What Are The Movements That Bring You Joy?
joy
noun
a feeling of great pleasure and happiness
delight, great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, glee, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, euphoria, bliss, ecstasy, transports of delight, rapture, radiance, enjoyment, gratification, cloud nine, joie de vivre, joyousness, jouissance, pleasure, source of pleasure, thrill, buzz.
Do the above words reflect your experience during your fitness routine, or do they better capture the emotions that result from it? Some of these terms might resonate with the activities you engage in while outdoors, using your body.
Movement Begets Movement
By moving your body in an intentional way to gain strength, confidence, and endurance in your body - you are then creating a ripple effect of movement, perpetuating the movement even further to be able to do daily tasks, partake in everyday adventures, or to even go further, do some really exhilarating explorations that bring out that child-like awe and wonder.
Movement is the path, it’s the purpose, it’s how it all worksWe prioritize wellness through movement
Optimization Isn’t For Everyone.
Exercise is a widely accessible miracle drug, shown to prevent heart disease, treat depression, increase quality of life, and boost longevity by nearly every measurable marker.
Maybe by emphasizing pleasure over performance, there can be wellness without the pressure of perfection. While some quantify their movement to measure a host of things, I am hoping to be one of the people who help others with what I believe matters most —presence and joy— which can’t necessarily be measured (think hikes with friends instead of chasing PRs, cooking without counting macros, and choosing small habits over biohacks)
And I find for me personally that doing exercise, movement, fitness, physical activity (whatever you want to call it) OUTSIDE in NATURE checks a lot of the above joyful word boxes.
Engaging our bodies is not just an act of joy; it's an act of reverence, self-expression, and appreciation.
We GET to MOVE - It's something we should cherish and be grateful for. There is so much joy in being able to move our bodies in all the ways we get to plus more! I get to strength train and in turn feel strong in my body and that is a joy because then I get to go snowboarding and reap the fruits of my labor in a playful, joyful, and free way. We are compounding physical activity and movement onto itself. It is not just a one-and-done mindset, it's not just a one-time occurrence - it’s not just going to the gym but the act of walking to the gym, doing the workout, and then feeling that elation and joy from your movement that you decide later in your day to go for a walk to continue to move your body, its a progression of feeling good and building tiny habits.
A mindset shift I am exploring is how moving our bodies is connected to the healings we need. Personal joy is intimately linked to movement, and that connection fosters healing. So finding a habit of movement, exercise routine, physical activity, or class that brings you the most joy is the habit you are going to stick to the most because you enJOY it and that will bring about the most change in your mental and physical wellness.
I find my joy in movement through creating fitness routines that keep me strong to perform the outdoor activities I love to do. I find my joy in movement through hiking, snowboarding, running, walking, surfing, playing with my dog Indy, mountain biking, chasing my daughter around the playground, teaching her different types of sports, wandering down paths, creating shapes with my body during yoga, dancing, shoveling snow (IYKYK), playing tennis, free swimming in the ocean - all of these things plus more bring me so much joy as they test my physical abilities, place me directly in the present moment, and create enjoyments in life.
So, when your fitness routine feels mundane, or you do not feel connected to your body think about the activities that truly bring you joy. How can you train for those activities and infuse the feelings they evoke into your daily routine? How can you incorporate more of those joyful activities into your life?