Although old fitness fictions like “no pain, no gain” are fading fast, plenty of popular exercise misconceptions still exist. Following are some of the most common myths, as well as not-so common facts based on current exercise research.

1. You Will Burn More Fat If You Exercise Longer at a Lower Intensity.

The ability to recognize how your body reacts to stressors in your life can be a powerful skill. However, most people are more aware of the weather, the time of day, or their bank balance than they are of their own personal stress response. Your body registers stress long before the conscious mind does. Muscle tension is your body’s way of letting you know you are under stress, and body awareness is the first step toward acknowledging and reducing stress. Try the following exercises to promote body awareness:

When the strands of the many cultures of Mexico are woven with the threads of a new spirit of healing and transformation, the resulting garment is like a huge brilliantly colored shawl (rebozo). This shawl extends between Mexico and the United States as an embrace, bringing warmth and comfort to those it touches. In the little town of Fortin de las Flores, near the Gulf of Mexico, Americans and Mexicans gather to weave this rebozo for themselves and for all the people they know. One particular gathering a year ago stands out as a shining example of the tapestry of healing.

Explaining to a massage therapist the interconnectedness of everything is like preaching to the choir. But what if your audience’s experience with massage is very limited? How do you get your message across?

Simple, write a play. Setting out with two goals in mind (1. Illustrate the nature of creativity, 2. Write a love story), playwright Gary Leon Hill decided to mesh his interest in massage therapy, particularly energy work, with his talent for the written word...and, thus, was born Inna Beginning.