We all know that exercise and moving our bodies is important for our health.
Moving our bodies is also an important part of feeling good about ourselves and that’s because it helps to move stress through our bodies and helps us process things and cope better.
If you are a mum who is under a lot of stress, the type of movement that you do is important.
You need to be focusing on gentle, intuitive movement.
If you are overwhelmed or your stress levels are high, then that means that you have a higher level of cortisol in your body.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Cortisol is the stress hormone in your body.
Before we get into that, it’s important to realise that there is a lot of hype about cortisol online at the moment, but cortisol itself isn’t a bad thing, but we don’t want it in excess amounts.
Exercise releases cortisol, and if your cortisol is already high then choosing exercises that release a higher amount of cortisol (like HIITT workouts) that is not going to be helpful.
So we need to choose low impact gentler exercises like:
- Pilates
- Walking
- Yoga
- Tai Chi
- A gentle cycle
- Strength training
- Swimming
- Gardening
This isn’t an exhaustive list, just think of the exercises that don’t really push you and raise your heart rate dramatically.
The most important thing when it comes to moving your body through exercise is to choose an exercise that you enjoy doing.
Nobody feels better doing an exercise they hate – especially in the long term.
It’s also going to be a lot harder to make it a consistent habit if you keep trying to force yourself into doing an exercise that you hate with a passion.
What is intuitive movement?
Intuitive movement is a gentler way of approaching exercising.
It means choosing an exercise that feels good and that will help you feel fulfilled, and understanding that that is going to change on a day to day basis depending on how you feel.
Some days a high intensity workout will be exactly what your body needs, other days a more gentler low intensity workout is needed.
Approaching exercise like this is going to help you to actually find joy in movement because you are doing what you need.
Instead of pushing through and following a set workout plan, regardless of whether you feel like it or have the energy for it, intuitive exercising involves tuning in and listening to what your body needs and then doing that.
For example, let’s say your child has been unwell, so your sleep has been very disrupted and there has been a lot of lifting and picking them up.
Chances are, you aren’t really going to feel like doing a 30 minute high energy workout with jumping around or lifting heavy.
But with intuitive movement, you might tune into your body and think you fancy something more restorative such as a walk in the fresh air or some stretching with pilates or yoga.
Then you will actually feel good moving on with the rest of your day rather than depleted.
That being said, if you tune in and your body does want to a more faster paced exercise, then do that.
Trust that your body knows what to do.
Do what feels good, and this is your permission slip to not do those things that you don’t love.
What are the benefits of intuitive movement?
We know that exercise is good for us.
It’s important for our health and our mental well-being.
Some ways that intuitive movement are good for us are:
- Improves blood pressure
- Reduces the risk of anxiety and depression
- Helps to improve mood
- Regulates blood sugar levels
- Helps reduce cortisol
- Promotes better sleep
- Reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease
- Improves your fitness levels
- Improves your strength
- Can be a good way to meet new people/become part of a community.
- Helps us cope with stress better.
One of the benefits of intuitive movement is that we are improving our children’s future relationship with their body and movement.
Intuitive movement and stress
Intuitive movement helps to reduce our stress because doing movement that makes you feel good is going to have a ripple effect through all areas of your life.
Movement is a good way to move stress through your body.
Movement is also a good way to help you to cope with the stress of everyday life.
There is something about moving that just makes our problems seem a whole lot smaller than they did before we started exercising.
Research has shown that just 10 minutes of exercise is enough to help us start feeling good and improve our moods.
I think we can all manage 10 minutes.
How to start with intuitive movement
It can be a bit daunting doing things a bit differently, especially if you have always done strict workout plans or felt you have got to exercise a certain way.
Here are some tips to help you get started:
Find a movement you love
Nobody enjoys doing exercise or movement that they hate.
Think about what exercise you enjoy doing, maybe that is walking or pilates or maybe you love lifting weights in the gym or maybe you absolutely love a dance workout video on youtube.
Whatever your thing is do that and enjoy it.
If you don’t have a thing you enjoy, one way that can help find your thing is to think about what activities you loved as a kid and try to incorporate that.
Maybe you loved climbing trees or adventuring outside so maybe rock climbing or hiking might be your thing.
Maybe you loved swimming.
Or maybe you loved playing netball or rounders or something like that – have a look if there is team you can join near you. There are a lot more adult teams now.
Tune in to how you feel
Some days we are going to fancy a different type of exercise than we do on others.
Some days pushing our body is going to feel right, other days something gentler and more restorative is going to feel better.
Other days, we will just want something in between.
Learning to listen to your body and what she needs, is going to help you get that feel good feeling from exercise and is going to help your stress levels so much.
Ask yourself:
- How do I feel today?
- What movement sounds good for today?
- Do I need something restorative or do I need something a bit more intense?
Learning to listen to your body will take a bit of practice if it’s not something you are used to.
The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
It’s important as well to let go of external influence because that can be very unhelpful.
For example, you may think that a gentle walk sounds like exactly what you need, but there might be a little voice popping up to tell you that won’t help you lose weight or tone up or whatever goal you may have.
Ignore it, it isn’t helpful.
All movement counts and adds up to moving you towards your goal.
It’s better to do it in a way that you are actually enjoying and able to be consistent with than in a way that pushes you and doesn’t feel good.
Stay present
Whilst a lot of intuitive movement is learning what type of movement your body needs each day, it’s also important to listen to your body during and after exercise.
For example, you may decide that you want to go for a run, it sounds like exactly what your body needs, but while you are running you start to stop enjoying it and just feel a bit crap.
That’s your signal to stop.
Turn it into a walk instead, or just head home and do some stretching.
Or just miss it altogether that day.
Listen to your body because it is going to guide you in the right direction.
After exercise
Tuning into your body after exercise is really helpful too.
Especially if you are something who doesn’t love exercise or doesn’t have a very good relationship with movement.
Tuning into how good you feel after you’ve exercised is going to help reinforce the feel good feeling of it, and it is going to help make moving your body a habit so much easier.
Listening to your body will help with future exercise choices too, maybe you enjoyed your workout video but it was a bit slow and something like dance would suit better.
Maybe you enjoyed your run but realised you actually don’t love it and would prefer to walk instead.
Maybe you absolutely loved every second of what you just did.
These little things are going to help you start enjoying exercise so much more.
Final thoughts on intuitive movement
The most important thing is to find an exercise you enjoy because that is what is going to help us keep showing up and be consistent with it, and that is how we are going to notice the biggest difference in our health and mental health because we are taking the time to consistently show up for ourselves.
Movement significantly helps with our stress level, it allows us to cope better and it helps to move that stress through our body so we feel better.
Remember just a quick stretch or a walk helps.
What is your favourite movement to do?
Or if you aren’t sure, let me know in the comments what kind of things you liked as a kid and I can help you brainstorm!
Beth x
