Mayumi Kojima shares the importance of incorporating exercise into our daily routine, suggesting that we seek activities that bring us joy and meaning.
Define the events that bring you joy
Nick: Let's move from food to exercise, so undo. And you tie undo, maybe your thoughts on exercise are a bit different. So would you like to share your thoughts on exercise?
Mayumi: Thank you for that. Definitely *undo ‘*exercise’ is part of the chat in a consultation room with my client. And any movement, I believe, that brings the happy hormone in the brain, endorphins. I think it’s an important thing, another important thing is what sort of movement brings us joy.
So I again, I asked a question, so is there any movement that you enjoy doing? So some people say dancing, some people say, walk with the dog every day, even 20 minutes. Okay, so you enjoy that? They say yes, okay, that's great. Some people do gardening, and sit and up, I believe that is part of movement.
So I think first of all the important thing is to define the events that bring joy to us. So for example, I teach chair yoga every week at the community center. And yoga to me really enhances the practice of the breathing. Because I heard from the yoga teacher who looked up the study in the past, and apparently we only use 16% or 20% of our lung capacity.
So we’re not really using it in optimum. Something like yoga actually helps to breathe better, and I feel better and calmer after a yoga practice. And Aikido, I practice a few times a week, to me it helps build the resilience on my body and spirit. It's a bit more vigorous than yoga, and I love that movement and connecting with other person.
I used to do salsa dancing, but I didn't enjoy even though it’s contact. I prefer Aikido for some reason. I have no problem touching or holding the hands of men. I used to feel funny when I was doing salsa. And walking, that's another regular thing I do. And and I believe you do, too. I remember you mentioned that you love walking.
Nick: Yeah.
Mayumi: Walking to me is just organizing my thought, because, I don't know, I'm Aquarius, I'm not sure if you’re into those kinds of stuff, but I've got an air element, so I fracture my thoughts by walking, ‘Okay, I wanted to do this today, or I need to do that.’ And it's sort of just free kind of mapping thought and then connecting with nature, fresh air.
So I think another things I would suggest with the exercise or movement or undo, is to have a purpose with that, that brings you joy, and what's the reason why you do it?