How do we build a new relationship with our bodies if we have a history of trauma with forced exercise and external expectations?
Joyful Movement
What is Joyful Movement?
Joyful movement is a reclAmation of movement exploration.
When we explore movement through a diet culture perspective, we’re inundated with expectation, shame, and pressure. These external factors are placed on individuals as a means to create a new habitual practice of "exercising” all with the goal of changing the body in some way, but mostly around being less fat.
We can deprogram that automatic response to the idea of movement and start exploring from the felt experience. We’re able to meet movement without the “rules”, that take the pleasure and body autonomy out of the experience. **You do not owe anyone health or movement updates about your life. Your joyful movement practice is for you to enjoy without shame or surveillance.
What if I try something and hate it?
Hating something is a great indication that you don’t want to be doing that. So if you try something like a new dance class and you hate it, don’t rule out all dancing, but know that wasn’t the class for you.
If you find yourself hating all forms of movement, perhaps it’s time to reflect on your history with movement. We’ve heard many stories of the way fat kids are forced to move in the pursuit of weight-loss or parental fear about potential weight gain. Sometimes it takes time away from movement to heal before we can start to experiment with it again. That’s totally ok and a normal part of the healing process.
How long is a Joyful Movement Practice?
This practice is all about you meeting your body where it is in that moment in time. Maybe it feels good to move for 5 minutes, maybe you start dancing to your favorite artist and you look at the clock and 20 minutes has flown by. The time isn’t important, what’s important is you meeting yourself and your need in that moment.
Diet culture tells us what to do, when to do it, and for how long. Start trusting your own gut, start getting curious. Maybe you ride the edge of too much and not enough, that’s exciting information. This practice is about coming home to yourself in some ways. Try to stay open and get curious about what feels good and how long. If it’s a minute, then awesome, that was a joyful minute.
I don’t want to move alone…
There is something really special about Joyful Movement in fat community. Search for local fat movement Facebook groups to find in-person classes.
We’ll be hosting monthly digital movement classes with Anna Chapman. Please check back for updates here or join the Fat Self-Care Community here.
What if it’s hard and doesn’t feel good?
No matter what the practice, its always hard to start something new. To work new muscles or muscles that haven’t moved in that way in a while.
Our society teaches that there is always a quick fix when something is hard or tender, just like diet culture. We are offered “solutions” that don’t work and hurt our bodies because living in a world full of weight stigma is hard.
Movement takes practice and sometimes some bodies can’t ever do some things, and that’s okay. It’s important that we meet our bodies every day and moment where they are and have grace and compassion as they age and change.
So yes, there will be some discomfort when we start out, but you get to take it as slow and easeful as feels best for you. And with exploration, your body will tell you what it wants and doesn’t want to do. Your job is to listen and honor that.
Where do I even start?
It starts with a longing to experiment and explore! Try putting on a song in your kitchen and seeing how your body wants to move. There are classes on YouTube; I love Kanoa Greene’s classes, check those out here. There will be monthly Joyful Movement classes here on Fat Self-Care. Start anywhere you feel a pull and use your own discernment to notice if it’s a good fit for you right now. There’s no right way to do this, it’s all about what feels good, and sometimes the good feelings come at the end.
new tools to Meet our bodies.
Joyful Movement with Anna
Join us for our monthly 60-minute session, starting with a grounding meditation. We then ease the body into stretching and some yogic movement. This can be done from a chair, the couch, or the floor. (please have a strap or scarf for stretch support). We’ll round out the session with some free movement where you can shake out anything that needs to be shaken out!
Anna Chapman will be teaching these Joyful Movement Classes. You can join in by being part of our fat self-care community, or purchase a drop in class for $20. Anna has been facilitating joyful movement for 8+ years.