Alright friends... y'all know how much I love me some ease (especially on Sundays).... but there's another thing I also love playing with: effort.
Well, mostly I like it afterward. Haha! But truly, I do love the sensation of moving with effort -- that euphoric, heart-pumping sensation of going all out with my body.
And embracing going (a little bit) harder is what we'll be exploring this week.
We all know atrophy & entropy are natural over time. The old phrase "use it or lose it" is absolutely right on. And we know that to maintain (or improve) our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength, health, & happiness takes effort.
The key: We need to willingly challenge ourselves. We have to embrace doing hard things now if we wanna be able to do hard things tomorrow.
Not allllll the time, of course. Not every minute. And not to pain/injury. Definitely not that. But it's sooooooo good for us to willingly embrace going hard now and then. And it's definitely better to face something hard willingly than to have it chase you.
So this week: We're embracing doing hard things...
and celebrating that part of ourselves that does the hard things.
In the exercise physiology world, there's what's known as the Overload Principle. It basically just means, that in order to improve any ability, we need to overload (or stress) the system beyond normal. That (positive) stress is what then stimulates the physiological adaptations that lead to improvement.
So this week, as we dance, we'll play with challenging our bodies... but we can also play with other things that feel hard to us. For example: using our voices. Singing or hi-yahing out loud. Or maybe sharing something in the circle. Allowing your hips to move. Moving in new ways. Etc. etc....
We'll lean into the hard.
We'll do that in class.... But we can also use this collective energy and focus all week long to dive into any other hard things we might be avoiding.
Maybe it's something hard physically.
Maybe mentally or emotionally.
Maybe it's just boring, or you simply don't like doing it.
Maybe it's making some sort of lifestyle change...
Having that difficult conversation...
Trying something new...
Tackling that project...
Ending something...
Taking the big leap...
Communicating a boundary...
Putting yourself out there...
Doing your taxes...
Maybe your hard thing is resting, taking a break, or sitting still.
Maybe it's simply taking some time for your own joy.
Whatever it may be-- this is the week, friends.
We'll be right there with you.
We'll face the hard: the effort, fear, discomfort, insecurities, boredom, etc., and....
We'll DO it.
We'll get stronger.
We'll grow.
We'll get some things done that we've been meaning to do.
AND
(most importantly)
we'll remind ourselves we can do hard things.
As always, can't wait to see what we discover together this week.
See you SOON!
💛 Dani
The reason to deliberately do hard things is so that when non-self-elected challenges arrive (& they will), you can tell yourself: "I don't know how this is all going to turn out, but I am certain I can do hard things." Don't self-injure. But doing hard things is always worthwhile.
-Andrew Huberman @hubermanlab
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