Power Shift

I am in a funny field.  As much as I love my job, I sometimes deeply dislike my industry.  There are times when I feel that the fitness industry caters to the worst in human nature:  vanity, pride, pretense, discrimination and the like.  That is not what I want to do.

I want to empower people.

For some people, empowerment works out to a newfound ability to do fun things without pain.  Maybe that’s as simple as being able to kneel down to garden or as complicated as finishing a first or fifth or eighth marathon.  For others, learning to lift heavy objects in the literal sense teaches them to lift the heavy metaphorical objects off their own psyches; I believe in self-rescuing princesses.  Sometimes empowerment does involve losing weight, but I prefer to focus on how we feel (stronger, lighter, more energetic) than how we look.

In practice, what this means is that my studio is a place where it is okay to sweat and look messy and to wear whatever is comfortable.  We celebrate victories of all kinds.  When things are tough, we breathe through them.  We take the time we need to stretch and recover.

Our material culture will constantly point out our flaws.  Many of us firmly believe that we will never be enough.  Let’s fight the power and be our most awesome selves instead.