Reclaiming Movement: Healing Your Relationship with Exercise

For so many women, movement is tangled up in guilt, shame and rigid expectations. Whether it’s the lingering voice of diet culture telling us we have to burn calories, the pressure to perform at all costs or the belief that rest is weakness, our relationship with movement has been shaped by external rules rather than internal wisdom.

But what if movement could be something different?

What if it could be an act of self-connection instead of self-punishment?

The Problem: Why Movement Feels Like a Battleground

Women are bombarded with messages that reduce movement to a tool for controlling our bodies. From childhood, we’re taught that exercise is about shrinking, toning, or earning food. In toxic fitness culture, pain is glorified, and rest is demonized. And for those recovering from an eating disorder or breaking free from rigid workout rules, stepping back into movement can feel overwhelming.

This isn’t just an individual struggle, it’s systemic. It’s rooted in perfectionism, the commodification of women’s bodies, and a fitness industry that prioritizes aesthetics over well-being. Movement becomes a means of control instead of a pathway to empowerment.

A New Approach: Movement as Healing

Reclaiming movement isn’t about following a new set of rules, it’s about unlearning the harmful ones. It’s about shifting from external validation to internal connection. Here’s what that process can look like:

• Ditching Punishment-Based Workouts: If exercise feels like a chore or an obligation, it’s time to step back. Movement should never be about earning or atoning, it should be about experiencing.

  
  

• Tuning into Your Body’s Cues: Instead of forcing workouts that don’t serve you, what if you listened? Some days, that might mean strength training, other days, it might mean stretching, walking, or resting.

  
  

• Redefining Success: What if success wasn’t about metrics but about how you feel? A successful movement practice should leave you feeling more yourself, not depleted.

  
  

• Finding Joy: Play, exploration, and curiosity belong in movement. It’s not about what burns the most calories—it’s about what makes you feel alive.

  
  

How to Start Reclaiming Movement

1. Reflect on Your Current Relationship with Movement: Do you feel pressure, guilt, or resentment around exercise? Where do those feelings come from?

   
   

2. Explore Different Forms of Movement: Try new activities with an open mind. Maybe dance, hiking, or rock climbing speaks to you more than a gym routine.

   
   

3. Practice Self-Compassion: Give yourself permission to rest without guilt. Your body is worthy of care, no matter how much or how little you move.

   
   

4. Build Autonomy: Make movement choices based on your needs, not external expectations.

   
   

A Resource to Guide Your Journey

If you’re ready to rebuild a healthy, joyful relationship with movement, Empowered Movement: Reclaiming Movement & Building Resilience is for you. This 12-week interactive workbook combines self-reflection, education, and creative exercises to help you shift your mindset, reconnect with your body, and cultivate movement on your terms.

Created by exercise physiologist Leah Hantman, this trauma-informed, evidence-based resource is designed to support women at any stage of their movement journey, whether you’re recovering from an eating disorder, breaking free from toxic fitness culture, or simply seeking a more intuitive approach.

Order now on Amazon HERE and take the first step toward reclaiming movement for yourself.