As the nights close in, it can feel natural to want to move less. As the world outside grows still and grey, your body can easily grow still and grey, too.
So I try to remind myself to keep moving. The darker months call for it even more than the bright ones. Our body, given even the smallest invitation, still longs to move.
We have forgotten how to move freely
Somewhere along the way as we grow older, most of us stopped moving for the pure sake of it. We move to exercise, to burn calories, to hit a target. But free movement, movement for its own sake, for the joy and release of it, has slipped out of ordinary life.
Watch any small child and you will see it, the way they twirl and stomp and sway without a shred of self consciousness. That freedom is our birthright, and most of us have been conditioned out of it. For some reason, we stop moving for joy, and get all closed in and embarrassed by our own bodies.
So many of us feel like we can’t move without a few drinks inside of us. Yet how much fun do we have when we do allow ourselves to let go and move? I don’t drink, but I still love to dance. How would it feel for you if you didn’t need permission or numbing to do something that is so joy-inspiring?
Movement itself is the medicine. We do not need the courage in a glass. We only need to give ourselves permission to begin.
Especially in the dark months
Movement matters even more as the year darkens. It lifts mood, shifts stuck energy, warms cold and stiffening joints, and gives a heavy nervous system more flexibility. For neurodivergent people, the instinct to move to regulate is often strongest exactly when things feel hardest, and autumn asks a lot.
Honour that instinct. Let it lead you.
Your own private practice
You do not need anyone to see this. In fact, alone is often best. Put on music that meets your mood. Turn the lights down low if that frees you. And let your body do whatever it wants, with no aim beyond the doing of it. Sway, rock, stretch, stomp, spin. Let it be ugly and unchoreographed and entirely yours. Let the music move you rather than trying to move to the music.
This is not performance. It is release.
It is coming home to a body that has been waiting, patiently, for you to let it speak. As the dark draws in this year, I hope you will find a few minutes to dance in it. Your nervous system knows the way, if you will only let it lead.
