Hi Reader,
In 2024, I had emergency back surgery after a severe disc herniation left me in excruciating pain, with nerve damage. For 10 days before surgery, I was bedridden. The smallest movement triggered unbearable pain. It's hard to describe the pain of a nerve stuck from your disc all the way to your big toe.
The surgery brought huge relief. But it didn't fix me. It fixed the emergency. The real healing started afterward.
I had lost strength. My nervous system and tissues had been through enormous trauma, and part of my left leg and foot had lost sensation. I had to learn to calm my nervous system and move again.
I knew what I wanted for my life. So I knew I had to build a strong core and glutes to protect my back, and learn to move and think about my body in ways I had never considered before.
Later in my journey, I found an incredible physical therapist and Pilates instructor, Kali, who helped guide me, and I started working with her twice a week. Almost two years later, I'm still working with her.
I could have gone for three weeks and said, "This isn't working. I'm still not strong. I'm done."
I could have said, "Why am I paying her? I can look up exercises online."
But here's the truth: she has knowledge and experience I can't get from the internet. She watches every detail. How I breathe. Which muscles I'm engaging. Whether my hips are aligned. Whether my body is compensating in ways I can't feel.
And she's tough, let me be honest!
She pushes me. There is no room for denial, resistance, and excuses. It's the strong love I believe most of us need, genuine love, pushing me toward where I want to be, and I am immensely grateful to her.
But she isn't doing the work for me. I'm doing the work. She makes sure I'm doing the right work, in the right way, at the right time. She also reminds me when to slow down and take a rest
It took me over 40 years to create the problem that put me on the surgery table. It ain't going to take a month to rebuild a body that never has back pain again. Rebuilding takes expertise, repetition, and someone who is watching.
And here's something you must hear: we deny, normalize, justify, and resist discomfort. Whether it's pain, skin issues, or hair falling out, we push it aside.
But any symptom is a teacher. It asks us to listen and change. It's asking us to be curious, without judgment.
So don't ignore it. Don't normalize it. Don't hate it or fight it. None of that will make it go away. Be curious about it. Take care of it.
And this is exactly what health coaching is. It's the difference between information and real health outcomes.
I can hand someone their lab results, their genomics, a list of supplements, and three priorities. That's necessary information to begin the journey. It’s not the entire journey.
And this is where people often get stuck. They think, "I know what to do now. I'll just do it myself."
Healing isn't a PDF. It isn't one appointment. And it isn't collecting more information from Google and friends.
Adjusting your food, supplements, sleep, stress, and environment isn't one decision. It's hundreds of small ones, and each depends on how your body responded to the last.
It takes someone who can see what you can't see in yourself.
Kali has studied the body for decades and is still learning every day. I've studied health for decades, and I'm still learning every day from my clients, from new research, and from myself.
So I want you to hear this: needing support doesn't mean you're failing. It means you're doing it right. Health takes being open and willing to see things as they are.
Creating health takes knowledge, consistency, and the right person walking beside you while your body learns a new way to be.
Years later, I'm still doing the work. And I'm stronger than I've ever been.
That's what's possible for you, too.
In my coaching, together we uncover what your body is communicating, so you can see yourself as someone fully capable of understanding and influencing your own health, all guided by the five principles of health. More on that next time...
