EXERCISE IS SPIRITUAL WORK
"Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't."
Elle Woods (as played by Reese Witherspoon) in Legally Blonde
THINGS THAT MAKE ME MAD: THAT SOCIETY SOLD ME THE LIE THAT EXERCISE IS FOR PEOPLE TO BECOME THIN AND BEAUTIFUL AND IF YOU AREN’T TONED AND THIN YOU SHOULD FEEL SHAME AND DEFINITELY MAKE SURE YOU ARE SPENDING ALL YOUR TIME WORSHIPPING TINY, TONED, YOUTHFUL BODIES AND REMEMBER ABOVE ALL THAT IF YOUR BODY ISN’T THAT IDEAL BODY THEN YOU SHOULD REPENT.
I think a lot about how unconscious we are when participating in society. It’s like David Foster Wallace’s This is Water; we accept things and forget they exist to the point that we’re blind to them.
Beauty standards are so ingrained in our culture that we do not realize they are another layer of keeping people repressed and separated from our bodies, distracted from living our authenticity.
It is SO alarming to me that exercise is perceived mainly as a tool for weight loss and maintenance instead of an incredibly powerful spiritual tool for connection and clearing.
When I was a fitness instructor, it was eye-opening to see how many people engaged in exercise from a standpoint of body punishment. I’m here because I’ve been bad, I’m here because [insert someone pinching their own skin for dramatic effect]. UGHHHHH. NO. NO. NO.
Of course, I’m mad because I fell for it too. I used to exercise for all the wrong reasons. I wanted so desperately to make my body comply. I didn’t feel acceptable, so maybe if I could shrink my body, then maybe I’d earn the right to exist and take up space. I exercised in semi-secret, embarrassed at how much effort I put in to exercising and still then I didn’t feel the right to call attention to my athleticism, as I was never enough; not thin enough, not strong enough, just never enough.
It may seem wild to know that it was an episode of GIRLS triggered a change, but truly it was this scene that blew the lid off my world. I was like OH MY GOD. Exercise is for all of us. It’s for the endorphins, not the the physical aesthetic results.
What if instead of participating in exercise for weight loss + aesthetic reasons, I participated in moving my body purely from the standpoint of enjoying and experiencing endorphins?
I stopped punishing my body with grueling workouts and started only going to classes that helped me get in tune with my body; gentle yoga, yoga + reiki classes, yin, restorative, gentle heated yoga… mmmm.. places where I could tune in and let go of all the bs that had been weighing me DOWN.
Exercise and movement is one of the most powerful ways that we can connect with the moment, be present, and shift out stuck emotions and experiences.
In their amazing book, Burnout, the Nagoski sisters, Emily and Amelia talk about how you HAVE to move your body until you find a release otherwise you’re trapping stress emotions in your body, it’s why endorphins are so important. We’re moving and releasing all our stress and being rewarded with feel good chemicals, but if we feel like the only way to engage in exercise is from a standpoint of body control, we’re missing the purpose and losing out.
WE CANNOT LET THE PATRIARCHY TAKE THIS ONE.
Like Elle Woods, my observation is simple - what if we can let go of what our body looks like as the ultimate goal of a workout, but instead focus on the glow?
Can we choose to focus our energy on how our bodies feel instead of how they look?
What would it look like if we used movement and exercise as a time to connect and excavate stuck emotions instead of a time of punishment or escape?
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LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF WITH MAGIC BODY METHOD!
A few days ago I caught my reflection in the mirror last night and decided to document it. I paused a moment to think about how far I’ve come. It wasn’t so long ago that I was so painfully self-conscious that I could not relax. I was on high alert wondering how I was being perceived, because we live in a beauty obsessed world that is engineered to drive everyone insane.
sending reverence to myself
When I was younger I would get as close to the mirror as possible and examine all my “flaws.” Not shockingly, this would send my self-esteem into a death spiral 🌀
It’s taken a lot of time for me to come to a place of peace and now celebration and love when I see my face and body. I hate that this is the world we live in - a place that’s making us sick through manufactured self hate. BUT through self-care practices (big fan of mirror work for clearing out negative self talk on appearance) and anti-diet philosophy - when I catch my reflection I now send reverence to myself.
This world puts too much pressure on us all to conform to norms - in my own work and in magic body method - this is about finding your own rhythm 🥁 - so that when you catch your reflection - you want to celebrate yourself or at least be like, hey that’s me, cool 😎
As Louise Hay says, “the point of power is always in the present moment.” magic body method is the prerequisite to being present.
In order to harness our magic and our power and truly work with the infinite resources that exist for us - we must be in our bodies.
We must ground ourselves in the now.
If you’ve protected yourself through disassociating, or are always future tripping, you need to FIRST practice being in your body. I’ve noticed in my own work and with my clients that no one is addressing this HUGE STEP of practicing being in the moment!!!
Magic Body Method is for those who need to work on letting go and being present without losing themselves to a future that doesn’t yet exist. Once you can be fully present, THEN you can begin to unlock your deeper levels of magic. if you’re ready to stop hating yourself and hop off the loop of beating yourself up - come join. Let’s have some fun.
Join Magic Body Method!
Shifting success to work for you: Navigating the world with an open heart center and swimming against the tide of a productivity at any cost culture.
In Human Design, wisdom doesn’t come from the defined energy, but from the white spaces in our charts.
Ra Uru Hu (channeler of the Human Design System) said it best when he said the white space is where we go to school.
In Human Design, wisdom doesn’t come from the defined energy, but from the white spaces in our charts.
Ra Uru Hu (channeler of the Human Design System) said it best when he said the white space is where we go to school.
Therefore, whenever I’m in my not-self over my worth, I go to open heart school where I am constantly reminded that open hearts have nothing to gain from trying to prove themselves.
So check your chart, if you have white space in the heart (ego) center (70% of us do), you have the potential to get really burned by societal pressures to perform and achieve.
TAKE THAT IN FOR A MINUTE. 70% OF PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE STABLE HEART ENERGY AT THEIR DISPOSAL. This means that the majority of people are getting sucked into competitive energy and ego energy that’s not theirs.
EXPLAINS A LOT, DOESN’T IT.
70% OF PEOPLE ARE OUT HERE THINKING, “I HAVE TO ACHIEVE TO PROVE MY WORTH.”
WE HAVE GOT TO GET OFF THIS HAMSTER WHEEL.
UNLESS YOU ENJOY TAKING SOMEONE ELSE’S RIDE (SEE HAMSTER CLINGING TO WHEEL FOR DEAR LIFE ABOVE), learning to balance that open heart center is critical for our wellbeing.
We’re not meant to compete in the same way that defined hearts do. Those blessed with their own heart energy typically have the built in self-worth that we have to build on our own.
So how does the open heart center work?
Our heart centers amplify the output from surrounding defined heart energy. We’re processing centers for heart energy, which explains why we can really get caught in the tailwind of our cultural obsession with action and achievement.
Hi, yes, I’d like off the hamster wheel please.
Balancing your open heart is possible!
First step is compassion towards ourselves and others. Second step is remembering with an open heart you aren’t here to prove your worth.
These are the only steps needed in heart school. Compassion towards yourself and the mantra, “I have nothing to prove.”
When you find yourself on the hamster wheel, feel free to give a quick reframe to the experience by saying thank you for teaching me that I have nothing to prove.
No one told us we’re out here amplifying the energy of others or that we can quickly get carried away while others can use that energy wisely. From my experience, it feels like failing at having value while others seem SO VALUABLE and it feels random. It can trigger my victim mentality and feel very, WHY NOT ME?*
No matter what we try, we can’t earn our way to heart energy if we don’t have it in our charts.
It is fully random that some people get heart energy and you and I didn’t. If you need something to blame, blame the stars. (Our bodygraph is a map of our energy and that energy outlined on the map is imprinted star energy. They just weren’t on heart energy when you were born and that is OK!)
It’s all going to be fine because we can shift our attention and awareness to where it can have an impact.
So my open heart friends - when we’re in heart school, we’re learning that we are already enough.
We may be in heart school for years, days, months, or on and off for our whole lives. We’re in heart school as much as we need until we integrate the knowledge that Open heart energy people aren’t here to base our worth on our productivity - it’s just not our energy!
So, open heart - you have nothing to prove. Now what?
Sitting down and defining success for ourselves, especially during testing times is a spiritual exercise that can bring greater alignment into your life.
If you didn’t have the media setting the agenda for you, what would success look like for you?
If you haven’t taken a step back from TV, magazines, social media anything that triggers you to act out of low self-worth, well- now’s the time. It’s super helpful to cut out the noise to connect back with your core essence.
If you need research proving that there’s nothing to gain from pushing yourself into endless productivity - I recommend finding these two books:
Yes, I read two books this summer to prove that I have nothing to prove, but if you’re anything like me and you need some solid validation and well-researched evidence about the benefits of shifting your success metrics - read one or both of these. Celeste Headlee’s research showing how our definition of success has been passed down and shaped through the generations genuinely blew my mind.
When we follow our own guidance and intuition and work on building our own self-worth foundation it can feel lonely, but know that we’re in the midst of creating new worlds. We’re making ourselves unshakeable. We’re swimming against the old ways and new ways of experiencing and experimenting can be met with skepticism by the greater collective.
Double-down on your own way!My life is infinitely more enjoyable when I am process-oriented. We’re on the vanguard when we decide to enjoy the moment and not just the end results.
While I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to stop getting caught in the achievement lifestyle completely, knowing that I have an open heart helps me become so much more aware when I am out of my alignment.
I am here to feel and experience, I gain wisdom and awareness by growing my daily ability to appreciate life.
If you’d like to explore this for yourself here are some reflection questions you can journal on:
How have your values shifted during this time?
How do you define success?
What lessons have you been learning lately?
How do I know when I am in my not-self?
*if you click on this link know this is my favorite commercial from college in the year 2005. Yes, it is enforcing gender stereotypes + objectifies women, but I definitely felt,(maybe still feel) like an Ashley a lot.