Motion is lotion - If you've ever been to one of my yoga classes, you've probably heard me say that more than once. It usually raises a smile, but there's a lot of truth packed into those three little words.
Over the years, I've become fascinated by movement. Not exercise, necessarily, although that's important too. I mean the sort of movement that's woven into everyday life; the things we do without really thinking about them. Walking upstairs. Hanging out the washing. Reaching into a cupboard. Stretching because you've been sitting for a while. Wandering into the garden with a cup of tea.
It all counts.
For a long time we've tended to think of movement and exercise as being the same thing. If we've been for a walk, gone to the gym or done a yoga class, we tick the box and feel we've done what we needed to do.
The research is beginning to tell us something a little different.
It suggests that what happens between those planned moments of exercise matters just as much. Those little bursts of movement throughout the day aren't simply filling the gaps; they're part of the bigger picture of keeping our bodies healthy.
That really caught my attention because it made me look at my own day in a different way.
Like many people, I can become completely absorbed in what I'm doing. I'll sit down to write a report or plan a workshop and, before I know it, a couple of hours have disappeared. My tea is cold, my hips are starting to complain and I've barely moved from my chair.
Sound familiar?
The more I looked into the research, the more I realised this wasn't really about exercise at all. It was about how modern life has quietly changed the way many of us move.
Modern life has changed
I don't think we've become lazy. I think life has simply changed.
When I was younger, movement was built into everyday life without us really noticing. We walked over to speak to a colleague instead of sending a message. We got up to change the television channel. We went shopping because there wasn't another option. There were countless little moments that kept us moving from morning until night.
Now many of us can spend hours in exactly the same position.
We work from home, join back-to-back Teams meetings, shop online and message people sitting in the next room. There are plenty of advantages to all of that and I certainly wouldn't want to lose the flexibility it brings, but it has quietly removed much of the incidental movement that used to happen naturally.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty made a similar observation when the updated UK physical activity guidelines were published. He highlighted how home working and modern lifestyles have reduced the amount of everyday movement we do. It isn't that we've stopped exercising. It's that we've stopped moving between everything else.
That feels like an important distinction because it removes a lot of the guilt. This isn't about people failing. It's about recognising that our lives now ask something different of us. If movement no longer happens by accident, we have to create opportunities for it ourselves.
That realisation made me look much more honestly at my own habits.
It made me stop and think
I've always thought of myself as quite an active person. I teach yoga most days, I walk the dog when I can and, thanks to living with axial spondyloarthritis (AS) , I know from experience how much better my body feels when I move regularly.
What I hadn't really thought about was everything that happens in between.
A lot of my week is spent at a computer. Some days I'm writing reports, other days I'm planning classes or developing workshops. I genuinely enjoy that part of my work, which is probably why it's so easy to disappear into it.
The strange thing is that I often don't notice what's happening until I stand up.
That's when I realise my shoulders have crept towards my ears, my hips feel as though they've seized slightly and my body has been trying to get my attention for quite some time.
Living with AS means I can't ignore those messages for very long. The longer I sit, the harder it becomes to get moving again, even though movement is exactly what helps.
I don't think that's unique to people living with long-term health conditions. Most of us become so focused on what we're doing that we simply stop noticing our bodies until they start complaining.
Writing this article has made me pay much closer attention to those moments. Not because I'm trying to be perfect, but because I want my everyday habits to reflect what I already know.
And that naturally leads to the next question.
If our bodies are asking us to move more often, what difference does it actually make?
So why does it matter?
One of the things I love about yoga is that it encourages us to notice how our bodies feel. Most of us don't need a scientific paper to tell us we feel better after we've moved. We've experienced it ourselves. The science simply helps explain why.
Our bodies are designed to change position regularly throughout the day. Every time we stand up, walk across the room or stretch, our muscles contract. Those contractions help move blood back towards the heart, improve circulation and encourage the body to use energy more efficiently. They also help lubricate our joints, which is probably why I've been saying "motion is lotion" for so many years.
When we stay in one position for long periods, those systems become a little less efficient. Muscles switch off, joints remain in the same position and, for many of us, stiffness begins to creep in. You might notice it in your neck after a morning at the computer, your lower back after sitting on the sofa or your hips after a long drive.
For me, it's definitely my hips. They have a very effective way of reminding me that I've been sitting for too long.
It's not just our muscles and joints that benefit either. Researchers are increasingly finding that regularly breaking up periods of sitting can support healthy blood sugar levels, improve circulation and help us stay more alert and focused. That's why current guidance doesn't just encourage us to exercise more; it also reminds us to sit less and move more often throughout the day.
I find that incredibly encouraging because it means movement doesn't have to be dramatic to be worthwhile. Sometimes standing up, stretching for a minute or walking to make a cup of tea is doing more for our bodies than we realise.
So why don't we do it?
If moving little and often makes such a difference, why do so many of us struggle to do it?
I've thought about that quite a lot while writing this article. At first, I assumed it came down to motivation or discipline. Perhaps I simply needed to try harder or set more reminders on my phone.
The more I paid attention to my own habits, the less convinced I became.
For me, the problem isn't a lack of motivation. I enjoy moving. I teach yoga for a living and I know from experience how much better I feel when I do. The problem is that, when I'm concentrating, movement simply drops off my radar.
I suspect many people will recognise that.
Whether you're writing reports, looking after children, immersed in a good book or trying to get through a mountain of emails, your attention is somewhere else. Your body is quite happy to wait in the background for a while, until eventually it decides enough is enough.
That's usually the point when we notice the stiffness, the aching neck or the urge to stand up and stretch.
It's easy to see those moments as our bodies letting us down, but perhaps they're actually doing us a favour. They're simply asking for what they were designed to do all along: change position.
Realising that has changed the way I think about moving more. Instead of relying on memory or willpower, I've started looking for ways to make movement happen almost automatically.
One idea that really appealed to me is something called habit stacking. The name sounds rather technical, but the principle couldn't be simpler. Rather than trying to create a brand-new habit, you link a small action to something you already do every day.
So, instead of promising yourself you'll get up every hour, you connect movement to routines that are already part of your life.
Every time the kettle goes on, roll your shoulders or stretch your back while you wait. If you're on the phone, stand up or wander around the room. When you finish an online meeting, take a quick walk around the house before sitting down again. If you've just sent an important email, perhaps that's your cue to refill your water bottle instead of immediately opening the next one.
I've found this much kinder than relying on good intentions alone because it doesn't feel like another job on the to-do list. The movement becomes part of the day rather than another task to squeeze into it.
And that's really the point. We're not trying to redesign our lives or find another hour we don't have. We're simply looking for opportunities to put movement back into places where it used to happen naturally.
That doesn't mean replacing exercise. It means recognising that everyday movement has a value of its own. It may not leave us hot and sweaty, but our bodies still benefit from it.
Movement doesn't have to mean exercise
One of the biggest things I've taken away from researching this article is that movement and exercise aren't the same thing.
Exercise is important, and the evidence is clear that regular activity which challenges our heart, muscles and balance brings enormous benefits for our health. That hasn't changed.
What has changed is our understanding of everything else.
Researchers now recognise that all those little moments of movement between the planned exercise sessions matter too. Standing up to answer the phone, walking to fill your water bottle, taking the stairs instead of the lift or wandering into the garden for five minutes won't replace a yoga class or a brisk walk, but they don't have to. They have value in their own right.
I find that incredibly encouraging because it moves us away from all-or-nothing thinking. If I haven't had time for a proper walk, it's easy to tell myself the day has been a write-off. But that's simply not true.
I might not have managed a walk, but I can still stretch while the kettle boils. I can stand up during a phone call. I can take the dog around the block instead of just opening the back door. I can spend a couple of minutes outside before I make another cup of tea.
Individually, none of those things feels particularly significant. Collectively, they start to change the shape of the day.
Perhaps that's the question we should be asking ourselves. Not, "Have I exercised today?" but, "Have I found opportunities to move?"
They're not quite the same thing.
A different way of looking at movement
When I first started reading the research for this article, I thought I was simply updating my knowledge so I could explain it better in class. I wasn't expecting it to make me look quite so closely at my own habits.
I still enjoy disappearing down a rabbit hole when I'm writing, planning classes or creating resources. I suspect I always will. The difference now is that I'm becoming better at noticing when I've been sitting for too long and responding a little sooner.
I'm also finding that it doesn't have to be complicated. I don't need another fitness challenge or an app reminding me to be healthier. I simply need to make better use of the opportunities that are already there.
That feels much more achievable.
If you've recognised yourself anywhere in this article, perhaps that's all I'd encourage you to do as well. Not to overhaul your routine overnight or squeeze another workout into an already busy week, but simply to notice where movement might naturally fit into the life you already have.
You may be surprised how quickly those little moments begin to add up.
After all, our bodies were designed to move, not just for an hour in a yoga class or at the gym, but throughout the whole day.
Maybe that's why I've been saying the same three words for years.
Motion is lotion.
References and Further Reading
- UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines (2026 update)
- NHS – Why Sitting Too Much Is Bad for Us
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – Sedentary Behaviour
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center – Movement Break Research
- World Health Organization – Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines
