Hey everyone, how was your weekend? Get up to anything exciting?
I’ve just come back from a relaxing weekend on the coast. It was nice to get out of the city, enjoy the fresh ocean air, and feel the sand between my toes. I also had the pleasure of enjoying some morning yoga in the park complete with beach views. The session was a mix of balance, endurance, and breathing exercises. The instructor was highly knowledgeable and I found myself truly relaxed by the end of the class.
Morning Yoga in the Park
She was full of yogi knowledge and her metaphors for life and balance were especially powerful. One statement in particular resonated with me: ‘Our bodies are more intelligent, but our minds are more powerful’. She was referring to doing each pose at a level which suited your ability, and not compare yourself to others.
However, the quote can be applicable to other areas of your life, especially one of finding balance. Balance is something that many people struggle with, myself included. For many years I exercised avidly, sometimes for several hours, not giving myself sufficient rest. I could only keep this up for so long before my body started to get run down. I was overtraining and my immune system started to suffer. My body was screaming out for rest, but my mind wouldn’t listen.
Listen to your body!
Making this connection between my body and mind was a turning point for me. I needed to soften my ‘toughen up’ mentality and allow my body to heal. I took a hiatus from the gym, instead focusing on Pilates, and light walking. Physically my body felt better, but my mind struggled. The idea of not working up a sweat 5 times a week made me uneasy and my thoughts turned negative at times.
Sweating less and resting more is not the normal thing these days. In an effort to combat obesity and lifestyle related diseases, the media and government push the message ‘More exercise is better’. However, too much exercise can be just as detrimental as not enough. The key is balance.
But how do you find a happy medium? The secret is to listen to your body. It will send you the cues and signals, but you have to tune in. Some symptoms of overtraining include an impaired immune system, persistent joint pain, and extreme fatigue. As a general guide, try having at least one rest day per week, and mix up your training intensity. Try and incorporate low impact activities such as Pilates, yoga, and meditation, which focus on a mind – body connection. Learning how to calm the mind, stretch the body, and breath properly can be extremely cleansing.
So if your training routine is leaving you zapped instead of zippy, maybe it’s time to take a break. Listen to your intelligent body, calm your powerful mind, and live your most balanced life!
Questions:
- What are your favourite low-impact activities?
- What do you like to do on your rest days?
Wow, that was a great read! I’m trying to better get in tune with my body and mind. It sounds like you’ve really connected the two. I also like how you comment on lifestyle related diseases. Too often people look for causes other than their own way of doing things as the problem.
So true mike! everything in moderation leads to a healthy life
Ahhh I do love rest days too and always listen to my body, but sometimes I like throwing yoga into the mix to keep me moving but rested
YAY!
xxoo
Active rest is really good hey! sometimes it actually helps to heal my muscles faster
Tis a very timely read for me! I’ve just finished writing a blog about being an anti-gym junkie (but am just back from working up a big sweat in the gym this morn). Yoga is my unequivocal favourite exercise as I am super flexible and love being in tune with my body. Its all the other cardio I loath but have to push myself to do. But will be listening to my body and rewarding it with rest periods as well.
Yoga and pilates are amazing and my flexibility has increased so much over the years. i agree with you that cardio can be a bit boring, but i usually just put on some great tunes and rock it out
Oh I agree with you sooo much! I used to totally wear out my body over exercising. Now I prefer to do the gym for 3 weeks intensively – 4 x per week – and then give myself a week off. I really look forward to going back then and exercise is fun all over again. AND I like to walk lots during my rest period!
Sounds like you’ve got a great system going Em! Keep up the good work…exercise should always be enjoyable in my mind
I feel like I am comletely resting at the moment, I have given up running as I keep hurting my back, got to the point that I was paying for a gym membership but not going, and I seem to get a little bored at yoga even though I really want to like it! Any suggestions for a busy working mum?
Have you tried my at home routines like the or maybe this core workout
Oxygen magazine also has a lot of at home fitness routines which are simple to follow, pretty quick and require minimal equipment. Hope that helps
So true, thanks for reminding all of us how important it is to listen to your body! I’ve just come back from a 2 day rest and needed every moment of it. Life’s too short to push ourselves to exhaustion.
So true leanne! I just came back from a long weekend away. I feel so refreshed and my body enjoyed the rest
Hi Sarah, thanks for swinging by my blog to enter my muesli competition. Now I’ve got a great new shiny Aussie health blog to read. I teach Pilates and am doing my yoga training this year – it’s an awesome form of exercise.
Cheers
Liz N
Oh that’s awesome liz! Where do you teach pilates??? I haven’t been doing yoga for a super long time, but am really enjoying it… How long is your training course? Thanks for stopping by as well
I’m trying to teach myself about balance. For as long as I can remember I’ve had the “all-or-nothing” mentality, and it stopped me from doing a lot of things because I figured if I couldn’t do it just as well as a professional/someone who’d been doing it a long time/”I was supposed to” then I might as well not do it at all. I have OFTEN quit things (seriously, since I was five) because I wasn’t perfect at them after three tries and that’s carried into my adulthood. Right now I’m trying to give myself a break and learn that ALL THINGS TAKE TIME and if I never give myself the time to get good at something I won’t. It’s actually really liberating, not expecting yourself to be perfect 24/7 and constantly letting yourself down. I feel open to so many more things because I’m less afraid of trying.
You really hit the nail on the head with what you said!!! We have to be more kind to ourselves. There is no such thing as perfection…just be happy knowing you’ve done your best and there is nothing more you could ask of yourself. Keep striving for that balance girl!!!