Hey friend —

First off, thank you for spending your three most valuable resources with me today:
👉 Your time
👉 Your energy
👉 Your attention

In a world that's constantly pinging and buzzing and demanding more of us, the fact that you're here means a lot. I promise to make it worth your while.

🎧 Prefer to listen? [Check out the podcast version here.]
🎥 Want to watch instead? [Click here for the video.]

Last Week's Shimmy Challenge...

If you were with me last week, you’ll remember my slightly strange but strangely useful challenge: practice getting your hips off the ground so you could shimmy into a pair of hospital pants if you ever needed to.

(If you missed it and you're confused... you can catch up [right here]. Trust me, it'll make sense.)

What Actually Helps Us Heal?

When someone walks into my office in pain — physical or emotional — there are a lot of factors at play. But I’ve boiled them down into four core categories that set the stage for healing:

1. Manage Stress

2. Optimize Sleep

3. Ventilate & Vascularize (i.e., move your breath and your blood)

4. Eat Real Food & Hydrate

Together, they spell M.O.V.E. — and they’re foundational to both healing and long-term health.

The kicker?
Improving these costs zero dollars — but they’ll require your energy, time, and attention. (There’s no billion-dollar ad campaign telling you to eat a carrot or take a deep breath, after all.)

So over the next few weeks, I’m breaking them down one by one — starting today with:

🌟 Manage Stress by Finding the Bright Spots

Let’s talk about stress. More specifically, let’s talk about how you already are managing it — maybe without even realizing.

Here’s Your 3-Step Framework:

1. Recognize what's happening in your body

2. Intervene with a small, intentional action

3. Celebrate that win (no matter how tiny)

Let me give you a couple of examples straight from my vacation last week…

✨ Bright Spot #1: Car Seat Whining & Calm Parenting (Mostly)

We were driving down the shore — 1.5 hours in the car with our 2-year-old daughter and our chocolate lab, Hank. Both adorable. Both unpredictable.

About 45 minutes in, our daughter started whining. She dropped her stuffed animal, wanted a snack, wanted out of the car… toddler things.

Now, whining is a trigger for me. Like many parents, I feel the stress rise fast. My jaw tightens. My shoulders creep up. My body’s like, “Warning! Threat detected!”

But instead of snapping, I took a deep breath and tried something else:

• I recognized I was getting tense.

• In the calmest voice I could muster, I told her, “This is hard, but we’ve done hard things before. We can do this.”

• And after she settled, my husband and I celebrated — we kept our cool, and we modeled emotional regulation for our daughter.

That’s a bright spot.

✨ Bright Spot #2: Hank the Bark Monster

Later that week, friends came to visit, and Hank went full guard dog mode — barking like we were under siege.

Cue the same stress response in my body: shoulders tense, jaw locked, cortisol flowing.

But this time, almost instinctively, I did something new:

• I put my hands out in front of me, made a slow “pushing down” motion, and said, “Lower the energy, Hank.”

• It didn’t calm him — but it totally calmed me.

• I felt my nervous system shift, and I thought, “That worked!” I celebrated the win.

Another bright spot.

Why This Stuff Works

Your brain doesn’t know the difference between your dog barking and a lion charging at you. The primitive part of your nervous system reacts the same way to any perceived threat.

But you’re not a lizard. You’re not a zebra. You’ve got a big, beautiful prefrontal cortex — and it’s your job to use it.

When you recognize your stress response, intervene with something grounding, and celebrate the shift, you're training your brain and body to respond with calm, not chaos.

💡 This Week’s Challenge:

I want you to find your own bright spot.

Think back to a moment of stress — anything from a tough conversation to a toddler meltdown to being cut off in traffic.

• What did you do to handle it?

• Did it work?

• Could you try that 3-step process (Recognize, Intervene, Celebrate)?

Even if it didn’t go well — could you try again next time?

👉 If you do this (or even attempt it), please let me know. I’d love to hear how it goes for you. I’m here to help, cheer you on, and offer tools that make it easier next time.

You’re Not Broken — You’re Wired for Survival

And healing starts when you can tap into the parts of your brain and body that know how to settle.

So take the first step. Notice your stress. Lower the energy. Celebrate the bright spot.

You're doing better than you think. And when you're ready to commit to your health, I’m here, ready when you are.

💬 Got a question or a win to share? Drop it in the comments or send me a message — I read every one.

With you,
Dr. Coach Kelli
Your personal movement & mindset hype woman