“Taking time to rest, renew, and refresh yourself isn’t wasted time. Recharge. Choose what energizes you.”—Melody Beattie
When we are addicted to exercise, taking time off can seem like a guilt-inducing betrayal. We can get real antsy sitting on our butt, rather than pushing the envelope physically, day in day out. We drive ourselves to accomplish something—anything—and of course the quest for the endorphin rush is never far from our minds. This drive to exercise is laudable. The drive to tear our body down without giving it time to restore itself—not so much.
Remaining resilient in our recovery requires a delicate toggling between the vigorous and the gentle. Too much, too often can result, too easily, in too little, too late… We hit the wall, we get hurt—and if we are not careful, our exercise program grinds to an unseemly halt. Self-care in recovery is a two-way street: make physical gains by challenging our systems. Then reward ourselves with a restorative healing process that will help consolidate those gains. The older we get, the more time we need for that restorative consolidation.
We inflict benign damage on our muscles to prod them into adaptive strengthening. Excellent! It’s a sort of induced, temporary state of vulnerability intended to reduce our longer-term vulnerability. That’s show biz… As guardians of our own recovery, we just need to be hyper-alert to our tendency to overdo it—and put ourselves potentially at risk.
So, the restorative movement today is mostly mental:
Stand in a relaxed posture with knees slightly bent and arms held slightly away from your sides. Take a long, slow inhale. As you inhale, use your attention to have the sense you are pulling energy through every pore of your skin, deep into your bones. Feel your entire body expanding, as if you were an inner tube being pumped up. Then exhale very slowly, sending the energy back out in all directions. Feel your body contract on the exhale. Repeat for at least ten iterations. Do as many more repetitions as you feel to.
This is a very powerful and wonderful practice. It’s a treasure. Practice it to know it and feel it… Your recovery will thank you for the care and attention!
I am taking the time to restore my energy, body and being by relaxing, resting and breathing.