Move a Little Each Day, Be Foolish and Play
“Consider for a moment, the learnings in life you’ve forfeited because your parents, your peers, your school, your society, have not allowed you to be playful, free, and foolish in the learning process.”
We all live with fools and we must suffer them gladly in order to let them grow. And if we want to grow, we too, must learn to play the fool, and suffer ourselves gladly.”
From a good book I’m reading: Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning.
If you've been on my list for any amount of time you may have heard me talk about movement snacks. Like the name suggests a movement snack (or movement break) is a brief movement sequence that you put into your day. I've always enjoyed weaving small bits of movement whenever and wherever I can - while waiting for tea to steep, during commercial breaks, waiting for the light at a crosswalk. In the before times I've been known to do some yoga at the airport while waiting at the gate. It feels like a secret game I get to play with my environment. Like, how can I move here? It invites curiosity and creativity and it makes me notice my surroundings. It's an easy way to implement mindfulness into your day.
View your living space as a space where movement can happen. This is, perhaps, the most valuable thing to come out of shelter in place for the average person. Exercise and working out doesn’t need to just be done in a gym. You can move so many ways within your home environment, especially if it’s set up in a way that inspires movement curiosity. Feeling good in the body you inhabit doesn’t need to overly complicated.
Three Things useful in sustaining a movement (fitness) level:
1. Being able to get up and down from the ground in a variety of ways will do wonders for your mobility. And your confidence.
2. Walking. Yes, just walk. It’s literally what our bodies are designed to do. Mind, body mood, cardio
3. Some strength work. Lift heavy things. It doesn’t have to be in a gym. Does t have to be five sets of 12 reps.
Taking 1-2 minutes periodically during the day to move thoughtfully, in a way that reminds you that a) you have a body and b) it consists of more than the hands that hold a phone or the fingers that text is really, really good for your brain. Whatever you do, make it daily, make it do-able, and make it meaningful for your goals.
It doesn’t have to be elaborate or big to count. Try these 5 movement snack ideas to get you started:
Stand on one leg and balance while you are waiting in line at the store or brushing your teeth.
Sit on the floor. It sounds like nothing, but how often do you get down on the ground? If you’re a seasoned floor sitter then your movement snack is to get up and down off the floor in as many different ways as possible. Try not using your hands.
Jump in place. Start on both feet, then try jumping on one leg, again it sounds simple, but have you tried it? Wowza. Works great while waiting at a crosswalk on a cold day.
My kitchen is my favorite room because there are endless possibilities for movement. Personally like to climb my counter tops. But you can stay firmly planted on the ground and use your countertop to do plank pose, pushups and dog pose. Place your hands on the counter top, walk your feet back till you feel like you are leaning your weight into your hands and arms. Voila. Plank pose. Try a few pushups or mountain climbers. This works at any wall too.
Step over, duck under something.
Raise your arms overhead and really reach. Do that 10 times reaching in different directions each time.
Bonus: Make something up. Make up your own movement and do it. Creative expression is juice for your brain and your nervous system will thank you for it. Movement and creativity are two ways of completing the stress cycle, AKA down regulating your nervous system.
This probably took less 2 minutes. And you probably feel a little less lethargic and a little more connected.
Here’s one of my movement snacks caught in the wild. I was waiting for my coffee outside my favorite coffee shop.
Do you dance, yoga or move in strange unexpected places? TELL ME.
