“Happy Body, Moving Feet” popped into my head the other day and the flow of that phrase reminded me of the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which, by the way, is an excellent film.  This string of words came to me during an impromptu walk before a free seminar I attended that evening. So, during my walking adventure, I amused myself by repeatedly saying, “Happy Body, Moving Feet, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” It sounded almost poetic to me!

As a part of my intentional movement practices, I typically arrive early to a location and take a walk around the parking lot or surrounding areas that I’m visiting. In my life, the concept of “intentional movement” has become a necessary replacement for traditional “exercise.” I choose to joyfully and playfully practice movement regularly, usually daily, and have been able to avoid the typical resistances related to the toil of “exercise.”

I apply the walking adventure practice a lot before I go shopping. For example, I’ll arrive at my shopping destination early and walk the parking lot and surrounding areas for about 30-45 minutes before I proceed into the store. I love this practice and my body has responded well to taking advantage of already being out and about town.

The spontaneous awareness of “Happy Body, Moving Feet,” let me know that my body felt grateful and excited by the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other. Movement has a vital place in my life now and makes sense in a way that “exercise” never did. The fact that intentional movement has become a necessary part of my life is huge.

Let me give you a brief synopsis of my history with movement. During the first 30 years of my life, I was a mostly sedentary person. My favorite past time was sitting on a couch reading a book. As a child, I had some difficulties with the notion of experiencing pain, letting go, and falling down. So, I did not learn how to ride a bike until I was 18. I did not learn how to swim until I was 21 and I’ve never learned how to skate. However, growing up in Northeastern, Ohio, during the 1980s, did require that I walk to school every day.

Thankfully, walking was a regular part of my life from age 4 to 14. Despite my regular walks to and from school and due to a regular diet of cheap fried foods, I was 255 lbs by the time I was in the 7th grade! I was a child carrying a lot of excess at a time when I was a very obvious anomaly. I remember fantasizing about losing weight every summer and returning triumphantly to school with a smaller body. That dream was not realized.

When I was about 12 years old, I vowed that I would go to a gym everyday, if I ever had access to one. Toward the end of my first semester in college, I happily discovered a gym on campus! So, during my second semester of college, I began my love affair with the gym. Walking every day to classes and spending 1.5 – 2 hours a day at the gym resulted in me dropping about 80 lbs in 5-6 months. I was ecstatic.

During the next 3 years of my undergraduate experience, I gained about 20 lbs back due to a heavy course load and becoming somewhat burned out on the gym. I know now that I obsessively committed to the gym in order to have that “look at me now” experience. At that time, I failed to learn an important lesson about how to create a caring and supportive relationship with my body. So, within 10 years, I had gained all of the weight back and added an additional 55 lbs.

After my “re-gain” and then some, I “exercised” sporadically. However, I knew that I would not be able to achieve a similar level of commitment toward exercise that I experienced earlier. I had no idea that practicing intuitive eating would be a key to getting my feet moving again in a sustainable and joyful way. I will share more about how intuitive eating helped transform my relationship with movement and with my body and how a new outlook may help countless others who struggle with the place of “exercise” in their life.