Can you? This quote “you can do anything for a minute” was a repeated comment from friends and clients on Facebook after I posted a video last Monday to join me in a “1 minute jumping jack challenge.” I think there is a lot of truth to their comment. You can easily do things like eat ice cream, sit on a beach, scroll social media, dance or even do jumping jacks for 1 minute but the REAL CHALLENGE presents itself when we are asked to do something like a minute of jumping jacks for more than one day or two or three or four! The continuity of an action, habit or practice EVEN when we know that the end result would be extremely beneficial for our health and well being is where the difficulty lies and we struggle.
My initial intent of this challenge was to get people up and moving in the morning. Morning movement is the best way to move from asleep to an awakened state. It starts to move oxygen and blood through our cells. It also changes your mood and begins to shift the energy from stagnation (sleep state) to a more dynamic state which stimulates our lymphatic system, a key supporter of our immune system. Through this action, we start to feel more alive. It helps us land in our body and out of our mind. We begin to coordinate our breath, our life force to soothe our nervous system. Think about this movement as though we are breathing life, energy and vitality into our body to ignite our day.
So with this in mind, I posted a new video each morning for a total of 5 and a bonus weekend one! “You can do anything for 1 minute” but I wonder how many people jumped on Tuesday and Wednesday and so forth. I have heard from some people that they joined in and I reached out to others so I’ll wait a few days to get a final count. Most who are joining in have reported that they are loving it and many will add it to their routine or workout.
As stated above, the continuity of an action, habit or practice EVEN when we know that the end result would be extremely beneficial for our health and well being is the BIGGEST CHALLENGE. Darn, why is that so?
Bad habits are hard to break and new ones are hard to begin. It’s human behavior however, there are ways to change. All is not lost. For the past three years, I have been assisting people in changing daily habits through my weekly POWER UP program and my monthly program called Living in Rhythm. One of my members took a 360 with her diet and went Vegan. Another member developed a more consistent weekly exercise routine and three years later has maintained it! One member designed a bedtime routine to help her fall asleep more easily and stay asleep. If you’re someone who would like to change a habit, and may need guidance, click here to set up a time to chat. Regardless of whatever habit you want to change, I leave you with a few tips:
Tip #1 start small ie. one minute of movement
Tip #2 strive for a B- not perfection ie. 3/5 days, maybe not 5/5
Tip #3 find an accountability partner ie.spouse, partner, friend or me
Stay tuned in 2022 as I am thinking of creating an online course in designing and building essential daily habits. Can’t wait to share it all with you.
Until then, feel free to click here to join me in 1 minute of jumping jacks made especially for you and you can play it over and over again.
Peace, power & plants
In gratitude,
Nancy
Health & Lifestyle Coach
"I help women and men design and build a life of ease and balance through the daily habits of Ayurveda and everything plants!"
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