Joyful Movement: Reconnecting with your Body Through Exercise

When Movement Becomes Dysfunctional

Exercise can be an incredible way to care for our physical and emotional health. It strengthens the body, supports mental clarity, improves mood, and can connect us to others. But for many people — especially those struggling with eating disorders or disordered eating — movement can become something very different from care. It can become compulsive, rigid, or punishing.

Dysfunctional exercise describes movement that is driven by guilt, anxiety, or the need to control one’s body rather than to support it. It might look like exercising to “earn” food, to offset calories eaten, or to relieve distress about body image. It might also mean ignoring physical limits: pushing through pain, fatigue, or illness, or feeling unable to take a rest day without intense guilt. I often remind my clients that movement isn’t meant to be another stressor or demand; it’s meant to relieve stress, not create it.

This pattern is often praised in our culture as “dedication” or “discipline,” but in reality, it can be a symptom of distress. When movement becomes compulsive, it stops being a way to connect with your body and instead becomes a way to disconnect from it. Over time, dysfunctional exercise can lead to physical consequences such as injury, hormonal suppression, fatigue, or weakened immunity, and emotional consequences such as anxiety, shame, and low self-worth.

Recognizing dysfunctional exercise for what it is — a loss of flexibility and self-compassion — is the first step toward reclaiming movement as something nourishing instead of harmful.

Learning how joyful movement can help in reconnecting with your body through exercise can promote healing. Contact The Maples to learn more.

What Is Joyful Movement?

The idea of joyful movement has its roots in the Intuitive Eating framework developed by registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN. In their model, Principle #9: Exercise—Feel the Difference invites individuals to shift the purpose of exercise away from burning calories or changing the body and toward noticing how movement feels — its energy, vitality, and mental benefits.

At its core, joyful movement is about rediscovering pleasure, curiosity, and autonomy in how we and our bodies move. Instead of focusing on how exercise changes your body, it invites you to focus on how it feels to be in your body.

Joyful movement might look like dancing in your kitchen, playing catch with your kids, going to a workout class with friends, walking through the neighborhood with your dog, or doing gentle stretching before bed. It might also mean noticing that your body needs rest — and honoring that as a valid, life-affirming choice.

This approach values body connection over body control. It teaches that movement can serve your well-being not your self-punishment. For someone recovering from an eating disorder, this can be a radical and healing shift: from using exercise to shrink themselves, to using it to feel alive in their body again.

The Focus of Joyful Movement

Joyful movement is about how it feels to move, not what it changes on the outside. It highlights things like:

• Pleasure and enjoyment: movement that adds joy and energy instead of dread.
• Body awareness: noticing what your body is telling you — tired, tense, strong, relaxed — and responding to it.
• Choice and autonomy: being allowed to move in ways that work for you, without rules about intensity or “earning” it.
• Sustainability: keeping movement flexible and realistic so it fits your life, not an all-or-nothing routine.

When movement is approached this way, it stops being a chore and starts becoming something you look forward to.

How to Move Toward Joyful Movement

Transitioning from dysfunctional exercise to joyful movement and reconnecting with the body can take time. For many in recovery, exercise has been tangled with rules, fear, or identity. Moving away from that requires patience and compassion. Here are several practical ways to begin:

Set an Intention Before You Move

Before starting, take a moment to ask: Why am I moving today?
Maybe it’s to relieve stress, to connect with nature, to feel strong, or simply because it’s enjoyable. Setting an intention reorients movement toward purpose and meaning rather than appearance.

Do Things You Actually Enjoy

Think about what kinds of movement make you feel good — physically, mentally, or emotionally. This could be yoga, swimming, roller skating, hiking, playing basketball, dancing, platies or even a dance class. Enjoyment is the foundation of sustainability.

Listen to Your Body’s Feedback

Tune in to your body before, during, and after moving. Are you energized or exhausted? Sore or relaxed?  Learning to interpret these cues builds body trust — an essential part of recovery.

Redefine Rest as Movement’s Partner

Rest is not the opposite of movement; it’s part of it. Giving yourself permission to rest without guilt is one of the most important steps toward healing your relationship with exercise.

Release the “Shoulds”

You don’t “have to” work out a certain number of days, sweat a certain amount, or reach a particular heart rate. There’s no moral hierarchy of movement. A slow walk and a strength session both count if they come from care, not compulsion.

Invite Play

Joyful movement often feels like play — spontaneous, creative, and fun. Try new things, laugh at yourself, or reconnect with movement you loved as a kid. Play restores curiosity and removes judgment.

Why Joyful Movement Belongs in Treatment

In treatment, whether for eating disorders, mental health, or substance use, the relationship with movement is often complex. Many residents arrive using exercise as a form of control, while others might avoid it altogether out of fear or shame. Joyful movement helps rebuild safety and connection with the body through structure, support, and compassion.

For those recovering from eating disorders, movement is reframed from a calorie-burning or body-checking behavior into an opportunity to notice how the body feels — strong, calm, or grounded — without judgment. In mental health and substance use treatment, gentle, intentional movement helps regulate emotions, rebuild trust in bodily sensations, and offer natural sources of dopamine and endorphins.

Over time, movement becomes a practice of mindfulness, self-trust, and embodiment rather than control. Structured joyful movement allows residents to reconnect with their bodies safely and discover that caring for themselves doesn’t require punishment or perfection.

Contact The Maples To Discover How Joyful Movement Can Help Your Teen Reconnect with Their Body

When guided by joy instead of fear, movement becomes an act of healing. Whether it’s walking outside, stretching, or dancing to a favorite song, these moments remind us that the body isn’t the enemy, it’s home.

Reclaiming movement in this way turns exercise into embodiment, freedom, and self-compassion in motion. Joyful movement can help your teen reconnect with their body through exercise. Contact The Maples to learn more.