Finding Joy in Movement: How to Shift Your Mindset from Exercise into Self-Care

For years, I believed exercise had to look a certain way — intense, structured, goal-oriented, and driven by results. I loved to move my body, but I unknowingly approached it from a Masculine energy — forceful, competitive, aggressive, and tied to external outcomes like weight, speed, or performance.

It wasn’t until my Eating Psychology Certification Training with Marc David that I was introduced to the concept of Masculine and Feminine energy. Something clicked. I began to understand that how I was moving wasn’t aligned with the energy I wanted to cultivate in my life. I craved more softness, more presence, more ease, flow and more joy. I wanted to move in a way that felt like self-care, not self-punishment.

This realization led me to a radical shift — not in what I was doing, but in how I was being with movement. I let go of the gym I had attended for 13 years. Though it was filled with high-caliber instructors and packed classes, the atmosphere was intense — competitive, ego-driven, and saturated with comparison. I often left depleted, sore, and disconnected. My body whispered it was too much, but I stayed out of habit, fear, and the belief that “more” meant “better.”

Letting go of that belief system allowed me to redefine movement in a way that honors the Feminine — intuitive, flowing, nurturing, and joyful. Today, I gravitate toward Ballet Barre, walking in nature, yoga, fun functional weight classes and soulful jogs. I run not to beat a time, but to breathe deeply and take in the beauty around me. I stretch not to reach a goal, but to feel spacious in my body. I lift weights not to strain my body but to feel lean, fit and functionally strong. I don’t push through fatigue — I pause, I listen, and I honor what my body needs.

This shift has transformed movement from a means of control and force into an act of love. I no longer move to chase thinness — I move to feel alive, fit, energized, strong, and connected. I no longer need to prove anything. Instead of comparing my body in the mirror, I meet my own eyes with gratitude. Instead of powering through, I receive the gifts of movement: mental clarity, emotional release, inner peace.

This is the essence of joyful movement — moving because it feels good, because it lifts your mood, reduces stress, and nourishes your spirit. Science supports what we intuitively know: physical activity boosts mental health, reduces anxiety and depression, improves sleep, and enhances our sense of well-being. But it doesn’t have to be high-intensity and forceful to be beneficial. It just has to be meaningful and pleasurable to you.

For some, tracking movement on the Ate app can be a helpful way to stay mindful, motivated, or celebrate consistency. But even here, I invite a Feminine approach: track not to control or perfect, but to stay connected and curious. Use it as a way to reflect on how movement made you feel, not just how far you went or how many calories you burned.

So how do we shift into this new paradigm?

• Choose movement that you enjoy — not what burns the most calories, but what brings the most joy.
  
  
• Check in with your body wisdom — what kind of movement does it want today: slow, flowing, still, or energizing?
  
  
• Let go of “shoulds” and listen for pleasure cues — does it make you smile, feel lighter, more grounded?
  
  
• Be present. Move with your body, not against it.
  
  
• Celebrate how movement makes you feel, not just what it changes.
  
  

This is the Feminine way. This is how we reclaim movement as a sacred part of our self-care — not another task to achieve, but a moment to embody, enjoy, and honor ourselves.

Yours in health & vitality,

Amy

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