Move Your Body Like the Elements

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">          I’ve been moving my body for quite some time now. I would even argue that I came out of my mom walking or running. I’ve always liked to move my body in tons of ways but somewhere along the line, I forgot that this was integral to my health. Growing up I was a competitive athlete; I moved fast and pushed harder every single day. I challenged my body to be the best, whatever that means anyways. At the time I was told the best had to perform at a high level, train every day, sweat every day, and feel the burn. The worst part, the adults that coached me to move and think like this had no idea what they were talking about. After years of learning how the body moves and wants to move, I’ve learned that there is no way of escaping mindset work. Yep, you heard me . . . our mind and body have a direct correlation to each other and we need both to learn new things, thought patterns, and ways of approaching our life. That saying I heard so many times when I first stepped on my yoga mat ‘practice on and off your mat’ now makes so much sense.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">          So, here’s the magic sauce I wish I had when I was first learning to move my body in new ways and develop new thought patterns to help me feel better, MAKE SURE YOU’RE MOVING LIKE ALL OF THE ELEMENTS; fire, water, earth, and air. For years I just moved my body like fire. I pushed mySelf to my limits, I never knew when enough was enough and I absolutely needed to feel the burn to feel like I was doing something. Sound familiar? These are all my cross-fitters out there, the ones who love HIIT classes and nothing else, the bodies who only enjoy the intensity, the ones who pride themSelves in their athletic ability, the hot power yogis; I see you, I’ve been there too. I wasn’t moving like water, ebbing and flowing and inviting less rigidity into my body. I didn’t move like earth and experience relaxation, I mean true full-body relaxation. I didn’t even know how to move mySelf like air, like w