This episode is for anyone and everyone who wants to rework their relationship with their body - maybe after years' worth of body-shaming the skin you're in.
Helen Phelan is a Health At Every Size aligned pilates instructor, intuitive eating coach, and Reiki practitioner, who works with women to heal their body image and find joy in movement and food. Her approach is creative, anti diet-culture, and designed to enhance your intuition to feel better on and off the mat. Helen is dedicated to improving the collective body image and diet culture issues within the wellness industry by proving that fitness can be good for both the body and soul. Her method is designed to elicit STRONG sensation to encourage improved body awareness and mindfulness while strengthening and mobilizing the body to unstick any energy we don’t need, and make room for feeling good.
In this episode we talk about HAES principles, the business of digital fitness, how to find a trainer/coach (and red flags to look for), body neutrality vs body positivity, thin privilege, how to cultivate body awareness, and more.
Most podcasts are just interviews OR solo episodes...cue that song from Sweet Charity: there's gotta be something OTHER than this! Don't get me wrong, we LOVE interviews and solo episodes and they'll continue to remain the bulk of our podcast episodes....but shifting your self-talk also requires activating your creative brain and getting inspired in unexpected ways.
For the first time on the WANTcast, we're interviewing a spoken word artist...and then she is PERFORMING her piece here on the show. We were so moved, and know you will be too.
Daigi-Ann Thompson is an actress, dancer, spoken word poet and fitness instructor from The Bronx, New York by way of Jamaica. She grew up an athlete, running track and playing basketball up until college where she made the pivot and studied Theater and dance at Buffalo State College. Writing poetry since she was 12 years old and performing spoken word since 2012, she performs under the stage moniker, The Perfect Dai. She has performed and won an open mic slam at the world renowned Nuyorican (noo-your-ee-can) Poet's Cafe, performed on the No Boys Allowed Tour, a college performance tour for female emcees, poets and singers. She was also an original member of the NYC artist collective "Good Vibes Creative Minds," a community of artists dedicated to curating experiences and events for POC creatives. She is also a part of the intergenerational new media collective Eres.you, a platform dedicated to empowering and uplifting folx of color. In addition to a commitment to movement and wellness, Daigi is also committed to a lifetime of inspiring action and progressive thought through creativity and will continue to share her gifts and voice with the world.
SHOW NOTES:
Daigi on Instagram
Stars In The House
Eres.you
Variis
Angela Scarfia (Daigi's fruitfluencer friend)
Lindsay B. Davis (LBD Workout)
Daigi's spoken word piece on Stars In The House/Plays In The House on 6/17
WANT website
Katie’s Instagram
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This episode is in support of Small Projects Istanbul. Small Projects Istanbul is dedicated to helping those displaced by the conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, or the M.E.N.A. region, rebuild their lives. They do this through supporting community development, education and empowerment. Their Community Centre is designed to be a place of safety and belonging; and within this space they are committed to working with the community to ensure the best opportunities for families, students and individuals to reach their full potential in Istanbul and beyond. Within the Community Center, SPI strives to provide livelihood support opportunities through the establishment of a Women’s Social Enterprise, enabling skills development, income generation and economic integration. To get involved or to donate, visit smallprojectsistanbul.org