Redefining Fitness
Most people who know me are aware that at the peak of my swimming career, I was diagnosed with an “incurable” autoimmune disease of the liver called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). If you’ve ever read up on that one, you know the prognosis ain’t pretty. I was able to heal myself by radically changing my relationship with my body and mind (or body-mind for short). Through this process, I’ve come to know fitness to mean so much more than the standard definition of being physically in shape (meaning you look good naked).
I never really set out to learn about fitness. When I was diagnosed with PSC I was very fit, or so I thought. I wanted to know more about healing my gut and immune system. So I set out on my healing journey, and began to unravel old stuck patterns in my body-mind, and one of the results I enjoy the most is a greater and greater level of fitness. As I learned more about how we humans work, a new definition of fitness began to reveal itself to me. My goal here is to help you take a new approach to your own fitness (and healing) by sharing the process that has transformed my life.
What does it mean to be fit, anyway?
I now know that we are truly fit when all of our body systems are working together as a harmonious whole. This includes all aspects of our being, from cells to organ systems, biochemistry, your relationships, and the way you think, move and feel. Every aspect of ourselves is intricately interconnected, just like the rest of the universe, but the good news is you don’t have to understand all of the moving parts to get the machine working optimally. It just takes a willingness to listen to what it’s telling you, and respond accordingly.
In order to be fit, you want to move functionally. Your body is made to move, and has the potential to move in a mind boggling variety of ways. Some ways are functional and healthy, and others create disharmony. No matter how it moves, your body will compensate in some way in order to keep you upright. This can create chronic injury patterns when we don’t give ourselves the chance to work through them and learn to move in a more functional way. As someone who created disharmonious spinal movement patterns from a young age, I now know the benefit of learning and practicing functional movement.
How do you feel when you hear the word exercise?
For some people, words like “exercise” and “working out” are things we have to do or else… We will get fat, weak, out of shape, old, ugly, and any other manner of heavy feelings. Many people think fitness means being a certain weight or looking a certain way. Let’s throw that idea out the window!
Rethinking why we move… and why we don’t
Sometimes life seems to get in the way of natural movement. We are often too busy in our daily lives to move in ways that feel good to our body. Then, we get aches and pains, or we don’t like how we look, forcing ourselves to move in ways that leave us feeling drained, tight and out of whack. Think about it. Which sounds nicer? “I’m doing squats because if my butt gets saggy no one will think I’m hot,” or “It feels so good to activate my butt muscles when I squat. I feel powerful, my back muscles release as my glutes do their job, and I get a rush of endorphins that gives me a natural high for hours after.” As you can clearly feel, one is coming from fear or lack and one is coming from adventurousness and love.
Feelings of inadequacy and fear that we are getting fat, old and ugly can be a motivating force to get us moving, but is that how you really want to live? From that place, movement isn’t very enjoyable or inspiring. It loses its magic and we just want to get through it. Check it off our to do list. Blah! Physiologically, training from this drudgery is much less effective than moving from joy.
The way you approach any subject in your life determines its outcome. When you begin to let yourself experience movement as an act of loving yourself it becomes so much more juicy and enjoyable. The heaviness of moving to try to fix your body or keep yourself looking a certain way begins to ease up and makes room for feelings of growth, expansion and inspiration. Movement can become enjoyable as curiosity and exploration become a part of the process.
Don’t believe the hype in your head! Listen to your wise inner guide.
Let’s explore some of the daily thoughts that float through your head on the subject of your self and your body.
Sometimes we carry a story in our head that we can’t have health and happiness, or only other people can look and feel good. Let’s call that out right now. It is not true! Remember, fitness has nothing to do with whether you have a six pack or not. It’s about harmony, so any disharmonious self talk takes you further from fitness, not closer.
In our experience, no matter how good someone looks, they always think they should look better. Even models often don’t like how they look. Everyone deals with these same thought patterns relative to their own experience. No matter what you look or feel like, focusing on the negative aspects won’t make you feel any better about it and any gains will never feel like enough.
It is very important for you to really understand that you are inherently designed to feel good and enjoy your life. This is your natural state. This is why we have pain. Biologically, feeling bad is simply your body telling your brain that something is off. This is why an injury hurts. If you damage your body you need to know about it! Pain is usually experienced as a negative emotion in order to help guide us not to injure ourselves. If we can understand this simple biological fact, we can be grateful for both comfort and discomfort, harnessing them as our built-in guidance system.
Here we are talking about feeling better relative to your own individual experience, not achieving some externally imposed ideal that feels impossible and will freeze you up. No matter where you are starting from, just start to explore and see how your body can enjoy moving to get a little stronger, more flexible, more coordinated, but really just to feel better. Celebrate all the little victories as you go. Gratitude brings great gains!
In fact, we want you to understand the real purpose of healing and growing stronger is not to make you feel like you’re broken or missing something as you are now. You’re not! It’s to let you know that, by listening and responding to your body’s signals consistently over time, you can feel better than you ever thought possible, physically and emotionally.
Don’t think of fitness or healing as something that’s ever done or perfect. It’s an ongoing process where you learn to use the bad feelings that come up in your body-mind (the pain and emotions) to guide you into increasing physical and mental ease and health. You can harness your own biological guidance system by shifting your focus away from the thoughts and actions that make you feel bad and focus more on the thoughts and actions that make you feel better. It’s that simple.
Let me give you a quick example. Every time my back went out, I felt terror that it was my new permanent state. As long as I spun those terrifying thoughts in my head, my back wouldn’t get better. Once I discovered the purpose of my pain, I was able to shift my focus away from the fearful and judgmental thoughts about the situation, and really pay attention to what the pain was telling me about my behavioral patterns. As I truly “listened to” the pain through feeling, I began to see ways I was sitting, standing and moving that was creating this muscular imbalance. This allowed me to shift my focus onto movements and posture that felt more supportive of my spine. Years later, my spine keeps getting stronger and more limber, and I no longer have a “bad” back!
It can feel overwhelming when we’re first learning how to listen to and interpret body signals, much like emotional signals, but, with practice, it becomes the most natural thing in the world. As you become more and more attuned, you almost can’t believe you were able to ignore, fear or resent your body’s signals.
Every day becomes an adventure!
Once this process begins to gain momentum and becomes a natural part of your experience, every day turns into an adventure that just keeps getting more awesome. It’s not something that is limited to a particular movement practice, it’s an ongoing process that is never done and leads to more and more growth and expansion of who you are.
Since discovering this process in myself, I have fallen in love with so many forms of movement that I was terrible at when I began them. I was really bad at yoga, but now I love how it combines breath, awareness and unusual movements I wouldn’t otherwise do. I really was a white boy who couldn’t dance, but now I love the primal feeling of gyrating my hips, and the power that comes from open hips and an activated core.
Many competitive athletes burn out, but swimming has once again become synonymous with play for me, especially in the ocean. One of the most physically challenging workouts I do is playing like a dolphin in the deep waters of the North Shore of Oahu (you can even hire me to teach you!). It’s actually a style of moving through water that is a very challenging workout, but doesn’t feel hard, because it’s fun and people love it! Remember when you were a kid and would play for hours with unlimited energy? It feels like that.
If you are thinking that play isn’t productive for responsible people in the “real” world, think again. As many modern cultures stress “productivity” and create shame around fun and play, we are getting sicker and more in debt. Mental illness is on the rise. What is productive about a body-mind that doesn’t work anymore or feeling bad all the time? You are actually more productive and get greater clarity and inspiration when you take time to clear the cobwebs of your body-mind. Maybe it’s time we embrace play, even as adults. Now, that’s a productive thought!
I’ve let go of that stressful feeling “should“ thought I used to impose on working out that turns into guilt when I don’t. I recommend you do, too. I’ve really just fallen in love with movement in all the forms that I’ve had a chance to explore. I also love how my guidance system steers me to do movements that will bring me back into balance and harmony. I like having defined muscles, but my body tells me when I’ve overdone it at the gym, and it guides me to do other forms of movement to balance it out, like stretching. It’s all about finding your own balance.
This works for any body!
Even if you are elderly, obese or live with a disability, you, too, can benefit from this process! Any body can move or be moved (we’ve worked with people with paralysis). It’s easy to think that this fitness stuff only applies to those people who go to the gym or do sports. Obviously, not everyone can run, hike, dance and swim, but that doesn’t matter. There are forms of movement that are appropriate for any age and body condition. Simple breath work in a chair can transform how much energy you have, stretch the muscles in your spine and ribs, and massage your organs, bringing you back into your rest and relax (parasympathetic) brain state.
If you are focusing on your limitations, you aren’t going to be very relaxed and open to learning something new. This will obviously get in the way of achieving your goals. You must accept where you are at in order to move toward where you want to be. If you keep focusing on what you don’t like about yourself, how are you going to create new neural pathways that are in the habit of enjoying your life experience? Remember, your body’s fitness level is the result of what you’ve been thinking and doing. How can you create greater fitness if you’re stuck on the station of lack and self-hatred? Lighten up about this process. Let yourself enjoy the fact that in each moment you can choose a thought and action that feels better and moves you a little closer to your higher state of balance, vitality and fitness.
Take a yoga, dance or fitness class, in person or online!
Yoga is a great place to start because it teaches you how to be present and internally focused, while doing movements that may be new for your brain. You also walk away feeling clear and centered with a natural high. Traci always says she was allergic to exercise until she tried yoga. She lovingly refers to it as the “gateway drug” to exercise! You can put this new awareness into practice in any form of movement you do, guiding yourself toward greater fitness from the inside out. These days, you can learn anything online or by searching Yelp for classes in your area. We encourage you to adopt an adventurous spirit, side step resistance to the unfamiliar, and find ways of moving that inspire you to get your groove on!
Traci offers public yoga classes for $10 at the Aloha Yoga Kula in Kailua at their Pali Studio Location:
Yoga Basics Mondays 8:15-9:45am
Gentle Yoga Tuesdays 5:15-6:30pm
If you feel like you need assistance in this process we are here to help!
Click here to learn more about the mind-body fitness sessions where I help you explore fitness through different forms of movement and working through any obstacles you may be dealing with. Check out my New Year’s promo below!
Traci and I also offer private yoga and fitness sessions to people on Oahu. Traci also teaches private kid and family yoga sessions.
How does reading this article feel to you? We would love for you to share your feedback in the comments below. Let us know how if there is anything else we can do to assist you on your healing journey.
love this article. getting back to movement and really do enjoy gentle yoga.
Laurie H