I help people with exercise motivation hypnotherapy (AHA). I’ve motivated people to exercise for 53 years since we started a health club in 1971. I still get up at 5.00am to go to the gym and ballet studio in my late 60s. Yes, I’m that person.
You may even get health fund rebates for your visits to my clinic.
As a naturopath (ANPA) I’m highly skilled in creating high levels of physical health.
Since I am a clinical psychotherapist and mental health professional (PACFA) I’m looking for the psychological triggers to get you motivated fast.
Dr Tracie O’Keefe at 60 years of age
Why you may be unmotivated to exercise
It can begin with how your body’s not working. You may have an underactive thyroid, digestion is poor, hormones are not firing properly, or you have a gene that’s not working properly.
We can test for all of these to make sure you have the body you need to exercise well and consistently.
You may be depressed, have anxiety, be uncomfortable with your body image or carrying too much weight that slows you down. You become the person who constantly makes excuses not to exercise. Then you tell yourself you just don’t have the time (1).
This kills your enthusiasm, and you get in a rut of not doing anything, so we have to make big changes both physically and mentally.
What happens when you don’t exercise?
The obvious thing is you lose a great deal of your muscle strength and the central core of your body becomes weak. This causes problems with your back, joints, and posture. It produces aches and pains and even organ damage.
The next one is you put on weight in the wrong places that throws your body even further out of balance. You begin to look older far too soon and make the excuse that it’s just ageing.
All your organs and body systems rely on exercise to create the right kind of body biochemistry to keep you mentally and physically healthy. Your food stays in your gut far too long and any toxins it may contain can start to poison you.
Not exercising seriously damages your mental health which can lead to whole range of psychopathologies and mental illness.
What happens when you exercise?
All the organs between your neck and your hips pump fluids around your body. It’s like a party! Blood, lymphatic fluids, hormones, waste products are pumping where they ‘re supposed to go. You’re functioning as you should be.
Your muscles start to get stronger and elongate. You’re far less likely to pull muscles because you’re conditioning them, so they stretch and strengthen.
Food moves along your gut, instead of just sitting there and rotting. When food rots in your gut, it can cause a leaky gut where toxins go into your blood stream. You eliminate better when you exercise regularly.
You release stress, because you produce more serotonin, (happiness hormone) and your cortisol (stress hormone) decreases (2). Also, you begin to ramp up your endorphins, which are your natural pain killers.
Dr Tracie O’Keefe at 64 years of age
The things that unmotivated people say to themselves:
• I don’t have time
• I’m always too tired
• The gym’s too far away
• I’m not really interested in exercise
• My body isn’t built for exercise
These are just a few of the excuses you may be making to yourself and others. If someone else said them to you – what would you think?
You’d think they’re just making us excuses. We’ve all done it at some time or another, but it’ll never get you to your goal of being fit and healthy.
As health professionals, we can’t fix what you’re not taking care of because it’ll just break again.
Health and exercise equals longevity
There are places, towns and regions in the world called blue zones. They are where people naturally live to very old ages and often over 100 (3).
Studies have shown, time and time again, that those people undergo regular daily exercise, week after week and year after year. They might be remote places like Sardinia, Greece, Okinawa, Loma Linda (California), and Costa Rica but the people there all exercise.
They might not a have gym, but they’re climbing hills, doing physical labour and moving around all the time, keeping their bodies strong.
In Westernised, industrialised cultures we need to use gyms, join running and bicycles clubs or do whatever we need to do every day to strengthen our bodies.
Dr Tracie O’Keefe at 68 years of age
Programing your mind with hypnosis
At 68 I’m working out 10 to 14 hours per week at the gym, riding my bicycle and at the ballet studio – every single week.
When I was young I was a professional dancer and acrobat which takes an enormous amount of discipline. My parents had little discipline, so I had to learn to program my own mind to relentlessly train and never give surrender excuses.
I often get up at 4.30am or 5.00am to go to the gym and it became very natural for me and the way I love to live my life. I’m going to live as long and have the highest quality of health I can.
Exercise can prevent and help you recover from so many illnesses (4).
It’s really true, “Use it or lose it.”
Hypnotherapy helps program your mind for exercise motivation
I generally do the things I love and avoid the things I don’t. So as a young dancer I learned to love moving my body. I fed into my mind the thoughts that it was amazing. That’s stayed with me for life.
I still use hypnosis to put those thoughts into my mind today. It became my everyday way of thinking. There’s never a week when I don’t work out, no matter where I am.
Hypnotherapy helps put those suggestions for loving exercise deep into your unconscious mind fast, so they become automatic. You look forward to exercise, like I do.
Also, hypnosis helps balance your mind and brings you back to what’s really important in life – health. And it’s a very comfortable experience.
To make a hypnotherapy appointment with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH for exercise motivation in the clinic or by Zoom for anywhere in the world call 0403 398 808.
Book your hypnotherapy appointment to help with emotional problems with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH by calling 0403 398 808
References
(1) Rodríguez-Romo, G., Boned-Pascual, C., Garrido-Muñoz, M. (2009). Reasons for and barriers to exercising and sports participation in Madrid. Rev Panam Salud Publica, 26(3):244-54. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20058835/
(2) Kim, Y.S., Song, B.K., Oh, J.S., & Woo, S.S. (2014). Aerobic exercise improves gastrointestinal motility in psychiatric inpatients. World J Gastroenterol, 20(30): 10577–10584. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4130869/
(3) Buettner, D. & Skemp, S. (2016, July 7). Blue Zones: Lessons From the World’s Longest Lived. Am J Lifestyle Med, 10(5):318-321. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30202288/
(4) Anderson, E. & Durstine, J.L. (2019). ical activity, exercise, and chronic diseases: A brief review. Sports Med Health Sci., 1(1): 3–10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219321/
