The benefits of being active and the benefits of play are enormous, both for healthy bodies and healthy minds (and I mean that from a psychological view (your metabolic fitness) as well as what it does for your brain and your heart). Now, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that some of you read that sentence and were either jolted to see play and exercise side by side line OR that you completely read over the word 'play.'
The reason that I put them in these two words together is because once upon a time, what we now think of as exercise we thought was play. And wouldn't it be fabulous if we still thought of exercise in the same way? Wouldn't it be so much easier to enjoy the benefits of being active if we still believed that? Imagine if we were able to maintain that childlike sense of curiosity about our bodies and our love of running around? What might we notice that we haven't in a long time? Do you remember what it was like when you were younger and you played those running around games where you felt warm and flushed and didn't want to stop? Back then we didn't find exercising hard to do - then it was easy, it was fun. We got to learn a lot and play with our friends.
Now, admittedly that might not be you! If you got into a lot of trouble for being too active OR if you got constant messages that you were clumsy, that you were the last to be chosen for teams - then it's hardly surprising that you might not be able to enjoy the benefits of exercise. And thats because it has psychological hooks that have deep roots. So just the thought of exercise is tied up with all sorts of anxieties, all sorts of insecurities that have deep roots.
Or, you might be like this forum member: "I was never an active child and I only discovered exercise when I developed an eating disorder in my late teens. Exercise was a way to "undo" calories consumed and "burn off" body fat and sculpt my body into a different shape. In later years exercise was just another way for me to purge after binging if I was unable to vomit. It's hard to me to stop thinking of exercise as a tool for weight loss and body sculpting."
And if you want to find out exactly how to take the benefits of movement and turn them into fun and something you enjoy The Joy-Filled Body tells you exactly how to.
Now, if you're an active person who just loves to 'hit the gym,' that's fabulous - then I don't need to persuade you how to enjoy it. So you might like to skip the exercise myths and head straight to all the physiological and psychological benefits to exercise section.
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