Curious about exercise but resistant to it because you don’t like it?

Read on!

Because I want to teach you how to fall in love with exercise.

As a physical therapist, I’ve had the privilege to work with different types of people. And with my curious mind, I’ve gotten to witness a full range of what people’s relationship to exercise and their body is like.

It’s given me insight to what reasons and limiting beliefs hold people back from engaging in it.

Many undervalue its importance, just don’t like it, or experience strong resistance to exercising. And if that’s you, I want you to know that I’m not here to judge you or even change your mind.

One of my coaching philosophies is to honor your inner wisdom and to help you accept and embrace all parts of you. Likely this piece of you that is resistant to exercises has a deeper, hidden reason why it doesn’t want you to workout. Perhaps its a protection mechanism, or a limiting belief.

But why buy in to the stories that limit you, when you can just as easily buy in to a story that perpetuates your greatness and wellbeing?

After all, life is what you think it is. Your outer world is a projection of your inner world. Change your inner world, and you change your outer world.

I think we can all agree that one of the main human desires in life is to feel ALIVE, to feel good in your body so you can participate in everything that brings you joy and happiness. Well, movement helps you do that.

And it is my intention today to help you kickstart a positive relationship with exercise, if you want it with 5 simple steps.

Step 1: Buy into the Belief That Movement Improves Your Life

This can happen in an instant with some simple mindset tools. For example, ask yourself why movement is important for your body. What will it do for your life to exercise regularly? Connecting exercise to what is already important to you will help you train your mind to fall in love with it because it benefits you, makes you feel good, and helps you live the way you want to live.

Step 2: Conduct a Curious Inquiry

Humans don’t do anything without a reason. So I invite you to get curious about why you don’t like exercise. Go beyond the superficial level of “I just don’t like it” and invite the part of you that is resistant to exercise forward to speak their part. Stay curious and open-minded without judgment to see how this part of you is trying to help you.

With that level of understanding, you can ask yourself, “What do I fear would happen if I exercised more? If I loved exercise?” “How canI have both what the fear wants and more movement in your life?”

Step 3: Follow The Joy

What movement/exercise did you love to do as a kid? How about now? Make a list of all the ways you could move your body more during the day and engage in physical activity that would bring you joy.

Step 4: Take Action

Now you have a big list of possibilities. Pick one thing you will do. You can lean into the easiest thing or maybe jump in and do the one that scares you the most. Follow your intuition with this and pick the next best step that will improve your health and your life. Schedule it. Set a reminder. Follow through.

Stepe 5: Do Mental Reps

Did you know that just by practicing something in your mind, your brain registers it as if you physically did the thing? There have been numerous studies done to support this claim. One that I'll mention here was a study done to observe brain changes with piano playing. Group one practiced piano, group two only practiced in their mind, and group three was a control. The researchers found that group one and two had nearly identical performance when playing the piano piece and similar brain changes.

You can use this same principle of neuroplasticity to strengthen a positive association to exercise by playing a movie in your mind in which you’re exercising and loving it and it’s given you the results you’ve been looking for.

Connect to your breath body and mind and guide your subconscious into the future to envision yourself living out your best life, doing the step you said you were going to take in step four, and living the life you aspire to live with this new movement habit. See yourself doing it, as if it is already happening. How does it feel? Feel that way now and let yourself win in your own fantasy.

Try these 5 steps and let me know how they helped you! I love hearing your success stories.

And as always, I'm here to inspire and uplift you as you embark on your journey for better health. ❤️

All my love dear reader,

Dr. Thalia

@thalialovee