What is Joyful Movement?

What is Joyful Movement?

You may be wondering, what is joyful movement? Perhaps you have seen the term on social media or online. Simply put, joyful movement is a different way of approaching exercise. It doesn't emphasize exercise as a compulsory activity for burning calories. It emphasizes moving your body because it makes you feel good, and finding movement that brings you joy so that you will stick to it.

Have you ever started an exercise routine that you really dreaded doing? It's not easy to stick with a form of movement if it's something you really hate. For example, if you hate running, find an alternative that brings you joy. Maybe you like the idea of being outside but running is not enjoyable. Try hiking or cycling outdoors instead!

Often a problem that occurs with people and exercise is that we lose sight of what we actually love doing because we are made to feel that we need to do some kind of specific "workout" in order to change our bodies. One question my own dietitian had posed to me once was: "If XYZ movement wouldn't change your body at all, would you still do it?" That question really made me think. Honestly there are some kinds of movement I don't enjoy. For example, I really HATE running on a treadmill. Honestly, the only time I use my treadmill is if I am specifically training for a race and the weather is bad (I will get a little more in to this further down in the post.) I don't particularly enjoy team sports like basketball or football. I'm also not much of a swimmer, which is ironic because my house has a pool. I would much rather just float around in the water sipping a drink, but who doesn't love that? :)

Exercise Burnout

I do enjoy many other kinds of movement. But at one point, I got so burnt out on exercise that I didn't want to do anything. My body was so stressed out and depleted that movement did not feel joyful to me. (You can read more about my journey to finding joyful movement in this post). This is actually when I got more in to yoga. Yoga, especially yin and slow flow yoga, gave me some gentle movement without feeling a lot of stress on my joints. If you are feeling very burnt out on movement, you may just want to take a break and that is totally okay. And as you feel ready, start experimenting with what you truly enjoy. You may find that you discover a new form of movement that brings you a lot of joy.

Note: Joyful movement doesn't mean you have to have a smile on your face the whole time and never break a sweat or do a tough workout. But there is a difference between challenging yourself to do something tough and doing a workout because you feel like you "have to" to earn your food or change your body.  Also, there may be times you do something that you don't particularly enjoy because you are, let's say, training for a race or a sporting event. I had mentioned before that I really don't like running on the treadmill, but I will do it if I am training for a race and the weather is too bad to run outside. Often what I will do if I am doing that is make sure I have really great playlist or watch a show I enjoy while running. But I don't force myself to run on the treadmill just because. In fact, there are many times in race training that I simply changed around my running days based on the weather because I prefer to run outside, and that is perfectly fine!

 Give Yourself Grace

Another thing I will say about finding joyful movement is that it is a process and if you have had a rough relationship with exercise, change may not happen overnight. It's definitely a learning curve. You may try some things that feel great to you and some things don't. If you try some movement and you end up hating it, it doesn't mean you wasted a workout or your time. See it as a learning experience. In the terms of yoga, there are even certain poses and styles that I don't really enjoy. That is okay! Find what feels good for you. Don't get obsessive about movement. Give yourself grace and give yourself time to learn about yourself and what you love to do. Our society puts a lot of pressure onus to "stay fit" and "keep moving" even to our detriment. I think of fitness trackers and how obsessive people can get with them. I actually took a break from wearing my fitness watch for a couple of months last year. I highly recommend doing the same if you start to feel ruled by your fitness tracker.

Finally, I will say ,if you are reading this and you are one of my yoga students or simply a user of my yoga videos, I am so grateful to be providing you with joyful movement. If you ever have any questions about yoga or joyful movement, feel free to reach out. And if you find that you are dealing with more of a compulsive, disordered relationship with exercise, please reach out to a professional. I am happy to send resources to you via email as well, if needed.

Thank you for reading!

Sending light and joy,

Julia

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