WIAW: healthy exercise

Years ago when I
was a cardio queen, I used to hate yoga. I couldn’t quiet my mind enough to
enjoy it and I was addicted to the heart pumping, sweat dripping, endorphin
release of running.

But over time,
and especially over the past few years, I’ve come to love a weekly yoga
practice. Actually, now my body craves it. Much of that love has come from
learning the hard way about resting and gaining 10 pounds as a consequence. I
needed to walk through that season of life where I was doing way too much both
professionally, personally and physically and realize the beauty and health
benefits of lower intensity exercise.

 

 

 

So now yoga and
other lower intensity exercise like barre and pilates make their way into my
exercise routine whether I’m running or not. Right now, in this season of life,
I’m not running or doing really any cardio at all. And in return, I’m better
able to handle all the other things that are filling my plate—relationships, Jesus, school, Nutshell,
this blog, and a social life.

I used to be
that girl that thought a workout didn’t “count” if it didn’t end with being
drenched in sweat and my heart pumping. Thank goodness times have changed. Now,
a 20 or 30 minute yoga or barre3 podcast “works” and sometimes that’s all I have
time for. My yoga mat is almost always rolled out on my bedroom floor and all I
have to do is turn on a podcast.

 

 

I still have to
be intentional about setting aside time to even fit in those 20 or 30 minutes though.
On a good day, I’ll get in 40 or 60 minutes of yoga or barre [I’m obsessed with
Barre3 videos]. Some things that have helped me to set aside that time, yet not
become stressed if it doesn’t happen, include:

Thinking about
exercise as something to make me feel good
instead of look good. If I’m being honest with myself, there have been times in the past where I exercised to look good. But now, sure exercise can keeps me healthy and physically fit, but exercise takes on a whole new meaning when you realize how crazy blessed you are to have a healthy body that can move.

Using exercise
as a way to take care of myself and treat myself rather than something I have
to do. I often use exercise as a study break if I get a certain amount of
studying done. Or after a crazy day or week, working out is a soul refresher. And in turn, that helps me to appreciate and love exercise so
much more.

Only doing
exercises that I truly want to be
doing rather than what I think I should do. If I want to do some yoga, I’ll do
that. If barre sounds better, I’ll do that. I don’t make myself do yoga just
because I’ve only done barre for the past week. Once you start doing exercises
you think you should do instead of ones you want to do, exercise becomes life sucking instead of life giving and it’s much harder
to make exercise routine.

 

And lastly, when
I’m feeling sluggish but I KNOW that some movement will make me feel better, I
tell myself to just do 10 minutes. Now, that is much different than ignoring
when your body is tired and pushing through a workout anyway. I’m talking about
if you know you’re not exhausted, but you’re just feeling lazy. Sometimes we
need lazy days, but sometimes just moving around for 10 minutes is all we need
to get us going. Usually that 10 minutes turns into 30, or sometimes I just do
10 minutes—but moving is moving. There isn’t a time or intensity threshold that
makes it “count.”

So if you’re
trying to incorporate more low intensity exercise into your routine or if
you’re in a busy season of life like I am, or if you need to take a step back
and rest more—yoga is perfect for that. And
girl, Stayfree Ultra Thin Liners will keep you feeling good [and dry!] the
entire time.