First Steps

A dear percussion mentor had me read a self help book years ago called “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.” It was a little cheesy, but the intention was solid. Well, I’m feeling that book title in full, folks, but here we go, I’m taking a deep breath and stepping forth into this new space, and we’re doing it, fear be damned.

Birth&Beyond Fitness has been a dream of mine for so many years. It took root as a mere notion, a cloudy “perhaps someday” itch over a decade ago in a strength program called LIFT for Women* in Austin, TX, where my coach ran gritty, bare bones women’s only classes that pulled no punches and made us all stronger than we thought possible. Coach had begun working with a small group of ladies going through pregnancy and postpartum using a methodology called Birthfit, and I watched them as my jaw dropped on a regular basis. These women, with baby bumps and newly postpartum bodies on display, frequently outlifted me in workouts. But what I also observed from the sidelines was a community of people bonding in a highly specific stage of their lives, laughing, supporting, sometimes crying, and most profoundly defying societal notions of what a woman could or should be doing before, during, and after their babies were born. While I had known lots of people in my family who had babies, I had very few friends who were mothers back then, and none of them lived nearby. What I saw unfolding in that subset of LIFT ladies moving, breathing, and lifting together was so powerful. We know that building and maintaining strength through the journey of childbirth has a massive positive impact on a woman’s overall health, and we also know that women start to lose muscle and bone density as early as their 30s. With falls and broken bones speeding the declines in quality of life and overall longevity for older women, building strength should be a focus for all of us. These women were setting themselves up for a lifetime of capability and independence in addition to weathering the physical challenges of childbirth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430821/

Most of the women in my family who had children did not engage in sport or physical activity. Many of them put their careers on hold or left them altogether. Today, I fully understand that the choice to continue working after having a child is not always possible even when the mother wishes to, but in those days I saw it as a personal weakness or failure of determination. (eyeroll, I know. I KNOW) But there before me in LIFT were leaders in their fields of employ: writers, lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, all showing up to do something for themselves each morning and making it work professionally and seeming to love being mothers. It was revolutionary to me that all of this could exist in one person, let alone a group of people. It made me wonder, if I were to have a child, could I also retain a sense of myself without losing my identity, my livelihood, my relationship, or the things I loved doing?

My life to that point was adamantly child free. The thought of raising a child ran against my life goals and the very idea of having a baby was viscerally abhorrent in those days. But somewhere along the way, my feelings changed. At first I fought them thinking I was actually losing my mind. I didn’t even like babies! And what about my relationship? The person I had been with for many years and (spoiler alert) would later marry, felt the same. It would take four or five years for me to tell him about my change of heart and during that time I kept trying to dismiss what I considered intensely intrusive and even “wrong” thoughts.

Now, how does all of this evolve to our present moment? I am a trained orchestral musician with over twenty years of professional orchestra engagements. Prior to moving to California, I ran a successful private lesson studio and taught at a small liberal arts college in Central Texas. Between busy concert seasons, actively auditioning multiple times per year, and teaching between 65 and 75 students weekly, (totaling about 50 hours of regular lesson hours each week), it was a grueling existence and I needed a counter to the workload. Outside of music, I have always leaned on physical activity as a mental release, starting with daily runs and martial arts during my undergrad years to yoga during grad school. I eventually found crossfit in 2012, and I fell in love with it pretty instantly. What I discovered as I practiced the movements and lifts was that crossfit and learning a musical instrument were more similar than I could have imagined. Anyone can start and anyone can improve with applied practice over a period of time. Both percussion and strength training are often intimidating places for women to enter and occupy, and both remain heavily male dominated areas. I also recognized the pedagogic skill in my coaches that I used with my students, and I wondered even early on if I might want to try my hand at coaching someday. This desire to move into the fitness space solidified once I met the Birthfit crew within the LIFT program. I knew someday I wanted to create a safe, empowering place for females to throw some weights around. I wanted to build a community of badass ladies who owned the strength space for themselves with laughs and high fives and even a bicep flex here and there.

In early 2024, a sudden job loss (another story for another time) provided the opportunity to begin studying and training to become a coach. I received both my Crossfit Level 1 certification and my Birthfit coaching certification while caring for an infant and a toddler. Since then, I have been working to build my business from the ground up to serve others.

We have one chance at life, one chance to impact people and try to leave things better than we found them. I believe, no, I KNOW my music career has done this. From audience members sharing their reactions to the music reaching them at a particular moment to students who are now adults performing and educating the next generation, it’s an amazing ripple effect. And now, a little frightened but ready to “teach” in a new way, I am throwing the doors open and about to start building strong women for every stage of life. Who’s in?

*LIFT for Women has existed in many forms over the years in Austin, TX. I began within extra programs at Crossfit Central and moved to Travis County Strength when Coach Jen opened that space as a co owner. Today, LIFT ladies gather on Sundays at Dane’s Body Shop for anyone local to Austin who would like to check it out. I cannot say enough for Jen’s no nonsense approach or her ability to draw untapped strength from her athletes. She changed my life, made me a better person, and set me on this path, and I am in gratitude to her always.

Embroidery created by a sweet friend to celebrate the birth of our Daughter in 2022.