Lately, I have dropped people, who I realise aren’t the moving type, from my life. Say they find it tiring or unbecoming to move in between places, like from a store to a nearby restaurant, or from the metro to the mall. It is a copious effort for them. They advise me against it. However, movement is food to me. It keeps the limbs coordinated, influences blood circulation, and doesn’t allow the brain to stagnate. To sum up, it keeps the body functional. Which is why I need to keep moving, in whatever way possible. Around the house, from the house to the metro, or from the metro to the gym, then I move in the gym with an intensity most of you will compliment me on. Of the various forms of movement that I participate in, boxing is a favourite, for it involves the movement of all my limbs. The hands are punching, the feet are tapping, and the brain is trying to stay focused to defend itself from being punched. Much opposite to the situation I was in, in a large corporate office with larger phases of lull between tasks. Sometimes the break was as long as fifteen days, ensuring neither the mind nor the fingers moved. Only the paycheck moved, which was spent over the weekend for a much-needed movement.
According to a survey published in the 2016 book IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, people who moved through the day for various chores had higher longevity. Like the examples quoted in IKIGAI, I too have some contrary and scary stories to tell. A friend who spent the majority of her late twenties driving to work, returning home to park herself in a lying position in bed with the laptop in front of her, having the cook and the maid carry out every single chore of the house and her everyday life, now in her thirties, can barely manage to walk around her large gated community. The legs fail her. Uses a chair in the shower. Her abandonment of even basic physical movement has contributed to, among other factors, shaping a lethargic body. The doctors have recommended that she begin physical activities as basic as chopping vegetables to get back to a moving physique.
There’s yet another wonderful friend of mine who got her husband to forsake a comfortable and healthy life in Canada to move back to India for an innocuous reason. It was hard for her to move around the house, carrying out chores like dishwashing and babysitting. Who renounces Canada? And then there’s one more lovely friend of mine who, after walking a bit on weekend outings, returns home all exhausted and calls it a day. For their information, Queen Elizabeth walked a long distance twice a day.
During one vacation in a country abroad, I was driven around in a BMW. It did feel swanky, but after I returned home, only the memories of long walks in a long overcoat remained on my mind. Movement really is the joy of my life. I often like to drop all forms of automobiles so as to move on wide roads, narrow lanes, up the staircase, and on green pastures. Or even on concrete pavements. Moving on a scorching afternoon is a joy unparalleled. The rays of the sun strike harshly against the skin, wrenching out the unrest within. The harsher the rays, the more calming effect they have on me. On a breezy evening, the wind against my skin infuses excitement. The flowing hair lends a feeling of being in a hair oil or shampoo AD, where they equate the strength of the hair to the strength of the woman. Then there are other benefits to movement. Some of the great ideas hit me when I am moving anywhere. In the shower, on the street, or in the gym, practice ‘the world’s greatest stretch’, just like how the great idea to write this column on movement emerged while moving on a busy road on a bright afternoon.
According to a survey published in the 2016 book IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, people who moved through the day for various chores had higher longevity. Like the examples quoted in IKIGAI, I too have some contrary and scary stories to tell. A friend who spent the majority of her late twenties driving to work, returning home to park herself in a lying position in bed with the laptop in front of her, having the cook and the maid carry out every single chore of the house and her everyday life, now in her thirties, can barely manage to walk around her large gated community. The legs fail her. Uses a chair in the shower. Her abandonment of even basic physical movement has contributed to, among other factors, shaping a lethargic body. The doctors have recommended that she begin physical activities as basic as chopping vegetables to get back to a moving physique.
There’s yet another wonderful friend of mine who got her husband to forsake a comfortable and healthy life in Canada to move back to India for an innocuous reason. It was hard for her to move around the house, carrying out chores like dishwashing and babysitting. Who renounces Canada? And then there’s one more lovely friend of mine who, after walking a bit on weekend outings, returns home all exhausted and calls it a day. For their information, Queen Elizabeth walked a long distance twice a day.
During one vacation in a country abroad, I was driven around in a BMW. It did feel swanky, but after I returned home, only the memories of long walks in a long overcoat remained on my mind. Movement really is the joy of my life. I often like to drop all forms of automobiles so as to move on wide roads, narrow lanes, up the staircase, and on green pastures. Or even on concrete pavements. Moving on a scorching afternoon is a joy unparalleled. The rays of the sun strike harshly against the skin, wrenching out the unrest within. The harsher the rays, the more calming effect they have on me. On a breezy evening, the wind against my skin infuses excitement. The flowing hair lends a feeling of being in a hair oil or shampoo AD, where they equate the strength of the hair to the strength of the woman. Then there are other benefits to movement. Some of the great ideas hit me when I am moving anywhere. In the shower, on the street, or in the gym, practice ‘the world’s greatest stretch’, just like how the great idea to write this column on movement emerged while moving on a busy road on a bright afternoon.
(The author, Suhani Dewra, runs an online conscious store.)
