Learning to bring exercise into your life isn’t just about the perfect program and training to get in the best shape of your life.

The reason why so many do not stick to exercising and do not get results is because they do not bring joy into the movement practices or fitness programs. They do fitness simply because it is the quickest way to get results.

You would be astonished how easy it is to get into shape when you stop listening to society’s quick fixes, best results for sure programs and choose something you enjoy.

It will help you stop comparing yourself to others or even your old self.

As a personal trainer and yoga teacher my greatest results have come from bringing joy back into movement. Creating a feel, fitness from the inside.

When you take away shame, expectations and a look you get left with what really matters, feeling good.  When you feel good you want to keep going, and when you keep going you start seeing results, and when you start seeing results you get more motivation to achieve and before you know it your goals are accomplished.

The truth is that we are never quite as stuck as we might think we are and so many of us feel stuck with our fitness and health especially our mental health these days. However, even if we can’t change our outer circumstances, we can always change our perspectives (bring the joy back in) and our inner worlds. If we can change our thoughts, we can change our lives.The best way to change our thoughts is to bring joy back into the things we want to improve or accomplish or do. When we become aware of our pain and accept responsibility for making our own changes, without judgement, blame or comparing ourselves to anyone else, this sets us on the journey to freedom and wholeness and the best way to do that is to find something we enjoy.

Freedom and achieving goals is not about cages or having wings or even non-attachment. Freedom is about being fully devoted to your soul and madly living its desires with love, kindness and compassion as is achieving our goals because that feels freeing to us too – if only for a moment. It’s about leaning into not knowing but feeling good. It’s about letting the joy back in.

You were born to dance to the beat of your heart, to roam without cages, with the innocence of a child and the free spirit of untamed horses. I wish you a million ways of letting the joy back in, so that you laugh without stopping, live with abandon and love like that is all there is. Stay wild, my wild, wild child!

When I hit my lowest point, I reconnected with my inner child by finding something to work on that would make me excited. Who knew that learning handstands could change lives? I guess because I was upside down a lot of the time, my frown turned into a natural smile.  As well as practising handstands and yoga, I read books that touched my heart, soul and mind.  I gave myself permission to dress up nice and take myself out somewhere special – just because.  I danced and let my inner child shine.

Some days I still get lonely, sad and filled with regrets, but I now know that connecting with my breath, looking for positives and goofy dancing help a lot. I am learning to do things for me and have rebuilt my home with the things I like but which might not be to everybody else’s taste.  Colours that calm me down, a plan to follow when things turn dark. A few people I try to treat right, even though I don’t always succeed despite my best intentions.

I’m learning. I’m learning to make things awesome for myself. I’m learning every day that I save myself. And most importantly, that this is a life-long work in progress.

For me, movement is freedom: the more I move, the freer I feel internally and externally. It’s as though I come home to myself and my body, and move away from attachments and expectations that do not serve me. Like anyone else, I get affected by the labels, numbers, judgements and expectations. However, movement allows me to become self-aware again and to remember that all we really need to be happy, peaceful or loving is to be who we are right here and now fully, wholly and without apology.

Today I simply dance, not because of any music or results or goals but because I have found the beat of my own heart and the rhythm of my life within myself and that is how I do my fitness too. By saying yes to being ourselves unapologetically, we can create a life of full joy and happiness and in turn creating our real wealth our health.

I ask you what makes your soul sing?

Why? Because this is question I ask myself on the days I do not feel like moving and doing my fitness and what I asked myself 9 years ago when I hit rock bottom and needed to regain my fitness after having my daughter and my mental health was suffering along with my physical health.  I try to create the time to move and to play, to do whatever fills my heart with happiness. If time was and is short supply, I simplify my life by revisiting my priorities, and chose to dedicate myself to me. I chose to let go of others’ and my own expectations, and of striving for perfection. It is in doing things like seeking out your friends and going for a walk, going outside and soaking in the sun as you go for a jog. If rain falls, dance in the droplets to the beat of your own drum. Enjoy the feeling on your skin. The appearance of things varies according to our emotions: we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.

So over the last 9 years I learnt that fitness wasn’t what society told us it was looking good, it was about celebrating this wonderful life, and allowing it to celebrate the magic of you and bring joy back into your movement to make health and fitness achievable and in turn our life better.  9 years ago I never would have thought I would be doing what I am doing today but yet here I am thanks to bringing the joy back in and fitness from the inside.

I have spent so much of my time giving away tutorials, fitness workouts and yoga flows because I have also realised that our real wealth, our health is one of the greatest gifts to society and leaves the best footprints in the sands for a better world and our future generation.  I started my youtube page not from perfection like many claim but when I was depressed and anxious and was working on regaining my fitness after my daughter. I personally believe it is more motivating to others to be on a journey together and deal with real human issues together than it is to see a perfect person have it all together.

For me personally it is demotivating to see the end results, the perfect body or the most happy person when I am feeling low. It is much more motivating to see a person that has the ups and downs like me. So 9 years ago I started at my lowest point sharing my fitness journey and also the beginning of my yoga journey when handstands and splits seemed impossible.

Now you may see me doing some advanced moves but at the end of the day I am still always just working from the same place you are from the inside, working on my mental health to stay motivated and feel joy, so that I can keep going with my fitness and see the results to accomplish my goals.

So many do not see the work that goes behind one post for each person on social media or behind people that look like they can do anything or cool skills. We forget this isn’t just minutes or seconds of video or pictures, it is so so much more.

For me: In the last 11 years I have had a family, lost my jobs, found a jobs, made my own business, been financially challenged multiple times, i have worked daily, I have created free content for socials, been bullied online, I have moved several countries, gone through complicated visa processes, I have learned a language, I’ve had ill health, I have educated myself, been pregnant twice, lost a child, written a book, managed my depression and mental health that led me to an attempt on my life, worked on my fitness at home, trained clients, had major hospital stays for illness, held my first yoga retreat not making money but grateful for the experience, been homesick, watched my mother suffer MS, had my daughter bullied & sick, lost & gained friends & family and so much more.

There is a life of so much more going on and a human that is showing up just like you behind every post, every workout or beautiful moment or peace of wisdom shared. It is not a life of ease and grace for anyone. Some of us choose gratitude better than others, so it becomes a life of suffering well.

On social media we are no longer worthy for the human we are or valued for the work we do when nobody is watching. We are judged to be worthy by the numbers we have, the clothes we wear, if we post at the right time and so on. However the truth is we are all worthy and all so much more than we see.

I hope one day this world will give space and love to being just simply human again and we humans will hold respect and love for the hard work we never see, rather than judging for what we see and don’t like or assume.

I hope one day we will remember we are all working hard to find joy and there is no easy or highlight reel. There is only life and people showing up and doing their best and the best way to do that or achieve results and goals, is not quick fixes or best programs but finding spaces in life that bring us more joy than not. As we work on being human in whatever way we do fitness, health, learning a language, healing, being a parent etc…

If you are super busy and not accomplishing much remember we can live life, work on the now by a sense of being lost in all the details. Lost in overwhelm and chaos or we can live it above the clouds with clarity, moreover. At the end of the day the most important thing is the love you find within yourself and the joy felt whilst living because that will be forever yours.

So if you want to regain your fitness and health coming into 2023 and make the rest of your life the best of your life I have learned from years of being a health and wellbeing coach, fitness coaching and training myself and clients the key to clients success and my own success of having fitness/health in our lives and our goals achieved, is to focus on feeling good and doing something we enjoy and building from there.

So my question to you is: what movement makes you feel good? (Your answer is…)

Now my motivational tip for you with your answer is start from there and in a year from now if you start with what feels good, you will find good habits easy to build.  Once your good habits are built on the days you don’t feel like moving or fitness your good habits will pick you up. Then before you know it your results will motivate you again and your goals will be right in front of you as will your health and fitness be with you every day and joy more often than not.

Fitness from the inside that is my motto