Since the pandemic, exercising at home is the way to go for a lot of people for many reasons.
But motivation to exercise at home is particularly challenging because it’s the same place you… do everything else you do at home. If your goal is health-related, you have the additional challenge of exercise generally being a long play towards that goal – you see the measurable health benefits on months and years timeframes.
Some people can just put their head down and go to work. Others need a little more daily inspiration. The story below is an example of where my daily inspiration sometimes comes from. My hope is that by reading it you may have a new and powerful tool to find and create renewable sources of inspiration for you to show up for yourself. And if you already do this, that’s awesome, I’d love to hear about it!
—
It was day 2 of Trauma Informed Weightlifting class, and one of the attendees wanted to tell a story that involved a friend who served in the Vietnam War. I won’t go into the details of that story, suffice to say it involved violence and was triggering for some of the class attendees. This prompted the teacher, Mariah, to break out from the lesson plan and review “headlining,” or prefacing your stories with a disclaimer that it may be difficult to listen to so that anyone can choose to opt out beforehand.
Unfortunately this was after the fact, so the story already had an impact. So the next thing she did, which I found remarkable, was to invite us all to “discharge or shift” that feeling by engaging with some different mindfulness activities, including breathing, rhythmic tapping, and… an impromptu dance party, which is what the group eventually settled on doing together.
This was a Zoom class, so after some minutes of fiddling with the logistics of it, we agreed to play a song of our choice on our own devices, or to play Beyoncé’s “Formation,” which I did.
I danced with Estrella (our dog) to this, felt a little silly and happy, and had a nice 2-minute discharge with the group. I did feel different and better afterwards, and the class continued to its completion that day.
The next day, Sarah and I were starting a workout together, and our motivation was somewhat lackluster. We brainstormed some different music options, and I mentioned this dance party story and the music choice. Sarah was able to quickly pull up the whole album, and – Beyoncé being Beyoncé – it quickly transformed the mood for our entire workout for the better. I even took note of a few songs that had a unique sound to them that I thought might be interesting to try to play on the piano, which is something I’ve been practicing as a hobby for a few months now.
Once the workout was done, I went to the piano and looked up the chords to Beyoncé’s Drunk In Love. If you know the song, it has a pretty unique and rhythmic sound. I had a great time playing and re-experiencing that song’s sound in my own novice musician way, even improvising a couple new patterns in the process.
Afterwards, I was so alert still that I decided to try to use some of this energy to tackle the hand independence exercises that I had been procrastinating on, and got over a pretty big mental hurdle with them that is now enabling some new skills to grow as well.
—
What is the purpose of this story? Well, looking back on the title you may have some clues: life imitates art, imitates life. As human beings we are drawn to find meaning in what we do. So rather than think of exercise, self-care, and your mindfulness practice as chores that enable you to then go live your life, instead consider that they might be more purposefully and joyfully done as expressions of your life itself.
Where might you draw inspiration from for your practice? I would encourage you to first look in places that are outside your practice, as they can remind you of what an amazing, multi-faceted human you are.
For example, it may seem apparent to look for running inspiration from… other people you know that run, olympian runners, or that Netflix show about ultra-marathon runners. Maybe you can even imagine swimming, biking, or yoga examples as related and inspiring. But what about from less obvious places, like your other non-fitness related hobbies? Knitting, reading, gardening, pets, music, astrobiology, or a child’s artwork? The translations there may be less obvious, but when they do happen, I think the inspiration may be more electric. Take a moment to think about this if you can. Look around your room or out your window for words, people, or ideas you can draw from. Anything come up for you? Don’t worry if nothing does.
I look out my window on this rainy January day and see the wonder of the weather, the water, the plants. I see the bookshelf behind my desk with various book titles. I could pick one of them, like “Daring Greatly,” and decide that will be my theme for today’s workout. But I’m not feeling that right now to be honest. I think this sort of random inspiration best finds us by surprise. All you have to do is remain curious and open to it.
Remain open to the possibility that your sometimes “chore” is also a small part of a connected, grand masterpiece. And may you find a surprisingly deep well of inspiration again, and again.
Coach Mauricio