Move With Joy is the opening motto of The Movement Studio, and it represents a sentiment that perfectly encapsulates the mission of the studio.
This is not a blood, sweat and tears place. It’s not a squat-till-you-drop place, nor is it a place to use competition with others to further your own wellness goals. The Movement Studio is not about using your mind against your body to beat it into submission. It is a place to discover that your mind and your body are on the same team, and when they pair up, amazing things happen.
So, what does it mean to Move With Joy? It is moving in the absence of fear, in the absence of expectation, for the simple joy of moving your body. I frequently ask clients to remember a time when moving their bodies was nothing but fun. When they didn’t care how they looked to others, when the driving force for their movement was the pure, unadulterated joy of being able to move.
For most, this requires thinking back for decades. Maybe it was as young children, running and dancing with friends or siblings before coaches and instructors and peer pressure took ahold of movement and began to shrink it into an embarrassed, but acceptable and refined, package. Pause for just a second and remember that time. It was fun, right? It made you smile? Laugh? You used to live in that place of physical freedom for hours at a time, didn’t you? Whatever happened to that? Can we recapture that feeling?
Yes. We can.
But, here’s the thing. As much as I, as a movement educator, wish that it was possible, I can’t simply throw my hands in the air and decree, “Move With Joy!”, and make it happen. Because we have all been transformed by decades of mental and physical conditioning, by well-meaning friends and coaches and instructors and teachers, to believe that some movement is correct, and some movement is wrong. That we should always be seeking beautiful movement, as opposed to ugly movement. Maybe we’ve been taught that we should feel ashamed of how our bodies look when we move in a certain way. And, in many cases, injuries have made some movement painful, or even impossible.
The cumulative effect of all of this handicapping of physical movement is that the first step in learning to Move With Joy is to become reacquainted with our own bodies.
It is necessary to know your body, to know what movement comes naturally, what movement doesn’t, and to understand how injuries and/or conditions such as scoliosis, osteoporosis, and others, affect your movement.
Once there is understanding of your body, the physical arena within which you move, areas of inhibition can begin to be liberated. Re-patterning movement and finding ways to move with better bio-mechanical efficiency does not have to be difficult or painful. You will build strength, and you will stretch, and you will move in new and different ways.
This is not to say that medical conditions will magically disappear or that injuries that have haunted you for decades will suddenly heal. It is simply that you will understand your body, and how it deals with its own unique conditions and injuries, better. And, once there is understanding, there can be acceptance. Once there is acceptance, there can be love. Learning to love your body and all that it does (as opposed to all that it can’t do or all that it doesn’t do well) is necessary to being able to Move With Joy.
The second step in learning to Move With Joy is to simply put in the work. Show up to class and pay attention to what your body is telling you.
“Work within the comfort zone of your body. Move without effort and with a smile in your heart. Be kind to yourself and don’t compare to others. Watch what happens - you will grow and your body will evolve.” Juliu Horvath, creator of the GYROTONIC® method.
Be consistent and be determined. Know that movement is life, just as stagnation is death. Progress happens in the body every time you move, and do not be discouraged if you don’t see or feel the results of your work as soon as you would like. Learn to take pleasure in the act of moving, in and of itself, rather than doing the movement only for the purpose of producing a result. Shift your perspective and enjoy the process.
After you understand the body that you move within and you embark on the journey to strengthen and open that body, the last remaining step to Move With Joy is to give yourself permission to move in a joyful manner.
This may sound simple, but it is not easy.
Learning to Move With Joy is an individual journey. No two people are the same and no two people will start at the same place or progress at the same rate. However, showing up in class and being supportive and encouraging of others will be an integral part of your own journey. We frequently afford others the grace and kindness and love that we don’t afford ourselves. Practicing giving freely these values to others will teach your mind to communicate in the language of joy and love, and, inevitably, you will soon begin to talk to yourself in this way.
Give others the permission to move joyfully, without fear of judgment, and encouraged by the understanding and acceptance of our shared humanity. There is no such thing as perfect movement. Every day will feel different from the last. Abilities will come and go. Goals will be reached, and disappointments will be felt. It’s all ok. Continue encouraging your friends to find joy in movement and, in return, they will encourage you.
Moving without the constraints of fear (of injury, of embarrassment, of doing something new) requires that you comes to terms with, and even embrace, feeling exposed, both mentally and physically. It is experienced first as a conscious, mental release, a willingness to step outside of the perceived realm of acceptable movement. And then it is seen. There is a release of the tension that hinders movement and once that tension is finally surrendered, the physical movement takes on a whole new quality. The body opens more. The limbs reach further. And it is almost impossible to keep a smile off of your face.
Understand your body. Love your body. Move your body. This is what it means to Move With Joy.
Moving with joy leads to living with joy, because as we move in our bodies we move through the world. This is why Move With Joy is our opening motto. Because life is movement, and movement is life. And both should be filled with joy!
Keep moving,
Emma