Motivations are great for starting an exercise program, but eventually you need to break away from whatever ideology you may be harboring and just realize, you have a body and it was intended to move. It is my firm belief and experience that how we view exercise will determine how long we are able to stick with a program. The more rooted in the earth our motives are for movement, the more likely our program can be sustained and we are able to develop a positive relationship with the body. When we decide to treat the body not as an external object which can be manipulated, but as part of the Earth from which it sprung, grounding will happen and many of the aches and pains often associated with exercise will diminish. Forming a relationship with the body requires that we speak its language which are feelings.
Why we start a program can vary, but the most important factor is love of self, and to have faith you have the power to change your life through love and cultivation of a positive relationship. Vanity is a perfectly valid reason to begin a workout program, however it will not last, and if it does you may notice physical tensions or minor injuries appear. Vanity is mental, stems from an insecurity, and ultimately means that one is ungrounded and out of harmony with spirit. If you workout in a state of detachment from your body it is likely you are putting the body at a mechanical disadvantage and yourself in a position to experience more aches and pains than there should be. The detachment occurs when you go into an exercise session with mental intentions or negative emotional perceptions; either thinking about something else, or wishing you could look differently, or concern for your health. Health is also a very good reason to start working out but it also is not sustainable. A call to action because of the health benefits is a short term solution for exercise, because it to represents an external motivating factor; usually scientific studies, media, a doctor, ect. Health benefits appeal to us on many levels. 1. we want to be better than we are, 2. we are afraid that something bad will happen if we don't take action. Great health is not exclusively a physical endeavor. It requires that we are tuned into what the body needs, that our mind is calm, that we are not in conflict with the choices we make, we are grateful for the abundance we have been blessed with, and if we can see that we exist as energy as well as physically. When the motivation is external it is not coming from a place of self love, usually health problems are viewed as we are in some way broken, or they represent something in which to battle. Any form of battling ones self leads to internal conflict; which denies the ultimate purpose of movement which is integration and body sensitization. To sustain a program and to allow it grow with you the motivation should come from within. Movement is freedom
The solution:
1. set you intentions- this is a physical endeavor, and as such, it requires you are tuned in on a physical level. You can tune in to the body in a very simple way: find a mat, lie down, FEEL your body from toes to head, and take your time doing this.
2. While working out continue to focus on feeling. If you are doing a chest press, for example, focus on how your body is balanced on the bench, how the weights when moved shift that sense of balance. Remember that every muscle in the body needs something to contract against. When we place our conscious mind into sensing the feelings, which are present in abundance, the musculature is no longer hindered by our Psyche or mind getting in the way: the majority of tension in the body is caused by some aspect of the Psyche (the mental and emotional bodies) congesting and area because of an unconscious pattern. When we direct out conscious mind to a place of focusing on sensation, it allows these patterns to ease up and the muscle to contract through a full range of motion. Tension is muscle in a chronically shortened state, the solution is not stretching, but allowing the muscle to contract through a full range of motion.
3. don't neglect your recovery, find a mat, do some light stretching, and just relax for a bit
- Balance is grounding, and grounding is necessary for anything which is electrical in nature. Electricity in the body is guided by awareness or where we direct our focus. So if our focus is on what is solid beneath us (the floor, the earth, a bench, etc) then we are essentially grounding the body which in turn will reward us with sensitivity, calm, strength, and fewer tensions.
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