What It’s Like to be a Therapist and a Certified Personal Trainer

Freshman year of college I was an English major. I also hated the gym. I would go once a semester, hop on an elliptical while listening to music on my iPod and then leave, intimidated by the people running like gazelles on the treadmill or the sound of weights dropping in the weight room down the hall.

So how did I end up both a therapist and a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)?

I switched my major after two very impactful classes: neuroscience and social psychology. I don’t know if it was the professors or the texts, but I fell in love with psychology in those courses.

The journey to fitness was a much longer, windier road. Each semester I would “commit to going to the gym” only to stop by the time midterms rolled around.

It wasn’t until I graduated from college that I truly fell in love with fitness. Graduating from college and entering “the real world” was a frightening time. I thrived on the structure that school provided and wasn’t sure what to do with myself now that it was gone: college graduation felt like falling off an abrupt cliff.

I started going to the gym more consistently and noticed how much it helped my anxiety. My weekly existential crisis started to feel smaller and more manageable. I had given myself structure (Monday night

yoga class) and support (seeing the same people in classes over and over again).

Fast forward a few years and my love of fitness had landed me with a pretty severe shoulder injury. The constant threat of shoulder surgery loomed over months of physical therapy.

I wanted to deepen my understanding of exercise on the body so I signed up for the National Academy of Sports Medicine’s CPT program. I learned so much about anatomy and creating safety and stabilization within the body.

At the same time, I was deepening my knowledge and experience working with people who experience depression, anxiety, and trauma. Here again: creating safety and stabilization in the mind and body.

I no longer viewed it as “fitness”, I began to view it as movement. Movement is changing the position of your body in any way: stretching, walking, dancing, running, boxing, strength training, or anything else that calls to you. The old adage that “movement is medicine” has proven to be true to me personally and professionally time and time again.

Most people assume I’ll be the Jillian Michaels of therapists, when in fact, I’m the Carl Rogers of personal trainers. The most powerful thing you can do with your movement practice is leave behind expectations and build a loving, trusting relationship with your body.

Personal trainers, coaches, and therapists are great people to hold your hand on this journey. It can be really scary to take the first step and we are honored to be your cheerleader and advocate.

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If you're looking for 5 Ways to practice movement in a way that benefits your mental health, try these:

1. Go on a 10-15 minute walk

2. Take a movement break: Do 10 Bird-Dogs, if moving the arm and leg at the same time is too much, pick either just the arms or legs

3. Try this 30 Minute Power Yoga flow if you want to get your blood pumping

4. This 4 Minute video will help you develop balance, an integral part to long-term health

5. Jessamyn Stanley's 45 Minute Yoga class (Jessamyn is also the author of Every Body Yoga which is a wonderful book that focuses on inclusive yoga)

6. Lagniappe: Check out your city pages, local Groupon, Facebook events, etc. for discounts on local classes. Movement + a community all in one!

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Comment Below: Movement is medicine but it’s not the only one! What’s your favorite tool for self-care?