Hi everyone!

I'm just sitting down at my desk with a hot cup of coffee after a walk outside and thinking about motivation, movement, and mindfulness. Likely because I motivated myself to go take a walk by telling myself I'd make a coffee when I came back inside. And I kept my word to myself, because that's how we build self trust in ourselves. ☕️

I often talk about mindful movement because so many things in our fast-paced life are not mindful. We end up rushing from one activity to the next, not really thinking about our body and how we're moving through the world, especially if we're sitting for longer periods of time.

When we bring things back to our breath, alignment, and emphasize body awareness, we start to become mindful of what it is that we're habitually doing. Our habits that are skillful and those that are less so.

Today my encouragement to you is to just start to notice how you're habitually moving throughout your day. And also take note of what motivates you or demotivates you to move in the ways you do.

Here are some questions to ask yourself: How many hours do you stay in that one slumped position while you work? How many times do you get up and stretch? Are you always leaning on doorframes, walls, counters, etc. to find stability? Are you doing the obligatory 1-hour gym sesh a few times a week? How's your alignment and posture before and after that workout? How are you making things easier (maybe too convenient?!) so you move less...like putting commonly used items in easily accessible spots instead of ones that make you squat down?

Mindful movement throughout the day decreases sedentary time significantly! And even if you're getting to the gym daily, how are you moving for the rest of the hours of your day? This whole concept is what prompted me to make an entire online course called "Mindful Movement in Mere Minutes" because I know y'all are busy, and you need ideas on how to move well in the small pockets of time you have. Motivation is a huge component of this. But as coach Kate says, "Action is the precursor to motivation." This is also often true when it comes to moving your body.

I included this list of 50 ideas for moving more throughout the day in the course, but I'm giving it to you to spark some fun creative ways to move more! Hit reply and let me know how you are moving more today!

Until next week!

Warmly,

Natalie