Pacific Strength

We know that if we have a goal, we have to start somewhere. I’m a ‘start small’ person. Do one new thing, change one thing, feel accomplished, & then add more. For some people, that’s too slow. It doesn’t feel like they’re doing anything. They need to dive in & change everything to make the commitment. Either way could work. The part we often forget is the part where we remember why we wanted to make the change & find joy in the things we’re doing, big or small, to get us to our goal. There are so many different…

I tend to reflect quite a bit on birthdays. Most years, I get a bit of the “birthday blues”.  I get that feeling that I’m not doing “enough” for my age, I am not where I wanted to be at this age, not accomplishing what I expected. This year was different. In a very good way. I reflected on how far I’ve come and how I didn’t expect to be where I am today. I thought I’d share my thoughts with you and hope they resonate. A little background: I was diagnosed with a rare cancer at 16. I didn’t…

I love/hate being a beginner. I love learning. I ❤️ starting from scratch. I ❤️ seeing progress. I hate not being good at something. I really hate when other people are better than I am. Even more so when it’s a physical skill. #ego 🎾 Starting tennis lessons was sure to be an exhilarating and humbling experience. I have never been a hand-eye sport kind of gal, but my son started taking lessons when he turned 6 and by the time he was six-and-a-half, he had surpassed anything I could do on the court. When I closed the gym, one of…

I am excited to announce the start of my *Find Your Strength* Book Club. Starting this book club has been on my mind for some time now. I love teaching, training, and coaching. I believe in the methods I use and I know that I can help people. If you’re willing to put in the physical work, I can help you.  I also know that it’s not that simple & have cultivated a culture that fosters positive change. When you come see me, there’s a specific language used: teacher/coach, student (not client), training (not workout), focus on what you can…

Thoughts on a tough year: Through the pandemic, I have followed the teachings of my dear friend & ashtanga instructor Diana @pacificashtanga, a small business owner who was challenged by this year & has shifted beautifully. She offers donation-based weekly teachings, low-cost workshops, & has been a constant light in a year filled with darkness. In the self-study workshops, we discussed how to handle dark & difficult things. Whether the worry, the fear, the hard time is real, imagined, or inflated, she encouraged us to hold that difficult thing in one hand. Sit with it, experience it, feel it. Then, in…

One of the many reasons I love Marilyn. I was talking to her a couple months ago while we were on a walk and I asked her how she was doing. She said, “Well, what do you mean?”. She wasn’t sure what I was asking because we’d been chatting for a while, discussing what we’ve been up to. So I asked the more pointed question, “How have you been doing emotionally? Have you been getting depressed? I know how much you like to travel. You must be missing your family. I know how much you enjoy coming to the gym…

We get on board with the idea when it comes to many things, but what about fitness? So many people hate “working out”, yet they do it as a means to an end: lose weight, be able to eat more, look a certain way, etc. They dread the WOD, the ride, the run, the class, but they suffer through it. Day. After. Day. My unsolicited advice? Don’t do anything you hate. Honestly. That goes for my students too! If you hate kettlebells or my programing (or my personality?)… if you dread coming for any reason: Don’t. Come. #srsly There are…

I’ve been thinking about luck. And it’s a funny thing. It’s been said that you make your own luck. Thomas Jefferson said, “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” Those may be true in certain circumstances, but then there’s just dumb luck. A little piece of my story: At 16, I had hernia surgery, but they found a golf ball-sized tumor instead of a hernia. The surgeon removed it and discovered it was a rare cancer: synovial sarcoma. At the time, the protocol for synovial sarcoma was to NOT remove it but leave…

Are you exhausted after every trip to the gym? Does every “workout” hurt? Have you ever asked why? The common misconception is that it needs to be this way to get results. If you’ve been away from the gym for a while, it may feel like that for the first 2-4 weeks. But if you’ve been training, your body should be getting better at what you’re doing. The results don’t come from “doing more” and “faster” and “killing yourself” in the gym, the results come from 🤓learning more about the movements, 🤔 doing the things that are right for you,…