This is my 60-day update on the physical and mental changes I’ve experienced through my feminine wellness routine. My regimen includes Pilates classes, at-home strength training, pole dance, and heated stretching.
My routines aren’t perfect, but I focus on making my body feel strong and keeping my mind calm and clear.
How Stress and Environment Affected My Health
To understand how I rebuild my strength now, it helps to understand how I gain weight.
I was raised with generally healthy eating and exercise habits, but like many women my body tends to lose or gain weight during periods of stress or instability. My weight fluctuations have not been related to having children (yet), a sedentary desk job, or fast-food habits as a lifestyle.
Instead, they’ve mostly been circumstantial.
For nearly two years I was displaced—essentially homeless. During that time, I didn’t consistently have access to a kitchen or even a private bathroom. My meals often consisted of fast food, sugary snacks, or fried foods because those were the most accessible options.
Mentally, I had to detach just to survive the situation.
I share this because life moves in cycles, and sometimes survival mode is all we can manage. It’s important to give ourselves—and others—grace during those seasons.
Rebuilding My Health After Instability
Even during that difficult period, I knew what I needed in order to rebuild: a safe place to live and access to nourishing food. Once those basics were in place, I could finally start prioritizing my health again.
Today I have more agency over my time, my meals, and my daily routines. I’m also in a position to invest in my wellness in ways that simply weren’t possible before.
Pilates is the first workout where I’ve consistently reached a true flow state. I love yoga—it’s been a huge part of my life—but Pilates unlocked something different for me physically.
That realization was surreal. It felt almost selfish not to share this with other women.
Encouraging More Women to Try Pilates
One thing I’ve noticed is that it can be difficult to get some of my Black girlfriends into a Pilates studio with me. That honestly makes me a little sad, because I’ve seen firsthand how powerful this practice can be for both physical and mental wellness.
But it only motivates me more to share what I’ve learned.
Pilates has become one of the most transformative parts of my wellness routine, and I’ll keep encouraging more women to step onto the mat—or the reformer—and experience it for themselves.
Honor the Bloom is my personal movement diary. Just feminine movement, nervous system healing, and learning how to feel at home in my body again.
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