Recently, I have been wanting to feel a bit healthier! At the same time, I knew I didn’t want to follow any crazy fitness plan or starvation diet. I’ve been complaining about my dilemma with my fiancé. I told him how I wanted to feel-ln- healthy again. I wanted to develop healthy and easy-to-follow habits but realised I needed some sort of plan to get me started.
He then told me about a Japanese practice called Rajio Taiso that has been around since 1928. My fiancé was born in Japan but raised in France. We share all the good parts of our culture with one another, and I am always excited to learn more. He explained how Rajio Taiso is a short 3-minute warm-up exercise that every Japanese person is familiar with. Here’s what makes it special, why everyone in Japan knows about it, and why I’ve decided to add this practice to my life.
Community
One thing that I love about Rajio Taiso is that it is mainly practiced in a social setting. Schools, employees, and even families in the comfort of their own homes will do this short exercise to start their days. Everyone in Japan knows of this exercise because it is a habit that people practice together as a community. While sharing how much I loved this idea of promoting daily fitness practices within a community to a Japanese friend of mine, she couldn’t help but laugh. That’s the funny thing about experiencing different cultures. To the people who have grown up living there, it is a mundane act, a part of everyday life. To me, I see how even these small acts can lead to a healthier lifestyle.
Little habits can lead to big lifestyle changes.
I think if Americans took the time to commit 5–10 minutes of their day to move their body, we would feel the impulse to do more. At least, for me, this is usually what happens. I always try to force myself to do just a small workout at first because I know that once I’ve started, I won’t want to end there. The idea of getting ourselves up to do a long and strenuous workout feels overwhelming, but usually, what happens is that once we start, we tend to feel much more energized and motivated than just minutes before. It’s a funny phenomenon, but I see how Rajio Taiso promotes the same way of thinking. It gets people moving just for a little bit of time. Starting our day with even a little bit of movement can encourage us to incorporate much more of it into the rest of the day because it makes us feel good!
I’m very interested in the link between culture, health, and happiness. If you are, too, here is another article I wrote on why I believe I lost a large amount of weight while living in France.
Here is a video example of Rajio Taiso if you’re curious and want to try the exercise out!
I believe that we can learn lots from other cultures if we are willing to be open. I love seeing my beliefs and what I at one point thought was normal change with each learning experience I have when connecting with people from all over the world. There is so much to learn from each person we meet.
