Educational Archives - Page 2 of 2

” no pain, no gain” is a lie

October 25, 2022

Back in the day, before unsubscribing from the “no pain, no gain” notion, I worked out every day and having stiffness in my lower back was a regular post-workout thing.

Having a pinch in my hip was a constant during heavy lunges. But I push through anyway because I’ve been told, “no pain, no gains.”

I couldn’t sit on the ground, let alone crossed-legged; I thought stretching could help. Still, nothing had sustainably improved until I began incorporating solid joint mobility and postural restoration practices into my routine.

I still strength train 3-5 times a week. What I no longer do is normalize pains and aches. I address them head-on, and I’m the strongest and most flexible I’ve ever been in my life.

Today, I believe in integrating deep work and strength training with space for recovery.

And I practice and teach a training model that makes me and my clients better at doing human things, breathing, playing, running, sensing and moving first and foremost. Because when we get better at doing human things, all the other things become easier, no matter your fitness goal.

An effective training program is NOT limited to:

→ how heavy you lift

→ how sweaty you get at the end of each session

→ how much soreness you experience after a session

It is so much more than that!

An effective training program must help you:

→ to enhance your day-to-day life

→ to prevent you from injuries

→ to make you more aware of your body

→to teach you to move more efficiently by addressing the roots of your weakness

→ to become more mobile and flexible

→ to improve your posture

→ to build physical and mental strength

How effective is your training routine?

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions, or check out my online studio.

Be movful,

Hedi

Seven lessons after car accident and concussion

October 20, 2022

After my car accident in 2018, strength the way I knew it was no longer accessible to me for a long time. I learned to build up my resources and begin again after experiencing setbacks. It was a constant dance of choosing to slow down over showing up and the other way around.⁠

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned in gaining my strength back ↓

Lesson 1

The first lesson is how you see, hear, and perceive the world significantly impacts your well-being and how strong (resourceful) you feel. Your visual and audible receivers are gateways to your nervous system. If you feel disoriented or different in your senses after an accident or an event in your life, please take them seriously. Find yourself a practitioner that understands the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive system and how to treat it.

Lesson 2

The second lesson I learned the hard way is that manual therapy can be helpful after a concussion, but if the practitioners are not trauma-informed, they may trigger you even more. If you don’t notice sustainable progress, you may want to invest your resources in a more nervous system-focused treatment, i.e. Craniosacral Therapy, Feldenkrais, PDTR, Heart Resonance Therapy, and Tonal Chiropractic Treatment.

Lesson 3

The third lesson was a massive eye-opener for me. Depending on the impact of trauma and stress on your system, your posture is tremendously affected to accommodate a chaotic system; supporting your body with postural restoration treatment can work like water on fire. This process improves your breathing mechanics, how your feet touch the ground, and much more.

Lesson 4

The fourth lesson is improving your mobility. Your mobility is critical for rebuilding neuromuscular control in your body after an injury or trauma.⁠ Remember that mobility work is not the same as stretching; it’s different; think of it as strength training for your joint.

Lesson 5

Self-compassion is the fifth and the hardest lesson I had to learn. Self-compassion is necessary for healing; stop torturing yourself for everything you think you can’t do or how weak you feel. Instead, acknowledge the time and space your body needs to recover. Trust your intuition and how you feel. Be your best friend.⁠

Lesson 6

The sixth lesson is to invest in yourself by hiring coaches, practitioners, and healers who can hold your hand along the way. I know this may not be financially available to some of you. Still, you may want to reconsider your priorities if you have extra money to pay for makeup, accessories, and clothes.

Lesson 7

Last but not least, celebrate the progress you’ve made no matter how small it looks on the outside; you need to remember the work you put behind each progress mentally, emotionally, and physically.⁠

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions, or check out my online studio.

Be movful,

Hedi

Walking is one of the most underrated exercises you can do for better health and quality of life

October 15, 2022

Nowadays, we are too busy catching up with the newest and coolest exercise trends that we forget the value of going back to basics, aka basic human movements. Walking is one of them.

When I start working with 1:1 clients, one of the first things I ask them to do is to add regular 30-minute zone 2 walks to their routine.

What is zone 2 cardio?

It tends to be the lowest zone used for training; imagine going on a walk while you can still hold a conversation. Your goal is to maintain 60-70% of your maximum heart rate for 30+ minutes.

Watch this video for deeper guidance on starting your zone 2 training. ↓

I like using MapMyWalk app, since allows me to time and track my steps very easily.

When you start your zone 2 cardio training and feel you are making progress, incorporate the suggestions below to get even more out of it ↓

Tip 1/

Get your legs and core fired up before going on your walk

Tip 2/

An arm swing is a natural motion followed by the movement of the opposite leg. Practicing this loosens your upper limbs, increases your rotational capacity and improves your overall balance.

Tip 3/

If you’ve been in my space, you know I’m obsessed with optimizing our breathing. As humans, we breathe 20000 reps a day, so why not take advantage of the reps already done?

Thanks for reading this far. These techniques improve not only your walk but also your overall posture and well-being.

So excited for you to implement them and report back on your progress. . Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions, or check out my online studio.

Be movful,

Hedi

PS. Here is your extra resource to learn more about breathing techniques and postural restoration.

Stronger hamstrings for better pelvis stability

July 13, 2022

In this blog, I share how to build stronger hamstrings for better pelvis stability. When your pelvis stabilizes better, your posture holds itself so much more easily without putting strains on the rest of your body.

Train those hammies, because they matter.

Why?

Your hamstrings (the ones that connect your butt to your knees) are an essential muscle group for stabilizing your pelvis and helping you move forward efficiently and effortlessly.

So many ankles, knees, and lower back issues could associate with a lack of mobility and stability in your pelvis.

So many don’t move or walk as effortlessly as they can because they don’t recruit their hamstrings enough. Hamstring strengthening exercises can improve overall leg strength, relieve lower back pain, and increase flexibility.

In this video below, I share three of my favourite hamstring strengthening drills that support you in not only building muscles but also supporting your overall posture.

Start doing each exercise for five reps while you soft inhale and long exhale at least two times/week and slowly add more reps. This alone, helps you massively to build stronger hamstrings for better pelvis stability.

And if you need extra support, feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions, or check out my online studio.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

Transform your posture

June 7, 2022

In this blog, I share how to transform your posture through the lessons I have learned from my recovery post car accident.

It was an early summer morning.

I opened my eyes

I gently moved my neck from side to side.

Something I have gotten used to since my car accident to check the intensity of my neck tension.

To my surprise, there was no pain but ease of movement.

I felt energized and ready to get out of bed something that I was rare since my accident

Felt so hopeful, thinking to myself, I finally found something that works.

Unlike other treatments, it’s not a quick fix, only to go away in a few days.

It is here to stay!

In the video, I go in-depth into my experience with my posture, and the changes I’ve noticed.

Watch the journey that I believe can massively support you to transform your posture + try my fav posture exercises:

My whole recovery experience lit a burning fire inside me, a fire of sacred responsibility 🔥 to share my knowledge.

I continue learning and remaining committed to becoming the most resourceful version of myself so that I can help you best understand your body’s language, move better & build an unshakable strength.

I also want you to believe in your body’s magical power to heal and thrive, and if this belief is far out of reach for you today, borrow mine, and let it plant a tiny seed of faith inside you

Thank you for reading this far, if you need support with your posture, don’t hesitate to contact me: https://hedishah.com/contact/

Be Mov〰ful,

Hedi

Ditch quick fixes

March 15, 2022

Ditch quick fixes, PLEASE!

There is no quick fix or perfect answer. There is no one explanation for your shoulder or lower back pain; get yourself assessed by a professional first.

In my work with clients, I find it’s never one thing that needs attention; it’s an accumulation of changes that leads to moving beyond pain, unique to you and your body’s story.

Some may believe that if you have lower back pain, you can resolve it by strengthening your back and core. Listen closely if you’ve done that and the pain is still there, or it got worse. ⁠In the lower back example, the pain could have resulted from life stressors, lack of mobility in your spine and hips, pelvis instability, lack of core strength and lazy feet, etc.

Instead of only focusing on strengthening the area that hurts, I encourage you to look deeper and broader. The deeper could be to increase neuromuscular control in the joints rather than only building muscles. The Broader could be to look at other parts of the body or other factors that may contribute to pain rather than laser focusing on the painful area. ⁠Or look at your lifestyle i.e. sleep, nutrition, etc.

⁠

Adopting this mindset (looking deeper and broader) not only serves you in movement, but it can also help with the challenges of the day to day life. ⁠

When is it in your journey you need to broaden and/or deepen your lens? Need professional help, book a consultation call here.

Be Mov〰ful,

Hedi

Grounding through feet sensory awareness

March 9, 2022

Let’s understand grounding through feet sensory awareness!

You perhaps heard about the concept of grounding/earthing, i.e. activities that electrically reconnect you to mama earth.

Today though, I want to talk to you about the concept of grounding through the lens of your feet’s abilities to grip the earth.

Over the years, one of the most common things I’ve seen among my clients has been the lack of sensory awareness of their feet. And it always amazes me how often people fake feet motion by moving their ankles instead.

Feeling solid beneath your feet is one of the most important things you can relearn, which leads to:

〰 fewer knee issues

〰 stronger legs

〰 better balance

〰 improved overall posture

The way your feet grip the ground sends a sense of assurance or lack of it to your nervous system. That’s why having a solid footing can not only improve your overall movement pattern but also could help you feel calmer and more in control.

Try these exercises to learn grounding through feet sensory awareness:

Exercise 1:

Exercise 2:

If you want to learn more, feel free to read this blog that explains various ways of addressing knee pain and one of the sections focuses on foot health.

Thank you for reaching out this far, if you need extra support, feel free to contact me here: https://hedishah.com/contact/

Be Mov〰ful,

Hedi

Improve your balance

February 17, 2022

In this blog, I teach you how to improve your balance by deepening your understanding of your overall posture and breathing mechanics.

I stopped thriving for balance and replaced that with harmony in life,

and the way I teach movement today

I learned {balance} in our bodies wouldn’t happen if there is no harmony.

Harmony between left and right

Carrying weight on one side as we shift gears to another

Trust both sides enough to move forward confidently

More importantly, the central programming is aware enough to know how to establish this harmony so you can achieve unshakable {balance}.

This 👆🏼is {balance} for me.

I got here not by striving for equality on the left and the right.

But by understanding that we are inherently asymmetrical beings, different left to right.

Because of the positioning of your heart on the left and the way it impacts your breathing and everything from top to bottom

When you teach your body a more efficient way of moving forward with respect to the harmonious relationship between the left and the right, your posture adapts accordingly.

And you start moving more effortlessly, feeling more balanced and having a lot more energy for life.

I hope to see you in the space, and I’d like to leave you with two of my favourite pelvis exercises that help to build balance through harmony ⬇️

1. Teaching your pelvis to stabilize by activating your hamstring, inner thighs and TVA

You can dive deep here to learn more about training your hamstring for a stabilized pelvis.

2. Teaching your pelvis to move in all directions independent from your lower spine

To learn more about this subject, read this in-depth blog on everything pelvis or attend my online zoom sessions for extra pelvis love.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

Activate Your Butt Muscle Effectively

February 1, 2022

In this blog, we talk about how to activate your butt muscle effectively.

Sometimes transformation lives in small details.

In my work, small movements make all the difference

I often see how people combine a bunch of exercises on social media, thinking they will get more out of their time

which is one way of looking at it,

but that may take so much out of the efficiency and intentionally of the movement (Read more on typical mistakes in the fitness industry).

Here is an exercise that focuses on those smaller details and helps activate smaller glutes muscles.

They are typically responsible for your hip’s internal & external rotation that brings more sensory understanding of your left and right and helps you feel more balanced and grounded

Try the video below to activate your butt muscle effectively👇🏻

Give it a try and let me know how it feels.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

The number one secret to better posture

January 13, 2022

The number one secret to improve your posture

is to build a stronger core! You may roll your eyes at me and tell me this is not anything new. Take a moment to see the photo below and the impact your midline has on your overall posture ↓

However, the way I teach it to you is uniquely different.

It’s less about doing all the crunch variation in the world; it’s about bringing your ribs into their ideal position for your body type.

You may ask, what’s the ideal position?

The answer: Where you can breathe more effortlessly (check out this blog for more on this)

If you ever worked with me in the past, you know that I’m obsessed with learning new modalities and experimenting with them on my body first. Then massage it into something that I know my community needs.

Here is my insanely unbelievable result 👇🏻

Here are a few things I began noticing that you don’t notice from the photos:

⭕️ The tension in the right side of my body decreased tremendously.

⭕️ My bodyweight began feeling more equally distributed on my feet, less leaning on one side compared to another side

⭕️ My pelvis started moving effortless side to side, and I could feel my body working on a walk without thinking about it

⭕️ I maintained nasal breathing on long hikes without feeling the need to open my mouth or have a dry mouth

⭕️ My post-concussion neck tension began diminishing

⭕️ I feel taller, leaner and experience a lot less anxiety

After seeing the improvement, I began incorporating the teachings into my 1:1 client work and all The House membership classes.

Here is what one of my 1:1 clients has to say

I know, insane.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

From Belly Breathing To Diaphragmatic Breathing

August 10, 2021

One of the topics that I’ve dived in deeply this year was various breathing techniques. I began experimenting with what I learned from my mentor, Ian Markow, in my body for three months before bringing it into my client work.

Here is how I used to breathe:

Here is how I breathe now:

And, this shift made the most significant change in my body 👇🏻

→ My posture has improved significantly

→ I began activating my glutes differently

→ I effortlessly continue nose breathing on long hikes without feeling the need to open my mouth or have a dry mouth

→The residue of my post-concussion symptoms began diminishing

→ My spine has never been this mobile, no lower back stiffness in the morning

→My jaw tension has reduced significantly

→ I rarely have anxiety

→ Feeling that my body weight is more equally distributed on my feet

To just name a few!

Shifting your breathing from belly breath (demonstrated in the first video) to expanding your ribs 360 degrees (back and ribs to the left and right) can be especially helpful for those who have flared-up ribs. Ideally, you want to reach a long exhale of 8 seconds, but you can start anywhere so you can transition to the next inhale slowly (not rushed).

For me, though, I didn’t flare up my rib, but what I did instead was compress my spine to keep the rib down, and this breathing practice still helped me change a pattern that I perhaps learned at a young age.

After observing the miracle that proper breathing can initiate in our bodies, I wonder how many injuries could’ve been prevented by improving our breathing and why we are never taught these in school.

And I hope this blog be the invitation you need to explore your most valuable tool, your breath, a little or a lot more. Read this blog to learn about my 3 top breathing practices.

And always happy to have you try our zoom weekly movement sessions here.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

Seven Mistakes In The Fitness Industry

July 19, 2021

When I began changing the way I worked with clients from only focusing on strength coaching to incorporating foundational training (ie joint health, breathwork, neuromuscular control, etc.), one of the hardest things I had done was de-conditioning myself from what the personal training and fitness industry had taught me.

I continuously caught myself wondering what if my clients preferred the old way. The way that promotes “the heavier, the faster, the sweatier, THE BETTER.”

But I acknowledged the doubts and trusted that my clients would get this different way. The way that promotes “the more efficient, the more functional, the more freedom, THE BETTER.”

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that prioritizes quick fixes, torturous weight loss methods, and lifting a certain amount of weight over:

→the quality of human movement,

→the joints’ health,

→the depth of breath,

→the grounded strength

→the freedom of movement in our bodies

→the sense of awareness of what’s happening in our bodies

I often see people lack the freedom in their body to do their day-to-day activities effortlessly; however, fitness culture insists on pushing them through that 100 reps of squats, 10-min plank hold, the 30 reps half-ass pushup, etc.

No wonder so many left with all kinds of injuries.

As part of my commitment to changing the narrative around movement and educating you on what’s possible when you learn your body’s language

I believe it’s also essential for you to know the common mistakes in the fitness industry so you can choose your “better” way and spread it with your community.

Here are the top seven mistakes I see in the fitness industry: ⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀

1.Putting too much emphasis on strength, not enough on the foundation the strength is built on

2. Putting too much emphasis on pushing through and not enough on increasing the nervous system’s capacity to deal with stress and downregulating post-stress

3.Putting too much emphasis on stretching not enough on mobility and neuromuscular control

4.Focusing too much on activating the right muscles, not enough on breathing correctly as you do them

5.Focusing too much on bypassing pain and injury, not enough on working through the pain and the reasons behind injuries

6.Focusing too much on the variability of exercise (combining multiple exercises, adding a jump, etc.) to the extent that the original value of the actual exercise is diminished

7.Constantly prioritizing a sweaty injurious training session over enhancing the overall quality of life

There are so many more; I may put together a part 2.

For now, I appreciate you sharing this with your community so we can spread awareness about this what no longer works and advocate for what’s possible. To dive deeper into my work, check out my on-demand video library.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

Healthy Living

June 6, 2021

I wish I could tell you all you need for healthy living is to eat healthily and exercise regularly, but this is far from the truth.

The quality of your inner landscape, how you process your emotions, and how safe you feel inside could contribute to your overall health a lot more than just a healthy lifestyle.

I battled with anger and unbearable rage for years; I smiled in one minute and lost my temper a second after that, especially towards people I cared about the most. The more I tried to control and suppress my anger, the more out of control it became. This pattern continued until I learned to sit with my anger. It came as a shock when I recognized my anger was coming from emotional hurt and even more shocking to realize how disconnected I felt from my emotions.

When I was reading the book “When The Body Says No” by Gabor Mate, the part that got me the most was when cancer scientists studied a mixed group of cancer and non-cancer cases and showed them a series of disturbing images. The participants were asked to write how they feel after seeing those images while being monitored by stress devices. The result was mind-blowing. The people with cancer showed a significant disconnect between what they thought they felt and what they actually felt.

This disconnection at some point protected us from getting more hurt, but what if we no longer need to suppress those emotions? What if we could live a more thriving life by unburdening our emotional pains?

As part of the House Membership, we address the topics that are left out from a lot of healthy living conversations. In these events, I am committed to bringing you excellent resources and practitioners that guide you through creating safety in your body so you can return home.

This month, we have Juliana Herlaar. She is a spiritual counselor and works by weaving ancestral acknowledgment, inner child healing, emotional understanding, somatic practices, meditation journeys, and the power of connecting emotions to communication and boundaries with her clients.

Come and join us to tap into your body’s infinite wisdom.

This 90-min session has two parts:

❶ A dialogue around understanding why we disconnect from our bodies from a psychological and physiological perspective. And why it’s essential to reconnect to the bodies’ inherent knowing of what it needs to do to shift emotions, thoughts, trauma & beliefs that keep us stuck.

❷ A practice session of the Non-Linear Movement Method that allows the body the opportunity to lead, shift thoughts, move emotions, connect to sensuality, experience pleasure, move discomfort. It’s done on the floor with music.

After this event, you have a better understanding of:

✦ How & why we become disembodied

✦ How disembodiment leads to people-pleasing & a disregard for own experience, intuition & beliefs.

✦ How the body leads & how to listen to it through the Non-Linear movement practice.

Looking forward to seeing you there! Click on the button below to book your spot (This event is ended).

If you want to join my community that encompasses all things movement and the nervous system, check out The House Membership

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Be mov〰ful,

Hedi

Meet Your Inner Desire

May 27, 2021

Inner Cravings!

Meet your inner desire, friend!

You crave progress

You crave to get to where we want to be

You crave to have the body you want

You crave to be pain-free

You crave to feel even more confident in your body

You crave to feel free in your body

You sit with those cravings for so long that your cravings become something far-fetched.

Something that causes you more pain than a direction to move towards

Something that you may feel threatened by and another reason to be disappointed in yourself

You may take a couple of steps towards what you desire, but they don’t work out the way you wanted because so many of us don’t get what we desire on the first tries.

Sometimes your cravings need a new level of you to come to fruition.

Sometimes the next level of you requires a new level of commitment, the one that says, ” I show up no matter what it takes and how long it takes.”

Sometimes the next level of you requires the willingness to invest in yourself like you never did before, whether it be time, money, or resources.

Sometimes the next level of you requires unshakable faith in yourself, your path, and your abilities.

Sometimes the next level of you requires a bigger vision for your life and the lives of generations after you, which may bring chills to your spine, put everything in perspective when you are going through a rough patch, and set your priorities when you feel lost.

What is the craving that you want to fulfill? What does this next level require of you?

If your desire is to take care of yourself and take your health to the next level, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Be Mov〰ful,

Hedi