This is a blog for anyone who feels like they missed a window of time somewhere along the way...

For something you thought you might like to do...or maybe something you knew would be good for you...but now you feel like you can't do that thing anymore...due to your age, or your fitness level or who you feel you ARE now.

Let me tell you, you ARE whoever you want to be right now.

I've recently started reformer pilates and I don't want to sound all 'born again' on you...but it's given me back something I thought I had lost (and no, I'm not just talking about the muscles in my pelvic floor) It's given me back the belief that I am not too big or too old to start a brand new exercise.

You think by 47 that you have tried everything you want to try in regards to moving your body. I've danced (jazz, tap, funk, cabaret, ballroom, nia) surfed, yoga'd, been a gym bunny, swum, ridden bikes, played tennis, volleyball, netball, touch footy, soccer, zumba'd, aerobics and I've walked and I've walked and I've walked. I've even worked out with a personal trainer for 3 years and did a lot of mat pilates in that time.

But every time I walked past a reformer pilates class in a gym or seen someone in action on one in my social media feed...my head would immediately say - that's not for me and I can't do that.

What a lot of rubbish.

I'm not sure exactly where we get our limiting beliefs and self talk from as I'm not a psychologist but I know that it just takes looking at something ONE time to form a thought and then due to how our brain works...we repeat that same thought whenever we come in contact with that thing again and eventually form a strong neural pathway so our brain believes the thought forever and ever.

Until we have a circuit breaker.

For me that circuit breaker was a knee injury doing basically nothing as far as I can tell! One day my knee started hurting a bit worse than it had before while I was walking and then it started to limit what I could and couldn't do! The nerve of it! Thanks so much declining oestrogen levels and a very well used knee! 

After limping around for a good few weeks (it will go away on it's own!) I went and got an MRI. I was told that I had 2 ligament tears, a meniscal tear and some osteoarthritis thrown in for good measure. 

I saw an orthopaedic surgeon and he was lovely and said that he's seen people come back from this without surgical intervention and if I wanted to try he was happy to support that decision and see how the pain was in 8 weeks time.

I decided I would do ALL the things to escape surgery - I was already seeing my osteopath but then I threw in regularly icing it at night, fortnightly acupuncture and my brain told me I need to strengthen the leg muscles around the knee joint to stabilise the joint more than it ever had before.

My brain is funny. It also told me that reformer pilates might be my best bet to isolate and strengthen those muscles and that knee. Yep! You know...the same brain that tells me that reformer pilates was too hard for me?

The same brain that thinks...I'm too unfit, I'm too overweight, I won't know what to do and I'll probably accidentally end up hanging myself with the leg strap or something or maybe falling off and embarrassing myself.

But lucky for me I'm a determined little so and so and much like my 14 year old daughter when she puts her mind to something, I. DO. NOT. BACK. DOWN. (why oh why did I have to pass that trait along...)

So I removed any blocks that would stop me going consistently (because at least by 47, I do know that to get anywhere with anything, you have to be consistent - dammit!)

I found somewhere close to my house, that offered one on one as well as small classes so I could learn this scary machine first of all and somewhere that I could afford to go at least twice weekly. So I removed the 'time it takes to get there' block, the 'fear of getting lost in a big class' block, the 'not knowing what to do' block and the 'I can't afford this block.'

Now all I had to tackle was the 'I'm too unfit and overweight' block.

And all I had to do that was....show up to just ONE class to remove those nasty and untrue blocks. 

And I BLOODY loved it.

The machine actually helps your body work the muscles! And you can go as hard or as soft as you like because you can change the spring thingys! 

I surprised myself and now after only 6 sessions, I can feel the difference in my knee and probably even more importantly, I can feel the difference in who I am allowing myself to be at the age.

I can also 100% say that I won't be needing surgery any time soon...

It is never too late.

You can do the thing.

Get to that concert or festival. Wear your converse shoes or bright red lipstick. Try that new exercise. Start writing that book. Start running around your block. Buy that easel and paintbrushes. Sign up to that dating app (be careful though please!) Go to that cooking class. Join that book club.

First remove any logistical blocks keeping you from doing that thing and then remove that last head block by reminding yourself that YOU installed that software so YOU can rewrite that program.

You Can Do The Thing.

Alisha x

Ps. If needing things to take for sore joints, you can't go past EPA/DHA, herbs like turmeic and boswellia, collagen powder, MSM and I like to use a naturopathically formulated comfrey cream topically or I also really like fisiocrem which you can get at most chemists

Pps. The Flower essence blends I recommend taking for removing head blocks are Self Love, Let it Go and Manifest which you can check out HERE

This is a blog for anyone who feels like they missed a window of time somewhere along the way...

For something you thought you might like to do...or maybe something you knew would be good for you...but now you feel like you can't do that thing anymore...due to your age, or your fitness level or who you feel you ARE now.

Let me tell you, you ARE whoever you want to be right now.

I've recently started reformer pilates and I don't want to sound all 'born again' on you...but it's given me back something I thought I had lost (and no, I'm not just talking about the muscles in my pelvic floor) It's given me back the belief that I am not too big or too old to start a brand new exercise.

You think by 47 that you have tried everything you want to try in regards to moving your body. I've danced (jazz, tap, funk, cabaret, ballroom, nia) surfed, yoga'd, been a gym bunny, swum, ridden bikes, played tennis, volleyball, netball, touch footy, soccer, zumba'd, aerobics and I've walked and I've walked and I've walked. I've even worked out with a personal trainer for 3 years and did a lot of mat pilates in that time.

But every time I walked past a reformer pilates class in a gym or seen someone in action on one in my social media feed...my head would immediately say - that's not for me and I can't do that.

What a lot of rubbish.

I'm not sure exactly where we get our limiting beliefs and self talk from as I'm not a psychologist but I know that it just takes looking at something ONE time to form a thought and then due to how our brain works...we repeat that same thought whenever we come in contact with that thing again and eventually form a strong neural pathway so our brain believes the thought forever and ever.

Until we have a circuit breaker.

For me that circuit breaker was a knee injury doing basically nothing as far as I can tell! One day my knee started hurting a bit worse than it had before while I was walking and then it started to limit what I could and couldn't do! The nerve of it! Thanks so much declining oestrogen levels and a very well used knee! 

After limping around for a good few weeks (it will go away on it's own!) I went and got an MRI. I was told that I had 2 ligament tears, a meniscal tear and some osteoarthritis thrown in for good measure. 

I saw an orthopaedic surgeon and he was lovely and said that he's seen people come back from this without surgical intervention and if I wanted to try he was happy to support that decision and see how the pain was in 8 weeks time.

I decided I would do ALL the things to escape surgery - I was already seeing my osteopath but then I threw in regularly icing it at night, fortnightly acupuncture and my brain told me I need to strengthen the leg muscles around the knee joint to stabilise the joint more than it ever had before.

My brain is funny. It also told me that reformer pilates might be my best bet to isolate and strengthen those muscles and that knee. Yep! You know...the same brain that tells me that reformer pilates was too hard for me?

The same brain that thinks...I'm too unfit, I'm too overweight, I won't know what to do and I'll probably accidentally end up hanging myself with the leg strap or something or maybe falling off and embarrassing myself.

But lucky for me I'm a determined little so and so and much like my 14 year old daughter when she puts her mind to something, I. DO. NOT. BACK. DOWN. (why oh why did I have to pass that trait along...)

So I removed any blocks that would stop me going consistently (because at least by 47, I do know that to get anywhere with anything, you have to be consistent - dammit!)

I found somewhere close to my house, that offered one on one as well as small classes so I could learn this scary machine first of all and somewhere that I could afford to go at least twice weekly. So I removed the 'time it takes to get there' block, the 'fear of getting lost in a big class' block, the 'not knowing what to do' block and the 'I can't afford this block.'

Now all I had to tackle was the 'I'm too unfit and overweight' block.

And all I had to do that was....show up to just ONE class to remove those nasty and untrue blocks. 

And I BLOODY loved it.

The machine actually helps your body work the muscles! And you can go as hard or as soft as you like because you can change the spring thingys! 

I surprised myself and now after only 6 sessions, I can feel the difference in my knee and probably even more importantly, I can feel the difference in who I am allowing myself to be at the age.

I can also 100% say that I won't be needing surgery any time soon...

It is never too late.

You can do the thing.

Get to that concert or festival. Wear your converse shoes or bright red lipstick. Try that new exercise. Start writing that book. Start running around your block. Buy that easel and paintbrushes. Sign up to that dating app (be careful though please!) Go to that cooking class. Join that book club.

First remove any logistical blocks keeping you from doing that thing and then remove that last head block by reminding yourself that YOU installed that software so YOU can rewrite that program.

You Can Do The Thing.

Alisha x

Ps. If needing things to take for sore joints, you can't go past EPA/DHA, herbs like turmeic and boswellia, collagen powder, MSM and I like to use a naturopathically formulated comfrey cream topically or I also really like fisiocrem which you can get at most chemists

Pps. The Flower essence blends I recommend taking for removing head blocks are Self Love, Let it Go and Manifest which you can check out HERE