Tips on movement to nourish your body and build energy with fibromyalgia
There’s not a lot we can achieve without movement.
Can you think of anything you do without some kind of movement?
Your body and body systems need movement to be healthy.
In fact, the way you move shapes the very world you experience!
Perception, action and thinking are inextricably linked in the way they generate what you experience and the quality of your experience.
This gives you many possible ways to change and better your experience.
I will give you a few interesting examples of his this works.
- If you are tired, stairs look steeper
- With chronic pain, things can look further away
- If you are standing at the top of a slope wearing slippy shoes, it will look steeper
Your perception is being shaped by many influences including prior experiences, your emotional state in that moment, what you are thinking (your inner dialogue), how you are feeling, what your attention is on, how you are moving and other hidden states in your biology.
What you experience is your reality and it is real to you. But only to you.
Each person is uniquely generating their own experiences of the world and themselves.
There are 8 billion versions of the world!
We all see through the lens of our own belief systems and expectations.
“We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.”
― Anaïs Nin
Movement changes how the world looks
When you are moving and moving regularly, the world appears differently.
This is because when you move you are generating sensory streams of information that update the predictions your body systems are making.
The predictions your systems are making turn up as your experiences you’ll recall.
Brief reminder.
Your body systems predict the possible causes of the sensory information from your body and the world — make their best guess. And it’s pretty good in most cases!
And by the way. Just because your experience is pain or fatigue, it does not mean that things have gone wrong. Your systems are working just fine to make predictions. It’s the predictions themselves you want to update so that you have better experiences.
That is why overcoming chronic pain and fatigue is largely an active process. Passive treatments can help along the way sometimes (e.g./ massage, other hands on therapies, medication — things done to you), but are optional. In other words, they are not necessary for you to get better. Getting better is akin learning and growth. Just as you would learn and practice a musical instrument or language to get better by updating the predictions your systems are making.
Your systems (nervous, immune, endocrine in particular — but all are likely playing some role) have expectations and generate experiences accordingly. When the sensory information then reports something different, this create an error. This is called a prediction error.
When an error occurs (not a mistake), you can then either update your beliefs about the world, or try to change the world. Sounds dramatic!
Take thirst. Your systems predict you will be hydrated because this is the case most of the time. Then some information arises suggestive of changes in chemical levels, i.e. dehydrated. Now, you don’t feel a change in processing of this information. You feel thirsty. That’s the error that motivates you to get a drink of water. In time, this minimises the error. You now feel hydrated.
Meeting our needs is when we minimise errors that occur. You could also call this self care, and is one of the reasons being present and aware is important. Only by being here now in this moment, the only real moment, can you take care of your needs.
Pain can be considered both a prediction (a best guess to explain your biology and the situation you are in right now) and a prediction error (your systems expect you to be in a well state but there is now some sense data suggesting a possible danger). As you now know, this is part of your survival mechanism and hence any slight evidence in the sense flow or from past experience, and your systems can generate a pain experience. And the more that happens, the more evidence there is for the next time and so on. This is the sticky bit until you create other evidence, again highlighting getting better as an active process — you live yourself better in what you think and do each day with a clear direction for the steps you are taking.
More on the principle of living yourself better to come.
Back to movement.
Moving changes how the world looks.
Opportunities open up when you are moving, that are unavailable when you are not.
Opportunities build health, step by step.
And it is steps. Small ones.
You don’t go from here (where you are) to there (where you want to be) in a flash.
This is why knowing where you are now and being present matters. To avoid focusing on somewhere you are not, which causes resistance, blocks and suffering.
Knowing where you are going matters, but be here now to take that next step.
A movement practice: forming a habit
Movement matters.
How do you form the habit?
The know-how.
Every time you practice, it’s a step forward.
You will have your own start point. Your own current capability.
What can you do that is within your window of tolerance?
Which parts of your body can you move?
How far can you walk?
Set your baseline.
From there you can be consistent and let your tolerance build. Organically.
With repeated good experiences, your confidence and capability grow.
You create the conditions with your intention, approach and skill.
I look at this in detail when I am working with a person.
Here are initial some steps to try. If you need to consult with your healthcare professional, then do.
- What movements can you definitely make? Make a list, including walking.
- How many can you definitely do? For walking, how long or far?
- When will you practice during the day? Write out the times.
- What can you use as a prompt? Set it/them up.
Now you have a schedule to follow.
Before you practice, take a moment. Check in.
How am I? Now you can decide what you can do and how much to aim for.
Each time you practice is a new time and so you need to know how you are to make a best guess about what to do. It will vary.
Then work within your window of tolerance.
Success is doing it the best way you can, not just the numbers, i.e./ needs over numbers.
You are aiming to have a good experience because this shapes what will come.
When you have finished, celebrate in your own way. Feeling success is a great motivator.
Know that you have nourished your body and body systems. Movement is healthy.
I hope that is helpful.
Do feedback to me.
See you tomorrow.
r.s.
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