Mover & Groover Since Day One.

As a Leo, we are known for our outgoing and confident nature. Well, I did not fail in that department. Mini me was a lot. A lot. You only have to ask any member of my family how they remember me as a child and I guarantee the words ‘put on a show’ would come out.

I wanted to be right there, centre stage, singing and dancing, creating a whole load of noise and trying to force my younger brother into a costume. “Passionate,” Dad would say. I really didn't give two shits about what I was doing and who I was doing it in front of. A free spirit…a nightmare… but a ball of energy. 

It's funny because I don't really know when things started to change? 

At the age of 8, my parents picked me and my brother up and took us from sunny England all the way down to Australia. It was just us. All we had now was each other and a (very big) land of new opportunity. We moved a lot. We met a lot of new people. We travelled to our own backyard and ventured abroad. 

Things changed dramatically. Life was different… duh.

But if there's one thing that's kinda swept under the rug is that being a teenager is hard. The things people say, the way people act and the rhetorics that we hear, are important. 

We are impressionable. We listen and we learn. And thus, we change.

So somewhere in the midst of so many amazing opportunities and experiences, I started to change. I started to worry about what others thought of me. I started to worry about what I looked like. I started to fear making the wrong decision. I started to lose my sparkle. 

During my degree, I studied gendered politics and the intersectionality of patriarchy, globalisation and media. From the gender pay gap, to women's health, to photoshopping, to equal rights - I was in deep. 

All thanks to the power of technology, capitalism, and marketing, many trends and fads began to change our social nature as humans. One being the diet industry. From juice cleanses, keto diets, sugar free challenges and new years exercise resolutions. It's safe to say most households had their go at a ‘health kick’. Ours was not exempt.

It's not until now, sitting here today, that I've started to process the things I used to hear and believe to be true. 

We all have our triggers and certain sayings that we probably don't even realise we say. But words matter. They matter a lot. And when you’re trapped inside of a continual closed circuit of mass media, being fed that the way we are and the things we’re doing are not enough, we start to believe it. For years, we have been told that we must look a certain way in order to be accepted into the ‘attractive’ bracket of society. A superior class of super-humans with powers of salad making and eternal strength. 

Fuck this. 

(Excuse my profanity)

Prior to lockdown, I had dabbled in the intriguing practice of reformer Pilates and started attending my local yoga and Pilates studio. I noticed how exercising daily and moving my body in a way that aligned with rhythm and music, in a positive and upbeat environment, felt good. I noticed that I had a desire to be a little ‘cleaner’ and ‘healthier’ in my food choices in order to enhance the physical benefits of such a movement. And it works. Science does not lie folks. You really can change the way you look. But how much control you have over that walks a fine line. For me, exercise and diet was my only form of control in a world that was continually changing and crumbling around me every single day.  

Eventually, after many hours of online classes and scrolling through low calorie Instagram recipes, I became a qualified Pilates instructor. I moved to the city. Worked for a fancy and booming studio and met some amazing people. I felt like ‘mini me’ up there teaching with my headset microphone and jamming to funky beats. It was fun! My family and friends were so supportive. Coming to my classes, praising me for my hard work and dedication. I was fit as f*ck. Physically at least. Abs for days. To everyone else, I was living the lifestyle of a big city Pilates instructor posing in the mirror. And I guess I was. I'll be the first to admit that I like to use Instagram. But the truth is, you never really know what's happening behind the lens. 

And the story continues… 

I had caught the travel bug well before covid. So, when we were finally allowed to venture into international waters and sniff aeroplane food, it was time to get the hell out of here. But it felt a little different now.

Routine was about to fall off the edge and swept into the Indian Ocean

The truth is, that having no control - is scary for someone who is drowning in the whitewash of mental rules and expectations.

BON VOYAGE 

Someone very special once said to me;

“people will remember you for the person you are, not for what you look like”

This was huge. 

This changed the game.

And to tell you the truth, it has gotten me out of a lot of mental Muay Thai. 

There is so much more to life (and this world) than what you look like or the rules you set yourself

We are so much more. 

YOU just needed to find it.

FEEL GOOD MOVEMENT

I started to realise after a few weeks of disjointed sleep, long and compact bus rides, days by the beach and a few too many Changs… that I needed movement to make me feel good. I craved that natural dose of dopamine (DOP) that made me perk up and feel fresh, see clearer and be happier. It became less about wanting to maintain a certain shape, or the food i consumed and more about what kind of version of myself I wanted to present to the people around me. Who I wanted to be as a human. 

I needed to rediscover what felt good. What made me a better version of me? What made me sparkle? 

I am fortunate enough to be in the most unique and diverse locations of the world. A cultural combustion of colours and culinaries. I am here because I love to travel. I want to see, explore and experience. I want to learn and share. So I need to go and do it.

Travel is movement. Moving from one destination to the next. 

Constantly moving in 10,000 different ways every single day. From logging my (exceptionally overpacked) backpack on and off a bus, walking in 30 degree humidity, up and down a hostel stairwell. To explore my new surroundings and gather my bearings by walking local streets, perusing the markets and heading down to the beach. Then back with a recharged social battery to mingle at the hostel and watch the night turn to day by sweating out my entire body weight at the club. Backpacking is no joke.  

It's safe to say I was moving. 

For me, the best way to see my new surroundings, capture pictures and understand the people, was to walk. Walk and walk and walk. Up and down, in and out and all around. Just walk. Walking became my chance to get up and move my body. Kick start my DOSE and move in a way that makes me feel good.

I could physically move from once sight, cafe, monument or restaurant to indulge in local delicacies, learn about the history and meet smiling faces. Although I would work up a bloody good sweat and acquire some interesting tan lines, my daily exploration to find the best iced coconut coffee or wacky local street art were my best days. 

And for those who haven't been a dirty backpacker, we all know that travelling is hard on the body. Long flights, dreaded jetlag, uncomfortable beds, sleepless nights, raging bellies, and violent hangovers is just the beginning. And for me, the added craziness of being crammed into a bus of at least 25 people, 30 cargo boxes of god knows what and the occasional dozen of chickens on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis - it’s no wonder my body craved more.

And so a new concept unfolded…

Movement had to come back to the basics. 

I had to rediscover what it meant to FEEL GOOD again. And simply being brave enough to open the flood gates, listen to your body, the things its telling you and TAKE ACTION.

From dancing on the furniture, to pumping iron in the gym, to a soothing dip in the ocean. It's time to embrace the liberating truth that movement just has to feel good. 

This is YOUR platform to uncover my story and learn more about this incredible world in which we live and the gazillion things it has the power to teach us.

The world awaits, you’ve just got to be brave enough to find it.