Let’s Make Movement Easier!

Kristen Lillie, WellTheory Nutritional Therapy Practitioner

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A Few Ways to Make Movement Easier

Below are a few different ways to make movement easier and integrate it into everyday life. This is not an inclusive list. As you read through it, if you have a spark of inspiration or an idea of your own way to make movement easier, make a note of it!

Adjust how often, how long, or how hard you currently move.

• How often (frequency). Increase the number of times per day, or days per week you walk your dog.
• How long (duration). Increase how long you walk your dog — 30 minutes vs. 15 minutes.
• Break up movement into smaller amounts over longer period of time (change frequency and duration). If your goal is walking 40minutes a day, do 4x10 minute walks during the day.

Add movement to your current tasks or routines.

• Add movement right BEFORE, DURING or AFTER something you already do. Do 5 lunges before, during or after brushing your teeth. Do toe raises while waiting for water to boil for tea/coffee.

Adjust your environment or location of movement

• Place movement items or equipment in easily accessible and visible places. Place a yoga mat in the living room by your TV — stretch while you watch a show.
• Select a convenient place to move near your home, workplace, or places your regularly frequent. Walk to the park near your house when the kids get out of school.

Easy Ways to Add Movement to Daily Activities

Since some of the easiest ways to increase our movement is to do MORE of the movement we already do, below is a quick peak into some specific ways we already move in our day, AND how we can add to them in order to increase our movement.

Again, this is not an inclusive list and you can probably think of more — so write it down if it is helpful to note.

• Wake up and going to bed. Do a few minutes of stretching on your bed before going to sleep and before getting out of bed.
• Walking from parked car to stores. Park farther away from the store entrance to get more steps in.
• Wiping counters or cleaning showers or cars. Work your flexibility (or range of motion) by reaching and getting a good stretch while cleaning in different motions (up and down, side to side, or in circular motions).

Take Action: Making Movement Easy

Handout: Making Movement Easier

In this activity, you will only write out a few ways to try making movement easier, but we invite you to copy these questions, or keep a copy of your questions and answers, and revisit this activity in the future to continue expanding your options for making movement easier.

So many things in life are hard, let’s make movement easier!

If it is helpful, reference the above sections of this lesson for ideas on ways to make movement easier.

Tip: You are looking to walk away with an imperfect starting list! Treat this as a first draft and that it is something that can be edited, revised and updated at anytime. Write out whatever comes to mind knowing you can revise and update this later.

Questions:

• In what ways does movement currently feel hard or difficult? Is there a way to potentially make it easier or less difficult?
• What are a few ways you currently enjoy exercising or moving? Can you make them even easier?
• What are a few daily activities you currently do that you can increase how often, how long, or how intense you do them to increase your movement?
• Thinking back to the movement option you are focusing on, what is one way you’d like to make movement easier this week?
• Reflecting on the activity above, what have you learned about yourself and/or how you might make movement easier?

Recap and Reflection

Congratulations on starting a new health-promoting habit this week! That is a HUGE milestone. Take a moment to thank yourself for just getting started and making yourself a priority. Say that “thank you” out loud! We’ll wait…

As we kick off this 8 week healing journey we want to get into the habit of reflecting. Life already moves fast enough, it can be easy to accidentally let little accomplishments rush by without acknowledgment. At WellTheory, we are all about celebrating the wins, big and small, because these are the motivators that keep us moving forward. We also know that healing is hard work. Remember, we are all about “progress over perfection”! Taking a brief moment to reflect can help us hold space for the things that aren’t going the way we wish they would, learn from them, and start to explore new ways of tackling a problem.

Reflection Time

In these past lessons, we explored ways of making movement easier and more enjoyable. For the next 5 minutes we would like to guide you through a time of reflection.

So get comfy, grab a pen and a piece of paper or journal and move to place where you can be without any distractions for 5 minutes. If that time isn’t right now, that’s okay! Do what you can today or pull out your calendar and block off a different 5 minute chunk of time when you can reflect. Remember, we’re going for progress, not perfection!

1. What is one win you experience this week? Remember, it can be big or small.
2. What is one surprising new thing you learned this week?
3. What is one intention you have for this weekend?