It’s interesting, when motivation is high, external obstacles can be dealt with. The weather’s bad, the schedule is delayed, the money’s gone, your collaborators drop out, and yet, somehow you’re not deterred and you find a way. But when your motivation is low, the slightest annoyance can be enough to stop you in your tracks…

Sometimes it's cold and raining and it's so easy to give in to the inertia justifying "the conditions aren't right. Not today. I'll do it later." But most often, if I show up anyway, I find that even the cold and rain and ice are magical experiences. ⁠

It's not the external conditions that matter (most often) but the internal experience that guides the outcome…

“It’s not what you do but why you do it.”
I believe understanding that statement can help put you into flow and alignment with the life you desire as well.

Do we pay more attention to images of struggle and pain than of ease and enjoyment?
Are struggle and pain actually more valuable than playfulness and joy?
I propose we acknowledge another way….

I’m a little embarrassed to say this… but I pushed too far… Twice.
I gave myself frostbite. A mild case. You may call it “frost nip”. I don’t even think I knew I did it at the time, but a week or two later, the skin peeled off a few of my toes…
How did this happen?
What are the limits?
What I know for sure…
and the process for action that I’m currently developing…

So much in our culture preys on the idea that our bodies and nature are wrong - that they are something to be overcome and conquered. I pray we overcome those teachings and learn to listen to ourselves and nature once again….

How we move can have a big impact on how we experience life. Also, how we experience life (through our thoughts, beliefs, lifestyle, and habits) can have a big impact on how we move.

Because movement and life are so intertwined, I have begun the journey of becoming a life coach in addition to being a movement coach.

“What’s life coaching all about?”, You may ask…. Read on for my thoughts on what it is and why it can help. And feel free to ask any questions or sign up for a session!

Although I do my best to share what I can with the community on social media, part of my message is also this:
Don’t worry about maintaining a presence online if you’re out living your life and being present in the moment.
Don’t worry about how you’re perceived if you’re feeling good in your body with what you’re doing.
Being in alignment with your body and life is not always what culturally looks good but what helps you function best.
Are you breaking social media? Or taking a break from social media?

I often think of learning movement skills like learning a new language. there’s many components and moves that are like the alphabet and vocabulary. Eventually you learn to string them together in a coherent or effective structure. this is often called flow… So should we learn to move through structured schooling or should we learn through “just doing”- copying, experimenting and being in motion?

The catch as I see it is we are not coming to “movement school” from an infant's stage.

A beautiful saying in the Natural Movement movement is “Be Fit to be Useful”. It suggests that our fitness isn’t for its own sake but becomes applicable in the actions we take in the world.
The amazing fact is that with some awareness and practice, the actions we take in the world will also make us more fit! This is an example of “stacking” - where one activity can serve multiple purposes.
I’d love to put this in action with some meetups in the coming months!

I have a proposal for you all!

Would you like to join me for a walk?

What I’m envisioning:

Specifically, I am embarking upon the creation of an E-course that guides us toward better health through walking.

But instead of giving you exercises to do while at home or at a gym, I’d like this to be something you can take with you out on your walk….

Our modern habitats are an evolutionary mismatch with the requirements for our bodies’ health.

We try to offset the dearth of movement in our lives through exercise. Exercise is good and fun and helpful. However, the amount of time spent exercising cannot outweigh the amount of time spent in an environment that encourages sedentarism (an inactive lifestyle). It’s just a numbers game…

But what if we could change the paradigm? What if we could rethink the need for and repurpose the use of our furniture? What if we became aware of the need for more movement and then saw the opportunities for movement all around us?

This was the intention of this instagram challenge: To start a discussion and look at how we may change our home environment to one that encourages health in our bodies…

In this era, when all our routines are up-ended and even some of our livelihoods are in question, what do we do to maintain our wellbeing? Do we deal with stress and uncertainty by binging on food, substances, netflix, sleep? When are those things appropriate for “letting go” and relieving stress or when are those things distractions and/or even self-abuse?
I wanted to provide a space to offer self-care rituals, tips, and routines for our well-being. I was curious what I could offer and what others do to keep centered, their energy balanced, and spirits high. I wanted to bring to the conversation how fitness is only a small part of our self-care (just like “exercise” is only a small part of movement).
Here’s what I explored, learned, left out, and my 5 tips for developing a self-care routine

If we can first see that the set-up of society may itself be sick, I think that’s a profound first step toward finding true solutions?

But what then?

I’m writing at the time of social distancing during the Corona Virus epidemic, and like many, I’m finding myself at home, without my regular work schedule, and at first I started to scramble to recreate my usual schedule with even extra appointments and classes online. The process of that felt overwhelming and brought up lots of anxiety.

Then I remembered a line from a poem by David Whyte: “This world was made to be free in…”

I’d like to discuss my particular purpose for teaching alignment and movement skills instead of leading an exercise routine whose purpose is to get you sweaty and sore.

I’d like to be part of the movement to change the paradigm of our purpose for going to classes.

Some argue to “just get people moving” rather than focus on alignment because life doesn’t happen in a controlled environment, and if you only teach fixed positions and practice moving in a static way, then it doesn’t apply to the needs of the real world.
And here is where the definition and use of the term alignment may have gotten confused…

Sometimes, the principles of alignment seem somewhat unacknowledged and reserved for exercise specialists.

I understand that if the choice is move and enjoy moving, or get bogged down in academic discussions of movement but end up not moving at all, well, any kind of movement is better than no movement for our health.

However, here (and in the next few posts) is my attempt to argue in favor of including alignment teaching for every-body…