Welcome to the Playground
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by: JoLaine Jones
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GenuineYou News
Welcome to the Play Ground
Go to your neighborhood park and watch the children play. Are the children counting calories burned? Are they checking their heart rate? Are they repeating the same activity over and over again? Are they checking their watches to see how much longer they have to keep this up?
Despite decades of information from our health care providers, despite nagging and begging, despite Nike commercials, most people in this country do not exercise regularly. Can we look to the children for answers?
The children on the playground are not there because they disapprove of the way they currently look and are trying to change that. They are not there because they have to work off that birthday cake they had at their friend's party. They are not there because being fat is the most horrible thing that anyone can be in this culture!
At least for the time being, the children are there because they are exulting in their body's miraculous abilities. They are there because they love to move and climb and run and jump and see what they are capable of. They are there to relate to their friends, to feel the sun on their shoulders and the mud between their toes. They are there because they are glad to be alive.
Now watch the adults exercising. No wonder most of us don't want to do that! Going around and around the same old track, wired up to equipment to let them know their "progress," headphones clamped down over their ears to keep their minds off this monotonous activity. Are they there because they are glad to be alive or because they are ashamed of their bodies?! (Or at least to keep from being ashamed of their bodies!)
Let me clarify that there are indeed adults who are enjoying themselves as they exercise. And if you are enjoying your activity and have no resistance to going to the gym, going for a run or a swim or a bike ride, then good for you! BUT, if you have been trying to make yourself exercise for years, starting one exercise program after another, only to quit them in disgust at your lack of ability to become the culturally accepted thin and muscled symbol of health that has been sold to us, try this: STOP EXERCISING! Stop it right now. Go out and play. Kick a ball - ride a bike - go dancing - throw a frisbee - walk the dog. Stop counting laps, throw away your pedometer, stick your headphones in a drawer for some other time. Once you shed your negative attitudes about physical activity by learning to play again, then any activity you participate in can become play. You can play at the gym as well as you can at the park or on the dance floor.
At what point do children today think that they must stop playing and begin exercising? Are they any more likely than the adults to stick with exercise programs? Maybe, just maybe, if we adults can drop the "exercise think" that consistently has not worked for the most of us for many decades now, we can save ourselves and our children.
If you would like to shift to a more positive way of thinking about exercise and physical activity, visit GenuineYou for your first FREE coaching session and - welcome to the play ground!!
About the Author
JoLaine Jones is a Wellness Life Coach specializing in helping women love their bodies and love their lives. GenuineYou
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