Three Priceless Gifts for Healthy Movement
Three Priceless Gifts for Healthy Movement
by Global Member, Laurie Hunt
Three Priceless Gifts for Healthy Movement
A couple years ago, my back went into a spasm while taking a pan out of the oven. I could barely stand up and walking was painful. I’m always talking about how important it is to move. I’m always moving. And yet I couldn’t move. I was distressed, unhappy and in a big pout for the first half of the day. “Why me? Why today? On my birthday?” I realized this attitude was not serving me in any way so I decided to let it go and instead asked the same questions from the perspective of being really curious. Here are the three priceless ‘birthday gift’ reminders about moving that I received as a result.
1. Be Grateful For The Ability To Move
Curiosity sparked the awareness of how fortunate I am to be able to move freely and how privileged my able-bodied point of view was to be whining and pouting because I couldn’t move on my birthday. What about the people who are in pain every day? Who cannot move about freely? Those who require assistance, who are in wheelchairs, use walkers or are bedridden?
Once I adopted a curious point of view and let go of feeling sorry for myself, I started to feel better. Seems uncanny but it was as if the energy in my body was able to flow more freely once I released my negative focus. And my back improved rapidly.
2. Maintain Daily Practices That Support Movement And Aid Healing
Two days after my back troubles started, I was able to go for a 45 minute run pain-free. Up and down hills and stairs and feeling fantastic. How could I go from immobile to moving freely in just two days? I believe it is my daily practices which include yoga, eating well and moving. My body knew where it wanted to get back to and knew how to get there.
Surprisingly I was able to continue with my yoga practice without pain. I moved slowly and did not force any postures, letting my body decide how far it wanted to move or stretch. Moving was natural for my body and it was as if it was gravitating back to movement.
Thoughtful food choices, yoga, movement, gratitude – all these activities help reduce cortisol levels. High and chronic cortisol levels contribute to inflammation which underlines the necessity for these daily practices to stay healthy and heal when needed.
3. Listen To Your Body and Learn From Its Wisdom
I became active as a runner almost 30 years ago. During the first 15 years, I suffered many injuries, some that took me away from running for months at a time. The upside of experiencing these injuries is that I learned a lot about my body—how it works, what causes injury and what it needs to heal.
With this back incident, the pain was travelling from my lower back into my right side and I could tell there was something wonky in my right hip and glute area. I had the knowledge to know how to work out these muscles and bring my hips back into alignment. As one of my favourite running writers, George Sheehan said, “Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.” I want to be active throughout my entire life and so taking care of my body is a priority.
Three Priceless Gifts For Healthy Movement - Recap
Use it or lose it the saying goes. And when it comes to your physical health, nothing could be truer.
1. Do not take your movement for granted. You never know what might happen to limit your mobility so be grateful every day for being able to move.
2. Establish daily practices for a healthy body. Pay attention to what you eat. Learn about food. It is medicine when consumed with awareness and intention. Incorporate yoga, tai chi or other movement practices that support overall body awareness, strength and flexibility.
3. Move your body and be a good student to its wisdom. Get active. Move your body regularly to build your natural self-repair mechanisms. Learn to pay attention to what it’s telling you. Like anything you pay attention to, you start to pick up on the nuances and can develop an intuitive understanding.
Your body is a priceless gift. Move it. Nourish it. Make good use of it or it will lose its capacity to perform for you over the long term. Treat it like the temple it is – the home for your heart and soul.