In my teenage years when I was very active and sporty, the words ‘gentle exercise’ were like a foreign language to me. I had a black belt in karate, represented my state in basketball, won tennis championships, and I regularly went swimming and to the gym – it was an area of my life where I was considered successful. On reflection, I was not as successful as I could have been as there was always a drive to do better, achieve more or win more championships.
The way I had to push my body with karate is something I find hard to re-visit. There are memories of running barefoot on gravel and not wanting to come last because I would be made to do it again; memories of smashing my shins into those of heavy, grown men – and I was a delicate 12 year old girl in a class of adults.
My focus during exercise was always on pushing my body to do more. There was no enjoyment in the process of exercising – instead my mindset was that it was good for my body; or that by winning I was better than others.
When I used to look at my body it was almost with a cloudy vision and I would look at what I didn’t like … my thighs could be thinner, or my hips not so wide.
Recently I started doing weekly exercise classes with Danielle Pirera and her Re-Connect Exercise program. These classes and their gentle way of exercising are like no other exercise I have experienced before. I have been able to break a lot of my old patterns of how I exercised as well as discover the beauty and power of my body.
Doing Re-Connect Exercise classes with Danielle feels amazing; to move my body and to build my strength in a way where I am listening to my body and am present with my body and what I am feeling. My body feels vibrant with a real flow through it now. There is no longer the continual heaviness in my legs that I often experienced. Over the last 6 months the way I view my body has changed so dramatically: now when I look at my body I see a beautiful, powerful, strong and sexy woman.
I have also been able to heal the damage I did to myself from my former ways of exercising. The first time Danielle suggested push-ups against the wall, I cringed at the thought and I was thrown back to memories of my karate days. But this time I was able to do the push-ups in a different way and re-imprint how I now know push-ups can be – healing for the body and not harming it.
As a high school student I would wear ankle weights daily and I was constantly trying to make sure no one noticed. And they were so uncomfortable! I wanted my legs to be thinner and more toned and I thought by wearing ankle weights I could speed up achieving this goal. I recently bought myself some ankle weights to use in the Re-Connect Exercise class. The first time I went to put them on, I nearly couldn’t – the memories of my teenage years were almost too much for me. I went straight back to the huge lack of self-worth I felt as a seventeen year old. I did put them on, however this time I did it with love for my body and because I wanted to support my leg exercises and not to change the shape of my legs.
To re-visit that time of my life has been so incredibly healing; I could begin to let go of all the pain I carried from those years when I hated my body and was so consumed by how my body looked.
To exercise in a gentle way while being fully present with myself blows other ways of exercising out of the water.
My way of exercising in my teenage years left a bad taste in my mouth and from that I shunned traditional forms of exercise. Discovering this new way of gentle exercise has allowed me to discover a different way of being with my body. I have entered into a new relationship with my body – one that is based on love and support and I’m looking forward to further developing this new long term relationship.
Inspired by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.
By Nikki McKee, Administration, Goonellabah, Australia
Further Reading:
Exercise – it doesn’t need to be hard work
Exercise and My Body
My Turnaround from Competitive Running to Connection with Me
557 Comments
“My body feels vibrant with a real flow through it now” the true purpose of gentle exercise.
I have a very similar relationship with exercise, before and after! Before it was rough and careless, now it’s supportive and gentle. I feel stronger and more vital now than I did back then. Most likely because I don’t get muscle cramps the following day every time I exercise now like I used to.
Great Article Nikki, as 40 years of train had to be re-imprinted by me by being gentle as presented in the “Re-Connect Exercise classes with Danielle” and I amazed at the level of vitality and strength obtained in these simple classes.
When we focus on the feeling that we are not enough and needing to do more we are feeding ourselves poison, far better to make our focus on the amazing being we are and from their exercise is done in the holding energy of love.
Glorious to read Nikki, our body surely deserves love, respect and honouring, ‘ I have entered into a new relationship with my body – one that is based on love and support and I’m looking forward to further developing this new long term relationship.’
I had a similar experience when I first went into a gym again after years of staying clear of gyms because of the fanatical way I had previously exercised. Nothing was done in a gentle way, I actually believed the more my body hurt and aches the better my exercise work out was. Now, I couldn’t possibly think of exercising in that way because I would absolutely loose connection to my body.
It is great to recognise that some of our behaviours were not always in the best interests of our body, and to replace that with a new way of being that is honouring, supportive and cherishing of our body.
The way you describe karate makes me shiver nowadays. But in the past I used to admire people when had advanced skills in “martial arts”, like many people do in society. Now I can see what pursuing these kind of sports do to your body: you cannot practice these sports for a long time without it having a permanent negative effect on your body. A body that basically is tender and delicate and not meant to be hard and insensitive.
“now when I look at my body I see a beautiful, powerful, strong and sexy woman.” A beautiful exercise in being fit for life.
Likewise Nikki, the way I used to exercise as a teenager has had to be unlearnt as it always used to lead to me hurting myself from over doing it. However, its been hugely worthwhile as what I do now as exercise has given me a lovely relationship with my body which I value enormously and supports me in all sorts of different things that I do through my day.
I remember when I first went back to the gym after having been much more gentle and honouring of my body and i had similar experiences. I did not do weights as I considered this too much for me at the time Now reading your blog I realise I could bring weights back into my exercises sessions. I have not been to the gym for a while either and maybe that would also be a fun way to get more strength in my body . There is a gym five minutes from my house. Thank you Nikki .
Reading your blog has inspired me to get out my weights and exercise program and start to gently exercise to support my body all the while bringing a loving tender presence.
Yes Nikki, we are so used to not having a relationship with our body, that the moment we actually connect it is quiet shocking — not so much that it is unknown, but more so we can feel that it is so known yet have not been lived for a long time.. The moment we are honest, we instantly can connect and deepen our relationship with ourselves.
It is interesting that we are never really taught about really caring for and looking after our bodies- it is like we have this sense of entitlement with our bodies that we can do whatever we like with them. We would never do to a baby the many things we are prepared to do to ourselves, for example, you wouldn’t give a baby coke yet we drink it without really thinking about it.
Nikki no one talks about exercise this way, they champion results from going hard at it, but no one is generally open about the physical and emotional effects of exercising in such a punishing way, or the self loathing that is often motivating us. I feel it’s really important to talk openly about the effects of how we exercise on the whole person, not just the physical results, because we may not realise we are being abusive with ourselves but justifying it because we become more fit, muscly or toned.
” Doing Re-Connect Exercise classes with Danielle feels amazing; to move my body and to build my strength in a way where I am listening to my body and am present with my body and what I am feeling. ”
I did classes with Danielle and I felt the same in that it was like I was learning to consciously be aware of all my body when I was moving. The depth of movement involved with the whole body when just doing one physical moment is just incredible. One tiny physical moment moves the whole body as all the body adjusts to the slightest movement.
Its interesting to note how I used to exercise too — it was all about pushing myself to be stronger, faster, perform better.. Total (nervous system) stimulation because that was what was only known in the body at the time. I commend the Esoteric Modalities that showed me Harmony in the body. This is now my focus when I exercise – exercising in gentleness in maintaining connection supports holding my innermost harmony.
“To exercise in a gentle way while being fully present with myself blows other ways of exercising out of the water.” When we exercise with love and gentleness our body says ‘Thank you.’
I used to push my body big time with all types of exercise, thinking it was good for me, the problem was I never really listened to what my body wanted. These days my body speaks loudly, and I have to listen.
Our bodies are so responsive to love and loving exercise – best investment ever.
I agree revisiting what we had issues with can be very healing, we do not need to own it and become drowned in emotions. We can observe what was going on and make a change in how we respond. We can heal whatever hurt by the choices we make.
Exercise is a great way to develop and learn about the power in your body, there’s so much we can learn about ourselves and grow in the everyday things we need to do.
Reminds me of being a teenager and doing volley ball at quite a high level, the only focus was the commitment to the ball at any cost, I would have 10 bruises on each inner arm and 20 on each shin. It was horrific but I at the time loved it because I loved team sports and that is where I can see the bastardisation of brotherhood in the world. I fell for it hook line and sinker! Now sport just seems to be the opposite as whilst the intention is to win and smash the opposition it is really not about brotherhood!
I also, like many, got hooked into thinking being part of a team was brotherhood. Caught feels. From what I know and feel brotherhood to be now, is very different to what I experienced through sport. While I thought I felt it on the field or court we were playing on, when the game was over it was very clear it wasn’t, as most went their seperate ways.
Regular gentle exercise is really important for our bodies health and wellbeing – and I have loved how you have shared your experiences of this Nikki and how you have totally reimprinted it to a way in which your body is far more loved and honoured when you now exercise.
It’s just crazy the way we treat our delicate bodies in order to seek any form of recognition, approval or acceptance. I certainly fell into the trap of thinking I had to exercise hard to achieve the results I was looking for, but in all honesty I did not truly or deeply feel contentment. As you say here ‘To exercise in a gentle way while being fully present with myself blows other ways of exercising out of the water.’ – and the beautiful thing is that we have to opportunity to build and strengthen not only our physical bodies but also deepening our connection to our bodies and being whilst we are exercising. A win win in all regards.
Its deepening that connection that is such a key ingredient in life, and totally missed out on in the way I was taught about exercise as a child.
A lot of harm is inflicted on the physical body under the guise of being good for us, as in certain exercise regimes or when it comes to nutrition and diet advice.
Yes it is really ironic isn’t it?!
How incredible the changes that can happen with even just a drop of self-love in to a sea of low self-worth. It is like being in a sea of turmoil and finding a boat, a safe haven where everything makes sense because there is love and it is you – you are the love you have been looking for. This, is a very precious thing.
I have recently started to exercise a bit more and wow does my body thank me for it, I have a very sedentary job where I do a lot of driving so as long as I am connected exercising is a real joy for my body.
“My focus during exercise was always on pushing my body to do more. There was no enjoyment in the process of exercising – instead my mindset was that it was good for my body.” Me too. Nowadays and with the support and encouragement from Bev Carter’s online exercise programmes my relationship with exercise has shifted dramatically and I now really enjoy exercising because I am now staying with my body rather than trying to get through the exercises as quickly as possible so I can go on to do other things. Bringing presence to whatever I do has changed all that I do in life.
Its hard to describe what life is like when you have a sense of you in your body if you have never felt that before, but it is still worth describing what life is like living, exercising, eating and working with that sense of you for then the possibility and value of it is known.
Exercise must be connected with gentleness… it is our true nature
Reading this article and the impact Karate had on Nikki, is something that needs to be talked about more. There is great harm, first in why we choose to have our bodies ‘bashed’ by a sport and secondly why we actually champion and continue with this sport, even after we have felt the impact of it. The sad thing is the mindset that supports our behaviour here is all around us and it takes great courage to go against the tide.
Reading that first paragraph I’m reminded of that awful saying ‘the price of success’. It indicates that there is a heavy toll to pay, in pain or in selling out. Lets just revisit that word success a moment… as our definition of that defines the abuse we will allow, or the love that we let in.
You will not be the first or the last person to hate their body Nikki, which is why we abuse our bodies in obvious and the not so obvious ways. Very inspiring to read the healing that has taken place for you as the relationship with your body changes and deepens. When we are ready to let go of our hurts or past traumas, I have found that there is so much support available to help us do just that.
It was interesting to go back and read this blog and see how my relationship with my body continues to change, depend and heal. I had totally forgotten about the trauma I put myself through with ankle weights and how much came up for me when I first went to put them on again. This has completely cleared from my body. It’s amazing the hurts we carry around in our bodies that we have forgotten about it. Then when we do re-visit them and address them that they can completely go. So much time spent carrying things around that don’t belong!
So very true and I had to giggle because you are known as the queen of decluttering.
Yes, always happy to get rid of what’s not needed 🙂
It is a beautiful thing to realise that we can do exercises without a push or drive of wanting to better ourselves or a specific body part. That exercise can be done because it feels so good in the body and it is such a joy to exercise with ourselves. I really thought this was not possible a couple of years ago but I can. I wonder how many things we think are impossible that are actually very possible when we give it a go.
Thank you Nikki for a great article showing me how much my body is missing loving and tender exercise, inspiring how you are re-impring the way you now exercise so different to how you exercised in such a driven way in your younger life.
Bring love into exercise and you will never ever be able to hurt yourself anymore as our bodies are so sensitive and tender and need that regular exercise to stay healthy and fit to the end of its days.
I too had a dodgy relationship with exercise and body image for decades which I have only truly started to re-imprint in the last 4 years. And it’s all been about finding the love in the process, and in me, as has been described here so well by Nikki. It’s about supporting my body, and no longer fitting in with an ideal or belief.
The most beautiful thing about gentle exercise is that in supporting my body, I support my physical and mental wellbeing. The simplicity of this is staggering, and my learning is that when I don’t exercise, I feel the result of this choice on many levels. The quality of my mental wellbeing being the most significant trigger to remind me to return to regular gentle exercises.
Exercising to develop a body that is not only healthy and strong, but also loving and tender is a whole new paradigm, and one well worth the change.
If you have been an avid exercise guru or heavily into hard sports, it is challenging to accept gentle exercise and true movement as an option, as your head thinks what it is choosing is good for it, and society pushes, play hard, move through the burn, and so on. Only when you make the choice to give it a go and feel the contrast and how beneficial that is all around, can you say, wow, I pushed my body so hard and wasn’t even present through any of it, and now I can really feel how enjoyable gentle exercise actually is, and how super supportive it is for the body.
I too experience a lot of hardness in how people are, not only with themselves but also with the people they are with, may it be at home, at work or anywhere else the interaction takes place. This hardness I do experience not only in the way they move and touch but also in the way the interact verbally and talk in general. From seeing all of this it is not strange to me that how people are exercising is in the same way, hard and tough. We are so used to be this way but I am experiencing something different now after connecting more and more to my body. I am experiencing a deep connection with a tenderness and delicacy I never felt before and when I now sometimes move a little bit too hard or express myself in a hard way I instantly feel it in my body as it disturbs that yummy feeling connecting to our bodies do bring. So also for me no hard pushing and achieving in excercise anymore but just those gentle movements that do support my body to stay healthy and fit for all the work it has to perform.
Over the last year I have again changed the way I exercise. Nothing in me has wanted to do light weights. I struggled with this for a while thinking that I should, but my body finds it very challenging. On the other hand, my body loves walking, stretching and connective tissue exercises. What I’ve been learning is that there is no set way. As my body is going through certain things along my path of evolution, different things may be needed. If I get stuck in one way, I may be locking my body into something that it wants to move on from.
Gentle exercise makes me feel supported and loved when I do it in connection to my body, such a far cry from my martial arts days or even when doing my exercise routine now but while thinking about issues in my head. Having a connection with our bodies makes any movements enjoyable, light-hearted and fun.
Winning and the ideals of competition have smothered the true benefits we can get from exercise and movement. Take them away and we are left with an opportunity to evolve though connection with our body.
We, as a society, do have a total wrong perspective on what being fit is. Our role models are the top sport people, and we think they are super heroes while we don’t want to see that they are massively abusing their bodies. We do sport to look better and change the way we feel about our bodies. It is not the loving that supports the body.
Yes inspiring Nikki. To be fit for life is not only be mental fit but also, of course, be physically fit. The mental aspect I am pursuing, but the physical element is often lacking: why? Today I skipped my swimming because there were other things to do. I know that my body is important, and that it is important to exercise, but I don’t practice it in full. I have to look into that.
There is a totally false image of personal growth linked to abusing (pushing) the body. Through abuse to our body there is no possible personal growth. Only by loving it this is really possible.
True exercise allows us to get in touch with our inner strength so there is no need to push ourselves and abuse our bodies; simply connect and move in a way that confirms what is already there to support us in our daily living.
Once you become aware of what connection with yourself feels like, you don’t want to give it up… thus exercise becomes an opportunity to strengthen not only the physical body but also the connection with self.
Exercise is a great way to get to know our bodies and the power that lies within, I love how when I simply go on the walking machine I can feel the power in my legs and the strength of my commitment – it’s like who I am pulsates through every cell in my body. Yep I totally agree exercise is an amazing tool for both looking after our bodies and also getting to know who we really are on a deeper level.
Nikki, there is a strong message in your writing that is very present and such a gift – there is a choice to be made in how we move and care for our bodies, and further more, there is a choice available in what intentions we have when doing so.
I’m just realising it’s not the exercise I’m resisting, it’s the commitment to me, allowing the space in my week to support my body has not been a priority apart from my daily walks. I feel by committing to an ongoing program is the next step in connection to a deeper relationship with myself.
Exercise with push and drive so often results in injury but exercising with gentleness and your whole body opens up and says ‘thank you’.
This shows there can be a quality in how we do things. I never considered this before and when it came to exercise, it was all about the burn rather than the love and care that I could bring to exercise. Nikki I love how you have changed the way you exercise through listening to the body – it is very inspiring and something I am also working on myself.
I was never a sporty person, yet I found it easy, I could run, high jumps, jog, did a bit of all these things, but I always found I had a lazy attitude to exercise, I did not like to make my body uncomfortable…this is on the other end of the scale, lazy with exercise. But since I also started exercise classes with Danielle, she introduced something very new for me, that exercise connected to the body is a whole new way…my body loved it, I loved it, but I still continued to be lazy…
I have passed that now, and am really enjoying connecting and feeling the natural strength of my body. But the key here is whether it’s full on sport or lazy and not into it, either way there is a disconnection from our bodies. Re connecting and appreciating the body, I am beginning to feel a quality I never felt before, a strength and lightness…also a confidence in its movement and in life…the body is a friend not an enemy.
Exercising gently in a way that supports my body is now the only way I would consider exercising, and I agree, ‘To exercise in a gentle way while being fully present with myself blows other ways of exercising out of the water.’
Thank you Nikki that is amazing!
Great blog Nikki, for me exercise was first in competitive sport that was something I did because all my friends were doing it and I just wanted to fit in. Later on in life came the weightlifting to put on some more muscle. I threw myself into a hard weights program not for the love and support of my body but to try and improve the way my body looked.
These days I have a gentle exercise program where I exercise my body so it can support me to be all that I am.
I love what you share here Nikki, that when we revisit old behaviours and patterns we hold in the body, this first brings up the memories and what we left behind in our bodies, but this is great as we can now re-imprint and bring a new feeling to the body and no longer have to walk around with that old trauma.
Ankle weights? I have never tried them, I can feel from your blog how supportive these classes are and find I am inspired to give them a go.
I used to think to have a strong powerful body I had to train hard and for long hours, all I ended up with was a very toned, exhausted and masculine physique not very attractive for a young woman. Learning to gently exercise has been an interesting process for me, and how it is the quality of connection and gentleness I bring when I exercise that truly supports my body.
Wow Nikki! What a turn around from the way you moved with and viewed exercise to what you now know about it. It’s a gorgeous reflection of how willing you are to love your body and I can feel the care you now have in everything you do. Yes, it can be sickening to think of how it once was, but knowing that you were ‘owned’ by and image of what you thought exercise was can help in bringing understanding to the memory and anything stored in the body. Well Done!!
It is always wonderful to read when such high achievers have an epiphany of self awareness, and the revelations that then happen
It’s amazing what we do to ourselves and let others do in the name of sport and competition. Creating dramatic situations like the running barefoot on gravel. I have many such stories of my own. All with the end goal to be fitter, better and more accepted by others for what I could do. Yet in wanting others to accept me I actually made it impossible to accept myself. And no external measure of being successful will change that, it is only through being more gentl with my body that I have started to build self acceptance, which from a psychological point of view alone is a much healthier way to live in our bodies. Great to hear Nikki that you have found what works for you in regards to your exercise, it certainly has a profound influence on the rest of our lives and how they play out.
The moment we truly feel the beauty and power of our body is a beautiful one of acceptance and surrender, knowing there is so much beyond physicality. What is truly beautiful and powerful is the connection we feel with ourselves and the solidity and support the body is offering back to us in being in the world, there is a working together between what is physical and non-physical.
Moving in connection with my body and feeling how to move in a way that best supports how I am moving, just makes so much sense if I am doing exercises to support my body’s health and strength, which seems to be a no brainer as that is why we do exercise, but funnily enough, many, including myself some time back, do exercise with no true focus on the body and how it feels when we do it at all. It is just another box ticking exercise that makes us feel good and we can get recognition or acceptance from others.
The Gentle Exercise reconnects me to my body and supports me to build a foundation in my life that keeps me light, steady, consistent and loving.
My body appreciates being being moved and stretched. It is like offering support to my best friend – my partner in life is my own body! It so deserves to be deeply honoured.
Our bodies are so naturally tender and delicate, and like you I really pushed myself beyond what feels good when exercising. And if I’m honest, I still do – going to the gym has always been about getting bigger as opposed to taking care of myself. This is a really cool post that’s made me reflect on my relationship with exercise. Thank you for sharing!
Yes I recognise so much of what you are sharing. Crazy how the mind lets us do things that are clearly inloving and unhealthy for us. But it tells us it is good for us. Total illusion.
I have been exercising lately Nikki and been noticing that if i bring awareness to my breasts when i do pull ups for example then it is much harder for me to go hard and drive the movement – its like maintaining my natural sexiness through my movements – this not only brings settlement to my body but also confirms me as a woman – 2 in 1.
Working with the body and not against it has changed everything.
Not only does my body feel deeply honoured by this but also so do i as a woman.