WHY I MOVE

By Anna Gunderson, Teton Valley Mental Health Coalition Board Member

Recently I was reading Oprah's new book, What Happened to You. In it, Bruce Perry discusses ways we heal. One of the top four healing techniques is movement. Physical movement. This spoke to me so deeply, as I recognized early in my life moving my body was one of the few ways I could control my sadness and anger.

As a young teenager, I first experienced depression. For reasons out of my control, I found my world to be a lonely, sad place. I didn't know what to do. I rebelled against my parents, blamed friends, etc., etc., etc. Eventually, I tried to control things by developing an eating disorder. It did not help me feel better.

I was not an athlete. I was simply on the cross country team because some of my other friends were. Running became an outlet. A place I could be alone with my thoughts, but not for too long.

If I was running, I couldn't focus or ruminate on anything too much. I was free to have the thoughts, but the thoughts did not stick. They moved through me along with my breath and sweat.

I understand that medically more is going on than simply letting thoughts come and go when we move in a rhythmic way. But it really still remains that simple to me.

Most recently, Covid brought on a whole new perspective of life. Who we are? What is community? Do we even matter?

The emotional roller coaster of love, compassion, anger, misunderstanding, and frustration occured daily. Thanks to my bike, I went outside, breathed fresh air, and moved my body. Through this, the anger, frustration, and confusion lessened. I found renewal. It is a daily necessity.

This campaign is two-fold. We want to raise money so we may continue to empower our community and support the mental health needs of our valley.

Go and find a safe place to have any thought you want without needing to do anything about it except move it through.

We encourage you to dance with your family, hit the gym, lift weights, spin your legs, jog a mile, walk a dog, take your kids to the skate park, bruise it up on the hockey rink (well not literal bruises)....Just get moving! Your body wants it and your mind deserves it.

So come on! Move with us so we can keep moving our mission through the valley! We can't wait to see you out there!