I don’t want to be small
Heather Bailey, July 2025
I am pretty resistant to a lot of what the “wellness” industry tries to sell me. Maybe you are too? I am interested in questions about “healthy” food, movement, and ways of thinking, because I want to make choices that will support my mind and body to carry me with as much vitality as possible into my old age. I’d like to unlearn patterns of behaviour that make it much more likely that I will experience disability earlier and also unlearn patterns of behaviour that keep me in coping/denial mode instead of thriving mode.
But … I am NOT interested in treating my body as an aesthetic object to be measured and assessed, mostly for the benefit of others. I don’t believe in a hierarchy of “good” bodies, for any of us, and don’t wish to participate in perpetuating that for you, either. I want to honour my body as the place where I experience pleasure, where I can exhibit superpowers like growing birthing and feeding a whole other human being, and as the place where I experience connection with the people I love.
Sometimes the world of health coaching can trigger feelings of “not good-enough-ness”. There can be explicit calls to “win” with the longest fast, the healthiest diet (whatever that is), the best sleep, the ultimate mindfulness routine, the optimal supplementation regime … you name it.
I give you all permission right now — if you see me doing that, please “call me in” and invite me to think again.
So what am I doing here in the mind-body coaching space?
It’s because the coach approach means I can be radically on YOUR agenda — what is important to you, what are you yearning for, what steps feel workable to you right now, and how can I support you to learn and grow.
It means I can hold the truth that the functioning of our minds and bodies are inextricably linked, so we don’t have to separate mental health and emotional wellbeing from our physical wellbeing.
It means that I can support you to experience being able to tell the truth to yourself about the gap between what you are yearning for, and where you are right now, and help you to take action to build that bridge.
It means that I can reflect back to you, your growth into becoming your full glorious self.
Go ahead — grow, expand, get strong and fierce and loud and proud. Let’s stop shrinking ourselves into someone else’s mould. Let’s do messy growth together.
