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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Virginia Sole-Smith

I can definitely understand why people would be relaxed given Lauren’s relaxed and soothing approach to movement. Movement is definitely something I have put down for the most part as a disabled person. It doesn’t fit my life 99% of the time and that’s ok. I would like to push back on the idea that falling is drastically different as a kid or 20 something. What matters about falling is the type of fall and the person’s physical situation. I understand that age feels like a good proxy for understanding a person’s situation but just like body size, it isn’t. Kids and young people fall and it doesn’t go well. My most life-changing disability is from a fall in my 20s. It’s hard too for fat and/or disabled young people who have to be more careful to deal with the perception that we shouldn’t need to be, especially when it’s compounded by the myth that being fat means you won’t be injured because you have “padding.”

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Thank you Amy! I have a lot of learning to do about how to untangle fitness from ableism and I really appreciate you naming this. And just UGHHH to the myth of "padding."

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Virginia Sole-Smith

This is great, thank you.

The thing about flips made me remember the last cartwheel(s) I did. It was almost two years ago and I was at the beach with my kid and there was another kid there doing cartwheels. Or trying to, anyway. And I looked at her and I thought "I actually feel like my body could still do that," and I did one, and it went great. I mean, it felt good. Then I did another -- and pulled a hamstring. So that was it for me. But it totally paid off a couple months later when one of the neighbor kids was showing off her cartwheels and my kid said, totally unimpressed, "oh, my mom can do that."

My kid is creating a new relationship to core work for me, because he just got an IEP for fine motor skills, and one thing the occupational therapist noted was that his core strength isn't what it should be, which is actually amplifying his fine motor issues. So I am going to be trying to get him to do like five minutes of core work every evening if possible, where we do it together so that he doesn't feel like I'm standing over him like some drill sergeant. Our first challenge, I learned last night, is the opposite arm-leg coordination on things like bird dogs and dead bug. But since I've been trying to rebuild my relationship to core exercises since arthritis in my neck made me leery of doing as many planks as I used to, this feels like a nice thing for me as well.

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Yes, my older kiddo doing a lot of core work in PT and OT really helped me develop a new, non-aesthetic appreciation for the core too. And dead bug is killer!

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I love Lauren and everything she stands for. Great interview!

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Virginia Sole-Smith

LOVED this interview!

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Yay! Lauren is the best.

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