Episode 132 | Unlocking Your Ageless Spirit with Nicole Sciacca
There’s no doubt that the fitness industry is heavily focused on aesthetics and a lot of us go into new fitness regimes and programs with aesthetic goals like getting more “sculpted”. But what if there was an alternative approach to movement that allowed us to connect with our inner child and unlock our ageless spirit?
I sat down with my dear friend, mobility expert, personal trainer, yoga teacher, dancer, and children's book author Nicole Sciacca to talk all about her philosophy behind aging powerfully in body and spirit. Nicole is a firm believer that your physical and mental well being are the gateway to feeling ageless.
Growing up as a professional dancer, Nicole inevitably found herself in front of a mirror very often in tight clothing. The dance industry has come a long way in terms of language and perceptions, but back then, Nicole had experiences of teachers pinching her and making negative comments about her body and shape. There were many spoken and unspoken limitations set about what she needed to look like, while also contending with ‘90s diet culture when ‘fat free’ products were flying off the shelves.
Nicole became obsessed with parts of her body that she could never change, like her height, her broad shoulders, and her feet. Because she didn’t fit into the molds of what everyone else in the dance industry was doing, she began scrutinizing herself. Thankfully, her parents gave her the strong message that she was worthy no matter what. With maturity, age, and expanding her world view, she discovered her own community of people who looked different and were successful and then she knew there was a place for her.
Nowadays social media can affect us in exactly the same way as the dance industry affected Nicole. So my biggest piece of advice here is to follow people that look like you or that look different to the societal “norm”. We have to counteract what we’re seeing day in and day out (aka teeny tiny people). We can curate our feeds how we want to and it will help you feel beautiful on a subconscious level.
What is agelessness?
Nicole is proud to say she has a childlike spirit and believes every single person is still a child on the inside, no matter how much conditioning they’ve had. A child that deserves the attention, love, and care that it may or may not have got. Being able to recognise yourself as worthy of love is the end-all be-all.
If you consider that you are just source energy, and that you are a spirit in a physical body, you’ll come to realize that through moving your body, everything calibrates. Your immune system, your metabolism, your thinking, your clarity, and your cardiovascular fitness. Your organs love it. There is no part of you that is left behind when you’re moving. You also get out of your own way and stop the conditioned language around movement like “oh I’m 40, I shouldn’t move this way”.
Remember you are ageless, you are a spirit, you are energy, and you can do whatever the f*ck you want!
And when you take care of yourself, you will welcome that more often.
Joint Health
The fitness industry itself is all about aesthetics. What it should be about is joint health, and once you know how well your joints move, you can decide your movement based on that. It’s important to look at the body first through the lens of how well your joints move, and then you can build upon healthy joint tissues, rather than doing a certain exercise just because you’ve done it for 20 years or because you’ve been told it will get you “sculpted”.
The way to agelessness, being childlike, and the way to play, is through movement.
How to take care of your joints
CARS, which stands for Controlled Articular Rotations, is a physical therapy technique used to improve joint health and mobility. It involves slow and controlled circular movements performed within a joint's full range of motion. It also activates the muscles surrounding the joint, improving their coordination and stability.
Regular practice of CARS can prevent joint stiffness, reduce the risk of injury, and promote overall joint health. By moving joints through their full range of motion, CARS helps maintain joint integrity, and preserves flexibility.
When each one of these joints is doing its job and is optimal, you feel effin’ great and like a child again! But if you have bypassed steps in order to get to the “sculpted” outcome, then you just wind up injured and in more pain.
Think of CARS as the flossing of your joints, and the veggies of your movement. They have all of the nutrients and all of the foundations you need to build a healthy house (which is you).
Approaching fitness in the correct way (aka feeling good in your skin)
When feeling good in your own body, feeling playful, and feeling yourself is the motivation, rather than needing a four pack, the outcome is transformational.
So many people are grinding it out for the wrong reasons and getting nothing out of it.
When you listen to your intuition, and recognize what does and doesn’t feel good, every cell in your body is listening to you. You develop this constant narrative that supports your body’s optimal health.
When Nicole suffered a back injury that left her bed bound for a month, it enabled her to develop a new sense of gratitude, and to change the soundtrack in her mind to one of constant love and care. She experienced what it was like to not be able to move, and to feel constant pain.
She realized how much of a miracle it is that you're here on planet Earth! Just think of all the things that had to go right for that to happen…yet we are so quick to dismiss it and hate ourselves, and talk to ourselves negatively.
You will enjoy every day so much more when you're speaking to yourself kindly and with compassion. And remember, you don’t have to believe it at the start. When you stick with it, it creates a mantra, and then you do really start to believe it. Trust that it will transition and morph into what it needs to be.
So ask yourself what radio station you are listening to inside of your own brain. You'll know by the way you feel in your body. If you feel low vibrations, disappointment, shame, guilt, or just meh…it’s because you're talking to yourself like sh*t.
So much of diet drama is rooted in thinking there's something wrong with you. But until you address your beliefs about being worthless and broken, you can't change your health.
Nothing is wrong with you, our culture is set up so that we literally can’t solve this in the traditional way. It is not your fault and we actually can change this. You are not a special unicorn that is flawed. You really can solve this once and for all.
If you feel ready to do the mind work and be an even better role model to your children around food and weight, get yourself on the waitlist for the Yummy Mummy Experience now! Doors will open mid July!
Connect with Nicole
Nicole Sciacca is a yoga teacher, mobility specialist (FRCms)(FRAs), KINSTRETCH instructor, professional dancer, creator of the on demand platform SweatandStillness.com and mom to her 9 yr old son Beau.
She is well-known in the Los Angeles fitness & wellness community from her previous positions as Chief Yoga Officer at Playlist Yoga in West Hollywood and as the owner and operator of Hustle & Flow Fitness on Abbot Kinney.
Nicole quickly earned a reputation with clients and students for her high energy music-based flow classes, her knowledge and integration of body mechanics within her teaching style and her witty, breezy personality that is accessible to everyone.
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