Why joyful movement might be the radical self-care tool you are looking for
By: Kt Kusmaul
Tags: Health At Every Size, Body Positive, Joyful Movement

Why joyful movement might be the radical self-care tool you are looking for KT Kusmaul Mar 4·3 min read

Joyful dancers in Body Home class. Photo by Representation Matters

What is your relationship with exercise? Do you have an emotional or physical response as I ask? It is not uncommon to have feelings of guilt or fear, cringing or tension. Most people in western culture were taught to believe your body needed to be fixed through punitive measures like restrictive dieting and uncomfortable exercise. If I were to jump in right away and tell you all the benefits of exercise, it is not all that likely you will run out and start a robust exercise program tomorrow that you will stick with. Typically, we do not change our behaviors just because we receive education, and certainly not through shaming and guilt.

But what if we just explored what movement could be, instead? What if we considered how we could reclaim movement?

Movement can be joyful. It can bring us in connection with our community. It can be part of a meditative practice or connection to nature. Movement can be cathartic and emotionally healing. It can be creative. It can connect us to our spirituality.

When movement is done in groups, we increase the benefits. One study looked at dancing in community and showed that when people dance together they have an increase in endorphins and interpersonal social bonding. (Tarr et al., 2015) The synchrony of dancing showed increases in the benefits over simple exercise. Team sport seems to be associated with improved health outcomes compared to individual activities, due to the social nature of the participation. (Eime et al., 2013)

When movement is done in nature, which is sometimes called Green Exercise, it has positive effects of greater feelings of revitalization and positive engagement, decreases in tension, confusion, anger, and depression, and increased energy. (Thompson Coon et al., 2011)

Whether you want the endorphins, the improved sleep, the increased connection with your fellow humans, the improved mood, or the cardiovascular health benefits of movement, you can have any of that even with small amounts or with low impact movement. As little as 15 minutes can have significant impact on your health, and some research looks at even shorter intervals. (Eijsvogels & Thompson, 2015) So don’t get overwhelmed by setting a difficult to attain goal. Just get up and move because any amount is good for you.

And, in case you still have it stuck in your brain that the purpose of exercise is to lose weight, I will point you towards examples from the extensive evidence that proves that just isn’t true. First of all, study after study shows how rare sustained weight loss actually is. And second, studies consistently show that all of the health benefits of exercise are realized regardless of weight loss. (Gaesser et al., 2011)

What kind of movement might you want to invite into your life? Do you have a tried-and-true form of movement you love, or are you curious about a new activity? Are there people you want to move with? Discover your own reasons to move more, reasons that are less about shame or an obligation to change and more about finding joy and connection and wellbeing.

Tell me in the comments what types of movement you enjoy and why!

References

Eijsvogels, T. M. H., & Thompson, P. D. (2015). Exercise Is Medicine: At Any Dose? JAMA, 314(18), 1915. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.10858

Eime, R. M., Young, J. A., Harvey, J. T., Charity, M. J., & Payne, W. R. (2013). A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: Informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-98

Gaesser, G. A., Angadi, S. S., & Sawyer, B. J. (2011). Exercise and Diet, Independent of Weight Loss, Improve Cardiometabolic Risk Profile in Overweight and Obese Individuals. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 39(2), 87–97. https://doi.org/10.3810/psm.2011.05.1898

Tarr, B., Launay, J., Cohen, E., & Dunbar, R. (2015). Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding | Biology Letters. Biology Letters, 11(10). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767

Thompson Coon, J., Boddy, K., Stein, K., Whear, R., Barton, J., & Depledge, M. H. (2011). Does participating in physical activity in outdoor natural environments have a greater effect on physical and mental wellbeing than physical activity indoors? A systematic review. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(5), 1761–1772. https://doi.org/10.1021/es102947t