Are You Doing Things TO Your Body or FOR Your Body?
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at 8:43AM
Photo by Valerie D. Perry
I read on a friend’s Facebook Timeline the other day: “Instead of doing things TO your body, try doing things FOR your body!” Wow. Yes.
When we do things TO our body, we are interested in an outcome. We want to lose weight, tone muscles, look sexy, whatever. And 99% of the time, those things that we are doing have nothing with how we feel, and everything to do with how we want to be seen by others. (See last week’s post.)
When we do things FOR our body, our emphasis is on ourselves. Feeling good, doing what feels good to us, listening to our intuition. (See next week’s post.)
We are more likely to accomplish our goals if we’ve set them for ourselves, in response to ourselves. Not in response to what society asks of us. We are more likely to do the tasks required to meet our goals if we are actually excited about achieving them and invested in the outcome. Going to the gym and eating our vegetables wouldn’t feel like such a drag if we chose to do them simply because we know we feel good when we do.
I think of Pilates and dance as being done FOR my body. Stretch, strength, coordination, awareness. I think of running as being done TO my body. Slamming joints, disengaged mind. There may be a benefit, but there are too many negatives for me. I think of eating healthy foods as being done FOR my body. I feel better, my skin is better, I have more energy. I think of giving up dessert and alcohol altogether as something being done TO my body. It’s like a punishment. Life is less fun without a little treat!
