What If We Viewed Working Out As A Magical Practice?
“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.” — Margaret Sanger
Just before our first Bad Witch Workout, I pulled a tarot card to see what guidance it held. This is something I do a lot now, as I become more familiar with the cards: I ask for a little nudge from the universe and see what comes up. The card that appeared was the Five of Wands. This could be seen as a card of conflict, but I interpreted it as that ongoing struggle between outside opinions and inner knowledge.
When it comes to health, fitness, and radical self love, we’re told a lot of different things. It seems like everyone has a different idea about what it means to take care of our bodies. We’re told to do yoga, go for a run, eat this and avoid that, and the list goes on. But those suggestions don’t always work for us, or even feel good. When it comes to loving our bodies, we have to do something that truly works for us… And best of all, when we pay attention to how we feel, we can come together and create a new tribe of people who want the same thing.
It turns out that the Five of Wands really was the perfect card, because that’s exactly what we did in our very first class.
The deeper Garnett and I delve into Bad Witch Workout, the more it makes sense to me as an extension of radical self love. When we start on this path of loving ourselves, it’s very cerebral. We spend hours analysing our behaviour and making adjustments, thinking about how to create a positive environment in our homes, sorting through our friends and assessing who makes us feel good. We create vision boards and light candles to help us manifest a bright future. We’re constantly thinking about what we want to create and how we’ll do it.
But as someone who has spent the greater part of 32 years in her head, I’m realising how limiting that can be. It’s wonderful to think your way through problems, but that’s never the whole picture. Your thoughts can only get you so far. The most important thing is that you take those thoughts and turn them into action. The best, most transcendent, totally transformative moments of my life have centered around physical activity. When lightning strikes, it is always when I am using my body: tapping or touching or dancing or chanting or writing or throwing something into a fire.
That’s when I realised it. You can see exercise as something you do begrudgingly, a boring chore… Or you can see it as another form of worship, and another way of beaming your power out into the world. The strength you build in your body starts in your mind first! As your brain and willpower grows and becomes more potent, so do your intentions. So does your ability to create new and wonderful things in your life.
We generate so much personal power when we move our bodies; it’s like being lit up like a christmas tree. So what if we reframed the way we feel about exercise?
Why not view exercise as another magical practice, another way to manifest your desires? See your dreams while you squat. Conjure when you’re doing cardio. Call all your power back to you while you do planks and push-ups.
Think about how your spirit gets stirred up while you work out. It only makes sense to take all that potential and direct it towards a specific goal, wish, or dream.
Working your muscles in new ways is a process that allows you to literally pour love into your physical container. Pushing through a challenging plank fortifies your mind and makes you feel unstoppable. And it’s not just a solo endeavour. Sweating it out with a group of badass babes can be life-changing, as we harness that collective energy, boost one another, and create incredible new things.
On Sunday afternoon, we finished class with a wishing circle lead by my friend Veronica Varlow. Together we focussed on what we wanted to bring into our lives, and used our combined power to help beam those wishes out into the universe. It felt sensational, and gave me such a spark that I have carried over into this week!
I’m unbelievably excited to develop Bad Witch Workout and integrate even more rituals and mindfulness to bring about radical transformation, not just of your body, but of your mind and spirit. If you want updates about the class, follow us on Instagram!
Our next event is on August 14th. Come and join us!
Witchy love,
