About a year ago I wrote a post called the Joy of Skipping and it is joyous. Just last week a preschooler told me, "Skipping is my favorite thing!" with a huge smile on her face. She reminded me how important it is to move with abandon.
You don't have to pay for an exercise class to remember that wonderful feeling. If you have a preschooler in your life just join in - skip together, twirl, swing, and jump. You're probably already doing it, but if you're not, give it a try. Light weight capes make it fun to pretend to fly and soar. Rolling on the ground, especially down a hill, feels fantastic.
These type of movements are good for your body and circulation, but also for your brain. In fact if you skip and chant or sing a nursery rhyme at the same time you are activating most of your brain and forming new neural networks even as an adult.
Educator Carla Hannaford, author of "Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head," explains how this connection works. What's really interesting is her work over the years with adults as well as children. The same connections that light up a child's brain and helps them to grow and learn work for adults too. If you're interested you can find her book here... https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Moves-Learning-Your-Head/dp/0915556375
