Is exercise a box to check off on your to-do list?

That’s great if having lists and routines help you organize and feel more accomplished in your life!

However, for many of us, if exercise is just an item to cross off the list, then it creates the impression that once you’ve done your activity, you’re done! Congratulations! You can ignore the needs of the body for the rest of the day! (sarcasm intended)… It’s kind of like eating a carrot and declaring you’ve had a day’s worth of nutrients.

Sadly, the body doesn’t really work that way. Movement inputs for the body are like oxygen - you need to breathe. Period. You also need to move regularly throughout the day, while including all the parts of your body, for them to maintain health.

How you move in your non-exercise time is just as important as what you do for exercise! It’s not only the volume of movement in time (1 hour of exercise vs. 23 hrs being sedentary), but it’s also the particular parts you may be under or over using in all those hours.

What parts are you thinking of now? Tight hips or hamstrings, low back pain, stiff feet or stiff neck… What parts are you accommodating or avoiding all together?

This may show up as something that prevents you from fully enjoying or excelling in your sport or activity of choice. You may even do physical therapy for those bothersome parts. But then what happens? What do those parts do the rest of the day?

The coolest potential with exercise, I think, is if we use it to become aware of how to move more of our bodies all of the time. What would it look like if we took what we learn on the mat and carried it with us into our lives?

Some people think I’m implying you do this - fancy, crazy things while walking down the street. And although that can be fun, what I really mean is something more like this:

Using simple movements to recognize the patterns of how you use your body, and find ways to bring balance in both mobility and stability. Learn to mobilize those parts that habitually get “sticky” and tight, and learn to stabilize those parts that are being over used or too stretched.

The accompanying picture is an example of some bolstering that may be needed at first when simply laying down on the ground. In this position, I’m learning about how the tightness of my hip flexors and lower back, as well as the curve in my upper spine and forward thrust of my head all contribute to discomfort in simply laying flat on the ground. The bolsters help to illuminate those issues as well as to correct them with time.

Simple awarenesses, simple-small moves of many parts, practiced throughout the day can keep you moving well and feeling free.

This is what I’ll be focusing on in the 1st session of On and Off the Mat: Moving with Alignment

A workshop series at Be Bhakti Yoga in Beacon, NY!

In this series we’ll use yoga poses as the template to illustrate how to move more of us both in the studio and out in life. The first session will focus on Savasana! Laying down on the ground. It’s going to be fun and perspective changing.

We’re meeting on Saturday, January 14th from 2-4pm

If you’re not in the Beacon area, you can also Zoom into it! Contact me for more info. Or sign up at the link below!