Small collection of strength and mobility exercise equipment
Health is a crucial issue in America and was before the COVID crisis. These days, I often hear from my clients that during the pandemic they have gotten out of the moving and exercise habits that they had before the pandemic and that they are feeling both mentally and physically unhappy due to not moving, weight gain, pandemic stress, etc.
Physical and mental health are not separate. In my collaboration with holistic psychiatrists that I refer to, we often discuss the role of nutrition, sleep, substances, and overall health in terms of people’s mental health. What I’ve seen during COVID is that people lost a lot of their good habits and are now struggling to get started on a healthy lifestyle again.
Personally, I have always been a student of fitness and dance and overall movement. Recently I reviewed a number of online fitness programs looking for something suitable for my clients. Unfortunately, my favorite programs, which were the smartest and most biomechanically sound, were almost all far too difficult for beginners or people out of shape to attempt. With this in mind, I started to teach a few people simple things I’ve learned over the years in terms of restarting a movement and fitness practice after a long period of deconditioning. These folks enjoyed that process so much that I decided to start the new Onnit Academy Foundations fitness course, released in October 2021, in order to round out and add to the knowledge I’ve gained in being an ongoing student of Onnit Academy and their fitness approach.
The first thing is to move, and to move in ways that feel nice and are do-able for your body. Then, you can add strength. From there, once you’ve gotten a practice going, you can go on to taking classes, hiring a trainer, or just doing your own thing. The body needs movement, good nutrition, and rest to be at its best, so anywhere you start is a good place.
For more information about Feldenkrais classes or movement and strength sessions incorporating Feldenkrais and functional fitness principles, just contact me.