I’m killing the dream of a full time fitness career today on The Work IN. Working full time as a fitness instructor or coach and making a living is not realistic.  At least not the way we traditionally think of full time in other careers. But there are ways to make your wellness work work for you no matter what kind of fit pro you are.

Let’s face it, the fitness and wellness industry attracts all kinds of people and there are all kinds of ways to succeed in it. The assumption is that people who work in wellness, from instructors and trainers to studio and gym owners, are well. That these folks have already done their work and they are grounded, compassionate entrepreneurs who have their ego in check and the best interest of their students and employees at heart.  Sadly that isn’t always the case. In fact I would suggest that many of us are in the wellness and fitness community because while that’s who we are striving to be, we aren’t there yet and we know it. Without strong and grounded mentors and collaborators who are willing to tell the truth about this industry we can spend a lot of time floundering around trying to be something and someone we are not. To fit the woo woo wellness cookie cutter insisting we want to help others yet refusing to help ourselves first. The truth is we can’t help anyone if we aren’t in business, we can’t stay in business if we don’t get paid, and we can’t get paid if we don’t give people results beyond the woo woo wackadoodle world of wellness. Our work IN today is a look at how we as fit pros can find a balanced approach to the business of the body by grounding our business in the body.

What makes trauma release yoga different from every other kind of yoga?

They say comparison is the thief of joy but it can also be an excellent guide post. Today we’re going to take a deep dive into the differences between traditional yoga and trauma release yoga. Our work IN today will hopefully empower you on your own real world resilience journey.

I want to start by saying I believe literally everything we do can be approached from a yogic perspective. We don’t have to be on a mat to practice yoga but most people even today believe that yoga is only stretching. Our challenge as instructors is to hide our eye rolls, and refrain from saying something cryptic  like “You know nothing, John Snow” and simply lead by example. Hopefully with a little grace. 

Grief and stress are part of the human condition. We don’t need to live very long before we experience either one. What’s interesting is the recovery process for each can be remarkably similar. Chronic long term stress can feel remarkably like grief. Our Work IN today is a look at how we can use the 5 stages of grief as a framework to better understand and conquer chronic stress for long term resilience.

In my own trauma release process using trauma release exercise there was a lot of grief that came out. It was the strangest sensation to feel sadness in my bones.