Exercise as a celebration of life

I've always had a strained relationship with physical exercise and movement. I hated phys ed in school, I hated when the family wen biking together, I hated golf, I hated pretty much anything physical. I preferred to sit very still on an office chair in front of my computer and program.

Right before I was going to be in the military I had my brother show me how to go for a run, because I'd never done it. I remember being so sore and my feet got blisters all over from the run. Phew. Not for me.

As I've gotten older, it's gotten a lot better. I started to run more regularly, started doing some yoga with a private teacher, started working out at a gym, practiced Ashtanga in India for a year, and more, as time went on. I got better at it. But it's still felt like work, like something I had to make myself do.

I think the reason why is that I've always felt there was something wrong with my body. I had too much belly fat and I was too stiff and too weak. Exercise was a means to fixing that. Unconsciously it was about punishing myself and my body for being this way. No wonder it was never fun. Who likes to be punished?

As a side note, how funny it is to be this magical amazing creative god-like being, and then laser in on that one thing that you can really criticize yourself for, right? Each time I'd look myself in the mirror, I'd just see that "too big" belly. What nonsense. Of course it's not too big. It is exactly as it should be at this moment. And the totality is absolutely amazing. But I digress...

What I realized was this: What if I stopped thinking about it as physical exercise, meant to achieve some outcome, and simply started thinking of it as a celebration of my body and a celebration of being alive?

The insight came to me last night. On Wednesday, a new friend from Wisdom 2.0 recommended I try some Kundalini yoga. I've heard about for a long time, but never tried it. Then during a Meditation and Margaritas event last night, the thought came to me again to try Kundalini, just as another way to explore feeling good in my body. Then three minutes later, the teacher starts to talk about Kundalini and how she's going to do some Kundalini exercises with us. Bingo. Three in a row!

And that's when it hit me. Do Kundalini, do Karate, do running, do weights, do walking, do whatever, not as a means to fix something that's wrong, but simply as a means to feel great in the moment, to celebrate life, to feel juicy and alive and full of wonderful vibrations.

Why not take advantage of the fact that I am in a body right now, and that a body allows me to have certain amazing experiences that I could not have any other way?

Like we do with sex, right?

I'm going to play with this and probably share my results.