Movement has been one of my greatest teachers. It has carried me through grief, sparked joy, and opened doors to emotions I didn’t even know were there. Over the years I’ve skied, danced, run trails, mountain biked, done HIIT, kickboxing aerobics, and taught Ashtanga yoga. But what strikes me most is that movement has always been more than just exercise. It has been movement as medicine—a way to heal the body, mind, and spirit.
Here are three ways I’ve experienced movement as medicine in my own life.
Movement as Physical Medicine
Most of us start exercising for vanity reasons—we want to look good. But movement as medicine goes far deeper than appearances. It reduces inflammation and pain, improves circulation, delivers oxygen and nutrients to our tissues, and releases endorphins—our body’s natural painkillers.
After my surgery, my doctor gave me strict instructions: rest, but also move. Specifically, to walk. The last thing I wanted to do was to move. I was sore from the incision sites, weighed down with grief over losing my sister, and all I wanted to do was lie still. But I made myself step on the treadmill for just five minutes.
To my surprise, I felt better. The stiffness eased. Energy began flowing again through my body. That simple act of movement reminded me that healing doesn’t come from stillness alone. The body wants to move, and in moving, it heals. This is the most basic yet powerful way movement becomes medicine.
Movement as Emotional Medicine
Movement is also medicine for the mind and heart. Breath and movement together activate the vagus nerve, a key regulator of digestion, heart rate, and stress recovery. In other words, movement is how the body shifts out of fight-or-flight and into calm.
Last year, I decided to revisit Turbo Jam, a workout I was obsessed with in my twenties. The moment the music started and my body remembered the routines, something cracked open. Ten minutes in, I was overwhelmed with pure joy—laughing, crying, every cell in my body vibrating with aliveness. It was like effervescent bubbles of euphoria rising inside me.
That day reminded me that joy can live in the body just as much as grief can. Sometimes it takes movement as medicine to shake it free.
Movement as Spiritual Medicine
Then there are moments when movement opens the door to something far beyond the physical or emotional.
I’ll never forget one morning in my twenties, dropping into Triangle Pose during my Ashtanga practice. It was a posture I’d done countless times, but on that day, tears poured out of me—deep, unexplainable grief. I hadn’t yet experienced loss in my life, so I couldn’t make sense of it. My first instinct was to hold my breath, to clamp down—but my training reminded me that breath is the foundation of yoga. So I breathed. And as I breathed, the tears flowed like a waterfall.
What I understand now is that this was proprioception at work—the body’s deep intelligence. When we stretch, balance, and breathe, the body isn’t just communicating position and alignment to the brain. It’s also surfacing the tension, memories, and unprocessed emotions stored in our tissues. That morning, movement as medicine spoke the truth my mind could not.
The Body Speaks Through Movement
These moments taught me that yoga and movement can be medicine in many forms. They heal the body, lift the emotions, and open the spirit. Movement is how the body speaks when the mind has no words.
If you’re navigating pain or stress, remember: healing doesn’t always start in the mind. Sometimes it begins with a single breath, a stretch, or a few steps forward.
🌿 Ready to explore another layer of healing?
Support your body’s recovery with Ramedica Herbal Wonder Balm
