, calm movements may only exacerbate these feelings because it allows more time to think. Therefore, more vigorous workouts will help to shake out all that intense energy already circulating, as well as distract your mind from thinking. The result; a calmer body and mind.

Now, that still doesn’t mean you need to sign up for cross-fit. Vigorous for you may mean a fast walk, salsa dancing, lawn bowls, or bootcamp style exercises using objects in your house.

Another important factor is whether you most enjoy training with others or in the seclusion of your home. Once you know what you love you will find it easier to come up with ways to do it.

Most importantly – change the WHY

Make exercising about changing the way you feel. Notice how you are getting stronger or fitter. Enjoy moving your body and don’t push past enjoyment. If you make moving about the pleasure of it you will always come back for more.

Here are some of my fav workout ideas…

 

FREE personal training in your home – YouTube:  

This is number one on my list for good reason… Whatever you feel like doing you will find here…dance, stronger tummy, ballet, cardio, stretch, fat blasting, muscle building, Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi. If you can think of it, you can find it.

Start by putting in the search field the name of the activity you want along with the amount of time you’re willing to do and hey presto you will find options perfect for your mood and timeframe.

Search items to consider; activity, time, difficulty, equipment or no equipment Example; full body workout 30 minutes beginners no equipment

Some of my personal favourite trainers are; The Body Coach TV (short HIIT workouts), Betty Rocker (short less intense HIIT), Tracey Anderson (cardio and long lean muscle tone), Sean Vigue (full body fabulousness with stretching, easy to hard), Five parks yoga (all types from beginners to advance), Yin yoga (restorative practice), GymRa (full body workouts, muscle and cardio).

I very rarely do more than 15 or 20 minutes of high intensity exercises anymore. And my month is never consistent, some weeks I’ll workout 3 times, and other weeks I’ll only stretch. Through my recent experience (see blog post “where have I been”), I will never again push myself to exercise if I don’t feel like it.

I need to love how I move!!

 

Blast that music:  

You will condition yourself to feel good and want to exercise when you hear motivating music. Your brain will start to associate those awesome tracks with feeling good so all you’d need to do is play the tune and you’ll want to work out. 

Trick yourself:  

I do this ALL the time. When I want to exercise but don’t feel I have the energy, I’ll either sit a visualise me doing the moves and feeling amazing, or start with something easy so my body warms up, my energy improves and I feel like doing it. 

Think outside the box:  

You don’t need to do traditional exercise. Why not take up something you’ve always fancied doing. Ever wanted to horse ride, ballroom dance, take up martial arts… There’re millions of ways to move PLUS you’d be ticking a bucket list item. A guaranteed happiness inducer 😉 

Clean the house:  

Isn’t it amazing what a mood booster cleaning is! And usually if you do it at speed it does work up a bit of a sweat. This may be enough for you or it may be just what you needed to warm up, then head straight into a quick workout, and you’re done, PLUS you get to look around afterwards with satisfaction. Cranking the music is a great way to get your juices flowing. 

Buy a membership:  

This used to be my all-time favourite because going to the gym meant I didn’t have to think. I’d just turn up and have someone else push me to great music. But if the expense is going to put pressure on you, or having the membership feels more like pressure then don’t do it. There are plenty of ways to move. 

Start up your own class: 

Since having kids and being a single mum with a business, going to the gym became difficult. So instead I have a group of friends who join me once or twice a week, and we do our workout together at home. It’s a great way to get you motivated because you can buoy each other on while finding cool, exciting exercises you all feel like doing.

Visualisation techniques:

As I have mentioned, you don’t need to move at all. It’s all about shifting the energy that gets stored in the body. There are many techniques I will share via my blogs or Youtube channel. But the most powerful one I use works with the Earth Energy and Cosmic Energy. As a basic description; visualise the earth energy coming up through your legs and pooling into your base chakra, then back down your earthing cord. Then bring the Cosmic energy down through your your soul star chakra down the spine and back up through your middle, overflowing out through your crown. This simple exercise will revitalise your body, mind and whole energy system.

Feel your way through this one, and if you need some help, you can always try a free, no obligation, assessment to look at your goals.

Sessions

Free, no obligation, assessment

Kind words

Contact