Fun + Simple Ways to Exercise and Move Your Body

 

Exercise doesn’t have to look like completing some sort of strenuous activity while your body drips in sweat. It also doesn’t mean spending hours at a gym 6 days a week or running a mile every morning. It doesn’t have to “look” like anything as long as you feel GOOD doing it.

I used to be a personal trainer and would push my body to new extremes to be in the best “shape” of my life. I was exhausting myself and I never felt awakened or energized as one would expect after getting in shape. Instead, I felt depleted and weak. I decided to change the rules about how I exercised and fell in love with yoga. Until then I had only really moved my body for athletic purposes, so yoga really felt good for my skin and soul. Yoga helps me connect with my inner nature. It helps me to tap into my core, my truth and provides me with insights of who I really am. Yoga always brings me back to my truest essence.

After having Noa and then experiencing the global shutdown the idea of a strict exercise regimen has been nearly impossible. Instead, I’ve followed my intuition in every aspect of my life and that includes how I move my body.

That’s the beautiful thing. Exercise can be as simple as walking around your neighborhood and doing some at-home HIIT exercises in your living room. Exercise can look like a new workout class you’ve never tried before like pilates, barre, or hot yoga. Exercise is falling in love with the way your body moves and finding new joy in moving it and challenging yourself to new growth. It’s finding vibrant energy because of the way “exercise,” fuels and ignites you.

Some of the biggest obstacles we face in motivating ourselves to exercise are mostly internal blocks. Maybe you think that no matter how many crunches you do or how many miles you run on the treadmill, nothing changes and you still look the same. Or you’re frustrated because you don’t know how to work your way around a gym, do yoga or run properly. These internal blocks are our biggest enemy and can easily be conquered with a change in perspective.

Exercise is NOT about how much or how long you can “work out,” it’s about feeling unapologetically good inside your body and having so much vibrant energy it radiates from you. 

Here are some of my favorite and simple ways to move your body!

Energize your body with high vibe nourishment! Starting your day with a superfood smoothie is a great way to fuel up and energize before getting in some movement. You could sit down and do thousands of situps and if you still eat unhealthy foods, you absolutely will not feel the way you want to feel. Make an energizing pre-workout smoothie with Cacao Magic or Berry Bliss then refuel post workout with Coconut Magic and Sunshine Drops.

Start small. Experiment a little. For me, it really depends on the season. During the warmer months, I love outdoor workouts where I can enjoy the beauty of nature while getting a good sweat. A sandy beach yoga practice or a long hike in the mountains near my home is ideal when the sun is shining, but on cold and dreary winter days I like to take my workouts inside with some solid sessions in the gym.

Get creative with your daily habits and chores! For as long as I’ve been active I’ve found CREATIVE fun ways to do so all day long. You don’t have to do a classic / long form workout every day to be in shape/fit or healthy. Sometimes it’s jump squats while I brush my teeth, other times it’s push-ups while my kids build legos, maybe it’s calf raises or squats while I wash or dry dishes. A few leg lifts while I watch a TV show with Adi or doing 2-3 min of yoga/handstands during the workday when I’m feeling stagnant. It all *COUNTS* + IT ALL ADDS UP.

Track your movement and count your steps. I’ve challenged myself to walk 10,000 steps every day which may seem crazy but when you track even just walking around her home picking it after your kids it starts to add up! I’ve found the best way to motivate myself is getting a simple fit tracker off Amazon and being more conscious about walking. Craving a coffee? Walk to your local shop. Need to mail a packing? Walk to your local post office. There’s so many fun ways to get in your movement without even stepping foot in the gym.

Once you tell yourself that it’s not about how you look or the number on the scale and instead about how you feel during and after then you slowly begin to fall in love with exercising. It always comes back to loving yourself. 

Finding what really works for you whether that’s yoga, cycling or outdoor running can dramatically change the way you approach exercise. You’ll be motivated to go out and challenge yourself. You’ll notice immediate changes in how you carry yourself and the kind of relationships and opportunities you bring into your life because you begin to fall back in love with YOU.