If you’re feeling sluggish, try an energizing exercise to wake up the body and boost your energy. These exercises gently tap into the energizing power of the sympathetic nervous system.

Listen to upbeat music

Put on your favorite upbeat song. You can dance if you want to!

Move your body

Go for a walk, stretch, or exercise for 30 seconds or longer. Depending on how you’re feeling, movement can be used to calm the body by releasing tension, or energize the body by increasing circulation.

Adjust your posture

Straighten your spine, relax your jaw, and let your arms open and relax by your sides.

Wake up the body with Tapping

Tapping is an ancient technique used to stimulate acupressure (acupuncture) points by tapping them with fingertips or cupped hands. It can simultaneously release tension and increase energy.

Tap 10 times in each place with medium pressure (it should not be painful). Exhale while tapping.

With fingertips, tap:

  • Top of your head
  • Back of your head
  • Forehead
  • Cheeks
  • Chin (below the bottom lip)

With a flat or slightly cupped hand, tap:

  • Shoulders
  • Down front of arms (10 taps total)
  • Up back of arms (10 taps total)
  • Chest
  • Left side of belly
  • Right side of belly
  • Down front of legs (10 taps total)
  • Up back of legs (10 taps total)

Note: There are different types of tapping and this one focuses on getting energy flowing in the body. It is slightly different from EFT Tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique), which focuses on calming an unpleasant thought or emotion while tapping the face and upper body. EFT is a great calming body-based exercise, but to increase energy, try whole body Tapping.

Tapping guided video (12 minutes)

5 Senses

Coming into the present moment (also known as “mindfulness” or “grounding”) can create focus and energy while releasing tension. This can either energize or calm the body, depending on how you’re feeling.

Pay attention to one sense at a time. Observations can be items (“I see a chair”) or specific details (“I see the paint chipping on the corner of the chair”).

5 things you see

a blue pen, a wood desk, the shadow next to a mug, the pattern on the floor, a silver doorknob

4 things you feel

the floor under my feet, the chair seat, a breeze on my face, hair touching my ear

3 things you hear

the air vent, the squeaky chair, rain

2 things you smell

hand sanitizer, coffee

1 thing you taste (optional)

the tea I drank a few minutes ago

Feel free to only focus on one sense, such as noticing “all the blue things in the room.”

5 Senses guided video (3:34 minutes)

Examples of ways to use energizing exercises:

For months, Lamar’s coworker has been taking credit for Lamar’s work and receiving praise for his “achievements.” Every day, Lamar feels disheartened by this unfairness and lack of recognition, and dreads going to work. As he makes his morning coffee, he puts on his favorite music and dances around the kitchen. He smiles as he leaves his apartment, feeling a little lighter.

The company Jana works at downsized a month ago and although Jana got to keep her job, she’s been doing the work of three people. Feeling herself getting burned out, she finds it harder to get out of bed in the morning. When she wakes up, she does whole body tapping while in bed, which gives her energy to get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, and do two minutes of square breathing before work.

In both of these examples, the energizing exercise doesn’t solve their bigger work problem, but it does give them enough energy to go to work, where they can eventually address the work problem.