How rituals can help you exercise more and be healthier.
Do you and your work friends go for a walk and get a coffee together at the same time every day? Do you have bacon and eggs with your family on Sundays? Do you meditate for 20 minutes every morning before beginning your day? Whether you recognise them as rituals or not, we all have little habits and routines that make up our days and weeks. These activities often become automatic over time. You don’t need to plan or think about them, they've become so ingrained in your life and schedule.
The power of habits
Rituals are often related to family bonding, social connection, and stress relief, making them incredibly important in providing us with comfort, focus and connection. When it comes to fitness and wellbeing, rituals can be harnessed to help us stick to healthy routines by habitualising and attaching meaning to our repeated behaviour.
What IS a ritual?
Twyla Tharp, legendary dancer and choreographer, wrote about the importance of the ritual to her phenomenal success in the book The Creative Habit. She writes; “I begin each day of my life with a ritual. I wake up at 5:30am , put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st street and First Avenue, where I work out for two hours. The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go I have completed the ritual.”
Writer James Clear, uses Tharp’s example to show how a series of actions completed meaningfully and mindfully can ensure an intention to exercise is followed through. Every single time. Even when it might be difficult to find the motivation or energy. By harnessing the power of ritual we can automate and train ourselves to initiate healthy behaviours, relying on habit and momentum, over willpower and motivation.
Where do you start?
You can try this method to work your way into ritualising your own Pilates practice. Perhaps you make the same smoothie every morning before walking to the studio. Maybe you listen to the same artist that gets you moving and stretching. Perhaps you have a wind-down routine from work that transitions you into an evening Pilates class. However simple or specific the ritual, you can use it to stick to your exercise plan and achieve your goals.
Focusing solely on the mind, experts believe setting meaningful rituals can contribute to emotional wellbeing. Especially when pleasure is attached to the habit, like enjoying a sweet dessert or having a drink with friends every Friday. Research by Psychologist Samantha Heintzelman has found everyday behaviours can contribute just as much to a person experiencing profound meaning, as can big life events like weddings or promotions.
Setting enjoyable rituals and completing them mindfully can help you achieve a healthier mind and body. Whether you are using ritual to exercise more, relieve stress from daily demands, or connect with loved ones, repeated behaviours create meaning and provide structure to busy lives.
What are the rituals you’ve established in your life? How do these behaviours support your overall health? Leave us a comment.