For years I measured progress in reps, sets, and personal bests. Stronger. Faster. More flexible. The goalposts kept moving, and I kept chasing them.
Then my body forced me to stop.
It wasn’t dramatic — no snap, no fall. Just a persistent ache in my lower back that wouldn’t let go. The kind that makes you negotiate with yourself every morning: maybe if I just modify this, skip that, push through.
But pushing through was exactly the problem.
When I finally paused long enough to listen, I realised something uncomfortable: I had been treating my body like a project to optimise rather than a home to inhabit. Every session was about output. Rarely about presence.
The shift didn’t happen overnight. It started with one simple question at the beginning of each session: what does my body actually need today? Not what does my programme say. Not what Instagram suggests. What does THIS body, on THIS day, need?
Some days, that meant an intense Pilates reformer session. Other days, it meant 20 minutes of gentle stretching and breathwork on the mat. Both were equally valid. Both were progress.
I’ve carried this into how I work with my clients now. Before we move, we check in. Not just physically — emotionally, energetically. Because your body doesn’t exist in isolation from your life. The stress of a difficult week lives in your shoulders. The joy of a great weekend shows up in your movement quality.
This isn’t about lowering the bar. It’s about removing the bar entirely and replacing it with awareness. The results, ironically, have been better than anything I achieved when I was grinding.
Your body is not a machine to be optimised. It’s an ecosystem to be understood.
