More about exercise as a natural, daily instinct equal to eating and
sleeping …
Watch babies, toddlers and your pet animals exercise every day, instinctively. The babies kick and squirm, the toddlers run, jump and move around after periods of inactivity, and the animals stretch in various directions after languid dozing.
Why doesn’t everybody else?
It’s because the exercise instinct becomes inadvertently repressed when we go to school and have to sit, learn, and become part of organized society. It didn’t used to be so hard to react to the natural need to move when schools still had recess and gym, and there was no TV at home, nor loads of busy-work homework to do, leaving no time to go out and play Kick the Can.
Life has gotten more complicated now.
BUT, haven’t you noticed that we still have time to eat and sleep? It’s only the movement instinct that’s disappeared. It’s easy to blame TV, the trans-fats in fast food places, oversized soft drinks etc. etc., but those are just the scapegoats.
WELL, forget everything you know about the subject of exercise for a few minutes, erase the sweaty work-out images you conjure up at the sound of the E word, and replace them with a daily mantra – EAT, SLEEP, MOVE.
At age 80, I’m in a “giving back” mood and I want to help you reclaim that natural, daily instinct.
The first step is to remind yourself that you’re the only one living in your body. If you have the right to eat spinach instead of broccoli, go to sleep at 10:00 instead of 10:30, you have the right to do whatever exercise you and your body choose to do – as long as you do SOME KIND OF MOVEMENT every day. And if you can’t find some daily movement that fits your lifestyle, start singing every morning. It’s wonderful exercise! Why else don’t overweight opera singers die early of heart attacks?
Next week: How did the sport conditioning of exercise science become the dominant prescription for exercise anyway?
Love your philosophy and agree with you 100%. I’ve been dancing since the age of 9, and feel that it has not only helped me physically but also mentally. And I want to be like you when I grow up! Look forward to meeting with you and collaborating on some business venture.