The Live Good, FEel Good Method
Originally Written on June 18 2021
The Live Good, Feel Good Method is a compilation of the many modalities, techniques, tools, theories and ways of life that I have experienced over the course of my own Feel Good Journey. Over the years of my feel good journey, I have tried new things, learned new ways of thinking and found what has worked and what has not. At the same time, I was going through my professional journey as well. I became an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher, Doctor of Physical Therapy and 300 hour Registered Yoga Teacher. I learned from personal and professional experience at the same time and I came up with some core values, pillars and tenets. Those values and tenets are what I bring to you as The Live Good, Feel Good Method.
What I believe..
I believe that every single person deserves to feel good. I believe that every person has a story and that story deserves to be heard. When people tell their stories, when they are truly heard, they get better healthcare. This is how healthcare goes from focusing on illness to focusing on wellness.
I believe in the ability of the human body to heal. When given the right tools, the body can do miraculous things when fueled properly, rested well and moved daily, the body can flourish and heal itself. The problem isn't that there is something WRONG with your body. The problem is our modern lifestyle doesn't support our beautiful bodies and their intricate nervous system.
I believe that you know your body better than anyone else. Don't let any doctor, professional, family member or friend tell you otherwise. You know what is best for you. Deep down, you know what your body and mind needs. I truly believe that my role in your feel good journey is to be your guide, your roadmap. You are at the helm, I am here to help you get there.
I believe in a new way of life that embraces slow living and a cylical life. If the past year has taught me anything, it has taught me to slow down, to tune in and to embrace the present. When the world stopped in March of 2020, so much bad happened but so did so much good. Slow living is how we survive AND thrive. Slow living is how we save the planet and save ourselves. It is how we prevent burnout and how we get to know ourselves on a deeper level. Cyclical living is an extension of this. Just as the natural world has periods of growth and period of rest, so do we.
I believe that Mother nature is at the heart of it all. I believe in this so wholeheartedly that it is a core value of my business. Mother Nature can heal whether it be through spending time outdoors, gardening, herbal medicine, plant medicine or just plain old sunshine. My belief in Mother Nature goes hand in hand with my belief in cyclical living. Tuning into the cycles of Mother Nature can help us serve our body better. It can help us find a natural rhythm in our lives and tune better into the ebbs and flows of life.
I believe that our body and minds are intertwined in such a way that we cannot fully fathom right now. Our physical bodies and mental bodies are not separate-- they are one. What we think and what we feel is reflected back in the discomforts, tensions and patterns of our physical body. Our way of treating our vessel, our human form, plays a role in how we feel mentally and emotionally. You cannot treat or access one without access to the other. A true healer knows this.
I believe in the energetics of movement and the world around me. That by moving our physical body we can create change in our body AND our mind. I believe that we can sense the energy of a room, a situation and a person within our physical body and that we can cultivate an awareness of this. Everything is energy and energy can be harnessed.
I believe that there is a new dream to be dreamed and I am letting my mind wander in what that could be for me and the world around me. You with me?
The Five Pillars of the Live Good, Feel Good Method
I wrote a previous post on this when I first started diving deeper into my business a little over a year ago and you can find that here. I almost took it down after I wrote this updated version but it’s important to me that you understand the evolution of Live Good, Feel Good. I am proud that I have evolved and changed and let new ideas take hold. In this past year (2020-2021), I have learned so much about myself, about what it means to own a business and about what it really means to feel good. I always like to say, I reserve the right to change my mind. I WILL continue to learn new things and I WILL continue to grow and these pillars are subject to change as I do.
The 5 Pillars of The Live Good, Feel Good Method:
1. Movement is Medicine:
2. Connection to Mother Nature
3. Nourish The Nervous System
4. Mind Body Connection
5. Body, Breath And Soul as One
Movement as Medicine
I believe that movement IS medicine. I also believe that this is a really, really hard place for a lot of people to arrive. Personally, I punished myself with movement for years. I forced myself to do things I hated so I could feel better about a body I hated or didn’t trust. It was only when movement was taken away from me completely, that I truly realized the role a healthy relationship with movement played in my life.
When you move well, you feel good. When you feel good, you move well. The two fuel each other. The problem is nowadays, there are so many “right” ways to move your body. Every other day there is a new method to feel and look your best and it is downright confusing to figure out what works for YOU.
I am on a mission to help woman find movement that fuels them, energizes them and inspires them. I am on a mission to help women find movement that makes them feel strong, capable and empowered. I recognize that movement, exercise and mobility needs are different for every single women I work with and I love that.
I believe that in the pursuit of a movement practice that fuels you, it check the following boxes:
It makes you feel strong
It helps you create and maintain mobile joints and muscles
It makes you feel good about yourself
It excites you (maybe not everyday but more often than not)
It connects you back into your body
Movement doesn’t need to be complicated. It doesn’t need to be a punishment. It doesn’t need to be something you HATE. Movement is something that makes you feel good. And that special recipe is unique to you.
Some of the movement modalities I love to work with are: weight lifting, yoga(all types), hiking, walking, running, boxing, pilates, somatics, myofascial release, mobility and stretching among many more. I believe in variety and consistency when it comes to movement. It’s an integral part of the feel good journey and I want to help you find your unique practice.
Connection to Mother Nature
As I mentioned earlier, I believe in the Healing power of Mother Nature. From the food we eat to the plants in my home, from the grounding benefits of dirt to the energetic benefits of a forest. It all plays a role in my true vision of wellness and the greater good of our world.
Too many of us are disconnected from the world around us leading not only to harm to our Mother Earth but harm to our bodies. Connecting to your physical earth can help us connect deeper to our innate nature and our inner power. When it comes to healing in Mother Nature, it can be found through food, sunshine, getting your hands dirty, gardening, herbal medicine, forest bathing and so much more.
Each person's connection to nature is different. Each person is inspired by different things and finds comfort in different ways. I help YOU find a way to connect with Mother Nature that feels intuitive to your body and mind.
My belief in Mother Nature also goes hand in hand with my belief in cyclical living. Cyclical living is multifaceted. It encompasses tuning into the cycles of Mother Nature, the cycles of the seasons, the moon cycles and a women’s menstrual cycle. We are cyclical human beings being forced to be in a constant state of production and creation. Just like the natural world ebbs and flows, so do we. We have periods of rest, hibernation and restoration, we have periods of growth, beginnings and building and we have periods of blooming and creation. Tuning into the cycles of Mother Nature can help us serve our body better. It can help us find a natural rhythm in our lives and tune better into the ebbs and flows of life. Finding the rhythm of life can help prevent burn out, improve flow and nourish the nervous system.
Nourish The Nervous System
As one of my self appointed mentors, The Movement Maestro says, “The Nervous System is Queen.” This is an integral part of understanding the healing journey and understanding how to heal the body from pain, illness and dis-ease. The Nervous System rules the roost.
Here is the thing that most people don’t know: all your nervous system wants is for you to feel SAFE and to STAY ALIVE. Other than that, it doesn’t really care if you are happy or successful in your career. At the end of the day, it wants to be alive.
To that end, it will compensate and adjust to life, work and stress in order to keep you alive. It will keep doing this until it no longer can compensate and usually that is when we experience pain, discomfort, illness and disease.
The problem with our modern world is stress comes at us from all angles: personal life, relationship, politics, social issues, world health issues, financial struggles, career, family and community. There is a plethora of ways we can be bombarded by stress and our nervous system feels it all.
The FIRST thing I do when I work with a client is assess the state of their nervous system and address it. You cannot fully heal if your nervous system is in survival mode. By nourishing your nervous system, you are beginning the healing process on a deeper level than ever before and setting yourself up for long term health and wellness instead of short term gain.
Your Nervous System is Queen, treat her like it.
Mind Body Connection
Our bodies and minds are more interconnected than most people give them credit for. For so long, the modern medical community has specialized. It has taken a deep dive into studying each structure in the human body separately and becoming and expert. That served us and helped us as a global community make giant leaps in medicine and surgery. But now is the time to bring it back to the human body and mind as a whole. Now is the time to integrate all the systems and to understand and HONOR how they interact with and effect each other. We are not a series of separate systems working side by side. We are a unit working together to live well and feel good.
To that extent, they way we think is not separate from the way we feel and vice versa.. What we think and what we feel is reflected back in the discomforts, tensions and patterns of our physical body. Our way of treating our vessel, our human form, plays a role in how we feel mentally and emotionally. You cannot treat or access one without access to the other.
When it comes to healing, the mind and the body both need to be addressed. This can be access through mindful movement, mindfulness, gratitude practices, mindset work, and meditation. At Live Good, Feel Good we take a look at ALL aspects of wellness and take a whole mind-body approach to health and healing.
Body, Breath and Soul as One
The last piece of the Live Good, Feel Good pillar is a bit more on the side of woo woo. It’s about the connection to breath, energy and something greater than yourself.
Everything in this world is made of energy. There is energy created by your body, by your breath, by your movement and by your being. There is energy in the natural world, the spiritual world and the community as a collective. Energy can be felt and exchanged
I believe that the energy of the room around us, the people around us and the environment we are in plays a role in our healing capabilities. Our body feels what I mind not be able to see. Addressing the energy of the space and the energetics of your body is important on the feel good journey.
On top of that, Breath is also energy and it moves energy. Breath fuels us and connects us to deeper states of mindfulness, meditation and relaxation. Breath nourishes the nervous system and nourishes the system as a whole. It can be a portal to other worlds and other states. Breath and breathwork fuel performance AND recovery. It’s integral to our wellness.
Energy connects it all.
Thank you for sticking around to the end.
If you made it this far, thank you. Truly, deeply, thank you. Taking the time out of your day to read my ramblings, my beliefs and my core values means more to me than you could every imagine. I am so grateful to each and every one of you here on this journey with me. I have learned so much from you and with you and for that I am ever grateful.
This pillars of Live Good, Feel Good have not always come about easily but they have come through great learning, healing and connection. I look forward to sharing more with you.