From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND

I’ve been sharing details from my latest book, The Complete Guide to Mental Health, and I hope you’ve been enjoying more calm and peacefulness after incorporating some of my suggestions about eating, supplementing, visualizing and breathing.

Now, let’s get you moving a bit more. I believe that movement of the whole body through exercise is a perfect way to connect with the body as a complete organism, with each system dependent on the others. And for many people, it might be a piece of the puzzle to support your mental health. We just can’t have a complete sense of well-being if we experience lack of wellness on any one level.

The benefits of exercise are far reaching:

  • Reduces weight
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Prevents diabetes
  • Improves cholesterol
  • Increases muscle strength and muscle mass
  • Improves sleep quality

And regarding your mental health, exercise is known to improve mood and sharpen the mind. Exercise researchers have established that physical activity can improve brain health and your ability to think, reduce anxiety and depression, improve sleep quality and overall sense of well-being.

Even further, adding mindfulness to your movement can amplify the benefits experienced in your body, mind and spirit. Mindfulness is maintaining an awareness of our thoughts, feeling, physical sensations and surrounding environment without judgment. Being mindful while exercising can help rekindle our sense of connection to self, nature, higher power while separating ourselves from past mistakes or future worries.

Please refer to my book The Complete Guide to Mental Health, for details about the stretching exercises that I do every day. These exercises can be done on the floor or in a chair so they’re accessible to everyone. I even include my personal sciatic nerve exercise that’s kept me limber for decades!

Walking meditation

After stretching, I enjoy a daily walking meditation which incorporates deep mindfulness with simple walking. I’ve never been able to sit still so adding mindfulness to my walking has allowed me to have a more meditative experience while getting in my daily steps.

There are no “rules.” It’s the last place you want to worry that you’re not doing it “right.” There is no right or wrong, there is only you with your intent to meditate and the rest will take care of itself.

  1. Try to give yourself a minimum of 15 minutes to allow yourself to receive the benefit of slowing down your mind.
  2. You can set your pace at a fast, normal or slow walking speed. Some people find that a slow pace is more contemplative.
  3. Walk with your body loose. Check in with your muscles and try not to hold any tension as you swing your arms gently and stride along smoothly. Occasionally, do a mini slump to relax your whole body.
  4. Be mindful of each step.
  5. You may or may not want to focus on your breath. For some it can be a way to still the mind by focusing on the circular flow of your breath.
    • Or you may count your breaths in and out. One-two-three-four breathing in and one-two-three-four breathing out. You can even throw in a one-two-three-four breath hold between your in and out.
    • You can count your steps with each breath for another way of introducing a “mindless” activity.
    • Although you aren’t necessarily focused on exercising during your walking meditation, don’t be surprised if your lung capacity improves and you are able to take deeper and longer breaths.
  6. Your body is loose, and your eyes should also be relaxed, observing but not judging everything you see. Don’t let your mind comment on what you are looking at beyond appreciating what you see. As an added benefit, as you look into the distance you exercise certain eye muscles; when you look at something close by, you exercise a different set of muscles.
  7. Cultivate an inner smile and an outer smile. I first heard the term, “inner smile,” from Mantak Chia, a famous Qigong teacher. He talks about circulating the energy in your body and evoking an inner smile. I say you can begin with an outer smile at the marvel of your body and allow that smile to touch your inner organs.
  8. Most meditation books talk about walking in silence, with no vocalization and no inner voice chattering.
    • That’s where I break ranks with the meditators because I like to command the angels as I walk.
  9. If you choose to do your walking meditation indoors, adopt a relaxed strolling posture. I gently hold my hands behind my back and scuff/walk very slowly with my eyes on the floor. I immediately feel calm and just concentrate on my breathing and counting steps.

Being mindful can “trick” you into exercising!

I’ve had people tell me that doing a walking meditation helped them shift their focus from “I hate exercising” to being able to enjoy the experience of being in the moment, walking in nature, and then realizing that they’ve “accomplished” getting in their steps. Mindfulness can help ease the sense that exercise is a chore that must be completed.

Tap your way into including exercise in your life

If you feel like you have a resistance to exercising, I’d like to suggest that you try using EFT Tapping to shift your perspective on exercise. While it may be a more complex issue for you, here are some tapping phrases to get you started.

You can read my blogs about tapping (link) which includes details and instructions, but EFT tapping is a process where you simply use your own fingertips to tap on a specific set of acupuncture points while focusing your attention on something that’s bothering you. Let’s imagine that what’s bothering you is your resistance to exercising. Here are some tapping statements to help you on your way.

Step 1

First, take a deep breath and imagine your resistance to tapping like a block you can see, feel, or sense. On a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the biggest the block can be, and zero being there’s no block, select a number that identifies the extent of your block/resistance you have in the moment

Write down this number that describes your resistance to exercising.

Step 2

Begin by continuously tapping on the acupuncture point on the side of one hand with the opposite hand. While tapping, repeat the following setup statements.

Repeat setup statements while tapping the point on the side of the hand

Even though I hate exercising, I love and accept myself.

Even though I can’t make myself exercise, I accept myself anyway.

Even though I resist doing exercise, I love and accept myself.

Step 3

Continue to tap on each of the tapping points (link to illustration in blog) using two fingers of one or both hands, tap four or five times on each point, while repeating the “reminder phrase” that focuses on the problem.

Reminder phrase while tapping the rest of the tapping points:

Eyebrow: I hate to exercise

Side of Eye: I can’t make myself exercise

Under Eye: I resist doing exercise

Under Nose: I hate to exercise

Chin: I can’t make myself exercise

Collarbone: I’m resisting exercise so much!

Under Arm: Exercise feels impossible

Top of Head: My exercise resistance

Keep tapping

This is just one round of tapping and you can repeat this process, using the same words, until you start feeling a shift in the block of resistance that you pictured earlier. Take a deep breath and check the number again. Has it changed at all? Write down your new number and notice if any thoughts or feelings have come to mind. Make a note of these and then create new tapping setup statements that reflect your new perception of your exercise resistance.

Review my blogs about EFT Tapping to get more information on creating your tapping habit which can allow you to develop a new habit of exercising!

Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future.