Firstly, I feel so blessed to have crossed paths with Sheena. Truly from the bottom of my heart I cannot thank her enough for getting my passion back for training and my love for exercise, post children. By chance I stumbled across her and her programmes, which totally transformed my body and my mind. I have always had a passion for being physically fit, but now I feel that being mentally fit and healthy is also key to leading my active, chaotic, full time work as a PE teacher and a mum/wife/daughter/sister/friend positive life.
My personal journey has been a crazy ride. Since meeting and being coached by Sheena my relationship with food, my body and myself has changed dramatically for the better. As an ex gymnast for 16 years as my background, where I have always set high standards for myself, seeking perfectionism throughout my life and the many ups and downs with body image and nutrition that comes with being a teenager, that allowing myself the time to get back into fitness I found very difficult prior to meeting Sheena. I have had 2 children who are delightful, full on and just pure magic. But I found both my pregnancies extremely tough. I lost myself. My physical side. But knew I needed to feel grateful in this process. From raising a new baby, navigating parenthood with him and 20 months later having our second child was all foreign and stressful. I never took time for myself. Never tried to get back to my old fit self without getting lost in the cycle of negative self-talk. When our daughter was 1 I allowed myself to step foot back into the gym and start working on myself again. We had a very difficult time with our daughter who suffered a heart attack at 13 days old so that first year of her life was managing all sorts of emotions. Allowing myself the time to starting training again would in turn allow me to become a better mother, wife and friend to those who I loved so very much. The stress and worry with our daughter was traumatic, but I found peace at the gym working on my physical self.
Then I started working with Sheena, who also navigated my mind into self-awareness, tracking macros and understanding how all 3 aspects work together to bring the best out of myself and my training. On and off over a 2 year period I have developed more confidence to try new training exercises and to back myself 100%. Being in the hurt-locker is not always fun, so stepping back my training when I am sore, or tired are 2 key aspects that I will always thank Sheena’s knowledge and understanding of myself for.
Sheena’s knowledge on training and exercise is paramount and her ability to read me was unreal! She knew when things were working and when things were not just by the way we touched base on a weekly basis. She understood my frustrations and we worked together to overcome these and unpack my trauma and past histories of training/ food imbalances. I am becoming more mindful, more accepting, more aware that my physical appearance does not define who I am, but my internal self-love and self-worth is key to being a better mother, wife, friend. It has taken a lot of time and knowledge, is always evolving, but I cannot thank Sheena enough for steering me in the right directions and sticking by me.
I never on this Earth thought I would meet such a caring, knowledgeable soul, who has the passion for transforming other people’s lives for the better. Fitness and leading a healthy life for me is always changing and always evolving. But from all of this I now understand that my mind is the biggest hindrance. Feeding my mind positivity and unpacking hurt will enable me to reach the goals I set myself internally and externally.