Did I say the best exercise?
Because it’s much more than that. It’s also an incredibly important life skill.
Practicing it profoundly enhances your ability to live and move in strength and in health.
It’s a movement —actually a collection of movements — that nourishes the whole of you.
It’s a life skill that let’s you be you.
It helps you show up more fully for life.
What is this amazing life skill that doubles as an exercise?
Well, it’s something we all played with and practiced very early on in our lives.
It’s how you built your foundation of strength and health.
And what did it do for you way back then when you started playing with it?
It nurtured your nervous system.
It nourished your vestibular system.
It offered your joints a chance to learn the dance of mobility and stability.
It taught your joints how to move with each other.
It taught you that you had options when you fell down.
It taught you how to move with gravity.
It sharpened your postural reflex.
It helped you build a strong core and strong legs and arms too.
It strengthened your shoulders and hips.
It taught you how to find your balance.
It offered you a chance to play and explore.
It fine tuned your body’s GPS (proprioceptive) system.
It taught you about what is possible when you are present with your body.
It built your foundation for learning.
It came in really handy as you grew and wanted to go on more adventures.
And all those benefits are still available to you IF you just show up and practice the skill (i.e. do the exercise) on a regular basis.
And I’ll warn you, it is crazy simple.
So crazy simple you don’t even need any equipment other than your own body. And you can do it almost anywhere.
The skill/exercise I’m talking about is just getting down on the ground and getting back up. Yep, you Get Down 2 Get Up (GD2GU). See, I told you it was simple.
Unfortunately, for many of us, getting down is pretty much relegated to getting our butts in a chair. And getting up is moving our tuchas out of the chair hours later.
Many of the demands of modern life (ex: sitting or standing at desks for long periods) keep us locked in sedentary behavior. We forget to move our bodies in all the amazing ways they’re designed to move.
As a result our bodies grow stiff and achy. We get headaches, sore necks, tight shoulders, backaches, and our knees and hips hurt. Our ability to move suffers. Our overall health suffers.
So what can a person do?
You can make the choice to re-connect to your foundation of health and strength. The one you built when you were young. You can make the choice to begin reclaiming all the benefits (listed above) that flow from that foundation. And you can do so by simply engaging in GD2GU each and every day.
And yes, you might be a bit rusty at first.
That’s more than ok.
All you have to do is start where you are, do what you can, and play with the movement options available to you in the moment.
So how do you do the GD2GU?
The basic version of GD2GU is this:
Begin by standing.
Make your way down to the floor.
Stretch out fully on your back or your belly.
Make your way back to standing.
Go slowly to start. Remember to breathe. Focus on balance. Stay within a comfortable but slightly challenging range of motion. If going all the way to lying down on the floor is too much to start perhaps begin by going down on one knee and make your way back to standing from there. Use a piece of stable furniture if you think you might need assistance.
By making the choice to engage in GD2GU for 5 to 10 minutes each day you’ll begin to find more movement options opening up to you.
The GD2GU builds strength, balance, and flexibility. It allows you the chance to begin reclaiming the benefits of the foundation you built so many years ago when you were a child. And all these healthful components are important for you to live well throughout your lifetime.
The choice is yours. The GD2GU benefits are pretty awesome. So why not begin?
And if you have any questions about how to get the most out of the GD2GU feel free to contact me at: sarah@asimplewellness.com
And for your movement pleasure, here are some more GD2GU variations from Original Strength for you to explore: