I used to be a group fitness junkie. I took classes daily, if not twice a day. For a long time, I got a lot out of them. I loved teaching them (and sometimes still do!) and I felt fulfilled when I took them. For a long time, it was exactly what I needed. And I won’t knock a group fitness class for a second, but you know what they say… too much of even really good things can be … too much.
As a coach, I love the atmosphere of a group fitness class. I love the camaraderie created among the group and how much genuine FUN we can have while working up a sweat. I can’t, however, help you in unique, nuanced ways that you may need if I’m coaching 20+ individuals at once. And as an individual, while I love participating and co-creating that sense of camaraderie in a group, my body doesn’t always need what the group class offers.
And so, over the last few years, I backed off of group fitness as my main form of fitness and started to incorporate my own training protocols. I even stopped taking quite so many group yoga classes, opting for solo time on my mat to explore, breathe, connect and process on my own. I did this out of necessity at first (a back injury that kept flaring up). But over time, and with more and more trainings under my belt, I came to love my time in the gym or on my mat alone.
Now, I actually crave it. Sometimes I need to move more slowly. Sometimes, I need to abandon the plan and just listen to what my body needs in the moment. My perfectly laid plans don’t always work out exactly the way I intend, and over time I have come to not only accept that reality, I now embrace it.
Finding the combination of types of movement that feels intuitively RIGHT for me now was not a linear path. It was not smooth sailing. At various points in my own movement practice, things felt in flow, but there have been plenty of times where I felt absolutely stuck. I’ve been in as many “ruts” as high points. At times the lows felt like they pulled me further away from being able to get back to the highs. And I have experienced my fair share of stagnation made only more exasperating through the negative commentary in my head within my journey.
While I believe we are always evolving, at the moment when I’m writing this, I have found that one particular thing has become an unlock to free me from a yo-yo of going from “on track” to “off track.”
That unlock is simply a deeper level of trust in myself. That kind of trust could only come from a place of compassion and care. It could never come from being at odds with myself. I had to choose to sit in a place of inquiry, and to get to know myself more deeply, in order to foster this kind of relationship. Every opportunity I get to learn more about how our bodies operate, and how we can nurture them – brain, body, and soul – I take it. I pull what I learn into the classes I teach and the way I coach.
If there is one thing I want to do as a teacher and a coach, it is to help you find your way back home to you. I want to give you tools so that you can make that journey. It will be unique to you, and no one can fully walk that road except you, but I make the commitment every day to show up however I can to be your support along your way.
And so, the reason WHY I built my membership is two-fold.
First, I wanted to create intelligently designed classes and practices that offered a baseline of support for my members to have no matter where they are in their movement journey. Whether you’re traveling and only have time for a 20-minute class, have taken some time away from working out and are getting back into a routine, or are recovering from an injury (and are cleared by a doc, of course!) I want my library of classes to meet you exactly where you are. I want you to feel welcome and that these classes are scalable to meet your needs. Essentially, the 150+ classes in the library come in various lengths, formats and styles. They’re all designed to be your back pocket resource that you know you will always have available to you so you can take a deep breath and exhale because I’ve got you.
Second, beyond a back pocket resource, I want this membership space to be a wealth of resources designed to help you ask questions that help you find your own “unlock.” I believe that when we know WHY we’re doing what we’re doing, and when we can really be in that place of inquiry – asking questions like “How does this feel in my body?” or “What would happen if I just shifted this one small thing?” – we are MUCH more likely to stick with the habits we’re building. All of a sudden, we aren’t just going through the motions. We are active participants. We have skin in the game beyond the end result. We become a change maker simply by showing up fully for the process. Through live practices monthly that infuse movement and learning about a movement principle, monthly on-demand classes that mirror the theme we’re discussing live, and mini workshops added to your library every month, you’ll be able to go deeper into your own movement journey in ways you’d never thought were possible.
This is just the beginning, but I can’t wait to continue on this road towards more discovery, understanding, and – perhaps most radical of all – compassionate movement with you.