For years, I pushed myself very hard to be strong—training for a marathon after the 2016 election, raising thousands for gun safety, and working grueling hours in high-stakes political campaigns. I learned how to override discomfort, push past limits, and measure success by how much of myself I was willing to give.

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Eventually, I couldn’t give anymore. My body was sounding alarms—illness, fatigue, pain—but I didn’t yet know how to listen. So I began working with an intuitive eating counselor. What started as an effort to heal my relationship with food became something much bigger. As I stopped ignoring my hunger, I also stopped ignoring the other parts of me I had pushed down: the part that longed for rest, for art, for joy, for ease.

 

And when I really listened, everything changed. That quiet inner voice—the one I had silenced for years—started speaking up. She had opinions. She had expectations. She didn’t want to be ignored anymore. She knew what wasn’t working, and she refused to fake it.

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As I re-learned how to feed myself, I also re-learned how to protect myself, advocate for myself, and imagine a life that made space for the full version of me. And I knew that movement—something I had once used to control my body—needed to be reclaimed too.

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I searched for a space where I could rebuild that relationship safely and gently. I tried online functional fitness programs and attended in-person classes. I found glimpses of what I wanted—functional fitness, integration between mind and body, opportunities to learn—but they were always paired with things that made me feel small: weight-loss talk, extreme intensity, instructors who didn’t know how to work with my body.

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That’s why I created BodiLab. Because the kind of movement I needed—functional, intuitive, inclusive—was nowhere to be found. And I knew I wasn’t the only one looking.

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Rebuilding my relationship with movement hasn’t meant walking away from strength—it’s meant reimagining it. Real strength isn’t about control. It’s about connection. It’s about listening to your body’s cues instead of overriding them. It’s about moving in ways that support your whole life—not transform you into someone more palatable to the outside observer.

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I’m currently an ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor and have completed a 300-hour yoga teacher training focused on decolonizing yoga, facilitated by Susanna Barkataki. I’m also in the process of earning my 200-hour certification with Circle Yoga Cooperative in Chevy Chase, as well as a Size Inclusive Fitness Specialist certification through SITA. Through BodiLab, I’m building the kind of movement space I once searched for—where your body is welcome as it is, and movement is a practice of support, not strain.

 

If you’ve ever felt out of place in a gym or yoga studio, if you’ve ever wanted more from a class than just sweat and soreness, or if you’re simply ready to stop fighting your body and start working with it—BodiLab was built with you in mind. Welcome. I'm glad you're here.