Movement
Out of your head - back into your body
In order to get rid of your anxiety it is important to be in touch with your body. That is why movement is one of the main subjects in The Anti Anxiety Guide. Fitness fan? Good. Not so much? Also ok. Movement can be anything from dancing to boxing, spinning, normal cycling or walking. As long as you move. The goal is to get out of your head - back into your body.
Thing is that we often try to disassociate ourselves from our bodies when dealing with anxiety. Try to blame or complain about our bodies not working the way we want it to. But as I say in The Guide: is your body affecting you or are you affecting your body? You can’t expect to feel good if you continue to do things that are no good to you.
For my fitness fans
I applaud you, keep going, and…
…check in with yourself on why you workout. As a fitness fan myself I speak from experience; I’ve not always worked out for the right reasons. There was a period, right before I started therapy, that I used fitness as an escape from my then depressed mind. It worked, for the two hours a day that I was at the gym, and it did wonders for the way my body looked, but outside of that everything was still dark. When I started working on my mental health too, my way of working out started to change. I no longer did it to disassociate from my daily life but to enhance the way I was able to navigate through my days. I started focussing on flexibility, strength and breath instead of solely high intensity workouts. I started to listen to what my body needed instead of forcing workouts on myself.
For everyone else
No matter how small the effort - start somewhere. The simplest move is to incorporate walking into your daily habits. This doesn’t cost you anything, you don’t have to sweat (although sweating is very healthy, but more on that in a different post) and it’ll get you outside. Make a 15 to 20 minute playlist and don’t return home until it’s finished. And for those of you that don’t want to leave the comfort of your home, here’s some video’s you can use:
Dance, fun, beginners: Grow with Jo (15 min)
Low impact, fun, beginners: Grow with Jo (20 min)
Mood boost and anxiety release: Grow with Jo (30 min)
Yoga, stretching, beginners: Yoga with Adrienne (10 min)
Yoga, stretching, beginners: Jessica Richburg (15 min)
Yoga for any levels: Breathe and Flow (22 min)
Have fun with it!