.jpg)
Many therapists approach a client’s presenting issue by thinking about thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and beliefs. Movement, if it’s considered at all, often gets sidelined: a sort of helpful extra instead of an important part of the picture. But more and more, both research and real-life practice show that physical activity, or more accurately, movement, has a huge effect on mental health.
Movement and mood is something I now routinely explore with clients, even when the presenting issue doesn’t appear to have much to do with lifestyle. I’ve found it’s a helpful approach across many different ages and contexts.
For example, one client, a child whose behaviour was described as “over-excited and disruptive” at home and school, made the biggest shift not through reward charts and behaviour modification, but by being allowed to cycle to school instead of riding in the car. An older gentleman found that his generalised anxiety all but disappeared after he started doing just ten minutes of brisk walking a day. No gym or Lycra, and no grand fitness plan. In fact, ten minutes a day is below general fitness guidelines, but it is enough to have an impact on mental and emotional fitness.
Using exercise to help with anxiety doesn’t replace therapeutic work, of course, but it does make it easier, faster, and more effective.
The Link Between Physical Activity, Mental Health, and Mood
Research has established a strong connection between physical activity and mental health outcomes. Many studies tell us that regular movement reduces anxiety and depression, improves emotional regulation and sleep, and reduces people’s perception of stress. (Biddle & Asare, 2011; Schuch et al., 2016).
As therapists, you probably know that exercise increases levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, and encourages the release of endorphins, all of which are “feel-good chemicals”. They’re associated with improved mood and reduced pain perception (Dishman et al., 2006). It also reduces the levels of stress hormones like cortisol, especially when the activity is regular (Heijnen et al., 2016).
The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary physiological processes like heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and even sexual arousal. Exercise causes the ANS to support a better balance between the sympathetic nervous system (the stress response/fight or flight) and the parasympathetic nervous system (the relaxation response/rest and digest). (Porges, 2011).
However, it’s important to explain to clients that they don’t have to take on what we would traditionally think of as exercise; everyday movement is enough to get these mental health benefits.
Using Movement with Therapy Clients: Reframing “Exercise”
Many clients hear “exercise” and switch off. They may have strong negative associations with the word, maybe from school games lessons if they weren’t the “sporty” type, or they imagine gyms, running shoes, judgment, and failure. But talking about “movement” presents them with a much more attainable goal.
Movement for hypnotherapy clients can include things like:
- Walking their dog a bit further or faster,
- Playing active games like football with the kids or friends,
- Cycling to work or school, or parking a bit further away and walking from there,
- Walking around the office when they’re on the phone, instead of sitting,
- Pushing a child on a swing rather than watching from a bench,
- Gardening, dancing, and even housework!
The research tells us that moderate, everyday physical activity is enough to produce mental health benefits, as long as it’s consistent, and supports our definition of “movement” rather than “exercise”.
Safe Activities for Improved Mental Health in Therapy
Most therapists are not medically trained, nor are they personal trainers. That means a lot of us are (quite rightly) a bit wary of giving clients advice on topics that could be seen as outside of our remit. The simple guide I was given is this: you should be slightly out of breath but still able to hold a conversation:
- Not out of breath at all = probably not working hard enough
- Gasping for breath = doing too much
The benefit of this is that it automatically adjusts to different fitness levels. Someone who is very unfit at first may only need a gentle stroll to reach the right point. But as they get fitter, they’ll have to put in a bit more effort.
For physically healthy people, it’s a safe, flexible approach that generally avoids any negative associations. However, if a client has health conditions, hasn’t exercised for a while, or is unsure, they should be asked to check with their GP before starting. A visit to the well-man or woman clinic often does the trick.
.jpg)
How Does Movement Help Mental Health?
A metaphor I use a lot with my clients, and that you are welcome to borrow, is that movement and relaxation are different paths to the same place: improved mood.
Stress and anxiety trigger the stress response, which is basically a huge burst of energy that evolved to help us run away or fight off danger. In modern life, we still get the energy, but we don’t use it the way nature intended. Most of our problems are not solved by running away or bopping someone on the nose! Instead, it gets trapped inside the body. We sit with it, worry about it, or try to ignore it.
Since we would never relax in a dangerous situation, relaxation techniques send a message to the brain that we’re OK, and the nervous system starts to settle.
Movement does something different but equally powerful: it uses up the energy generated by the stress response. (I have even been known to add – when the client has the right sense of humour – that running from or wrestling a tiger is, essentially, movement.)
From a nervous system perspective, both routes can be effective. Some clients relax best by slowing down. Others, especially those who believe they “don’t do relaxation”, need to move first before relaxation becomes possible. Helping clients discover which route works best for them can be a useful part of therapy.
Bringing Movement Into Hypnotherapy Practice
There are several easy ways to integrate movement into your work:
- Normalise it: frame movement as a support, not a solution or obligation.
- Make it seem easy: “What kind of movement would fit naturally into your day?”
- Future pace it: imagine noticing how your mood shifts after gentle activity.
- Use metaphor: burning off excess energy, clearing static, letting the system reset.
- Anchor it: link movement to a calm or confident state created in session.
For children and teenagers in particular, movement can be a game-changer, especially if their emotional regulation is still a work in progress.
Not every client needs to move more. But many do, and far fewer realise just how powerful these small changes can be.
Ten minutes of brisk walking. Cycling instead of sitting. Playing instead of scrolling.
Sometimes, the most effective approach to improved mood isn’t about emotional insight or reframing, but more practical. Most of us have used “switch it off and switch it on again” as a standby fix-it for when things are not working well. In your therapy practice, introducing movement for mental health is the same thing. It’s all about helping the body do what it evolved to do: move, regulate, and reset.
----------------------------
Author: Debbie Waller is an experienced hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy trainer. She is the author of Anxiety to Calm: a Practical Guide to a Laid-Back Life, The Hypnotherapist's Companion, Their Worlds, Your Words, and The Metaphor Toolbox, all available from Amazon or direct from the author. Find out more about Debbie's services on
Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training - multi-accredited hypnotherapy practitioner training, taster days and foundation levels.
CPD Expert - accredited CPD and other therapy training (online and workshops options), expert and qualified hypnotherapy supervision
Comments
Post a Comment