Winter Fitness

I have been getting so many newsletters, emails, blog posts, and videos on what to do for exercise in the winter, so I have decided to do my own and share some of my personal thoughts and experiences.

For my most recent ideas on getting exercise in the winter, check out RawYogaFitness!

So now that you have gotten some ideas on how to stay active, let me invite you to grab a warm beverage and a blanket, relax and warm up while you read the rest of this post...it's ok I'll wait :)

Ok, all set?  Excellent!

First of all, I want to start off by saying that being active in the cold winter vs the warm summer are two completely different ball parks.  First of all, summer is warm, sunny, and you have more of an excuse to exercise than to not.  On the other hand, winter is cold, grey, and you have much less desire to be outside let alone exercise (when that blanket looks much more comfortable).  I truly believe that this is in our biology to slow down in during this time, assess things that are going on in life, and relax.

Think about it this way, 100 years ago (or even to this present day, depending on where/how you live) humans lived with the seasons.  Spring was to plant, summer was to tend, fall was to harvest, and winter was to plan for next year.  Three out of the four seasons are spent giving so much energy into planting, caring for, and harvesting food that it makes sense for winter to be a time to relax and plan; let alone the fact that you really can't do much else.

Just like we need sleep in order to function at our peak throughout the day, we need periods of time in our life to soak it all in and re-coop so we can put our all into life.

Bringing this back into modern times, it is easy to see how we all live a very fast-paced, out of tune with nature style of life.  We think that bigger, faster, and more work is better.  Although this might be the case in the short term, this style of living can seriously impact our health and well being by depleting our immune system, become taxing on our adrenal system, and might even lead to dis-ease.

So, to sum it all up...Don't Stress about it!  Winter is a time to get into our own heads and meditate on the direction we want to go with our lives.  Of course staying active is important, but if you don't have enough time/money/access, don't fret.  Just focus on moving your body throughout the day and get outside in the spring/summer/fall and enjoy it!

Luana ola!