I’m judging my own journal. Oof. If this is practice and process, not product, why am I judging my output, sentences, and ideas?
Oof. Begin again.
In conversation with friends lately about boundaries, daily joy, root practices, reflective work, shedding what’s not “mine”, shedding weight literally, and so much more - I’m thirsty for more doing and less saying. There’s something about the three weeks before the winter holidays that pulls each day into sharp focus, but with delightfully soft edges. The cold weather begs for snuggles and mugs of tea; also, an important part of a healthy, balanced life!
When mindfulness is applied to all that practice listed above through meditation - or any practice of noticing - application can enter. We can intellectualize all day, but until we put these concepts into literal motion - by being present and noticing what’s happening in the now - only then, can we truly know with our whole selves.
I think it’s one of the reasons I’m drawn by the challenge to incorporate movement snacks every half hour. The immediacy of moving my body for five minutes 2-3 times / hour (some studies say move at least 2-3 minutes every 20 minutes for optimal health bene’s, a new one urges 5 mins of continuous movement every 30 mins) interrupts any intellectualizing, wishing, or justification: the alarm goes off - I get up and move. And, SNAP! I’m back into the present moment, focused, and ready for the next priority or task. Ideally, it’s a lot of movement snacks in a work day. We need it. We’re worth it!
To be clear, this push to add movement snacks into the workday is meant to get sedentary workers up and moving. And, it’s not just for the body - it’s a push for mental breaks, too. Overall health. Embodied Life!
TL;DR: our bodies and minds need many, many movement breaks to cultivate and maintain optimal mental and physical health.
But what about productivity? *vomit emoji*
“I can’t afford to give up an hour of work each day to move.” Bullshit.
Try it. Try it for a month and come back to me with receipts.
And, if you’d like some accountability and community, I got you. I’m soft-launching Body Electric by The Movement Movement to do just that! And, I need your help. I’m working out the kinks and figuring out best systems/practices before I push this to the world in a wider way. So… I’m offering my Embodied Life community (YOU) a free month ($20 value)! As a thank you for your support here, you get all the benefits of the Peak subscription level, for one month, free. In exchange, you share feedback about what movement snacks you took, the program, and how to improve the program going forward via weekly 3 minute surveys I send to you. Easy peasy.
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