Most of the People I Work With Are Relearning Something
How to return to exercise when life has changed the body you're working with, and why the old comparisons don't help
If you've done things one way for a long time, and then life shifts — an injury, a surgery, a new diagnosis, thirty years at a desk finally catching up, a pregnancy, a season that didn't leave room for movement at all — you suddenly have to pay attention to how you move and what choices to make for your body and mind every time you decide to exercise.
It might be the first time in your life you've had to think about movement this closely.
I think of one client: a corporate lawyer for thirty years, freshly retired, deconditioned from decades of sitting, who wanted to be strong enough for the Alaska cruise she'd been planning to celebrate. We started exactly where she was, and let that inform what she'd actually do.
The first phase of a return to exercise looks the same no matter what got you there, a cruise to train for, a diagnosis, or a season that ran you ragged. Your mind might reach for old comparisons: I used to run six miles without blinking. I used to climb for hours.
That's not the body you're working with today. What matters is what's actually happening right now, the muscles around your hips, knees, and ankles getting stronger with each squat, and noticing, Oh, that squat actually felt strong! Nothing went wrong.
This is what's true for you today, and how you move is responding to this knowledge!
So let's start here. What can you actually do right now? What do you want, what are your goals? What's today's capacity, and what does your normal weekly schedule actually look like?
Once that's clear, the work begins and the skills start to develop. Exercise stops being this loaded thing to dread or negotiate with. No more what exercise should I do today? No more ugh, I have a late meeting again, I guess I'm skipping it. And no more feeling bad about low energy. Your attention goes instead to what you're actually doing right now, the experience, how it feels, and the skills you're getting more confident with every time you show up.
There's always something you CAN do that moves you closer, to a goal, to more strength, to actually enjoying the process. Helping people find this is some of the most rewarding work I do.
If life has shifted and it's time to relearn how to approach strength-building, exercise, even yoga, reach out. I offer 1:1 private therapeutic yoga and strength sessions, with workshops and online programs offered throughout the year.