Do it a little differently
Happy New Year!
I am so grateful for so many events in this past year, including getting certified as a Restorative Exercise Specialist from the Nutritious Movement Institute, to a renewed commitment to exploring the outdoors, to expanded classes at Inwood Movement, Hanuman Health Club, and the Pilates House. And so much more to be grateful for!
As the new year approaches, I'm looking ahead to a theme or a manifesto that may guide me into this next year. And although there are many topics I would like to include, as far as my movement and teaching practices go, I think it is to rethink our cultural norms and choose habits, movements, and lifestyles that will enhance health and enjoyment of life instead of damage them. So many of our physical problems come from conforming to a culture that did not develop with our best interests in mind, and so we stand, walk, sit, dress, eat, sleep, and even exercise in ways that are slowly diminishing our health and enjoyment of life. And on top of that, we tend to do all those activities in the same way ALL the time! And so, after evaluating an activity, if there is a phrase or mantra I'll most likely come back to it will simply be "to do (fill in the blank) differently":
- Sit differently
- stand differently
- exercise differently
- manage my screen time differently
- plan for this year differently
A little secret belief I hold is... if you vary all the ways you move in your life, you don't actually have to go to the gym. If you stack your life (a phrase and teaching I learned from Katy Bowman), you can essentially build in all the movement/exercise you need! And yet, I teach movement classes in studios and gyms... But more and more, I'm offering principles and guidance on how to move more of your body, better, and with more skill and efficiency. So the purpose of coming to class isn't just to get a workout and feel tired. The purpose becomes empowerment. Empowerment to move counter to the culture and be healthy and free to pursue your life.
For Example...
Prepare food differently: Adding squatting to my cooking postures
What's your focus for this coming year? I'd love to hear from you!