Reflections: Shoulder mobility, Physical activity for mental health, Moving spiritually

Here's what I've been doing for Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Body

What I'm doing for shoulder mobility

Shoulders! Shoulders! Shoulders! We have them and we love them especially when they are kind to us and let us move pain free through a full range of motion. To keep healthy shoulders I’m doing the shoulder exercise below. It feels amazing!

Swimmer's Hover: "The swimmers hover works all those ranges we rarely utilize. It smokes the rotator cuff, the postural muscles and just about every fiber involved with dynamic shoulder stability."

Challenge for you:

Pay attention to the mobility in your shoulders. Can you move your shoulders without pain? Don't ignore any nagging pains or discomfort. If you find the Swimmer's Hover too difficult, start with doing just a portion of the moves. You can even do this move standing up.

Mind

Improve depression and anxiety with exercise

May was mental health awareness month. There was lots of good information on the subject that was circulating this past month. Too much of anything can be overwhelming. I will share two ideas or concepts that I found to be helpful.

The first is how exercise can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety. This may same obvious but if you are the one suffering, it may not be that apparent let alone easy to do. This article from the Mayo Clinic gives some good tips and benefits.

The second one I’m including is a book by Kelley and Juliet Starrett, Built to Move. It addresses importance of physical movement and how it can be done without being overly burdensome in an already busy world. I like that idea because with all the obligations of life, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This book recognizes that and gives you the tools to make physical activity easy to incorporate in your life.

They present it as a formula for basic mobility maintenance: 10 tests + 10 physical practices = 10 ways to make your body work better. This includes basic breathing practices to manage stress and pain.

Challenge for you:

Make movement part of your daily routine for better mental health.

Spirit

Moving...spiritually

I came across a book recommendation from Dr. Mark Hyman. The book, The Well-Lived Life is written by 102 year-old Dr. Gladys McGarey, cofounder of the American Holistic Medical Association. What really stood out to me was one of of her six secrets to enjoying life - all life needs to move: how to move - spiritually, mentally, and physically - to help let go of trauma and other roadblocks.

We are familiar with moving physically and mentally to an extent. Often spirituality gets forgotten about, at least in our culture. Thinking about it as a verb can help to bring the importance of it to the forefront.

Here are her other five secrets to enjoying lives that are long, happy, and purpose-driven:

Spend your energy wildly: How to embrace your life fully and feel motivated every day.
You are here for a reason: How to find the everyday “juice” that helps you stay oriented in your life’s purpose.
You are never alone: How to build a community that’s meaningful to you.
Everything is your teacher: Discover the deep learnings that come from pain and setbacks.
Love is the most powerful medicine: Learn to love yourself—and others—into healing.