We are meant to move.  Movement of our bodies pumps the lymphatic system for us. The lymphatic system is critical in clearing out all the junk and waste products from the body.

Imagine if you never took the garbage out from the kitchen? It’d pile up and start to stink up your whole house!  Well, when we move our bodies, we are taking out the trash.  But many of us who have a chronic illness or a chronic injury have given up on exercise – because we’re tired of suffering!

However, exercise doesn’t have to feel like grueling punishment to get the benefits from it.  How did exercise in our culture become something we have to force ourselves to do? When did it become a set of rules and rigid, prescriptive motions we have to follow? When did it become another “should” … rather than a “want to”?   We follow rules all day – I think that exercise should be a time when we just go with the flow, just get out of our minds and freely express and explore sensations within our body.  It should also be a time that we *listen* to what feels good – rather than forcing something that doesn’t feel good.

I had a bad knee injury that prevented me from typical ‘exercise’ for quite some time.  And from that setback, I formed a new relationship with my body.  I learned to listen to it and treat it with compassion.  Koga was born.  I’ve put the mindset behind Koga into a YouTube instructional exercise series – check it out if you are interested in getting the benefits of meditation simultaneously with the benefits of loving movement.