I’ve written several times that exercise helps to slim down, maintain weight, and reduce joint pain. Now I want to approach movement from another perspective, that of the mind-body connection.

Trauma

I wanted to document myself with statistics, but I stopped when I read that 1 in 7 people experienced a mental disorder in the year 2019. That is, before the pandemic. I didn’t find statistics from the pandemic period, or after, but it’s not hard to guess what’s happening now. And I also found that half of adults had a traumatic experience in their lifetime that left lasting scars. They may suffer from symptoms such as anxiety, fear, flashbacks, insomnia, self-destructive behaviors, irritability, hostility, emotional detachment or social isolation. And I was thinking how many people think this is normal, to be full of fear and hostility, to be angry about everything, to be always defensive and to trust no one. To not trust yourself. Hurting yourself by working to exhaustion or putting anyone or anything before yourself.

No, this is not normality. It is normal to feel the fatigue in your body before it knocks you down, it is normal to look fondly in the mirror, to notice all your characteristics, without focusing only on qualities or only on defects, to notice that they are there and to take it as a given. It is normal not to compare yourself with anyone, to observe others as they are, without putting them above or below you. It is normal to love everything around you, without conditions. It’s normal to quietly and without resentment walk away from people, actions, or things that don’t fulfill you. It would be normal to know how to deal with the trauma response.

Stress

Stress is defined in the dictionary as: “General term used for any factor in the environment (trauma, emotions, cold, heat, etc.) capable of causing in humans and animals a state of tension and an alarm reaction of the body, sometimes causing serious illnesses. Adverse effect produced on the body of beings by an environmental factor. The set of physiological reactions by which the human body responds to a stressor, trying to defend itself and maintain its basic balance”. So stress is the response to trauma.

Traumatized people tend to either shut down and be unaware of their physical sensations or become overwhelmed by them. The nervous system is stuck in the past and they are not able to accurately feel what is happening in their minds and bodies in the present moment. Memories of past events constantly activate their trauma response, keeping blood pressure high, breathing shallow, and muscles tense. They usually experience either chronic muscle tension or numbness in certain parts of the body, leading to muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, back pain, migraines, and other types of chronic pain. Chronic illnesses… Stress is not only produced in the mind, but is also somatized in the body.

In response to trauma people learn to shut down the areas of their brain that perceive internal state and emotions so they can avoid feeling the terror of past events. Or on the contrary, to exaggerate and get scared by any physical sensation, for example an increase in pulse or temperature can trigger a panic attack. How can we recognize these exaggerated responses to stress, how can we regulate our emotions and live a normal life?

Movement

 Movement therapy. Movement brings us into the present, helps us to become aware of our body and mood, to come out of the exaggerated response to trauma, to release stress. When we move we reduce anxiety, depression and anger and increase pain tolerance, self-esteem, energy, ability to cope with stress and ability to relax.

We don’t have to go to the gym, spend a lot of money on memberships, or do grueling workouts, torture our joints and muscles, but on the contrary, studies say that slow, conscious movement helps the most. Simple stretching, physical therapy, yoga or pilates exercises can be found for free on YouTube or other channels and can be done at home, at your own pace. Walks in nature are free. Or you can dance around the house. Just move with joy.

When you’re having a rough day it may seem counterintuitive to go for a walk or dance, but try it and see how you relax. I remember a few years ago, on an August day when it was 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) in the shade, I came home crying from exhaustion and the boiling heat, I put on Santana’s “Maria, Maria”, I took my shoes off, I poured a bottle of water over my head and started singing and dancing barefoot around the yard on the hot concrete. I relaxed instantly.

Prioritize movement and do it consciously and joyfully. Humans were factory-built to move 16 hours a day, it shouldn’t be that hard to move. Movement helps us both physically and mentally to be and stay healthy.