Join Kate this week as she dives into the next piece of IIN’s Circle of Life Exercise – Physical Activity. Joyful movement is an integral part of Kate’s life, but that’s taken years of embracing sweating as a means of mental health support and establishing habits that support an active lifestyle to make it part of her daily routine. It can be difficult to add movement to your day when you are already juggling family, work, a social life, you name it…but if you feel stuck or need motivation to adapt an active lifestyle, then this is the episode for you.
What are the benefits of physical activity? Why should we make it a priority?
According to the CDC, “regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Everyone can experience the health benefits of physical activity – age, abilities, ethnicity, shape, or size, do not matter. If you are not sure about becoming active or boosting your level of physical activity because you are afraid of getting hurt the good news is that moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, is generally safe for most people.”
Kate challenges you to make yourself a priority by taking 15-30 minutes each day to move joyfully. Whether that is walking with a friend, meditating alone, or shooting some hoops in the driveway, go for whatever gets you motivated! Any moderate form of physical activity can help you live longer.
Instead of making joyful movement over complicated, just start simple. Take a walk around the block. And take that same walk every day until it feels a little easier, then make it slightly longer or faster. Don’t think that physical movement must be an hour long CrossFit class (but if that’s your jam, you do you sis!), it can be 20 minutes of purposeful movement through yoga with Shiny Happy Yoga. You decide what works best for your schedule, your body, and your goals; but you must decide. Nobody can joyfully move in your stead. You must commit to yourself, and keep showing up for yourself day after day after day. Because consistency compounds. But you have to decide to start.
If physical activity isn’t accessible for you, there are substitutes that might work well for you such as seated yoga, meditation, painting, reading, and even journaling that can get you into a joyful flow state similar to that achieved through physical movement. In this episode, Kate shares how her 80+ year old Grandma Freyhof was a black belt in Shotokan Karate and used to practice the katas in her mind’s eye, long after her physical body was no longer capable of the movements themselves.
Joyful Corner
In this week’s joyful corner, Kate shares how her love of hot coffee!
With two toddlers running around, it was rare for Kate to ever drink a cup of coffee without microwaving it to death. But for Christmas this year she was gifted an Ember mug, and those days are behind her!
While a Blue Tooth temperature-controlled cup is a complete and total indulgence, it brings Kate joy each and every day when she’s able to drink still-warm, non-nuked coffee for an hour at a time.
Here are a few of the Ember mugs – Kate has the gold metallic one and is never going back! She even plans to gift one to her husband for Valentine’s Day because he’s seen how much she’s enjoying her own.
If IIN is interesting to you from a personal enrichment standpoint or if you’d like to become a health coach too, then respond to this email anytime because I’m happy to answer your questions or share more about my experience during the year long Health Coach Training program! I’ve written more about my time studying at IIN, so be sure to give that a look as well!
Let’s Connect!
Did you know that Kate continues the conversation from the podcast over on Instagram @livebydesignpodcast? Be sure to give a follow and then slide into Kate’s DMs to share how you’ve been implementing the tools shared in each episode in your own personal life. Together we can achieve so much, so let’s connect and cheer one another on!
