A healthy body needs balance

We all know the feeling of getting home after a long day. This is especially true during the winter when we get to put on our most comfortable sweats and curl up on the couch while the cold, blustery weather outside makes us happy we're finally warm and cozy. After a long day, it feels great to "veg". Unfortunately, it is all too easy to convince ourselves that we are just too tired to move, and it becomes increasingly difficult as we get older and busier to get out of the habit of being sedentary and back to taking care of our bodies. When you are a busy woman trying to balance work, school, friends, love, and all the flavors of life in between, time for exercise seems harder and harder to come by. Sometimes it seems we just don't have another ounce of energy to do the laundry, let alone get to the gym or the go for a bike ride. Add to that the deterrence of inclement weather and before you know it you can't seem to remember how the "old you" never missed a Pilates class or that afternoon jog with your roommate. We are becoming all too familiar with how demanding a woman's life can become as she matures and takes on more responsibility. College (and the hectic years following it) are some of the most difficult and also the most rewarding years for women with aspirations, energy, and drive. These are also the years that force many of us into learning how to balance the many new obligations that we suddenly find on our plate. Almost overnight, we realize there are just not enough hours in the day, and whether our main concerns are a new job, difficult college course loads, or trying to maintain our friendships while juggling a busy schedule, we oftentimes put our health low on the priority totem pole whether we mean to or not. Oftentimes our bodies (and not infrequently our minds and spirits) are forced to bear the burden of long hours studying, little sleep (and sometimes poor quality sleep) and the hammer of caffeine and alcohol, without being rewarded with the positive healing effects of regular exercise and good nutrition. But how are we expected to get to aerobics class when it's 20 degrees outside, the term paper is due in 2 days (or the first report is due on the new boss's desk tomorrow), and the greatest movie of all time is on TBS tonight? *Take action!* Simple. It all starts with how you look at the place of exercise in your life. I am imagining that the majority of readers fall into one of three categories. The first group of women is highly motivated to get out and exercise, and often do it readily, but may be finding it more and more difficult as life becomes busier by the second. You need a plan for balance. In the second camp are women who are motivated to start exercising, but who have never been consistent with it and need a plan to get started and (perhaps more importantly), to stay motivated to continue. The third group consists of women who know that exercise will benefit them both physically and mentally but have never led active lifestyles and may think that it's too late to start now. The simple fact that you are reading this column implies that all of you are looking for a new plan to fit regular exercise into your busy schedules as a way to bring physical and spiritual balance back into your life. If you take nothing else away from this article, the first and most important rule of starting (or restarting) a plan for good health and fitness is this: Learn to forgive yourself. You are not perfect no one is. You have responsibilities, you have deadlines, you have a life! If you make a plan and break your own schedule once in awhile, that's ok! The idea is to be flexible. When you have to cancel the yoga class because you have other obligations, don't sweat it. Make sure you take the stairs to the 7th floor of your building, or spend an extra 15 minutes walking around campus with a friend instead of sitting and chatting in a café. Be flexible. Just because you aren't in a gym doesn't mean you can't make your body work for you. Find a way to move. Secondly, when you do find time (and have become motivated!) to stick to an exercise plan, fully involve yourself in the experience. What do I mean by this? Simply, be where you are when you are there. This somewhat esoteric statement is best explained as having a sense of yourself, your body, and what it is doing at any one moment in time. When you are on the treadmill, or taking laps in the pool, think about you muscles, your breathing, where your arms are, how your toes feel. Feel your body. We all know how our minds rush with thoughts of the rest of the day, the conversation we had with our boyfriend, the stresses of finals, or worries about paying bills while working out. Admittedly, it is difficult not to let those thoughts into our consciousness for many of us, this is the only moment in the day we get to think, organize, assess our lives. But in spending this time focusing on all the problems or worries we have, we lose the special time we need to focus on our physical wholeness, our health, our inner selves. Begin to learn how to use this time as your physical and mental refuge from all that puts stress in your life, and let your workouts become a way to decompress, to regain much needed inner and outer strength, and relax. In my next column, I will discuss new ways to get involved in an exercise plan, the best ways to keep yourself motivated, and fresh ideas to keep your workouts fun and interesting. delicious | digg | technorati
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