Hey there and welcome back to this mini-series where we are exploring this question. Why is it so challenging to begin exercising? So today, I want to explore the barrier created by expectations and exercise rules that you may not even know that you have lurking underneath the surface. And this can be something that sort of comes out of nowhere when you finally get the motivation and the courage to go out and move your body or go to a class or go back to the gym or something like that.
And then you are sort of smacked in the face by these hidden expectations or rules that send you right back to the comfort of your living room and not approaching movement again for a long time. So what I mean by expectations is that perhaps there’s this hidden expectation that your body should be performing or feeling exactly like it did the last time you did. Fill in the blank activity.
So there can be an expectation that your body is as strong, that it can lift as much weight, or that it can go as fast, or that it can be just as flexible and agile as it was when you took a yoga class 10 years ago. And these expectations can either sneak up on us when we, when we go do the thing, or they can be the thing that holds us back.
Meaning there’s this feeling of like, I know I’m not going to be able. I know I’m not as in shape as I used to be, and the pain of that is too much to bear, so I’m just not going to do it at all. So in the realm of expectations, we need to examine this within ourselves and to work to shed the expectations that we have of ourselves and our bodies.
You know, when we are, when we’re in that mode of expecting our body to be like it was, we’re comparing ourselves to a previous version of ours. Of our body. And the truth is that, you know, if there has been a break in movement for whatever period, your fitness is different, your level of agility, your flexibility is different. And that’s the truth of our bodies. Our fitness shifts and changes over time depending on a whole host of factors.
Or, the state of our health, right? The way that our age, and then of course, how we’re using our body or not using our body does change our fitness. And so setting, releasing expectations, and approaching movement exactly where you are right now can help lower the barrier to entry, right? So what this means is letting your body tell you how fast it wants to go, how intense it wants to move, what it wants to do, right?
So the mind has to be willing to let go of its agenda of what it thinks your body should be doing, and start to give the body a voice. And in that way, it becomes possible to begin moving your body exactly where your body is. The other piece of this is the unconscious rules that may be operating. Sort of like, you know, if you’ve been working on your relationship to food, there are all kinds of unconscious rules or consciousness.
Conscious and unconscious rules can create a lot of angst around eating. Same thing with exercise. So you might just start to get curious about what, what are the criteria that you have for exercise? Does it have to be a certain amount of time? Does it have to be, you know, do you have to sweat for it to count? Does it have to be this feeling of like, go hard, leave it all on the mat?
These rules and expectations have no doubt accumulated from your past experiences with exercise and from the conditioning of diet culture. And becoming aware of these rules, we can start to shed, right? And set down the ones that are creating a barrier to movement. And so when we become aware of these expectations and rules that we have accumulated over time, we can start to then say, okay, what if I set that rule aside?
Does it create more ease in stepping into a movement arena? Right. One of your choosing, the fact of the matter is, is that you get to choose how to move your body. You get to choose what feels good, you get to choose what supports your health and well-being. This is not about anyone else. And so there are no rules whatsoever. What if there were no rules and no expectations of yourself or your body in moving your body?
Once again, stay tuned as we continue to explore this question of why is it so difficult to begin movement. If you’re watching on YouTube, you can subscribe to the channel and if you are watching on my website, feel free to give the various pages a read and just see what strikes you, see what resonates with you, and we’ll see you next time.
