3 Meaningful Mindset Shifts That Will Revolutionize Your Movement

This transcript is lightly edited for readability.

I am Edie Feffer, and welcome to Anchored — a show for women who are committed to living a life where everything they do and are begins with self-trust. They're unshakable in their truth, rooted in their emotional well-being, and steady in their commitment to self-love and body love. That is what it means to be anchored. Our conversations dive deep into all aspects of health and wellness, from food freedom and spirituality to routines and relationships. This is where you come to stay grounded.

I am excited to do an episode today on movement — specifically, our mindset with movement. My intention with this episode is to give you three reframes for why we're doing it. I want to help you think about movement differently, through a new lens, so that it's easier for you to create consistency with it.

I'll share where I often begin with new clients. I'll share my philosophy with movement. And I'll begin with just a quick history of my relationship with movement, because it looks very different today than it did over a decade ago.

Transparently, over 10 years ago, my relationship with movement was a complete 180 from where I am with it today. There were phases of my life where I would essentially use movement as a form of punishment. It was a means for me to try to "make up for" food choices that I had made the day before — whether it was through a binge episode or overeating, or guilt that I had for falling off track with another diet.

And after that phase, I fell into a severe depression. I knew that I wanted to be moving, but my depression was so very heavy that it often felt like I couldn't move, and the amount of energy that it would have required for me to lace up my shoes at that point just felt so overwhelming. It felt like such a daunting feat. I would expend so much mental energy just thinking about my desire to move, but not actually acting on it. It felt like ping-ponging, just going back and forth in my brain on whether to do it or not do it — and then almost always talking myself out of it.

For anyone who's dealt with depression, I know you know how frustrating and isolating of a space that is to be in. I remember my sister would call me every night after work, and she would do her best to try to motivate me to just go for a walk.

I share this with you because my relationship with movement hasn't always been as cruisy and flowy and on autopilot as it is right now. But for the past nine years, it has been so peaceful. It's been healthy. It's been body loving. It is a high-vibe habit for me. And it is the thing that keeps me calm and grounded — whether I'm navigating a difficult life disruptor or I'm in a really positive headspace, it's the thing that I lean on to protect my mental health.

I could do an entire episode on healing my depression and the role that movement has played in that. But in this episode, I want to focus specifically on mindset and movement. I'm sharing a little bit of my health history with you so that you can have confidence in knowing that the approach that I teach with movement is one that I've utilized in my own health journey. It is what has helped pull me out of a low point. It's what's helped me create consistency with it. And I've seen it work very, very well for the women that I coach.

So when it comes to movement, I help my clients create consistency with a routine that works for their schedule and their lifestyle. This isn't a one-size-fits-all approach.

When we begin, if someone is in a phase where she hasn't been moving, I recommend starting with 15 minutes of movement per day. And we determine the number of days per week together.

I'm going to pause right there, because you may hear that and your brain is thinking: 15 minutes, that's not enough. That's not going to do anything. It sounds too easy. A lot of us have these thoughts that diet culture has instilled in us — like, if I'm not suffering, it's not working. If I'm not sweating, it's not enough. I have to be extreme to create the results that I desire, with my approach to food, to movement, to habits.

We're going to standardize before we optimize. Right now, I'd like you to think back to the other times in your life when you've been working toward a weight loss goal, and you've told yourself that come Monday, I'm going to meditate for 30 minutes, work out for an hour, meal prep 21 meals for the week, hit my water target, and I'm never going to eat a cookie again. And then two days in, you're back to your old habits.

You and I both know that this extreme approach doesn't work. I have done that. So right now, as we're talking through my philosophy with movement, I want you to give yourself permission to lower the bar, and to start smaller than you think you should.

And if the 15 minutes is so easy — if that's what your brain is telling you — let's do it. Let's show your brain that you can do this, that you can create consistency with 15 minutes of movement per day.

I'll say too, everyone is at a different point in their health journey with movement. So if you're in a place where you're doing more than this, keep doing what feels good to you and your body, and continue to listen, because the reframes that I'll share with movement will only elevate your relationship with it.

I think there are two important things to note as we start to think about your routine with movement.

OneI want it to feel body loving

I want you to want to do it, not dread doing it. And I also want you to check your reasons for why you're choosing the form of movement that you're going to begin with. Sometimes when I coach a client, she'll choose a particular workout because she thinks it's going to be the thing that gets her the fastest results with weight loss. That is not the energy or the vibe that we're approaching movement with.

I am inviting you to choose a form of movement that's going to be joy-filled, that you're going to want to do. It could be walking, Pilates, running, swimming, an at-home fitness program, a class that you're excited to go to, dance. Whatever is going to infuse more joy into your life — that's the movement that we're going to start with.

TwoWe're not doing this to lose weight

We're not doing the movement to lose weight. I want you to shift your entire paradigm about your why for movement.

Instead, we're doing movement for three reasons:

• One, it's a portal to change your self-concept.
• Two, it makes you more magnetic, because you are giving to yourself.
• Three, we're doing this to protect your mental health — the movement is a container to move emotion through the body, a container to help you release stress and anxiety.

I'll walk you through my thoughts with each of these three reasons now.

Reason oneIt's a portal to change your self-concept

To start: consistent movement will lead to an identity change. You'll start to see yourself through a new lens. As you keep the small promise to yourself to regularly move, even if it is just for 15 minutes, that's enough to help you step into a new version of yourself.

Oftentimes, if you have a history of dieting, of yo-yoing, of starting and stopping, of feeling like you've failed in the past — that erodes our self-trust. And one of the fastest ways to rebuild trust with yourself is by keeping small promises to yourself. That's why I love starting with 15 minutes of movement per day. That's an expectation that you can set with yourself that is manageable. You can implement this, keep this small promise to yourself, and start to rebuild trust with yourself.

It goes so much deeper, so much farther beyond just consistency with movement. This is starting to create an identity change. You're building belief in yourself by doing the thing you've told yourself you want to do. You're becoming the person who works through the emotional discomfort of developing a new habit, who is prioritizing herself, and who's connecting with her body in a loving way.

Reason twoIt makes you more magnetic, because you're giving to yourself

And then two: you're making a statement — to yourself, to the universe, to anyone who's watching — that you matter. You're demonstrating how you want to be treated by how you're treating yourself. If you're a parent, I think it's especially cool to think about what you're modeling for your kids as you create this consistency with your movement. And for anyone who's watching, for that matter — your spouse, your partner, your friends, your colleagues.

My other thought with this part of the mindset with movement is that when you give, you receive. When I'm rolling out my yoga mat to do Melissa Wood Health, or when I'm lacing up my shoes to go for a run, I am giving myself the gift of movement so that I'm making space to receive — to receive relief, clarity, confidence, strength, guidance, health, a better mood. I'm viewing the movement as a way to give back to myself.

Sometimes I will picture it. I love visuals. So sometimes I'll picture the movement as a bank, and each session is me going to the bank to make a deposit — of strength, of health, of love, of time with myself.

Reason threeIt protects your mental health

And then the third headspace that we're in with movement is that when you're in a better place mentally, your relationship with food will naturally start to improve. As someone who has a history of binge eating, stress eating, emotional eating, yo-yo dieting — of food feeling so very out of control for nearly two decades of my life — movement is one of the tools that I used to help heal my relationship with food.

Those feel-good hormones that are released are a safeguard for your mood. It'll shift your thoughts. And I noticed that it helped me change the way that I talked to myself. As a result of your elevated mood and your improved self-talk, this is just one tool of many that we can utilize to help you feel more in control with food, for food to feel less emotional.

I'll say too, in my personal health journey, sweat has been one of the most cleansing and therapeutic ways for me to process difficult emotions, detox difficult emotions, problem-solve. I love to run, and when I'm running, I'm visualizing those negative emotions — the stress, the anxiety, and for a period of my life it was the depression — leaving my body. Each bead of sweat represented those negative emotions leaving my body. When I'm running, I'm picturing myself pounding those emotions out with each step on the pavement, or I'm leaving those negative emotions on the trail.

When you think about movement from this standpoint, my hope is that it will start to feel almost more like a spiritual practice for you than anything else. That is truly how it feels for me. It's a way for me to connect with my body, a way for me to connect with my mind, a way to come back home — and home is when I'm feeling calm and grounded.

So these are the three reframes that I hope are just as helpful to you as they have been for me in my personal health journey.

As a recap, we're doing the movement for three reasons. One, it's a portal to shift your self-concept — it's a way for you to create an identity change as you start to keep the small promise to yourself to do it. Two, it makes you more magnetic, because you're giving to yourself; you're making a statement to yourself, to others, to the universe, to anyone who's watching that you matter, and you're demonstrating how you want to be treated by the way you're treating yourself. Three — my favorite reason — we're doing it to protect our mental health. The movement is a container for you to move big emotions through the body. It's a way for you to release stress and anxiety.

In terms of next steps, I invite you to pre-log your workouts for the week. If you're familiar with my approach to health and wellness, I believe that loose structure is what creates freedom.

You can take 10 minutes right now to ask yourself the following questions. When are you going to do your movement this week? Schedule that in your calendar. When will your 15 minutes of movement take place? If you know that you are exhausted at the end of your work day, then maybe it's easier to go ahead and schedule it in the morning. If giving yourself 15 minutes to move would feel like a nice transition from work into your home life, then maybe you're setting yourself up for success to schedule it at the end of your work day.

Either way, remember that it's only 15 minutes that we're starting with, and you can do this. You're not asking too much of yourself — whether you're squeezing it in before work or taking a lap around the block with your kids after dinner. We're not striving for perfection, ever.

This exercise with movement is one way where you can start to chip away at any of the limiting beliefs that diet culture may have instilled in you. Like: this isn't enough. I need to be more extreme. I need to be perfect. I would like you to treat this as an experiment. What would happen if, for the next week, I did this? Let's just see. If I did 15 minutes of intentional, body-loving movement, what would happen? And you can get into observation mode to notice: how do your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and choices change throughout the week?

With that, I'd love to hear how all of this lands for you. I am on Instagram as @ediefeffer. You can send me a DM, or better yet, you can tag me in your stories or in a post as you're getting your movement in. I want this to be a celebration of you keeping a promise to yourself to do the thing that you've been wanting to do, to become the healthiest, happiest version of yourself. I hope this helps.

If you enjoyed this episode, please do me a favor and rate it. Your reviews will help me help more people. And if you'd like my support in your health journey, you can head to my website at ediefeffer.com, where you can check out the different ways that we can work together. You can also come hang out with me on Instagram — I'm @ediefeffer. Thanks for listening.