This month we’re reading The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal. This book blends science and storytelling; rather than telling us why we should exercise, McGonigal instead explains “how exercise helps us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage.”
We inherently know exercise is good for us, yet many of us regard it as a chore. Instead of writing another “science-y manual” on how exercise improves your mood and brain function or can help you lose weight, McMonigal ‘draws on insights from neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology, as well as memoirs, ethnographies, and philosophers’ to remind us that a sedentary lifestyle is unnatural to our biology.’
The book is less of a how to and more of a remember who you are. As one reader put it…”She redefines for us that movement doesn’t just mean exercise in the traditional sense, but any time you get up and move your body purposefully and joyfully.”
The Joy of Movement illustrates how any movement can contribute to fulfillment, belonging, and community or ‘Collective Joy’; a way to counteract the modern epidemics to anxiety, depression, and loneliness. McGonigal emphasized that when we move together, whether it’s a tribal dance of villagers in Africa, a group yoga or exercise class, or dancing at a nightclub with strangers, we stimulate an innate human essence that creates joy in our lives.
Whether you work out regularly, struggle to get into an exercise routine, or think you’re not athletic, reading this book will give you a different perspective on what it means to move your body and your reasons for doing so.
