THE GIFT OF MOVEMENT; nature's feel-good genetic blueprint

THE GIFT OF MOVEMENT: it’s in our genetic blueprint

 It is vital to message ourselves daily on the importance of movement. Physical activity empowers as much as any pharmaceutical agent. Whether you pump iron, walk your dog around the block, climb a flight of stairs, move in a wheelchair, all movement improves happiness and wellness. With movement, the body utilizes natural body mechanisms: increased circulation of cardiovascular system, strengthening of muscles, stimulation of the lymph nodes. The result of movement is the reward of calmness: the delicious experience of a state of relaxation and a flooding of feel-good, endorphins.

 Muscles contract with movements as they pump vital fluids throughout our body resulting in an improved immune system essential to withstand the many marauding invaders out there who threaten our health i.e. viruses, cancer, heart diseases. When we release endorphins, we induce natural morphine feelings that inhibit pain through hormone release and neuro-signaling molecules. I think of Movement as I would a “med:” pop a pill and it makes me happier, healthier, and more confident. Mother Nature gives us this rejuvenating gift within our genes, and we don’t need insurance cards or a Dr. prescription to access this vital pill. We are meant to move. The more we understand The Gift, the more we live our lives on a higher plane of spirituality or well-being. 

One can start out as simply as consciously dusting and sweeping one’s living space and noting the effects of movement on your body as you would with yoga, which is a series of physical poses and flow. Lift the laundry basket, stretch out the bed coverings, walk over to the closet: lift, bend, scrub, walk, reach. Reframe that tedious and dull concept of scrubbing the sink and straightening the closet into thinking of the movement as a deliberate, higher level, orchestrated movement series just as a yoga practitioner would move through yogic Vinyasas (the dynamic flow between postures). 

 Whether you lift weights or sweat it out in the street, exert yourself on a running path, or clean out the apartment, it is all really the same thing, Movement. And Movement begets more Movement; more Movement begets a healthier, mood-elevated, better version of yourself.

 As I have traversed now- 6 decades of life (ok, let’s face it, I’m getting “old”- currently just shy of 68) , my anatomy’s flexibility and strength has reconfigured with the natural attrition of cells, muscles, limbs, but absolutely no limits have been imposed on the ability to “just move”. This is Mother Nature’s Gift. I still get the benefits now as a white-haired version of myself as I did when I had auburn curly locks, a lithe spirit  in my 20s.  Today at 67, while a little less lithe, I still feel a state of healthy glow due to The Training Table tenets that rely on a “just move” mind-set. It is this health-glow that I refer to as an "anti-ageing" state of mind.

Living as we are now, in an altered world in this time of the pandemic, has provided many with an expanded opportunity to explore the gift of Movement. Maybe at this time I won’t meet my friends for coffee, or at the pub for a drink, instead, I have more time to hang out with my dog and move and play on the floor, or go for the extra long walk. Now more than ever in the face of a particularly dangerous virus, it behooves us to become practitioners of Movement, to break free of the sluggishness that naturally occurs with pandemic-driven restrictions on time with friends,  and use the stressful pandemic circumstances  to take in the freshness and engagement that Movement ignites. 

Conscious understanding of the GIFT OF MOVEMENT stands as one of the most important tenets of The Training Table. I am humble in the conscious presence of the grace of nature’s gift to us: 

MOVEMENT.

9/18/2020  (67 years old)

arc-stretch movement

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