The Healing Power of Movement: How Exercise Transforms Mental Health

Apr 14

The moment I find my center on the Pilates reformer, my racing thoughts quiet, the tension in my jaw and shoulders melts away, my breathing deepens into my lower ribs, and a sense of being fully present in my body emerges that has transformed both my personal well-being and professional understanding of mental health.

Movement is medicine - not just for our physical bodies, but for our minds and emotional well-being. In this article, I’ll share both the science behind why movement heals and practical, accessible ways to incorporate it into your life, even with the busiest of schedules. Drawing from my dual perspective as both a Registered Clinical Counsellor and someone who has experienced the transformative effects firsthand, I hope to inspire you to discover your own healing movement practice.

By now, most of us have heard that exercise helps not just our bodies but our minds too. Yet with our increasingly busy and stressful lives, finding both the time and motivation to make movement a regular part of life can be challenging, even when we understand the benefits.

Between work demands, family responsibilities, and the general overwhelm of modern life, movement often falls to the bottom of our priority list.

What many don’t realize is how profoundly even small amounts of mindful movement can shift our mental state. When we move, we aren’t just burning calories or building muscle - we’re actually changing our biochemistry, releasing mood-enhancing neurotransmitters and completing stress cycles that might otherwise remain stuck in our bodies.

In my years as a counsellor, I’ve watched clients discover surprising mental health benefits when they find ways to incorporate forms of movement that both fit into their hectic schedules and resonate with them personally.

This connection between movement and mental well-being isn’t just anecdotal - it’s rooted in how our bodies and minds are fundamentally inseparable. In particular, somatic approaches - which focus on experiencing the body from within - offer powerful tools for reconnecting mind and body in our increasingly disconnected world. As both a practitioner and someone who moves regularly, I can attest to these benefits personally - exercise has transformed not just my physical health, but my mental well-being and overall quality of life.

The Mind-Body Connection: How Movement Impacts Mental Health

Think about the last time you felt really anxious. Where did you feel it in your body? Perhaps your chest tightened, your shoulders crept up toward your ears, or your stomach churned. Our emotional states always have physical manifestations - and interestingly, this relationship works both ways.

When we change how we move and breathe, we can actually shift our mental landscape. This is the core principle of somatic work: the body and mind exist as one integrated system, constantly influencing each other.

In my work as a counsellor, the relationship between movement and mental well-being isn’t just theoretical - it’s something I’ve witnessed in action. While everyone’s experience is unique, I’ve noticed how introducing mindful movement practices can complement the therapeutic process. Movement offers another pathway for processing emotions and experiences, sometimes reaching places that conversation alone cannot access. This mind-body approach acknowledges that our emotional lives aren’t confined to our thoughts - they live in our bodies too.

The research backs up what we observe. Regular movement practices help people sleep better when anxiety would normally keep them awake. They also help people find moments of calm during periods of emotional distress and develop a healthier relationship with their bodies. Additionally, movement can connect people with supportive communities, build resilience against stress, and allow for moments of genuine enjoyment even during challenging times.

The Science of Mindful Movement: Neurological Benefits Explained

When we engage in movement with awareness, several fascinating changes unfold:

1) Our biochemistry shifts. Physical activity influences the neurotransmitters that affect mood and stress, including dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins. But unlike intensive exercise that produces a temporary “high” along with increased cortisol (our primary stress hormone), mindful moderate movement creates more sustainable mood regulation without the same stress response.

2) We reconnect with our bodies. Many mental health challenges involve disconnection from bodily sensations - either through numbing out or hyperfocusing on physical discomfort. Somatic movement helps rebuild this awareness through what practitioners call “interoception” - the ability to sense internal states without becoming overwhelmed by them.

3) Our attention skills improve. Practices that require focused attention on movement and breath strengthen our overall capacity to direct our attention - a fundamental skill for managing rumination, worry, and distraction.

4) The stress cycle completes. Our bodies are designed to move when stressed (think “fight or flight”). When we remain physically still during emotional stress, the stress chemicals have nowhere to go and can become trapped in our bodies. Movement helps complete this biological cycle, allowing these chemicals to be processed and released.

Research has shown that regular exercise can be highly effective for managing depression symptoms, with some studies finding it comparable to other treatments for mild to moderate depression. A landmark study in JAMA Psychiatry by Blumenthal and colleagues (2007) demonstrated that exercise was as effective as antidepressant medication for some adults with major depression, with lower relapse rates at the 10-month follow up.

However, mental health care is deeply personal, and what works best varies from person to person. Movement practices are best viewed as one valuable tool in a broader approach to well-being, and any treatment decisions should always be made in consultation with healthcare providers.

Finding your Ideal Movement Practice for Mental Wellness

Discovering Your Personal Movement Style

With this understanding of how movement affects our mental state, the question becomes not whether to move, but how to find movement that resonates personally. Not everyone connects with the same type of movement, and that’s perfectly okay. What matters is finding something that feels right for your body, preferences, and life circumstances. I’d like to share two types of movement that have provided profound mental health benefits in my experience.

Pilates for Mental Health: A Transformative Mind-Body Practice

Pilates offers something special through its emphasis on coordinated breathing with precise, intentional movements. What makes this practice unique is its focus on developing core awareness while moving mindfully with breath.

Pilates shares many principles with somatic practices, particularly in its emphasis on intentional awareness and sensing movement from within rather than just performing exercises correctly.

In my own experience with Pilates, I’ve noticed how differently I might arrive to each session. Sometimes I come feeling tired or frazzled after a busy or stressful day. Yet I find that once I start tuning into my body and breath and begin to move, I gradually relax and reconnect.

The challenge of the practice keeps it interesting for me, while simultaneously teaching me to be kind and patient with myself. How I show up to each session changes depending on a number of factors, making it a powerful exercise in self-acceptance.

I’ve also found confidence building over time as I progress in my practice. This confidence has translated to increased assurance in my other physical activities. Whether I’m hiking or skiing, I notice greater body awareness and control, which not only improves performance but also reduces anxiety about potential injuries.

And perhaps most importantly, I have fun! The variety of movements keeps me engaged, and I often find myself sharing laughs with my instructor and the other people I’m moving with. This social aspect creates a sense of community that adds another layer of enjoyment to the mental health benefits.

What I particularly value about Pilates is how it’s taught me to be more mindful of my body throughout each day. I’ve become aware of my tendency to hold tension in certain areas, especially during stressful moments. This awareness has become a valuable tool that extends well beyond my sessions. While this indoor practice forms an important part of my movement routine, I’ve discovered equally powerful but distinctly different benefits when I take my movement outdoors.

Healing in Nature: The Mental Health Benefits of Outdoor Movement

Moving outdoors in natural settings offers a uniquely effective combination of physical activity and mental refreshment. A study in Scientific Reports by White and colleagues (2019) demonstrated that people who spend just 120 minutes per week in nature report 20% higher levels of health and well-being without regular nature contact. This creates a powerful antidote to our often over-stimulating, technology-filled environments.

I’ve found that walking in parks, forests, or along beaches offers a quality of mental clearing different from indoor exercise. The sensory experience - hearing birds, feeling the breeze, noticing seasonal changes - adds a dimension of mindfulness that happens almost effortlessly.

My dogs, Bear and Brea, have transformed my outdoor movement practice. Their enthusiasm is genuinely contagious, helping me stay present with their curiosity and playfulness. The social connections that naturally develop with other dog owners provide valuable moments of community that combat loneliness.

When I have time for more challenge, hiking takes these benefits to another level. There’s something uniquely rewarding about setting a goal to reach a summit and working toward it one step at a time. The physical demands - the steady climb, navigating rocky terrain, pushing through fatigue - create powerful metaphors for life’s challenges. I’ve had some of my clearest insights about difficult situations while working through a challenging section of trail.

The moment of reaching a viewpoint brings its own healing. Standing at a summit, taking in vast landscapes stretching before me, I’m often overwhelmed by a sense of perspective that’s hard to find elsewhere. Problems that seemed insurmountable become rightfully small against the backdrop of mountains and valleys - a natural “zooming out” effect that’s been profoundly helpful during stressful periods.

The sense of accomplishment after completing a challenging hike becomes a reservoir of confidence I can draw from when facing other challenges: “If I could climb that mountain, I can handle this too.”

While these more challenging experiences offer unique rewards, I’ve come to appreciate that movement in nature doesn’t have to be strenuous to be beneficial. The beauty of walking is its accessibility - even for those without access to hiking trails or expansive natural areas. Finding small pockets of green space in urban environments, walking just 20 minutes a few times a week, requires no special equipment or expertise - just a willingness to step outside. And for those who can access more challenging terrain, hiking simply adds extra dimensions of reward when you’re ready for them.

Starting Your Movement Practice: Simple Steps for Mental Well-being

Beginning a movement practice doesn’t require major life overhauls. Small, consistent steps often create the most sustainable change. In fact, I’ve found that starting with too ambitious a plan is often what gets people stuck - when we can’t meet our lofty goals, we tend to abandon them altogether rather than scaling back.

If you’re curious about exploring mindful movement as mental health support, consider these gentle first steps:

Find Brief Opportunities

Even three minutes of mindful stretching can shift your mental state. Try integrating small movement breaks into existing routines - like gentle stretching while waiting for your coffee to brew or taking a moment to roll your shoulders between tasks.

Focus on Enjoyment

Movement as punishment rarely sticks. What form of movement brings you moments of curiosity or pleasure? Reflect on activities that have made you lose track of time or activities you enjoyed as a child, as these often contain clues about sustainable movement practices.

Begin with Breath

Connect with your breathing first, then add movement. Simply noticing your breath while walking to the mailbox counts as practice. This breath awareness creates a foundation for mindfulness that naturally extends into how you move your body.

Embrace Imperfection

Showing up imperfectly is infinitely more beneficial than waiting for perfect conditions. Remember that consistency matters more than intensity - a gentle fie-minute walk taken regularly builds more sustainable well-being than an occasional intense workout.

Consider Community

Moving alongside others, whether virtually or in person, adds accountability and connection. This might mean joining a gentle movement class, or simply walking regularly with a friend who shares your commitment to well-being.

Practice Patience

Be patient with yourself - developing a new relationship with movement takes time, especially if past experiences with exercise were negative. Notice your self-talk around movement and aim for compassion rather than criticism.

Track Your Response

Notice how different types of movement affect your mental state afterward. Keep a simple note on your phone to identify which forms bring you the most benefit.

Remember that movement practices can be adapted for nearly all ability levels and physical conditions. Chair yoga, water exercises, or even gentle hand movements coupled with breath awareness can provide significant mental health benefits. The key is honouring your body’s current capabilities - there is no minimum threshold required to experience the mind-body connection benefits of mindful movement.

Your mental health journey is uniquely yours, and the movement practices that support you best may change throughout your life. The important thing is discovering ways of moving that help you feel more at home in your body and more at peace in your mind.

Movement in Therapy: A Registered Clinical Counsellor’s Approach

In my counselling practice, I incorporate somatic awareness as a key component of the therapeutic process, while also encouraging clients to explore appropriate movement practices between sessions. Rather than relying solely on conversation, this integrated approach helps clients develop practical tools for managing their mental health both in and outside of therapy.

A client who struggled with chronic anxiety found that a 10-minute morning yoga routine helped them start the day with more emotional regulation than medication alone had provided. Another discovered that evening walks dramatically improved their sleep quality after years of insomnia. These real-world results demonstrate how movement can complement traditional therapeutic approaches in powerful ways.

Somatic approaches recognize that many experiences are stored directly in our physical patterns and need to be addressed through the body. Simple practices like tracking bodily sensations during emotional discussions, practicing grounded breathing when anxiety arises, or noticing where tension appears when discussing difficult topics can provide powerful tools for self-regulation.

Movement practices offer a variety of benefits that can support therapeutic work. Walking can provide space for processing and reflection; mindful movement like Pilates or Yoga can build resources for managing anxiety; and gentle, consent-based practices - where individuals choose how and when to move, honouring their body’s boundaries and always having permission to pause or modify - can help rebuild body trust after difficult experiences.

What makes these somatic techniques so powerful is that they provide accessible tools people can use anywhere to influence their own nervous system states and emotional well-being.

Further Exploration

If you’re interested in learning more about the connection between movement and mental health, here are three essential books I recommend:

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk - A groundbreaking book on how trauma affects both mind and body, with insights on movement practices for healing.
The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal - Explores how physical exercise creates a sense of joy, purpose, and connection through mindful movement practices.
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine - Introduces somatic experiencing approaches to healing through bodily awareness.
When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate - Explores the intimate connection between chronic stress, emotional repression, and physical illness, emphasizing how listening to the body can lead to deeper healing and self-awareness.
The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor - A powerful call to radical self-love and body acceptance, encouraging readers to reconnect with their bodies as sources of wisdom, empowerment, and social transformation.

Your Movement Journey Begins Now

Movement isn’t just something we do - it’s a way we can care for ourselves on every level. Whether it’s a mindful stretch between meetings, a walk around your neighbourhood, or a regular Pilates class, what matters most is that it feels nourishing, not depleting. Sustainable, not overwhelming.

This isn’t about intensity or perfection. It’s about building a relationship with your body that supports your well-being in the long term. Each step, each stretch, each breath is a quiet but powerful act of care.

So start small. Pay attention to how your body feels right now. Take a breath. Notice what might feel good in this moment - and allow that to be enough.

As both a counsellor and someone who has personally experienced the healing power of movement, I believe it’s one of the most supportive - and often overlooked - tools for mental health. That said, movement is just one piece of a much bigger picture.

If you’re navigating challenges like anxiety, depression, chronic stress, relationship issues, grief, or living with chronic illness, therapy can offer a space to explore what healing looks like for you - in both mind and body. Whether or not movement becomes part of that process, I’m here to support you in creating meaningful, personalized paths toward well-being.

If this resonates, feel free to reach out. I’d be honoured to walk alongside you on your journey.

Ready to take the next step?

Explore my other blog articles and learn more about my services.

Let’s work together to turn uncertainty into clarity and create a path that feels right for you. Book a free 15-minute consultation today, or reach out with any questions you may have — I would be honoured to support you on your journey.

References

Blumenthal, J.A., Babyak, M.A., Doraiswamy, P.M., Watkins, L., Hoffman, B.M., Barbour, K.A., Herman, S., Craighead, W.E., Brosse, A.L., Waugh, R., Hinderliter, A., & Sherwod, A. (2007) Exercise and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69(7), 587-596.

White, M.P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J., Wheeler, B.W., Hartig, T., Warber, S.L., Bone, A., Depledge, M.H., & Fleming, L.E. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with god health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 7730.