In college, I transformed myself from the sluggish, overweight teen I’d once been into a hardcore fitness enthusiast doing 6-7 hard workouts a week. But on the inside, things were much less impressive.

I was driven by anxiety and insecurity, which had me overtraining and not recovering. And the way I pushed through the signals my body was giving was to, well, ignore them.

This lack of connection to my body kept me in a state of chronic stress and anxiety, while causing me to train in a way that was hurting my body. I was a mess.

Throughout years of working as a high performer in the field of education, the stress stayed high and the workouts stayed intense. In fact, these anxious habits caused a rigidness that had me obsessed with work and fitness to the point where I was missing out on meaningful opportunities for fun, connection, and health as something other than a chore.

I’ll never forget how humid it was on that July day when I plopped down on my beach towel and started the book The Illuminated Breath by Dylan Werner. Just a few pages in, my world was already turned upside down. It was clear that I’d spent my whole life breathing in a way that was zapping my energy, getting me injured, and giving stress the upper hand.

Since I was a teacher on summer break, I resolved to use that free time to focus on fixing the way I was breathing. The results were mind blowing. My energy and focus skyrocketed, my sleep improved, exercise started taking less effort, and my baseline stress levels went way down.

The next issue on the docket was the low back pain I’d been pushing through for years. As a certified personal trainer, I was familiar with traditional exercise, but it wasn’t until I went down the rabbit hole of biomechanics and natural human movement that I stopped having back spasms and started moving in a way that felt connected, athletic, and actually enjoyable. Who knew exercise could be fun?!

Throughout this journey, I’ve acuired countless certifications in integrative health, fitness and biomechanics, and breath science. And I’ve used that education to create the healthiest, most balanced life I’ve had to date.

After that wild ride, I realized that I was not the only 30-something being kept down by stress, anxiety, and joint pain. That’s why I created The North Star Body, where I help people just like me get out of pain and learn to master stress, so they can avoid physical & mental burnout and enjoy life on their own terms.