Just had a session with a bunch of subtle and super weird exercises? Can’t remember anything we did? Feeling daunted? Not sure you’re capable of doing this? Those are common worries that all of my clients feel after their first session. I had them too when I had my first session as a client. It’s really important to me that you succeed. I’ve got you! Read on for answers to each of the questions I know you all have.

I can’t remember the exercises

I remember this from grad school. Nodding fervently in meetings with my advisor and remembering nothing back at my desk. Your exercises probably made a lot of sense as I helped you through them but now, a few days later, back at home they seem to have vanished.

Not to worry. You can always email me and ask for the notes again. You won’t be bugging me. I want you to succeed and I’m here to make sure you do. 🙂

Next visit, ask to switch up how we help you remember. Prefer a picture? Or me demonstrating? Or a video of me? Or of you? Want to write notes in your phone or on a piece of paper? You name it, I’ve done it to help my clients remember their exercises.

And if you choose a new method that didn’t work, we can choose another one.

I’m probably doing the exercises wrong.

There’s no such thing. All of the exercises are putting your body into a shape it’s been ignoring for years. And simply being in that shape is already making changes. Doing it mostly right is still doing a great job. At this point, your brain has been wishing you’d do ANY kind of different movement.

If you can’t remember how much of an exercise to do, remember: any exercise with breathing is 5 breaths, 4 sets, any other exercise is 5-10 reps where you got all the cues to work.

How often should you do them? Every day, doesn’t matter when. Just as long as it’s at a time where you can keep consistent. Don’t obsess. I had a client do one exercise for 2 hours. That is waaaayyyy too much input for a new pattern. Your exercises should take no more than 15min.

I am doing this wrong and I can’t remember anything but I don’t want to bug Holly

I am here to support you. If you’re not sure you are doing them right, reach out and ask. And remember, even if you’re not doing it 100% right you are still giving your body new inputs that it hasn’t done for years or decades that is all on the right track. Your body wishes you’d do ANY new movements.

I’m doubtful I can actually do these exercises on my own and make any changes to myself

The truth is you ARE doing it yourself and you CAN make these changes all by yourself. I am here to guide you into the exercises and you are actually the one doing the changes. Your daily homework is all about YOU changing YOURSELF. I don’t want you reliant on a practitioner that is the only one with the skills and power to change your body. You get to do it yourself. And I don’t know much else that is more empowering than that.

I think I need a few weeks to master this before showing my face again

There’s a reason why I check in with you after your appointments and set your follow ups within a week or two. To make sure you are succeeding. If the exercises I gave you aren’t the right ones, then I can switch them before your next appointment. If you are having a tough time doing the exercises I can help motivate you. If you don’t think you’re doing them properly I can encourage you that you are. My goal is to get you to your goal as quickly as your body will let us. Delaying seeing me will delay both of our goals.

My first visit was overwhelming. There’s too much I have to change. I don’t think I can face it.

I hear you. EVERYONE tells me they had no idea all the things their body wasn’t able to do. The good news is often when we clear up one missing thing, a ton of the other things clear up with it. And knowing what needs to be worked on is empowering. You have a path forward and a plan. Rather than sitting still and not getting started and also not knowing what you need to do to change it. Now that you know, you are able to make the changes rather than puzzling about why it never gets better no matter what you throw at it. It’s my goal to help you succeed. And we will take things one task at a time at your body’s own pace.

I don’t think anything is changing. How long will it take?

The short answer is ‘everybody is different’. The long answer is it depends on how long you’ve had this pattern, what things you do in your daily life to reinforce that pattern, how familiar you are with making new movements in your body and whether your body is ready to be receptive to changes. The changes begin internally with new movements only taking root under your awareness. Most of my clients will notice changes in the first few weeks and will need about 5 sessions to resolve one issue. The more layers there are, the longer it will take. If I don’t think this method is for you then we wouldn’t be going down this path together. Often clients will completely forget why they came to see me as that pain and frustration has been erased from their memory and we are refocused on the more subtle patterns.

Something hurts in a weird way, is something wrong?

The exercises we do will fire up muscles (and other tissues) that have been stored under a layer of dust in the attic for years (or decades). Many of those muscles are super tiny. It’s normal to have a little bit of soreness in tiny muscles, big muscles, joints, tiny areas or big areas. When something moves that hasn’t moved in a long time, the body will need to adjust resources. Being sore is ok. It doesn’t mean the exercises aren’t actually working.

Ugh, I just can’t seem to make myself do the exercises

Habit forming is a pain. I know that many of us struggle with this. Whether we are neurodivergent or have a busy life or fear change. Just doing the darned thing can seem impossible. Here are a few things my clients have used to help:

-set the wedges and equipment somewhere you can’t ignore them

-stack when you do your exercises with something you always do daily like when you wait for the kettle to boil you always do your exercises

-have an accountability buddy, someone who you have to report to whether you did them or not, sometimes guilt or shame can be a short-term motivator (or imagine yourself coming to see me and having to say you didn’t do your exercises)

Got any other questions or want to reach out to me for help? You can reach me at holly (at) flowmovement.ca