Flow 04 - Moving Mindfully

Wellness culture has been thrown right into our faces more and more as social media has become a part of our everyday lives, but what really is wellness? The media has taken the desire for self-improvement and turned it into a trend, and with that comes a vast amount of misinformation, false advertising, and generally useless products. Wellness is not just one thing; it can’t be sold, taken as a class, or found instantaneously. If you’ve ever been interested in figuring out how to connect with and understand your own healing and wellness journey, Flow may be of assistance. Flow is my collection on holistic healing and how it works into my everyday life. In this collection, I will be looking into the psychology of wellness culture, where different practices and habits come from, my own personal outlook and opinions on how things have impacted my life, and other topics related to what wellbeing shows up as in today's world.

When the concept of “healthy living” is brought up, exercise is nearly always entangled in it. For a good reason, of course, but that can mean countless things. Exercise and the idea of being healthy have a convoluted relationship, so put it simply. In today's world, exercise is often tied to body image and self-worth, which practically contradicts why movement can actually be beneficial. This doesn’t mean that feeling positively about your appearance isn't important; it just means that creating a healthy relationship with movement should not be centered around looking a certain way. Movement has such a broad range of benefits, both mentally and physically, but movement can be as simple as you want it to be. One of my favorite ways to incorporate daily movement into my life is by walking. It seems simple, and it is—there are many overlooked options when it comes to figuring out what exercise looks like for you. This piece will look into some of the mental and physical benefits of exercise, and it will share some of my own insight on how movement has impacted my wellness journey.

No matter what it is you’re trying to improve, movement will almost always help. I would love to guarantee that it would, but there are always going to be exceptions. Certain people have issues with their mobility, certain people have issues with resources, and some people have issues with their relationship to movement, and in those cases—it may be best to veer off of the traditional approach. However, the vast majority of people deal with everyday issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, and various other struggles. Exercise can help improve many of the symptoms that come alongside these struggles. In 2024, a meta-analysis study by the British Medical Journal showed that activities such as yoga, walking, jogging, and strength training all reduced symptoms of mild to moderate depression. Research has also shown that maintaining the habit of exercising can help prevent depressive relapses. In the case of depression, exercise promotes neural growth, reduces inflammation, and creates new activity patterns that promote a state of calmness. Endorphins, chemicals in your brain that help with mood, are released during exercise, which can also help you to distract yourself from negative thoughts. Anxiety and exercise are very closely studied, as it is known to significantly reduce symptoms. The British Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed 63 studies and concluded that low-intensity exercise was the best for reducing anxiety. Movement alleviates tension and stress, and enhances general wellbeing through the release of endorphins. Focusing on the activity itself is also notable for anxiety relief, as it gives the brain something else to pay attention to rather than worrying. Alongside anxiety and depression, exercise can also help improve symptoms of ADHD, as it can improve concentration, motivation, memory, and mood. It is also suggested that movement can ease parts of PTSD and trauma, specifically by focusing on how the body actually feels during exercise. It can help regulate your nervous system by breaking out of the stagnant stress response that frequently comes with trauma responses. Apart from things that are traditionally viewed as “conditions”, exercise can also benefit your mental wellbeing in other ways, such as enhanced memory, higher self-esteem, better sleep, more energy, and stronger resilience. Exercise can be a healthy coping mechanism for many, and more often than not can come with an immense amount of benefits.

Movement should never be viewed as punishment. This is something I’ve only been able to accept into my life within the past few years. I was never conditioned to believe that exercise was a torture mechanism, but I was influenced to believe that it was something unenjoyable and often associated with a reward. At the time, I didn’t know that the reward wasn’t something tangible, or as straightforward as a physique. Body-image culture has taken over the internet, as if it wasn’t already incorporated into the day-to-day lives of people across the globe. With that being said, there is so much misinformation surrounding exercise, and honestly, a lot of stigma as well. I first started going to the gym when I was in middle school. I was unhappy with the way I looked, and I knew that many people who worked out looked how I wanted to, so I mindlessly went into the gym a few times and just did different forms of cardio until I felt fulfilled. Occasionally, I would go back and do the same thing, but usually only when I felt like my appearance needed it. Months later, I actually decided that I wanted my body to be an investment, so my workouts became more consistent, and I tried to eat cleaner. This led me into the world of wellness culture, and for better or worse, I was introduced to nearly every side of it. I’m grateful to it all now, but there have been times when I found myself in parts of the wellness community that I wish I hadn't been involved with. During the early stages of all of this, I still didn’t really know what I was doing; I just knew that to some degree it was working and it was easy enough to maintain. It stayed like that for a while, and it was something to say the very least. I feel very neutral about that phase of my life as of now. I’m going to move forward and mention the most relevant parts of how movement improves my life now. If you’ve been following Flow, you most likely know that I absolutely love yoga; I have found so much peace within integrating yoga into my days. I also love walking; it’s such an easy way for me to clear my mind, and it's almost always accessible. Skating has also been a part of my life for years, and although I don’t find myself out on the ice as much as I’d like to, it still brings me so much peace. There will always be forms of movement that bring me stability if I treat them as something positive. Movement will almost always be available to everyone, and it truly is what you make of it. It can be as simple or as complex as it needs to be to bring you fulfillment.

Robinson, L., & Robinson, L. (2026, June 10). The mental health benefits of exercise. HelpGuide.org. https://www.helpguide.org/wellness/fitness/the-mental-health-benefits-of-exercise