Month: July 2020

Intuitive Movement & The 5 Minute Breakout

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I’m a mover.


For as long as I can remember, I’ve been deeply connected with my body.
As a farm girl who grew up in the ‘80s (no internet!) and started dancing at 6 years old, moving my body consistently was a way of life from the beginning.

Along came my teens and 20’s and an internal narrative/external feedback of “the gym is where you get skinny” and alas I spent a decade or two doing hundreds of hours of “I Should” workouts; “I should be doing this hour of cardio” “I should be running 3 days a week”…


Along with crows feet and increased self assurance, my 30’s have been a time of learning intuitive eating and intuitive moving.


With both moving and eating, I’m releasing the attachment to “Should’s” and developing an internal check in; “what does my body & spirit need right now?”


Some questions I ask myself when evaluating how/if I am going to move:


•what’s your energy level/how well rested are you feeling?


•how have you moved so far today? this week?

•what’s your “why” today?

This last one is interesting, and perhaps most important on the list. If, after careful observation, my ‘primary “why” is because I “should”, often I choose to move in ways I don’t consider exercise. I take a mellow walk, I work in the garden, I clean the house, I stretch or roll a little. Or I make the choice not to move, without guilt, without regret.


However, I am a mover.

My inertia is to stay in motion. The choice to idle is rarely longlasting for me.

If you need a little gentle accelleration, I’ve got you!

I’m creating a library of 5 Minute Cardio Interval Breakouts (instead of Workouts, get it? You get a break from work!) for my YouTube Channel.

Each Breakout is 5 minutes designed to get your heart rate up a bit, move you in a variety of ways, and give options for how high or low intensity you want to move. I am not using any equipment for these and I am intentionally not doing any exercises on the hands or even down on the floor because I know that can be limiting to some people.

My intention is accessible, you don’t need a lot of space or time to do these Breakouts, just the answer from your body “yes, I want to move”.

(Or even, “meh, I’m not totally against moving, let’s give it a try and check in again”…an object in motion…)

Here’s the latest Breakout!

I would love your feedback on it; the level of challenge, the variety of movement, etc.

Happy moving!

P.S. I am still in the running for Hers Magazine’s Ms. Health & Fitness 2020 (!!!!) and would so appreciate your support by taking 15 seconds to vote for me each day through August.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

  • You will have to connect to a valid FaceBook page to vote.
  • Voting is free and you can vote ONCE A DAY.
  • Voting ends August 6th for round two.
  • If inclined, I would be so grateful for ‘shares’ of this post or my profile page for the contest.

There are several rounds to the voting process, so daily votes make a HUGE difference, thank you in advance!!!

Ms. Health and Fitness

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I am doing a thing.

It’s silly and a long shot and scary but here it is; I am competing to be Muscle and Fitness Hers magazine’s Ms. Health and Fitness 2020.

First, the facts and logistics.

Hers magazine is hosting this online contest that is a based off of public voting through FaceBook and a panel of judges.

The grand prize is $20,000 and a magazine cover/spread.

The first round of voting opened Monday and closes next Thursday, July 30th.

At this moment, I am 14th in my group.

After weeks of consideration, self-doubt, and hestiation, I have decided to go for it and I would absolutely love your support.

The Considerations:

The fitness industry tends to focus on stats (weight, BMI, calorie counts, macro nutrients, reps, minutes of cardio, heart rate, and on and on and on) over wholistic health and welness, over graceful fitness.

Can I, in good conscious, feed this overfed beast?

In my heart, I keep coming back to yes.

I can be the nurishing whole food infusion into the plathora of fast food.

I can retain my ethos of food and exercise as pleasure and life-force over reward/punishment.

I can enter a physical “fitness” competition and stay grounded in the mission to de-emphasize appearance and emphasize connection with our internal sense of whole-self and welness.

The Self-Doubt and Hesitation:

I won’t win. It’s embarressing to think I possibly could. What am I thinking trying to compete with these ‘other women’ who live in the gym and eat/drink/sleep to be fit and look like it?

This type of thought process is exactly why I am going for it, I want to face that self-doubt, comparison, and insecurity, along with the scariness of telling people that I am competing in a fitness competition (omg, what will people think? how big will they roll their eyes? how conceited will they think I am?).

Screw it. I am almost 40 years old. I do eat/drink/sleep to be fit and look like it, I do it through gardening, riding my mountain bike, meditating, continuing to learn what intuitive eating means to me each day, by living gracefulfitness.

If you’d like to help support me in this journey,

VOTE HERE

  • You will have to connect to a valid FaceBook page to vote.
  • Voting is free and you can vote ONCE A DAY.
  • Voting ends July 30th for round one.
  • If inclined, I would be so grateful for ‘shares’ of this post or my profile page for the contest.

Ultimately, my mission is to create a community of support and to provide knowledge on living a life of gracefulfitness. This body of ours may just be a ‘meat suit’ as Kathryn Budig so lovingly refers to it, but it’s also our home and don’t we all want to be happy, safe, healthy, and cozy in that home?