Get an Energy Boost

Recently I discovered a way to get an energy boost. I don't know if you're like me, but I often feel pooped out during the day, like I need a nap. But even if I try to rest for a while, I don't come away with much in the way of new energy. I just feel a little more relaxed.

I've known for some time that getting myself out for a walk or a bike ride usually refreshes me somewhat. However, when I'm feeling tired, the last thing I want to do is go out for some exercise. Yet I do feel better when I walk or bike. I also regularly do improvisational dance with a group that I lead, and I always feel refreshed after those sessions.

This past week I was asked, along with a friend, to do interpretive dance for a religious service. This was a new experience for me -- "performing" to religious music and "interpreting" passages being read by clergy. Afterwards, people said how brave I was to do that. It was brave, in a way, because I have no formal dance background. Yet I have enjoyed and led creative dancing activities for years. And I love to move freely. Moving with others or for others fires me up me even more.

What was special about this particular event, however, was that it involved more than 30 minutes of whole-bodied dancing in all, some of it very vigorous -- moving up and down the aisles, swirling, leaping, etc. This required exertion well beyond any I have put out in a very long time. My heart was seriouslly pumping and my breath was still playing catch-up for quite some time after the dancing was done. I was truly surprised how much I huffed and puffed. At the same time, the exhilaration in my whole body was a glorious feeling. I felt so alive. This vibrant feeling continued for hours afterward and into the next day.

I realize how rare it can be, as we get older, to exert ourselves physically with such vigor. Some people, of course, swim or run or play tennis or do ballroom dancing with considerable vigor. And if you're one of those people, I'll be you can testify to how energizing these activities are for you when you really give them your all.

That's the secret I discovered -- giving it my all. Something about just throwing my body through space with abandon, even when I felt like I was wearing out, helped me find a high level of energy -- vibrancy -- that I had forgotten I had. It was the kind I felt as a kid when I played tag or ran the bases or rolled down a hill without concern for getting tired. Playing and playing until I collapsed.

With spring in the air, there is a fresh impulse now (after an extra-cold winter where I live) to get outside and moooove. Whether indoors or outdoors, I'm clear that I'm going to make sure i create more ways for myself to move with abandon -- until I'm breathless. I love the feeling it gives me of being alive.