Exercise - vitalizing your body

Our spiritual, mental, physical and emotional lives are all interrelated. Making improvements in one area can have very positive influences on the others. Much of the work I have outlined is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which uses the power of our own minds to bring about the changes we want in our lives, but it also embraces the spiritual and explores ways of managing our emotions. But the physical side of things is very important, our bodies allow us to take action, to do things in the real world, so as we are learning to love and respect our inner selves, so we must cherish and look after our physical bodies, and this means making healthy choices.

And yes, exercise is right at the top of that list. If you look back at the last generation, they were fit, and very rarely overweight. But they didn't have gyms or diets. Compare this with this generation and the youngsters today ( I'm referring to western societies here), they are fatter and less fit, despite massive dieting and exercise industries. Our bodies NEED to exercise, it has been medically proven that we are emotionally more stable, physically more healthy and mentally far more alert if we do.

The trouble is the huge advances in technology means that we now have machines to do virtually everything for us. Previous generations had to walk everywhere, many of life's mundane tasks required physical exercise, which is why they were fitter and didn't need gyms of course. This contrasts starkly with today... think about what you do in a day, how often do you break out in a sweat? I bet if you were honest most of you would be hard pushed to think of any time in the last week when this was true. And that is a serious problem for all of us in this modern world and one that we need to take seriously.

Gyms are not usually an ideal solution, they are often expensive, require travel time and the ability to set aside time on a regular basis. But if you are able to manage these then it is one way of getting exercise. Many people find working out a boring or unpleasant experience. Others feel not attractive enough to be seen in a gym. There are many reasons why we might want to avoid gyms and for the majority of people I do not believe this is the best solution.

The ideal solution is to review your lifestyle and attitude. Look for ways you can incorporate exercise as part of your everyday life. When I used to work in London, I choose to walk to work in the City and was surprised to discover that it only took a few minutes longer than the usual 30 minutes tube journey. When I arrived, I was alert and feeling good whereas my tube experiences often left me feeling harassed and unsettled. Not only are you getting fit and feeling better when you arrive, the journey is so much richer, each day, each journey brought interesting experiences, it really helped to feel alive.

Use the stairs instead of the lift, walk where you can, look for opportunities and interests that involve physical exercise. The important thing is that whatever you do is easily adapted into your life. You are in a process of change, your exercise is an important part of that. Part of the work you are doing is to take some time each day just for yourself, you could exercise during this time if you choose to.