04/10/2026
I find myself increasingly resistant to the word exercise when working with clients.
Not because movement isn’t important—but because of what the word has come to represent.
For many, “exercise” immediately activates an all-or-nothing narrative:
gym memberships, expensive gear, rigid routines, time they don’t have, energy they don’t feel.
And when it feels out of reach, it often gets avoided altogether.
This is where I see a cognitive distortion emerge—not a lack of motivation, but a perception that movement only “counts” if it is structured, intense, or optimized.
So I shift the language.
Instead of exercise, I talk about using your body.
Small, meaningful, repeatable moments of movement woven into daily life:
• Standing up during commercial breaks
• Taking a few extra trips up and down the stairs while doing laundry 🧺
• Leaving your drink in another room so you have to get up
• Swinging your arms, stretching, or dancing briefly between tasks
Not as a program.
Not as a performance.
But as a way of reintroducing the body into daily rhythms.
From a clinical perspective, this matters.
When movement is accessible and low-demand, it reduces avoidance, supports behavioural activation, and helps interrupt the all-or-nothing cycle that many clients feel stuck in. It also aligns with what we know about habit formation—small, consistent actions are more likely to be sustained and expanded over time.
And importantly, it supports nervous system regulation.
We are not asking the system to mobilize into intensity right away.
We are inviting gentle, tolerable engagement with the body.
Over time, these small shifts often build into something more:
More energy
More capacity
More willingness to engage in structured activity—if and when it fits
But that is not where we start.
We start with what is possible.
Because health is not built through intensity alone.
It is built through consistency, accessibility, and relationship with the body.
And sometimes, that begins with simply standing up.
