Moving Through Healing

The fitness industry is full of well-intentioned, dedicated individuals who are all wanting to make a positive difference in the lives of their participants.

Unfortunately, it is also the victim of insiduous predatory tactics that ripen the stage for shame, stigma, stereotyping and other social harms that are standing in the way of improving health outcomes for the general population.

In Canada, approximately 16% of people are currently meeting the recommended daily minimums for physical activity. This means that, despite being inundated with fitness culture, 84% of Canadians are still struggling to "find their fit" within it.

And yet, despite continously falling numbers, the way we advertise and promote physical fitness has remained largely unchanged in decades. We continue to push narratives that are not evidenced based and have been clinically proven to discourage people from iniating new fitness regimes.

It is time for us to take a long, deep look at how we are promoting fitness and ask ourselves if our message and our methods are contributing to the growing sedentarism crisis and to start getting curious about how we can meaningful shift the dialogue to promote a more inclusive, wholistic perspective of health.

Approximately 3 out of 4 Canadians report living with moderate to extreme levels of stress! This stress epidemic is wrecking havoc on our mental and physical health, pushing our ability to cope and interfering with our ability to live full and rich lives.

Physical activity and exercise can be excellent ways to cope with high levels of chronic stress, but we must remember that exercise *is* a form of stress and that the body has a difficult time recognizing the difference between "good" stress and "bad" stress.

This means that, for most of us, we need to be mindful about how we engage in exercise in order to make sure that we are also adequately resting our body.

This is why a Whole Person, Trauma Informed strategy is so for fitness professionals. By learning to understand the psychological and social context of their clients, they will be better able to meet their physical needs safely and effectivey!