Hello, Sunshine.

In January, as part of my self-care plan, I quit formally exercising. It was a hard mentality to shake off, because I was so used to berating myself for being inconsistent with fitness, it was very weird to have permission to not exercise. Now I am fully aware of both the health benefits of exercise, and the sanity benefits I personally notice, so I never planned to give it up for good…just to give it up until I naturally felt like doing it without any “shoulds” or nasty self-talk.

So this week, I am staying with a friend, who just happens to have a small fitness room in the apartment complex. On Monday I felt compelled to take a trip to the workout room. I was a bit hesitant, but exercise is really about convenience for me, and all i had to do was walk down some stairs. Getting on the treadmill and beginning to walk slowly felt really good. I walked a little faster, and then slowed down again when that felt right. It was a wonderfully liberating experience to be on a treadmill and to experience my lungs clearing, my blood flowing, and my skin sweating just for the sake of doing it. I didn’t focus on the distance covered, calories burned, or what speed I “should” be going. I focused on feeling my body move fast, and then to feel it move less fast. To not be pressuring myself or yelling at my body to do things it doesn’t want to do. Exercise feels amazing!

It is particularly enjoyable when I have given myself permission to only do what feels good. Almost every day since then I have taken some time to go to the exercise room and to move and stretch. I also didn’t go when I didn’t feel like it.

Tonight I had a particularly empowering experience where I went down in the evening to walk for a bit before dinner. I had been studying for finals all day, and I needed to move my body a little bit. So after like three minutes I was NOT feeling it, but I also didn’t feel quite ready to give up. I decided to go until the five minute mark and then stop if I didn’t want to continue. I know that sometimes it takes a minute for exercise to feel good, so I walked faster and into a (slow, incredibly slow) jog. Normally I walk the entire time and jog for about 2 minutes total, just to increase my sweat. But tonight jogging just never stopped feeling good, and I ran for EIGHT minutes. Now… this is significant. For a gal who hasn’t voluntarily run more than two minutes in.. my life? I ran a whole freakin’ lot. The significant part of the story though, is that it felt SO GOOD. Running has always been extremely uncomfortable for me, so I was perfectly happy to never do it. But tonight, to feel my body actually like something that I have always believed that I wasn’t capable of doing. Well, that was just extraordinary.

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Philip from lovingraw.com has a series of inspiring youtube videos about the raw lifestyle, and recently he did on about exercise. I want to share it because I think he’s dead on with his approach, which boils down to: do what works for you, find something you love. I’ve been an on/off exerciser since I was in high school, and for the past two years have been far more steadily “on.” Part of what works though, is that I don’t freak out if I miss several days. Being in school and dealing with a huge amount of stress, I’ve also found more powerful motivation to exercise than for my body shape. (Exercising for vanity is hard because it sucks. There’s no power in it)… The less stressed I feel, the better I feel, so I am VERY motivated to move my body as much as possible. Anyway, Philip has great energy and he’s a pleasure to watch. I highly recommend all of his videos. Enjoy!

[many thanks to Dhru over at We Like it Raw who initially turned me onto this video]

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 Here is a little fun fact, directly from Fit Sugar.

New research has found that nearly 30% of business owners with companies over $1 million in revenues say they exercise every day. What’s more? Female business owners are five times more likely than males to come up with their best ideas while exercising.

So next time you’re feeling a lack of creativity or motivation at work, try a power workout instead of a power lunch.

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Things are crazy right now, as I finish my summer class tomorrow, and fly across country on the same day. As the quarter has been building to the final exams, the stress has been getting progressively worse. That means it’s incredibly tempting to lounge in front of my computer during down time reaching for comfort food. I’ve learned though (through MUCH trial and error) that the secret to maintaining balance mentally through such stressful times are to maintain balance in diet and exercise. The physical activity is particularly my savior right now, because as much as I resist it, it’s a place for all that mental stress and aggression to be relieved. I set my alarm much earlier than I would like to, and get straight out of bed and take a fast walk. During this week I even have a friend go with me, making it more fun and a guarantee it will happen. It can be a struggle to make time for it when I have so many important things to do, but I find that on days I exercise I am generally more productive, ultimately accomplishing more.

I’ve also noticed that on mornings when I exercise before an exam, I am significantly more calm and focused, always resulting in a higher score. While I have a pattern of exercising on and off, test days are always about fitness now, even if just a quick walk. I can post more of my tried and true study tips another time.

I’ll have more focused writing time once I’m on break from the world of academia

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