Hug Pilates & Wellness

Today I just want to express gratitude for this life & for the remarkable people in it. 💛
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Have a beautiful, restorative weekend with your loved ones, everybody.
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It seems to be the era of performance optimization.
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In the onslaught of data + fitness protocols, I encourage you not to devalue the “n-of-one” experiment in terms of how YOUR body is actually responding to them.
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If we can take in the research as it comes & apply the broad-strokes principles of it in creative ways that feel safe + healthy for ourselves, working to gently expand our own individual capacities, we’ll be doing just great.
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In any given moment, we have the ability to make choices for or against our health.
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This doesn’t just come down to workouts + food choices.
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Once, when I was in a tough life patch + having a hard time making a decision about a transition, a mentor of mine posed a question.
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She asked about the option of *not* taking the leap, “Would you be making a life choice, or a death choice?”
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And that question absolutely struck me to my core, because when you think in those terms, it is actually very clear which path feels right in your body. Even if it’s scary.
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Now let’s talk about smaller, more commonplace moments. We have options there, too.
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We always have the choice to unfurrow our brow.
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To hydrate!
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To light(en) up our internal mental landscape.
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To choose connection + learning + growth.
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To help someone else. To rest.
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There are *so many* choices we can make that are LIFE choices. That move us in the direction of alignment + health.
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And in difficult times, when we do not have the capacity to make those choices moment to moment, then the accumulation of all the choices we’ve made before stands up + helps carry us through.
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The body is incredibly resilient.
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It will do all it can to move toward life if we do the same. 🫶🏽
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‌image thanks | imleedh ali
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I had my first complete hormone panel done last week, & it has me thinking about the value of hard, cold proof.
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We spend a lot of time + energy trying to be healthy. It’s something we actively work at, many of us, every single day.
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And much of the time, we do that work on good faith, while what’s actually happening inside of us — the way our body is *responding* to what we’re doing — can remain somewhat of a mystery.
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This is where labs come in!
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Labs give SO much information. Clues you can use to put the puzzle of your beautiful body’s health together. Nuggets that, when combined with your experience, help paint an overall picture & shine a light on what’s working well + what could maybe use a little more love. Sometimes, they identify something you might have been feeling but couldn’t quite put a finger on.
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They help sharpen our focus, & very importantly, they offer direction for where + how to move next.
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I invite you to get your routine labs done *at least* once a year (twice if you can), & to ask for more specific/comprehensive ones when things come up. Which they will… because we are human:)
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There is so much value in getting comfortable with “looking under the hood” & so much power in learning about what these markers imply + how they function together.
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Ideally we create for ourselves a continuous dance of assessing, adjusting, & reassessing.
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And by doing that, we feel better + better along the way.
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‌image thanks | maja petric

I read somewhere that the best kind of sunscreen is the one you will wear.
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The same can be said for movement + exercise. 🧡
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…Did you know?! 😯
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Muscle + metabolism. Let’s dive in:
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Research suggests that having more lean mass helps our metabolic health by improving insulin sensitivity, & thus blood sugar regulation.
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It’s not the only piece of the puzzle — especially for women as we age — but it is a big one. And most importantly it’s one we have a lot of power do something about. 💪🏽
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So let’s get after it, everybody. We use it or we lose it.
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If you have questions about how you can safely + effectively support your muscle through food/movement — whatever your life stage or special considerations — give me or another practitioner you trust a ringading!
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We love this land of the body, & we are here for you. 🫱🏾‍🫲🏽
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image thanks | ashim d’silva

Whatever our personal goals + desires may be in life, health is the springboard, the launchpad, the prerequisite.
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As such, it deserves our devoted time, attention, & prioritization.
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Happy Sunday. May you relish the adventure + all its possibility. 🫶🏽
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image thanks | pontus ohlsson

What’s better than meeting new, interesting people & then *moving* together?! Not much.
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In honor of this fact — & out of sheer excitement at the thought of getting to know more of you — I’ve created a little something special for this back-to-school season.
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New clients in August/September will be able to enjoy a discounted intro pack:
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Three private sessions (in-person or via the ZoOooms), $275. 🤟🏽
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If you’ve been curious about the Pilates/health coaching hubbub, or craving a new movement experience, this one’s for you!
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Tell your friends, & come on down. I can’t wait to meet you + get your health on. 🥳
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DM to book or w/Qs

A reminder that what constitutes physical effort/exertion (exercise) will be different for you than for others; it will also be different from day to day, week to week.
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Many factors influence this.
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Are you working with/coming back from an injury? An illness? A back spasm? (That last one was me, this week.🙋🏼‍♀️)
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Did you hydrate properly yesterday? Eat helpful things at helpful times? How did you sleep?
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Where are you in your daily cycle? Your monthly cycle? Your life cycle?
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Are you coming off a heavy exercise day? A light day? A rest day? What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?
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What’s your stress level like? What else is happening in your life?
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Cliché as it may sound, our goal is always to deepen the listening AND THE RESPONDING to our body. To “know our dose,” so to speak. And that dose — the just-right, exercise goldilocks zone — is both person- & circumstance-specific.
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It changes, because you do. And so do your needs + capacities.
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I was listening yesterday to a great interview with Dr. Stuart McGill. He was talking about how “all systems in the body require stress for optimal health.” In other words, we have to push a little bit to create adaptation, resiliency, & robustness.
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The key, though, is to not regularly go past your tipping point(s) into pain or exhaustion, because over time this actually creates repeated trauma for our tissues + overall health.
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The idea of the tipping point is fascinating to me, because it’s a moving target. It requires our flexibility + awareness.
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And therein lies the dance of training for — and in — this thing called life.
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image thanks | teemu paananen
source thanks |
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What if we all put as much time + attention into our nutrition + movement practice as we do our scrolling? 👀
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As my client’s t-shirt reminded me this week, “What you water will grow.”
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💦🌱
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image thanks sonika agarwal
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On Mondays I tie up all the loose ends.

Mondays are, by far, the days where I do the most sitting, the most computer working, the most emailing, accounting, paperworking, phone calling, scheduling, & so on, & so on, & so on... You get the drift.
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It takes a lot to exist on this modern grid, in this modern world. To take good care of our corner of it + of the people we love.
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Add to that a polarized macrocosm of a country + globe in crisis, & it is indeed at times overwhelming.

How could it not be.
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Workouts have become a non-negotiable for me. You might be surprised, given my line of work, how long it took for that to be true.
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When we fortify our bodies, we invest in our health AND in our capacity to meet this life + this world with the strength, endurance, & grace it requires of us.
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I hope wherever you are, whatever season you find yourself in, you come to the table of appropriate-for-you movement *effort* every single day. And that you arrive there open + ready to play.
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Your body is a blessing + life a finite gift. Let’s spend as little of it as possible sitting down.
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This one’s a latergram that sat in my drafts for months! Enjoy!
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Things I tell my daughter:
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“Being strong helps you be healthy.”
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…It’s true!
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Did you know that muscle mass increases your survivability against any/all illnesses?
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source: the doctor’s farmacy pod, ep 860, w/ &
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image thanks: amir esrafili
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A childhood friend recently shared what he believes to be most meaningful in life.
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His top two things? Movement + nutrition. Expression + connection were on the list, as well.
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The rest, he said, is mostly noise.
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I hope that, in the midst of the great cacophony, you too keep coming back to these four.
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It’s a good start. A springboard. A launch pad for purpose.
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image thanks | neha deshmukh
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When my endocrinologist first learned what I do for work, he shared with me that he’s read a lot of medical studies in his career, & that much of the time they are inconclusive, incomplete, even contradictory.
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Exercise, he said, is the big exception.
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Moving our bodies is definitely good for us.
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I think sometimes about how we invest ourselves. Our time, energy, resources. Our attention, focus, & effort.
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If that investment doesn’t include mindful movement of some kind, I deeply believe we’d do well to ask ourselves why not.
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And whatever form or format you choose, I invite you to put your intentionality behind it.
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To your health, friends. Always,
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M.🤍
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Inflammation is a primary driver of diseases of all types.
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That’s a long, important list that includes degenerative diseases of aging, heart disease, cancer, pre-/diabetes, neurological diseases + decline, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, skin issues, infertility, allergies, asthma, mental illness, & a whole lot more.
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Stay tuned as we take a deeper dive into this topic over the next couple of weeks.
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We’ll talk about what inflammation is, what causes it, and most importantly what we can do — simply — to help keep it at bay.
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image thanks | evie s

What’s shakin’ OFF of your plate? 🍽️
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Sleep, movement, perceived stress, & relationships all play colossal roles in our health… & our happiness.
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Keeping these pillars — or, as I like to think of them, “the biggies” — in mind & giving them some true love in your life will help you out mightily!
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Take an eyeball’s glance at that list. Where do you feel strong? Where might you use a little more oomph?
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(This will shift with time; periodic check-ins invited + encouraged.) 🫶🏽
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‌To your health, friends. Onward!

M.🤍
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image thanks | jonathan pielmayer

Let’s be honest… Who among us doesn’t love when these rare bits pop up in class? 🍝🧱🤤
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PLANTS! Get excited, everybody. 🌈
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Plants pack a vast + deep rainbow of compounds that drive biology and help keep us healthy.
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In fact, these 25,000(!) compounds are biology-builders for us humans, and, when emphasized along with enough other high quality macronutrients (healthy proteins, fats, etc.), they work — magnificently — with our bodies to create health.
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Essentially, when we eat plant foods rich in these vital phytonutrients and phytochemicals, we are consuming the plants’ disease-prevention molecules.
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Our bodies do not make these; we need to eat them — and we benefit when we do because they upregulate every system we’ve got.
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We humans have evolved to take part in this symbiotic flora-fauna dance.
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And plants are without a doubt some of our greatest defenders + protectors on this big, beautiful planet. 🌱🌍
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image thanks | alexandre brondino
source thanks | & the doctor’s farmacy podcast
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A love of mine. 👇🏽☕️
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Recently I was gifted a Nespresso machine.
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This has made my days lovelier! And created delight.
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It’s reminded me of the power of simple pleasures + of how far joy can go in changing our experience.
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It doesn’t have to take much.
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How are you cultivating yours?
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image thanks | nathan dumlao

Muscle + bone don’t function alone. In fact, there are SEVEN symphonic systems in your body, all working together to keep your ship righted:
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☝🏽 your gut (assimilation system)
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🦠 your immune system (defense and repair)
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💥 your energy-producing system (mitochondria, etc.)
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🫘 your detox system (liver, kidneys, digestion)
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🩸 your circulatory and lymphatic systems (transport)
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⚡️ your endocrine + neurotransmitter systems (communications)
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💪🏽 your structural system (musculoskeletal, cellular, etc.)
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Food is the biggest lever we can pull to change our biology and upregulate these systems in real time, in both the short- and the long term.
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Incorporating more fresh, colorful plants (plus healthy proteins, & fats like omega-3s) helps drive us away from inflammation + is like giving a big, warm bearhug to the whole orchestra of YOU.
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Here we are, everybody. Sending off Love Month + ushering in the Luck. 💚->🍀
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As promised, here are a few steps courtesy of BELONG author Radha Agrawal that you can take today, this week, this month, this year to give a little extra love to the people you know you can count on, & who can count on you in return:
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Go IN to go OUT —> Audit the 3-5 people you spend the most time with. Who brings your energy up? Who brings it down? This can help you develop a map + start to ask yourself more questions.
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MAKE SOME LISTS —> What are the qualities you want in a friend? What are some qualities you know you *don’t* want in a friend? What qualities do *you* need to embody to be the friend you want? We do this sort of work around other areas of our life all the time — our career, romantic partners — but friends are often left out of this sort of intentional thought process. Love/commitment applies to friendships, too, & giving them some thought, time, & effort is more than worthwhile.
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BUILD ON THE GOOD —> Make sure you are asking yourself what’s going RIGHT in your personal relationships in addition to what may be lacking or needing attention.
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CHART IT UP —> Make a Venn diagram with three circles overlapping in the middle. In one circle, list the overarching VALUES that are important to you, by which you live your life. In another, list your INTERESTS — the things you like to learn about + do! In the last circle, list your ABILITIES — the signature strengths that make you YOU, that you can bring to others. Where the three overlap is where you can most happily + healthfully build your own “community capacity” and new-friend circle.
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In the words of the amazing Esther Perel, “The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives.”
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Let’s go grow them, everybody.
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xo/M
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image thanks | elijah hail
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42 revolutions around the sun. And I feel so, so grateful.
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Some of the things I am thankful for this year, in no particular order, are:
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🎈 the intimate, supportive ecosystem of my family (this one actually is the top of the list)
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🎈 moving my body, using my brain
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🎈 endorphins
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🎈 living in a peaceful place by the mountains
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🎈 choosing closeness and connection
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🎈 starting therapy
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🎈 the feeling when I remember to focus my eyes up and out, rather than in and down
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🎈 the ripple effect of my small speck of contribution on this beautiful whirling ball of a planet
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🎈 the mindblowingness of learning about the universe with my daughter
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🎈 two daily cups of mushroom coffee:)
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🎈 fresh air + birds chirping
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🎈 how absolutely incredible these headphones make this music sound
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🎈 nurturing the life force inside of me + recognizing its connection to the infinite
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🎈 prioritizing feeling as a catalyst rather than a consequence
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🎈 the whole of my past, the fullness of my present, & the hopefulness of the future
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🎈 the clarity + perspective that comes with time
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For a long time I resisted celebrating my life by focusing on the struggle + also the fear of what might be lurking around the corner.
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I don’t do that anymore.
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It’s an act of revolution to fight for joy in a troubled world, for ourselves and for others. I am interested in the boldness of that choice. In starting there.
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I believe whole-human health is the springboard for making this world better. And that it is possible.
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We are here for a short time. Let’s cultivate the joy, the purpose, the reason. The intensity of experience, of what we can create, & of how we can serve.
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Love to you guys. Happy 42.
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image thanks | oriol portell

Did you know that behaviors are contagious? This goes for both the positive and the not-so-much.
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Asking questions about ourselves + the people we surround ourselves with can go a long way toward bettering all the dimensions of our health, as can actively nurturing our inner circle + helping it thrive.
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Stay tuned for a few simple steps you can take today, this week, this month, this year, to give a little extra love to the people you know you can count on, & who can count on you in return. 🫶🏽
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SUPERBERRY Saturday 🦸🏻‍♀️🍓➡️
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Berries are often touted as the superfoods of the fruit kingdom.
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One of the reasons for this is that they are extremely rich in phenolic antioxidants + beneficial plant compounds. These compounds aid in supporting heart health🫀+ blood sugar regulation, fighting off bad bugs🦠(bacteria), & preventing cancer.
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Unlike other fruits, berries contain these compounds in their *flesh* (not just their skin), which makes them extra health-boosting.🫐
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They also tend to be relatively low on the glycemic index scale, meaning they shouldn’t cause large blood sugar spikes.
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Strawberries have actually been shown to reduce both glucose + insulin spikes when eaten following a carb-heavy meal, thus helping to prevent metabolic syndrome + type 2 diabetes.📉
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They have also been shown to inhibit tumor formation.
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In addition to all of *those* goodies, berries are high in fiber + water💧content, which keeps your gut bugs happy!
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They are also loaded w/vitamins + minerals, & they are thought to help with everything from oxidative stress to inflammation to vascular function to blood pressure to lipid profile to…….
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You get the idea. 💁🏻‍♀️
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Try having a moderate serving of berries following lunch or dinner to reap the benefits while keeping your blood sugar extra on-track.
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Happy🍓picking, friends!
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source thanks |
image thanks | unsplash+ in collab w/olivie strauss
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Nothing a good forward fold won’t fix. 🫶🏽
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