THE BENEFITS OF MINDFUL MOVEMENTĬonsistent mindful movement provides many physiological benefits, including: You want your type of movement to be enjoyable, and because we are all unique, mindful movement can mean different things for different people. Additionally, we all have varying perspectives of what exercise consists of in terms of physical activity, intensity, and duration. As a result, physical activities are going to feel different for everyone. The goal of mindful movement is to simply enjoy the experience of moving intentionally in your body. When moving mindfully, the motivation is internal. Exercising to lose weight, win in competitive sports, or change how your body looks is not only not sustainable, but these external motivations also take all the fun and meaningfulness out of moving intentionally. Oftentimes, the motivation for traditional exercise is results-based. When you move mindfully, you move for intrinsic reasons, rather than extrinsic reasons which typically drives traditional exercise. Mindful movement is noticing without judgment the sensations that you feel in your body when you are intentionally moving. Actually, mindful movement can help everyone approach movement with self-compassion, flexibility, and a sense of enjoyment - all while boosting your mental health and physical wellness. But mindful movement is not just for individuals struggling with eating disorders or perinatal mental health. We emphasize mindful movement in these programs because of the healing effects that body movement awareness can have on individuals struggling to regain a healthy, accepting relationship with their bodies. Thrive incorporates the concept of mindful movement into its treatment of eating disorders and perinatal mental health conditions.

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