I thought as I approach the one year mark of inMOTION Studios being in business, I would share my origin story. It starts out very sad, and ends up very happy!
It was November 2021 when my family left Idaho. I had spent the past 6 years building an incredible fitness community in Boise. I was in the ZONE! I had packed classes, I taught almost every format, and I new that I was very loved and appreciated. It was in those years that I learned to love myself for the loud energetic person that I am. I learned that what I saw as character flaws were actually strengths! I just needed to tap in and direct it. It was liberating! I finally felt free; so when we had to move, my heart was broken.
We moved to a small city in Northern Indiana where you could here the klip klop of horses carrying Amish buggies down the road. It was so different. It was a culture shock that I was not prepared for. The thought of building classes at any of the gyms in the area wasn’t very palatable for me after leaving such a beautiful big gym with an incredible group fitness program. Axiom Fitness spoiled me, and I couldn’t see myself teaching for another gym anywhere else. My fitness story took a dramatic turn. I had to drop my Les Mills Formats because there weren’t any nearby licensed facilities, and started creating my own programs. It kept me busy, but couldn’t repair the gaping hole of loss. I was so lonely. I had the hardest time finding friends. Making friends in the Midwest is very different. I was terrible at it. I unintentionally offended so many people. I’m not a subtle person, but I had to learn how to be. Indiana was a place of humbling. I learned not to expect anything from others just because of who I was. Relationships are earned.
For 12 months I grinded. I served as the Relief Society President for my ward at church and helped orchestrate and meet the needs of the women and their families in our community. Meal trains, grocery shopping, ministering visits, activities, and Sunday lessons were a few of my responsibilities. It was overwhelming at times, but the calling saved me. I cried every day in Indiana. It was often on my darkest days that my phone would vibrate to let me know that somebody needed help. I’m so grateful I had something to pull me out of my personal cloud of grief. I often felt better after focusing on, and serving someone else. In this time I decided that if I couldn’t have the gym experience and community that I wanted, I would build it myself. I learned how to make a website, got good at Canva, and “taught” classes in the park. I was also seen trying to make classes work at a little workplace gym, police department, old movie theatre, public pool, church, my home, a couple other small gyms, a pond, and rec center. I made up a yoga flow class, mixed martial arts class, dance fitness class, strength class, and water aerobics class. I also personal trained a woman from our ward. 75% of my classes were no shows. I hate working out alone, but I knew I had to have a plan B for myself. If I didn’t have my workout for the day, I knew it would sink me into a deeper depression.
Enter Plan B! One day as I sat alone on the park bench feeling sorry for myself, I decided that I was going to make up a workout just for me. So I made a showtunes playlist. I started choreographing to Newsies and Hamilton, and after a couple hours I had created my first Theare Fitness release! It brought me so much joy! I even showed some of my friends back in Idaho on Marco Polo! Something inside me woke up! It had been a long time since I had danced like that, and it was addicting. After newsies and Hamilton I made another one to Chicago and Six, and then Lion King and Tarzan! My class of 0 turned into something that I looked forward to. I would envision myself teaching young performers my workouts on a stage and it brought a little bit of my spark back.
My husband could see the toll living in Indiana was taking on the family, especially me, and moved us down to another one of his company’s plants in Texas. Oh Texas! You are a breath of fresh air. The sunlight! The warmth! I got better quickly. The culture is very different from Idaho and Indiana, but it’s my vibe. Making friends still requires effort; that hasn’t changed. My original fitness endeavors have however. I learned that teaching fitness classes at the gym has lost some of it’s luster, and I found myself craving my Theatre Fitness routines. I knew I wanted to shift back into theatre, and found a job opening for a Theatre Teacher at a nearby Elementry last summer in ‘23. Although I have never taught in a school before, I thought I’d send in an application and see what happened. I was surprised when I got a call for an interview. I was introduced to the Waxahachie High School Theatre Director Andy Reynolds, and had a long conversation about who I was, and my experience as performer. I told him a little bit about my Indiana experience and my fun “theatre workout”, to which he responded “Why don’t you teach it to my kids?” Within a month I was literally reenacting the vision I had created in that park in Indiana. It was so surreal. Class went exactly as I envisioned it. I knew I needed to find a way to move more theatre kids. I knew in my heart that this was something that was good and needed to be shared with as many people as I could.
I didn’t get the Theatre Teacher Job, and I quickly started creating workouts, and a fitness program for High Schools. I made a little slideshow and started reaching out to nearby teachers asking if I could meet with them. I met with Kirk Corley at Summit High School and landed my first contract! He encouraged me to attend Texas Thespians, and it was then that I decided I was ALL IN. I put every penny I made from my contract into paying for a booth and I just started meeting educators. My world has been opened and I’ve been scared, intimidated, embarrassed, and lost, but there’s one thing that has pushed me forward. I know my program will change lives. I have seen who these young High School and University students are, and what they’re up against in this world. I am not the smartest, most experienced, or most talented person, but I have something important to give. I could write another blog about my adolescent years, but I won’t. I will say that I understand what it’s like to be bullied, and not fit in. I understand what it’s like to worry about how you’re perceived. I know what rejection feels like. I know the longing to be good at something and the effort required to get there. My life experiences has defined my underlying mission: to build resilient human beings through fitness and musical theatre! I know that what I am doing is so much more than that! With every participant I lock eyes with and coach, I am creating a healthy situation for students to chose “fight” over “flight”. I know that if I create a learning atmosphere of acceptance, respect, safety, and love I can move each student. I know that every time they make it through a class, they build mental resilience. In a way, I am helping the younger version of myself learn to put the negative voice of self doubt aside, to stop worrying about what others think, to know that I belong, and that I’m valued. If I could give this back to the students I teach, I am satisfied with what I have created and shared.
I can’t believe it’s only been a year since I registered my business with the state of Texas. As I look back on my life, it is so clear that everything good and bad that has happened had a specific timing and purpose. My loss, sadness, failures, and setbacks have been the catalyst to bringing inMOTION Studios into existence. I have been sent angels who have helped me propel my business in huge ways, and I have so much gratitude for the kindness and support I have received along the way. Where there was a closed door, there is now an open one. Life is like that sometimes. I want to say that if you’re going through a difficult time, know that it will pass. You will come through it. I know that when you look back on it, you will be able to see the role it plays into the person you are becoming. Hold on and keep moving. Be brave and do the new scary things. Taking risks has the potential for the greatest reward. Joy cannot be so exquisite without the contrasting emotion, because you will know the price that was paid to get there.
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