I’m back for day 2 of my monthly experiment: blog every single day. I’m diving right into the writing topic schedule with Wednesday’s category Move. I don’t know what this category will develop into but my intention is to share experiences with various movement styles. But before delving into that, first we have to define what movement means.
Movement has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, partially because I was always a curious kid and followed my curiosity into cabinets, under tables and into dresser drawers… I clearly also always enjoyed my alone time.
Back when I was growing up organized sports were really popular… it was either that or playing Atari (yup, i’m aging myself). My parents immigrated from India with the American dream in mind and were eager to see my brother and I succeed, meaning there was no we were going to be playing video games all day. I started playing Soccer since I was 7 and throughly enjoyed it … more than kicking the ball I loved running and played for both my Varsity soccer and track and field teams in high school.
I stopped playing soccer after high school but carried on with running in college and eventually added in weight training. My brother was into body building at the time and introduced me to weight machines and free weights when I was 21, it quickly busted the myth that I had in my head back then that lifting weights will get me bulky, quite the contrary.
After I literally ran my knees into the ground, i.e. severe tendon inflammation, I stepped into my first Yoga class and my life changed forever. It was a slow recovery but with the introduction of Yoga and eventually Crossfit I found myself back in my running shoes stronger and far more mindful of my body than ever before. I can’t more grateful to the coaches, teachers, and trainers I encountered in my life during that time, they were the reason I gracefully ran across the finish line of the San Francisco Marathon in 2010.
At the peak of my fitness I was in the crossfit gym 5 days a week, doing yoga 4 times a week, meditating daily, and strictly following the paleo diet. I felt great! It’s no wonder that as a health coach and corporate wellness consultant my prescription for optimal well-being lies in these three pillars: Eat. Move. Meditate.
Saying movement is a staple in my life is an understatement, I literally find myself going a little nuts when I haven’t been able to go for a run, walk, bike ride, yoga, or crossfit.
Have I sustained my 2010 training? Nope. Life changes, priorities change, and people change… Change is the only thing that is constant.
Over the last 7 years I launched Nutritionize!, a health coaching practice that teaches people how to design their personal well being plan with food, movement, and meditation. Moved to San Francisco to take my dream job… designing, developing, and managing an employee wellness program for a leading healthcare company and impacting thousands of lives. Taught Yoga for crossfitters and developed the Becoming a Mindful Athlete program. Stepped away from it all to explore living life in flow and traveling around the world.
Was I moving? Sure was. This takes me back to the purpose of this post, to define movement. Movement isn’t always physical, although we may immediately think of that way, especially in the wellness world. To really understand this concept let’s look at where the word “Move” comes from (etymology is a guilty pleasure of mine). The word move comes from the the latin root “mot” which we see used in much of our everyday language without even knowing it. Here’s a short list of words associated with movement, courtesy of: http://membean.com/wrotds/mot-move
- automotive: car that “moves” by itself
- motorcar: car that “moves”
- motorist: one who “moves” a car by driving it
- locomotive: engine that “moves” freight cars
- motorcycle: two-wheeled vehicle that “moves”
- motorcyclist: the driver of a motorcycle
- motor: engine or machine that “moves”
- motion: the condition of “moving”
- motel: a hotel for “motorists”
- motivate: to “move” a person so that she will do something
- promote: to “move” forward
- demote: to “move” down or from a position
- promotion: a “moving” forward, as in social status
- demotion: a “moving” downward, as in social status
- emotional: pertaining to being strongly “moved”
- remote: that which is “moved” back
Movement is part of life, our ancestors knew that change is constant and therefore we as humans would constantly be in motion on all levels: mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical.
My motivation to take on this monthly challenge to blog daily comes from a desire to capture and share the thoughts in my mind as it pertains to my manifesto: eat. move. meditate. The unknown in all of this is how those thoughts will be expressed. Excited to see how MOVE unfolds.
Day 2 – Check!
Stay mindful my friends.
What do you want to see in the MOVE category? Post to comments…
Leave a Reply