autoimmune

Principles of Intuitive Movement: Loving your Body Through Movement

There are infinite ways to move. So, you can either move in ways that are specific and rigid and rooted in results like weight loss or calorie burn OR, you can experience connection with your body by mindfully asking the body to do things that actually make it feel better.

Too often we turn off the signals our body is giving us. The way a extremely strict and limiting diet will burn you out, a strict, non-intuitive, maxed-out workout plan will definitely burn you out. Overtraining leads to more injuries, sleep-disturbance, tapped out hormones, chronic fatigue, immune dysfunction, and dissatisfaction since your body will not be able to recover. If you have any of these symptoms it’s time to listen to your body and incorporate different workouts and possibly more recovery.

The beautiful things is that your body will respond to movement of any kind. Yoga can be restorative, or it can be really hard. The same goes for walking, dancing, strength training, etc. Weight loss isn't all about pushing your body hard.

Based on what your body needs there is great significance in listening to what your body is craving. There are mental, emotional, and physical reasons our workouts need to adjust from time to time.

When we get mindful and approach exercise as a method of sel-care we are practicing Intuitive Movement. Here are some foundational principles you can adopt to grow your mindfulness and give you body movement that builds, strength, ease, calm, joy, and energy through movement:

Principles of Intuitive Movement:

1)    Ditch the all or nothing mentality: You don’t have to exercise to extremes or push yourself to failure with every workout to be healthy. Often your body needs to have a balance of movement in order to build strength, heal, recovery or simply adjust to the stressful demands of your life. Just because the latest model or movie star does a workout, doesn’t mean it was meant for your body too.

2)    Honor your pain or need for rest: Your body is talking to you all of the time. There are more nerves talking TO your brain than nerves telling your body what to do. So listen! Are certain exercises painful, or so fatiguing that they just do not make you feel well both during and after exercise. Then find something else.

3)    Make peace with your movement. Many of us have been told to exercise in ways that made us feel terrible in our bodies. Or perhaps we were given mixed signals about what purpose exercise was supposed to serve in our lives. Movement is a gift that can enrich your health, strengthen you entire body, and ease your heart and mind. How can you approach movement with love?

4)    Stay open and adventurous. Too often we only do three types of movement that may or may not be things that we actually find fun. The big three are cardio, strength training, and stretching. But what about Tai chi, or Chi gong, rock climbing, dancing, paddle boarding, ice skating, or even team sports? While you might put these sort of activities into a “category” we often dismiss some movement as “not good enough” because it doesn’t fit our definition of what will give us results. Challenge this thinking! What did you love to do as a kid? What is something you have always wanted to try but haven’t considered?

5)    Discover the joy of movement. Movement has been proven to boost endorphins, oxytocin, it helps with your focus and memory, it will give you a sense of accomplishment and confidence. What kind of movement brings a smile to your face- especially when you have completed it…whether it feels challenging or relaxing or somewhere in between?

6)    Satisfy your strengths. The body needs to be challenged to get stronger. But we cannot ignore our limits. Your body is under new circumstances is changing it’s tolerance with every passing day. In some seasons you can do more. In some you can do less, In some you can press deep and really push yourself to your edge, in others you will do well to lean into more restorative movement. In each of these seasons, how can you challenge yourself to strengthen what your body actually needs?

7)    Give compassion. Not everyone will have 6-pack abs, teardrop delts, defined claves or whatever else you beat yourself up about. Your body is YOURS and yours alone. What matters is that you tend to how you nourish your personal needs and respect your body for the beauty you own.

8)    Treat your body like a friend. A friend knows their friend well. Be a witness to what you body is both saying and how it responds to what you are doing and what you are telling yourself. The more you get to know your body after trial and error, the more you will know what is right for you. The more you speak kindness and compassion to your body, the more you will find you want to do things that give you more health and move you into motion.

9)  Fuel your body for both fun and fitness. It doesn’t feel great to workout on a full stomach or to eat foods that make you sluggish. Approach food as a way to support your body like a dear friend would. What foods and the timing for when you eat them help you feel better and elevate your mind & body to be more available & energized to move?

10) Focus on the long-term. Short term goals can be motivating and fun, but keep re-evaluating. Challenge yourself in new ways when you start to feel run down or bored. Stay curious about the ways your movement will help you live longer not just because they work your heart, muscles or help you stay limber…but what things test your balance, open your mind, and make you laugh? These are the things that keep you young.

How to work out your regrets

Holding on to regrets is like wearing a noose around your neck. 

In my last blog I let you all in on our family's pursuit of healing for my husbands auto-immune condition.  You can read about how I have been navigating this in my last post, When Not To Run.

We found out Dan had Hashimoto's about a year after moving to Colorado.  We'd been feverishly remodeling a basement in our first home for that entire time while Dan got more and more sick.  

Late nights and too many poorly planned meals had caught up to us.  It was also during this time that we finally had to face the music that we weren't getting pregnant. 

It took us 6 years and a whole lot of heartache to get out of that house and to finally get pregnant and meet our twin boys.  While I have so much joy now...boy have I let those years torture me with regret.

Life is simply too precious to spend wallowing in what might have been and the mistakes we've made. 

However, I've been guilty of allowing far too many missed opportunities haunt me and keep me paralyzed from taking action in the present moment.   The stress that those years have caused and the lost time I often covet can only be redeemed if I let it all go.  

Letting go ain't easy either.  It takes faith that those years will have meaning beyond the pain.  That God will heal the hurts and make beauty from the ashes of my past. And sometimes the only way I can step into that faith is to move.

Working out has always been and continues to be my number one way to process my grief, regrets, and confusion about why bad things happen in life.  I ALWAYS walk away from movement feeling lighter, more engaged with what my heart really needs, and a renewed perspective of hope.

If you struggle with lingering and persistent regret and even bitterness about what you have done or what has been done to you, then you must try THIS EXERCISE.

This "keep-up" exercise can be life-changing when applied in any situation where you need to literally throw your worries, regrets, and stress behind you.

Friend, if an auto-immune issue is keeping you down or holding you back from your dreams, be sure to download my new free resource

When not to run

I have a love for running- and yet, too often in life we are running away rather than leaning in.
 
Running has taught me perseverance. It has shown me my strength. It has brought me community and given me a place for self-reflection.
 
But running has also been a scapegoat at times.  At one point in my life I ran so I wouldn’t have to face people or deal with my own heart.  Rather than feel, I ran to see if I could escape. 
 
Sometimes it feels easier to run and hide in our fears rather than face the hard stuff of life.

My husband and I have been married for over 17 years.  While we were dating we ran a lot together and I LOVED it. 
 
In 2006 my darling husband was diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid condition.  We have had to make the choice to lean into the healthy lifestyle practices that will help him (and ultimately our family) rather than run from the daunting changes we need to make. 
 
Since then, I have learned that there are times to run, and then there are times to sit, be still, and work IN rather than workout.

Having an autoimmune condition, or caring for someone who does is confusing, unpredictable, and life-changing.  It’s taken us years to work through living with an autoimmune issue, and while we haven’t solved the entire puzzle for him yet, we have learned quite a few things.

  1. You can’t run from your body.  Your health will chase you down and force you to deal with it…or at least if you don’t you will pay the price sooner than later.

  2. You are your greatest advocate.  The explosion of autoimmune issues is not well researched yet, and western medicine does a pretty poor job of helping people find optimal solutions.  Find the resources and practitioners who will be your partners for seeking answers for you to recover health in ways you can manage.  Thankfully there are now more resources than ever to help someone struggling with an autoimmune condition, such as: Amy Myers, MDIsabella Wentz PharmD, Datis Kharrazian PhDChris Kresser MS, L.Ac. and Dr. Mark Hyman and many others.

  3. Diet, sleep, and stress management are the keys to feeling better.  And one of the best ways to deal with stress is to breathe through calming movement.  Here’s a great example for you: Breathing Squats

  4. Communication is crucial for helping your loved ones help you.  It can be easy for those around you to think you’ve hit the lazy-easy button.  In reality, if you need an extra nap, or have got to get time alone to catch up on recovery, then say so and ask for what you need.  

When it comes to your health, it’s no good to run when you are having a flare-up (both literally and figuratively).

Even more importantly, it’s no good to run from your diagnosis.  You must face your issues and take action.  Your life matters far too much, especially to your family, kids, or the children you’ll have one day to ignore your body.
 
It’s my mission to help wannabe moms or moms in action who have an auto-immune issue to restore their energy and take back their health so they can parent with all of their soul strength.
 
If you know a woman who is struggling with an autoimmune issue like hashimotos, graves, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac, multiple sclerosis, etc. please forward this message to her as I would love to be a support and light of hope for those who are suffering.

Blessings and Health to you,

Nicole

Why your health needs deadlines

Let’s face it, when given a deadline we get stuff done.
 
The issue is most of our healthy-living choices are life-long, which creates an unknown deadline.
 
No Bueno.
 
Here’s the deal, if we only have a minute to do something, it will take a minute, if we are given an hour to do it, we will fill the hour with details and effort. 
 
This is a phenomenon called Parkinson’s Law, which I cover in more detail in this 5-Day Health Revolution Video Challenge on Day One. If you find that a lack of time management is zapping your energy, this is the video for you.
 
In my Strength & Soul group health coaching program we are talking about the radical benefits and secrets to setting deadlines for sticking to your health goals- particularly your workouts.
 
A deadline is helpful because it

  1. Sets a time frame by which something must be completed.

  2. It is a line or limit that must not be crossed.

When was the last time you set a deadline for a health goal?

Has this ever even occurred to you?

And I don’t mean, "I will lose 5 pounds in 3 weeks."

This means actionable tasks you can control.  I honestly think one of the reasons I enjoy being pregnant that even though I can't really control the exact day I will deliver, it is this journey toward a specific deadline.  

You can prepare yourself for your own "labor" too.

Here are some examples:

  • I will walk 10k steps per day every day for 2 weeks.

  • I will eat 5 servings of vegetables per day for 30 days.

  • I will run a 5k without stopping in three months. 

Here’s the thing that makes it stick:  Commit to these deadlines OUT loud, and preferably show up to do them with a group.  Create Accountabilty. And then don't forget WHY you are even dedicating yourself to this labor/deadline in the first place.
 
I can’t even begin to count how many times people have done the work to start running simply because they committed and paid to sign up for a race. 
 
That race has a deadline and people are expecting you to show up.  Boom.
 
Too many of us simply don’t want to make the commitment.  But remember a little further up the page where I mentioned that life has no deadline?  That’s exactly the reason we need to push to get to the things that really matter to us.
 
Taking care of your body is a line in the sand. It’s a boundary and belief that must not be crossed by other conflicting interests.  You are worth it.
 
When we have these deadlines in place we start to say and act on things like:
“No thank you I can’t stay up late tonight, I need to be up early to run.”
Or
“I’ll take a side of steamed veggies rather than the fries”
or
“Yes, I will go to my workout even though it’s been a long day”
 
BECAUSE…I am focused on my deadline for this X, Y, Z goal.
 
And how do you come up with these goals and stay accountable?
 
The best way I have found is to work with a coach, friend, or community that keeps you on the straight and narrow path.
 
Are you hungry for more accountability and actual, real progress to get more energy and feel stronger in your body?
 
If so, I am opening up slots this week to take you through a complimentary breakthrough session.
 
These coaching calls will help you learn what steps to take first and how to really commit to them in a way that matches your lifestyle and physical needs. 

We will discuss your very first deadlines and find ways you can create follow-up systems to ensure you meet your goals.
 
Friend, you are a gift to this world and you deserve to feel energized and strong to pursue your passions.  This is especially true if you are a burnt out mom or woman who struggles with an autoimmune condition who is desperate to get her healthy body back.
 
Don’t miss this chance to schedule with me.