REVEL: 1. to take great pleasure or delight. 2. to make merry; to indulge in boisterous activities. 3. a noisy and wild celebration.
What is the #RevelMovement? It is transforming how we view wellness/fitness by emphasizing how we FEEL superior to how we physically look. Reveling in dynamic movement to feel positive, free, euphoric and alive!
Who makes up the #RevelArmy? Any person who chooses to participate, build community and share the aspiration to honor this vivacious crusade. We create and move in space that focuses on how we FEEL, first and foremost.
Let me preface all of this by saying that it takes a great deal of vulnerability to allow this concept and experiences in to your life. You have to be willing to be ok with organized chaos and with delving deeper - beyond just going through the motions - but, not in a serious way, in a "holy crap this feels good" kinda way. You must give up the way you think you should look or move and embrace how you feel! This is the only way we create authentic space. It is completely freeing when you decide that you do not need a facade. There is a power in that. And, when you get a room full of people revelling - it is MAGIC.
My eight year old (impressionable) daughter was standing in the check out line with me at a nearby grocery store. After a few moments she turned back and asked me why all of the women on the cover of magazines show so much of their bodies. Having two parents with Human Biology degrees - our kids have practically read our Human Anatomy books as their nighttime stories. I love exposing them to the extraordinary physiological capabilities of the human body AS WELL AS its external strength & beauty. Yet there is still something missing...
In our culture, we often use a photo to capture a moment or a thing...but, I wonder if there is a way to simultaneously capture how that moment FEELS? How much more real, raw and compelling that would be. Afterall, it is just a moment, it is just a thing.
Let's back up. Fitness permeated my life fairly smoothly growing up as a dancer and enjoying activity. When I started to incorporate fitness in to my daily routine as a young adult I became more aware of the fact that, sometimes due to cultural influence, I was working out to look a certain way. I would say things like "I want to look more toned", "I would like to make my butt look smaller" or then a day later embracing "large butts RULE!" etc. You know you've all been there!!...maybe we even beat ourselves up about it more than we would like to admit. And, this applies to men and women.
What I didn't expect was the evolution of how I view health/wellness/fitness. The more I dove into the fitness world, the more clear it became that we have this backwards. I'd ask myself - when did we lose sight of being active because we enjoy it - because it feels good?! Challenging, yes, but the opposite of pain and misery! It has the capability of reminding us what it's like to play, to have fun - to connect. Can health/wellness/fitness be more sustainable if we didn't fall for crazy fads or insane diets...perhaps finding something more meaningful, fun/playful, invigorating and feels like a little bit of FREEDOM! Again, less for the sole purpose of how we want to look. More focused on how we want to feel.
Is there anything wrong with feeling good about how you physically look...absolutely not!
However, a HUGE missing essential piece: challenging the way we participate in movement to get more connection (both personally & socially), more joy, more growth, more noisy celebrations!
I found that when we are together [self-expressing yet uniting] we laugh, we cry, we have made friends, and all of sudden it becomes more and more about authenticity, removing the idea of right and wrong, what you should look like, what you should wear, the need to be so serious - instead cultivating a space where there isn't so much of a "scene", a safe freeing space to FEEL. WOA! And, it has been remarkable! In more ways than I could imagine - aiding heart break, getting through job changes, healing from many life-altering events. What we do together in our movement infuses all areas of our lives.
Many years later - I am introducing you to the #RevelMovement, which has been organically evolving for some time. I say "WE" because this is due to an awesome collaboration of incredible, authentic, positive, uplifting people, just being and accepting who they are - allowing themselves and others to feel vulnerable, to share their energy and REVEL with everyone around them. Together (many times through dance!) we bring to life this vivacious crusade.
Cheese-Alert: The #RevelArmy can change the world one revelling dance at a time.