During this coronavirus pandemic, taking care of ourselves is so important. Self-care may include Netflix and comfort food, but it might also include movement. If you feel like moving your body would serve you in a positive way, try these at-home options.
Life has taken a drastic change for most of us recently with the global coronavirus pandemic. You might be in isolation in your home right now. Or maybe you’re like my husband and I and still going to work but staying home otherwise.
This is such an important time to be caring for yourself. Taking care of your physical health so that you can stay well is important, but so is taking care of your mental and emotional health so that you can manage stress and anxiety.
Taking time to move your body may help you to feel more grounded and connected to your body. It could also give you a dose of feel good hormones to help improve your mood and reduce stress.
However, if you’re feeling like all you need right now is Netflix and comfort food, that’s ok too. This isn’t a time that you need to add additional stress to your life by trying to force yourself to workout when you’re not really feeling it or to feel guilty for not moving your body. I actually don’t think you should ever force yourself to workout, but my point is that you should be extra gentle with yourself right now.
And perhaps what you really need is to get outside and soak in some sunshine during a slow moving walk. Do what your mind and body needs right now.
We all need to do our best to focus on what’s important right now, and trying to control our bodies is not important at all.
“If you find yourself worrying about your weight during quarantine/social distancing, have compassion for yourself. That fear of weight gain comes from diet culture and its fatphobic and food-phobic system of beliefs, which doesn’t serve us in this crisis (or ever).” – Christy Harrison, MPH, RD
If you’re feeling like some movement would serve you in a positive way, I’ve compiled a list of workouts you can do at home with minimal equipment. I included some free workouts and some subscription-based online platforms.
I included a lot of Pilates or Pilates-inspired workouts because I’m a Pilates reformer teacher, I love Pilates, and I know my Pilates clients are wanting some at-home options while I’m not teaching.
I also tried to make sure all of the online classes feature teachers that use body neutral language and include body diversity in the videos.
If you’re feeling like moving your body would feel good, try one of these options…
Body Positive Virtual Yoga Studio – During the pandemic, I launched a virtual yoga studio to support my local yoga students who couldn’t attend in-person classes.
There are now nearly 100 streaming yoga, Pilates, and barre classes along with some off the mat mini workshops on body image, Intuitive Eating, and practicing self-care.
All of the classes aim to help you feel more connected to your body, practice body acceptance, and respect your body as it is right now.
It’s just $12 a month and you can join here.
Barre3 – Barre3 combines strength conditioning, cardio, and mindfulness with the goal to help you feel empowered and balanced. Barre is a mix of Pilates, yoga, and ballet-inspired movements. Barre3 workouts feature teachers and participants of all sizes. They offer a variety of versions of each exercise to meet you where you are. I also love the message of this company…“Instead of exercising to get there–to that imagined ideal–at barre3 we exercise to be here in this moment, empowered and present in our bodies just as they are.”
You can get a 15-day free trial then pay $29 per month. When you use my referral link, you can get $10 off your subscription.
The be.come Project – This online workout platform focuses on body neutrality and respecting our bodies as they are. All the workouts are 25 minutes, and are a mix of Pilates and yoga choreographed to the beat of music. It’s very focused on the mind/body experience. The founder, Bethany Meyers, offers variations of each exercise to accommodate different body types and provides tutorials to break down certain exercises.
During the coronavirus pandemic, you can purchase one month of be.come for $30 for someone in need. The be.come project will match every purchase to double the impact. Click here to gift one month of workouts to someone.
If you’re in need, email [email protected], and tell them about your situation and how a free month of the be.come project would be helpful to you.
If you’re in between, you can get $5 off your first month with the code “staysafe”. You can get a 10-day free trial then pay $35 per month. Join here.
Body Illumination Pilates with Positive Body Affirmations – There are hundreds and hundreds of free Pilates workouts on YouTube. I didn’t include many because there just isn’t a lot of body diversity and body positivity in the Pilates world. Too many workouts are to “sculpt the perfect butt” or to “get chiseled abs” and I don’t believe those serve us in a positive way. This free Pilates workout includes positive body affirmations. Check out this YouTube workout here.
Pilates Anytime – Pilates Anytime has hundreds of on demand mat Pilates classes to choose from. You can filter your searches by duration, level, teacher, props, etc. This platform also features many different schools of Pilates include BASI, STOTT, Pilates Conservatory, and more. You can get 15 days free then pay $18 a month.
The Fitness Marshall – One of my girlfriends is obsessed with workouts by the Fitness Marshall. These dance-inspired workouts are created by Caleb Marshall, a dancer and choreographer. His videos include body diversity and fun music, and you can do many of them for free. Check out his YouTube page here.
LekFit – I’ll be honest, I’ve always wanted to try this workout because Busy Philipps does it and shares snippets of her workouts in her IG Stories. It’s a mix of dancey moves you can do on the floor or on a rebounder and strengthening movements that look Pilates-inspired. The workouts are, “musically driven, fun, challenging and effective workouts that are produced in a safe, inclusive, body-positive space.” Get a seven day free trial then pay $19.99 per month for four new workouts each week plus all of the archived workouts.
I hope this helps you find ways to move your body if that’s what you’re needing while you’re spending this extra time at home.
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