So often we are sold this idea that being in shape requires hard work. We have to drag ourselves to some challenging class to work out. I don't buy that and have done it quite another way. I tried those things of hard, grueling activities earlier in life. But once I met the Masters from the Himalayas and they educated me on energy and my body, all changed. No more of this "hard" for my body. Wahoo!
One thing they taught me was to have a positive connection with my body. If I was doing anything against it, pushing it beyond, beating on it or being mean with my self talk, it would not cooperate and produce the results I wanted. That was a huge revelation. How many of us honor this great sacred vessel with our talk, our way we work with it, how we support it? That is no where in the regimes I learned. So I thought, "let me give this a try."
The basis of this is we do have this lovely body, an innate health system that has its own consciousness. It beats our heart, digests our food and truly handles the functions of life without our mind being involved. I never really looked at it that way as a basic self that really runs our physicality. It requires little from us to heal our cuts, fix our wounds. So I began to see this part of myself in a greater light and try to shift how I treated this animal self. Yoga calls it "the horse on which we ride".
One of the ways to honor this part of us, other than to be kind with our thoughts and thankful toward it, is to enjoy the experience we have in the body in movement. For woman especially, the way we play in it was paramount that we felt good, beautiful and enjoy our experience. Not pushing it or berating it or wondering why it is not doing what we want. This also was a "aha" in my thinking. For no pain no gain is the way of working out.
Further still, woman need flowing movements, not repetitious, patterned movements. I know many will say I am wrong and that is fine. Keep doing what you like and see how that works for you. To get our bodies balanced from our adrenal stress, we need a slower, fluid pace and vibration to balance our efficient way we operate in 99% of life. We can do this with our "workout", adjust the nervous system toward the oxytocin buzz which floods our system in healing and calm rejuvenation. We also remind our system, if we use flowing, dance like movement, of the state our feminine bodies are to be operating in. It will begin to recreate this with out our thinking. This pace is different than the march like movement men thrive in.
When we move in ways that feel good, relaxing, letting go, playful, we are creating health in our bodies. When we move in hard ways, ways that we don't like, we are continuing the stress that we are seeking to release. If you work out hard enough, you will relieve stress but you will do it though exhaustion rather than pleasure. Our bodies like pleasure. We don't get it many places so in our fitness play is the most efficient strategy. Pleasure sets up our healing parasympathetic nervous system to do its job of rebuilding, rejuvenating and renewing our energy.
The eastern arts and dance in free form ways offer this flowing, smooth feel that woman's bodies are calling for. When we are done, we feel good in our body. Not exhausted or overstressed but grounded and loving the experience of moving in it. Enjoying our body, with its look and limitation, gently playing with it to see its ways. This is how I learned to work with my girlie body toward healing, beauty and shape. It is an honoring rather than a "working out". It has a vibe of enjoyment.
In this new year, if you want sustainable health and beauty of your body, find ways to play with it. Use outdoors play as part of your physical enjoyment. We don't have to have a regimen to find health in our body. Its all about movement in pleasure, bringing in oxygen to clear our systems and enjoying our physicality. The emotions have to be into it. We will actually do things we enjoy so they become a habit. It should release our mind and have no negative self talk about our performance. Woman need to bring chill and calm to their bodies for health. It is the only way out of adrenal stress. I know a playful fitness routine does that easily.
When you understand how to work with this basic self or body deva as I call it, you will find a way of health that stays with you. You will enjoy it. You will feel the health and healing of it and your body will provide results that are beyond your expectations! You begin treating it with honor and working with it. It is here to serve you but you must cooperate with it, listen to it and do things that support and honor its way. It is a no brainer. It works better than all the hard core things I did in my life. It ends up supporting you in eating properly, in getting rest, all the things that we are lacking. It is the innate health system we already have.
I am teaching a Woman's Health and Beauty Class January 17th, 7-8:30pm. This will awaken you to a yoga of health that you are seeking. It is graceful, much easier than we were taught. I also am teaching a Dance Your Way to A Beautiful Body in January 26th at 7pm. These two will set you up for not only this year of health but for your lifetime. You will find the ways to enjoy your beauty and movement that stick and work for you. All principles can be applied to any movement or class you enjoy.
Truly it is about understanding your body in the proper way. How it operates with energy, movement and renewal and then using these principles. It is easy for we are woman and being healthy and beautiful is natural for us. We just never learned properly. These ideas will transform your life and your body!
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Lyn Hicks, Health and Beauty Mentor, Educator and Event Coordinator at The Room At Meadowbrook
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