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Why hello end of August, nice to meet you. Also, anyone else questioning where 2021 is going!?

I wanted to extend my apologies for being MIA for the last couple months. It was a bit harder than I imagined jumping back to my routine here in ATX after spending 3 weeks with my family in Pennsylvania as my mom was recovering from breast cancer. I kinda lost my ‘oomph’, ya know? It felt so refreshing being surrounded by my entire family for three weeks, I don’t even know how i’ve already been back two months! Some days it feels like I was just there and others it feels like it’s been forever! Regardless, it’s been an adjustment.

AND it’s been a hot minute since I’ve reached out and I just wanted to let you know, I MISS Y’ALL! 🙂 Once I got back I was doing my best to pour all my energy back into my clients, creating, learning, and programming that I just didn’t have a lot of energy to put in other places. But, i’m here, i’m owning it, i’m present, and I am pumped to share some fun updates for you!

It has been a wild ride of a summer for my family but I am SO excited to update everyone that my mom has been RELEASED from her doctor to begin resuming her life again. For 8 weeks post surgery she was tied down to the couch and babysat by myself and other family to assure she was following docs orders. Some days she listened better than others, but let’s be honest if you are told you can’t even cook your own meals or pour your own drinks, you’d likely go a bit stir crazy too. She has a journey ahead of her mentally and physically, but it is such a breath of fresh air knowing she is cancer free and can begin life again.

I wanted to use my mom (sorry mom) as a PERFECT example of why intuitively moving your body is so incredibly important for MORE than weight loss and aesthetics. My mom has been active her whole life, but she was also in a car accident in her early 20’s that debilitated her body and has left her feeling lifelong effects and a much more limited range of movement that she can do. But one thing she loves more than anything is walking. It’s a daily occurrence in her life, whether it is the elliptical or outside, you will always find her walking at some point during her day. She wanted to strengthen her muscles the best she could with her arthritis limitations so I wrote her movements she can do with lighter weights to strengthen her joints and has loved incorporating those into her daily routine as well. All of this to say, both of her surgeons expressed that her strength and tenacity during surgery and recovery was astounding due to her health in moving her body.

Leading up to surgery, my mom did what every other human would do, added herself to different facebook groups to gather advice from other women who have experience the same type of surgery. Little did she know, much of what she was about to read was devastating stories of how some women’s bodies handled surgery and how their recovery was quadrupled what they were initially told. This led to my mom spiraling down a rabbit hole of fear that the same thing would happen to her. After convincing her to leave the pages, she began using this as fuel to continue moving her body and fight cancer back.

I want to use this story to ENCOURAGE you. My hope is that you are not going through cancer or some illness that has set you back, but I want you to know what movement can do for you. EXERCISE GETS A BAD RAP because our society has turned it into something that needs to be done to = weight loss, which = beauty, which = heath. WRONG, wrong, wrong!!! Exercise actually DOESN’T guarantee weight loss, weight loss DOES NOT define beauty, and thin does NOT mean healthy. My mom is extremely small and STILL GOT CANCER. Exercise is MORE than any of those things. It helped my mom recover quicker from a serious surgery, it enabled her to MOVE her body DURING recovery, it boosted her immune system FOR surgery, it helped her mental health when all she could do was walk for 8 weeks. Y’all she couldn’t even use her hands. Literally during our walks, she would have to put her hands in her pockets because she couldn’t use them, but she knew if she didn’t move, she would be mentally NOT okay and when your mental health is out of align, everything else is too.

Movement is medicine is a controversial topic for many of those in the HAES, Intuitive Movement, Body Positive World, one in which I am in tune with and generally supportive of. However, much like anything else it can be taken too far, and I stand strong in my belief that movement IS medicine. My mom is a #1 example.

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MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE:

& why I believe it

Now, clearly just because you move does not mean you will never experience depression or a health condition. It doesn’t mean you will NEVER get inflammation or in my families case it does not make you bullet proof from cancer. Heck we lost my sister to cancer and my mom treats her body like a temple and she still got cancer. However I can promise you, it DOES help reduce those risks and it most certainly boosts recovery and mental clarity.

FIND MOVEMENT THAT WORKS FOR YOU

There is not right or wrong when it comes to how you exercise. THAT is where diet culture is wrong. You will hear too much cardio is bad for you, yoga doesn’t count, lifting weights will make you bulky, all of which statements can easily be debunked but that is not the point here. The point is finding movement that brings you joy. When you find that, everything else just falls in place.

I leave you with this. I witnessed my mom be able to get off the couch using only her core because she’s been moving and strengthening it, otherwise she would have needed help as she was not allowed to push or pull using her upper body. I witnessed her legs move her through walks every single day to get up and boost her mood for the day, which she likely would not have had the energy to do had she not been moving prior to surgery. And she was EXCITED to do it because it was movement she enjoyed doing and movement she KNEW would make her feel more energized, joyful, and ultimately lead to a healthy recovery and life.

I challenge you to love on your body, build yourself up today by finding movement that brings you JOY. That is what intuitive movement is all about.

Thank you for you continued love and support to my family and I on this journey. Thank you for your patience with me as I have been MIA. and most importantly, let me know in the comments how you joyfully move your body! 🙂

Love you, mean it

XX, Trainer Jen