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Description

Celebrity fitness trainer Simone De La Rue wants to change how we think about and relate to our bodies. She can trace her passion for health, women’s empowerment, and self-care to a pivotal moment in her life – an audition for the Australian Ballet Company where she felt judged solely on her physical appearance. Through her dance-based fitness program Body By Simone, she fights back against unrealistic physical expectations exacerbated by airbrushed and filtered social media photos. This episode’s practice is about self-love and not subjecting yourself to anyone else’s notion of the ideal body, but being in touch with your real body instead.

Resources from the show

• Download the Body by Simone App for personalized workout and meal plans
• Sign up for Simone’s four-week course Transformation From Within 
• Read “Body By Simone: The 8-Week Total Body Makeover Plan”
• Check out Simone’s Lifestyle and Fitness Blog 

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Simone De La Rue, Claire

Claire  00:09

Hi, I’m Claire Bidwell Smith. Welcome to NEW DAY. I don’t know about you, but the last two years have been a roller coaster of juggling kids and work in my household. We’re actually recording this after school, which means that my house is full of children, and we may experience interruptions, but that’s okay, because it’s probably time that you all know what my life actually sounds like. But I’m not alone. Our guest today Simone De La Rue, up to her our interview with her three-year-old on our lap. These days, we are all managing a million things at once. And I honestly appreciate it seeing someone who I could relate to. It’s not like being a working mom was easy before COVID. In the last 10 years, I’ve written three books and had three kids not to mention having a very full private practice as a therapist. And if that sounds impressive, it shouldn’t because it was insanity most of the time, Jules, can you guys get back upstairs, please. Surviving has been a mix of relying on my friends and community, the school systems and also honestly just learning how to work right in the middle of the chaos, as evidenced right now.

Claire 

There are days when the madness doesn’t faze me. And there are other days when I’m an utter wreck, fighting with my husband, yelling at the kids and basically just wanting to get in my car right away from it all. I was really excited to dive into the topic of body image with our guest today Simone de La Rue. Simone is a former Broadway dancer at turn celebrity fitness trainer, and is the founder of body by Simone, a dance-based fitness program that focuses on women’s empowerment and self-care, a concept inspired by her career in dance and witnessing friends suffer from eating disorders and injuries while trying to live up to ideal body standards. And we do get into a great discussion about this topic. But talking to Simone also brought up a lot of other thoughts for me about being a working mom, as she did her best to tune into my questions while juggling the needs of her toddler, Oscar, at the time. Whoa, what happened to the truck? Anyway, I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Claire  02:12

Hi, Simone, welcome. Who else have you got with you?

Simone De La Rue

I’ve got my two-and-a-half-year-old son Oscar here. He’s dressed as Spider Man, still, I have not been able to take the costume off since Halloween.

Claire 

I could not get my son to wear a costume. He did not want to wear when he’ll be three next week. And he only wore a t-shirt and jeans. And then he had like a construction hat. And he said he was a builder. But then he took the hat off while trick or treating. So everybody was like, okay.

Simone De La Rue 

I did ask Oscar initially, if you want to be spider man, and he said, no, thank you. I just want to be Oscar. And I was like, my parenting skills are done.

Claire 

I love it. Well, I start every episode of the show asking my guests how are you? But how are you really like in this moment?

Simone De La Rue 

That’s a very good question. And my authentic answer would be I feel really happy. But I also feel scattered, because you know, I am a working mom. It is the 10-year anniversary of Body by Simone this month.

Claire 

Congratulations.

Simone De La Rue 

Thank you. We got lots of celebrations. And I’m filming after this. I’m about to film for our app. And I’ve got my son sitting next to me. So I do feel like a woman who’s juggling a million bowls right now but pulling it together.

Claire  

I love that, I relate. I have three kids, twelve, nine and almost three. And they’re right nearby. I take them everywhere just like you do. I travel with them. They come to everything. And I just have always done it that way.

Simone De La Rue 

Well, I think about one is enough. So I’m just like, how on earth do you do three that just? Is that just a circus?

Claire  04:00

Well, they become helpers now. So my 12-year-old is babysitting.

Simone De La Rue 

I have some nieces.

Claire 

So I would love to start by just having you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to the 10-year anniversary of body by Simone.

Simone De La Rue 

Yeah, it’s such a huge milestone, you know, a decade I think in any business, especially coming out of COVID in the last few years, which were the most challenging. So I’m actually right now, really just sitting in the gratitude of being able to say that, you know, the brand is 10 years old. And I’ve been looking through old photos and old videos from 2011, from when I first started seeing all the old faces of clients and you know, staff who have contributed to help build Body by Simone. So it’s been really lovely to go and walk down memory lane and see, you know, the young ambitious woman who was 36 at the time who just loved to dance and was passionate about helping other women, transform their bodies, you know, signing a lease for a studio in West Chelsea in New York, having no idea how I was going to pay the rent that month. And, you know, somehow managing to pull it together to 10 years later, you know, having four studios and enough and clothing line and equipment and TV show. So it’s been an incredible journey of lots of highs and lots of lows.

Claire 

Yeah, I bet. Who are you now today, as opposed to 10 years ago, when you started this?

Simone De La Rue 

Who I am today, I mean, I really feel like I’m a woman now. But I think that comes from being a mother. You know, I didn’t actually realize how kind of selfish I was before I became a mother. And now you realize that you have no time for yourself whatsoever, everything is given over to your child, but I definitely think I’m a mature woman now who’s learned from my experiences, you know, in business and in life. I always say that, you know, they’re not failures, failures are learning lessons. And, you know, 10 years on, I definitely feel like I’ve learned a lot. I feel like I’ve contributed a lot to a lot of lives and helped a lot of women. I’m also very proud of that. And, yeah, it’s just nice to be standing here talking to you today. 10 years later.

Claire  06:20

Yeah. It’s, it sounds like a really pivotal moment. What was your journey with your body? You know, growing up and becoming who you are? What’s that been like? I know that’s a huge question. But just to get a bit of a sense of it.

Simone De La Rue

So I started dancing at the age of 3. I know it I was something that I wanted to do. I said to my mom, I want to dance. And she was like, okay, you know, she wasn’t ballet mother that pushed me into it. And so I was very active from a very young age, you know, I was going to dance when most people were going to, you know, parties and sleepovers. I was very dedicated. So, you know, the muscular structure of my body, you know, was built from a very early age, because I was dancing hours and hours a day, obviously, you know, when you’re in the dance world, you are standing in front of a mirror, you know, 4 to 8 hours a day, looking at yourself in a leotard. There’s extreme pressure on young women to be have a certain image, you know, especially as a classical ballet dancer, which I was training in, you know, and it was very unhealthy back in the day when I went, you know, when I was starting out, the young woman was so, so thin. And so there’s a lot of pressure. And I just feel blessed. I was very lucky that I had a mom, that was like, no, we’re not going down the eating disorder path, we’re not doing that we are going to, you know, eat well, we’re going to eat to fuel your body. And we’re going to look at your body as a tool, and you know, the strength in it, to do the thing that you love, which is today.

Claire 

That’s such a gift from her. That’s amazing that she had that insight.

Simone De La Rue 

Yeah, I’m very grateful for that. Because, you know, so many of my friends went down the eating disorder route or, you know, got injured because they weren’t taking care of their bodies. So yeah, I think I’ve always had a good body image. I’ve always really tried to just love the body that I was in and not be critical or judgmental of it. But it was definitely a period of time when I was 15, when I auditioned for the Australian ballet company. And, you know, I’ve been late my life was leading up to this moment for this audition. And I got into the room. And we were basically told, stand front, stand sideways and backwards inside, to a point […] to the side.

Claire 

That terrifies me just thinking about it.

Simone De La Rue 

Like a meat market, right, and literally, and then they were like, thank you. So I didn’t even get to dance. They just judged on your physical appearance. And that, for me was a huge turning point, like an “aha” moment was like, I don’t you know, this, I can’t even show you my talent. I can’t show you my passion, my joy, because my body type was, you know, I had long torso, short legs, square shoulders. Yes, that’s the moment when I moved into musical theater. And, you know, looking back, I’m like, I’m so glad that I did, because I had a wonderful career in musical theater. And I didn’t, you know, go down the path of the classical, you know, classical ballet world. But at the time, I was devastated. And you know, and shattered. But I also have carried that moment with me because I just thought about the pressure that was put on young women at that point, you know, and my method, my Body by Simone method has always been about loving the skin you’re in, you know, celebrating all different shapes and sizes and body types. Leaving your ego at the door, come in and dance for the love and the passion of it. Not about how you look in the mirror.

Claire 

That’s incredible. Was there a turning point when you decided you wanted to share with others and teach others?

Simone De La Rue

Yeah, I had, you know, performed on Broadway, in London’s West End, in Australia and Germany and Asia. A lot of musicals for 18 years and I had an “aha” moment in the dressing room in Broadway. Everyone was talking about the next audition for the next show. And I just thought, you know what, I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to put my, my future and career in the hands of somebody else waiting to see if I would be the perfect role or the type of, you know, for the role that they were auditioning. So that was that moment of like, okay, I’m going to start my own business, I’m going to take control of my destiny, I’m going to do this. But the driving force was something that I loved and was passionate about my whole life, which was dance, new, and being able to teach people who are so afraid of the word dance, you know, to teach you that you can do some jumping jacks, music and sway your hips, you know, and feel like a dance.

Claire

I was watching one of your video, your promo videos for your program. And I was like, oh, that’s the part I couldn’t. I was watching the dance part. And I was like, oh, you had me up until that.

Simone De La Rue 

A lot of people say that. But then you know, it’s just like the first day getting that first class under your belt and getting in the room and doing it. And then you’re like, it’s not that bad. And you have a good time and make fun of yourself. You know?

Claire 

No, I bet. I mean, I think this is what’s kind of magical about what you’re doing. Just taking people out of that. That constant, you know, self-critical space that’s getting in the way of everything else, you know, and just kind of freeing them up. How do you work with that resistance? So when people come in and like me, what would you do?

Simone De La Rue 

I always say that the main goal of your first class is just to stay in the room. Like that’s, that’s all we ask of you to do is just stay in the room and be open minded. You know, and then, you know, everyone usually does that. And then they’re like, oh, it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be okay, and then good endorphins have kicked in, and they’re like, alright, I’ll sign up, I’ll come again.

Claire  12:09

So, tell me about starting to work with people. What was that like. Like, I’m just thinking, I don’t have a background in relieving physicality. I’m a writer, I’m very cerebral. I’m always hunched over, you know, I absolutely exercise but it’s just not my, you know, my foundation. And so for you, as someone who that is your foundation, when you’re coming into work with other people who are maybe struggling in different ways, like, what were you surprised by that you found in the clients that you started working with, or what was kind of amazing that you found?

Simone De La Rue

I think what’s interesting is, you know, being a dancer from such a young age, you really connected to your body, like your body is your tool. So, you know, feelings and emotions, you know, I’ve often felt in my body, but I’ve always felt connected to it. But I found that very interesting working with clients, for example, like yourself, who you know, weren’t felt creative or expressive to move their bodies, it was like teaching you to connect to your core, connect to your body connect to your, you know, your soul, so to speak. And so, it has been really interesting. Another part is, you know, with women, one thing that I always get them to do is to stand in front of the mirror, look at themselves in the eyes, and say something positive, that they love about themselves. And, you know, over the past 10 years, I’ve done this with every client and every woman struggles, and then there are the eyes look down or they look away, or they look at me and they say, oh, I can’t think of anything or this is really challenging. Yeah, you know, and it’s like, okay, well just tell me one positive thing you love about yourself, you love your eyes. Do you love your smile? Do you? You know, you’d like curvy waist, like to pick something you know, about yourself. And so I also realized in the early days that yes, exercise and dance is about feeling strong, and how it makes you look and if you’re in good shape, but it really is about how it makes you feel, you know, and so a lot of my work now is just really connecting to that. It’s just like really digging deep into, you know, loving yourself and feeling worthy of doing all of these things and feeling worthy of being able to make the change. But you know, that exercise I call Mira minutes that I do with all my clients has been the most challenging for every client that’s come in.

Claire  14:32

Yeah, I can imagine just thinking about it for myself is intense. You know, my mom died of cancer, both of my parents did and the experience of going through that made me want to get as distant as possible from my body because I had watched them deteriorate and it was really scary. And in my late 20s, I finally dragged myself to a yoga studio and it was so intense like you were describing to kind of get to know my body in that soul way like come into my body. Just be there. And sometimes I would just sit on the mat and cry just because I was actually being present to my physical self. And that was intense. But you know, thinking about that, and I’m thinking, I work with a lot of people who are grieving, that’s the main work I do as a therapist. And so but I see a lot of people have similar reactions, or they distance themselves from their bodies, or what’s really interesting in grief is that I see that people either stop eating and stop exercising, or overeat and over exercise, you know, the relationship that we have to crisis trauma, our bodies, emotions, is really fascinating. And I’m curious kind of what you’ve been seeing and what you have to say about that, and how you work with people who are, you know, maybe having a very emotional experience to something they’ve gone through, and they’re taking it out on their body or depriving themselves. What are your thoughts in that arena?

Simone De La Rue 

Yeah, I find it extremely fascinating myself. And, you know, my mother was a psychologist, so I, you know, grew up with thinking, and everything was feeling and discussing. And, you know, I was felt as a trainer, you know, even though I’m not a trained therapist, that, you know, definitely was a therapist throughout my, you know, our sessions with my clients. That was brought to light the most when I was on a TV show called Revenge Body. And I was working with clients, who were trying to lose a minimum of 30 pounds up to 60 pounds in weight. And the fascinating thing was people signed up for a weight loss show, right? They were like, oh, we’re doing this because we’re going to lose this weight. What they didn’t realize, and I didn’t realize initially, in the first season, this was about so much more than weight loss, it was like, why did the person get to the point in their life, that they stacked on this weight, you know, and it comes down to self-worth, it comes down to trauma, you know, what, you know, personal experiences that they’ve had, where they’ve either just given up and said, I can’t do this anymore, I’m just going to, I’m just going to eat my feelings. So you know, I’m not going to take care of myself, because I’m just exhausted, because I’ve been taking care of everybody else. So yeah, weight loss is weight loss. And, you know, I always say this, I could give everyone a workout program or a meal plan, but unless they’re willing to do the work themselves, they’re not going to see the change. And that work, really is the internal work that work is what got you to that point in the first place.

Claire 

Absolutely, I mean, I read that, that you said that, and it really resonated with me, because that’s always been my struggle. You know, I can follow the diets, I can do the exercises, but every time I fail, because it’s what’s going on inside that I’m not working on, right? I’m stress eating, I’m eating for emotional reasons. I’m not exercising, because I’m stressed out or busy, or not sleeping, you know, all these things. So only if I work on those areas can I actually do the other parts. What are your keys for working with people on this? I know you do journaling, right, which I got really excited about because I’m a writer, and I’m always asking my clients to journal too. Can you tell me about that?

Simone De La Rue 

So yeah, I really try. And first of all, we start off with the mirror minute. And so that, you know, is really getting them to look inwards. I love to journal. So once you see, you know, what your exercises for the day, what your food intake is for the day, when you see all of this, actually, on paper, too, you know, you can highlight what you’re doing well, and you know, and what you’re not. But also to, I think, you know, it’s very hard to express yourself sometimes. And so if you literally just sit down, take a moment and pull up your thoughts down on paper, even if nobody else is gonna see that. I think it’s a great way to process your thoughts, you know, and get everything, get everything out.

Claire 

Let’s talk about motherhood. We’ve got Oscar here with us. My mom was 40 when I was born, I was her first and only so but she was 40. And I had two girls when I was in my early 30s. And then I got divorced and remarried and had a surprise baby at 40. So I have a three-year-old and I’m in my 40s and it’s a really different experience for me than it was at 30 and my body, my maturity, my emotional level, my marriage, all of those things are very different. And I’m curious what it’s been like for you to go over the waterfall into motherhood in your 40s with this big career.

Simone De La Rue 

Yeah, I mean, I was 43 when I got pregnant, 44 when I had him, and you know, I didn’t know about you, but they call it a geriatric pregnancy, which I just thought was hysterical. I mean, I think there’s pros and cons to it. Definitely. The fact that I had an entire career that I’m proud of. And you know, I can look back and say that I did everything I wanted to face and I was proud as a mother, but now running after a two-and-a-half-year-old who has so much energy, and I just turned 47 I’m like, mom is tired, just be quiet.

Claire  20:13

So how was the experience on your body? And what was that like for you to go through? I mean, that’s it’s such a radical experience as a woman and physically and so what was that like for you having? You know, it sounds like you’ve been very disciplined, and probably not fluctuated much in terms of how your body has changed. And then it’s such a huge thing to go through.

Simone De La Rue 

Yeah, I worked out throughout the entire pregnancy. I even walked to the hospital the day that I was, you know, I ended up getting induced because I was late, you know, so we laugh, go, I even walked to the hospital. So I worked out throughout my whole pregnancy, but for me that felt okay. But for me, the strangest thing was, after having a C-section and coming back to exercising, you know, after having such severe, you know, abdominal surgery, I couldn’t even walk for the first two weeks, let alone try and exercise. And it’s like how on earth, it humbled me very much. And it made me realize that this is how most women feel like they’ve never exercised before. Like how on earth even, you know, how do you even come back to exercise again, you know, so that was really a really challenging experience for me. And so therefore, I think I’ve become a lot more understanding of women to me. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t move my body, you know, what I’d been moving it from the age of three, it was my tool, I was connected to it, I always, you know, I knew how strong I was, and you have to push myself. And so this was such a daunting experience.

Simone De La Rue 

And I really felt a newfound respect for young mothers and for women, no one about knowing how safe it is to come back to exercise. You know, after you’ve given birth, you get this letter from your doctor, because your doctors like, okay, you don’t have diastasis recti if you go, you know, but what does that mean? You know, like, does that mean I can be doing, you know, burpees, you know, six weeks later or not, you know, so I think there’s still, there’s still a need for more postnatal information for women on what’s safe coming back into exercise. I’ve actually just finished filming a postnatal program, the, you know, the first two or three weeks, it’s just about learning, belly breathing, again, reconnecting to your core, you know, kegel muscles, you know, like, you know, remembering what your TVA muscles are, again, like that, just all of that, just going back to basics and just remembering to be kind to yourself, and love yourself, because it’s, it’s a process, you know, it took nine months to put all of that weight on.

Claire  22:45

So, when someone comes in, and they are really they want to start changing their body and start changing their health and their physicality, but they’re having a hard time and they’ve got a lot of emotional stuff. Where do you start? You start with the mirror? And then where do you go from there?

Simone De La Rue 

Then we just start exercising. And the other thing that’s really interesting is, when we hold emotion or trauma or grief, often we hold it in our body, right? We process it, we push it down, we push it down. And so when I’ve worked with clients, and that point where I push them physically, whether I can’t do another sit up, or I can’t do another jump rope for a minute, and I say yes, you can, and they push them, they get to that barrier, right. And that barrier is then often the disbelief, and then there’s anger, and then there’s frustration, and there’s usually an emotional response and no release, that happens when at that point where I’ve pushed them. And that is a real breakthrough as well, because it’s that wonderful thing of, you know, the stuff that we’ve been storing inside our bodies. Yes, you can have therapy, you know, to talk about your feelings, you can work through it, you know, and process it in your mind, but what you’re carrying in your body needs to be released as well. And so, you know, that means by movement and exercise, you know, and really being pushing yourself to that point, we don’t think you’ve got anything left is a form of therapy, I think, you know, physically purging, you know, emotions and feelings.

Claire  24:13

And just really connecting, right, into the core that’s sitting there. And you’re right, I don’t think you can always do that with just talk therapy. It’s this kind of combination of the physical and the emotional coming together. And what about just these days with social media and celebrities and everything? I mean, it’s really hard to look at all of that every day, and not judge ourselves. Even if we’re in a healthy place, or we’ve been doing well, it’s, you know, we’re looking at these images of other people that it feels impossible to attain, and then people start to feel badly about themselves. Were like, how do we sit with that?

Simone De La Rue 

Yeah, you know, over the years, I’ve worked with some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood, and it’s been an incredible experience. The one thing that I’ve learned is that they’re just like us, you know, they have their good days and bad days. And, you know, they get paid to work out and look good. They have a stylist, they have a makeup artist, they have a trainer. So I always say to my female clients, don’t compare yourself to what you see in a magazine, or what you see on Instagram. It’s all filtered. It’s all, you know, done with lighting. It’s no, that’s not reality anymore. And I think it’s, it’s interesting that we, as an older woman, someone who’s 47. Like how, at what point do you show that you’re aging That’s been a hard thing?

Claire

That’s a really good question.

Simone De La Rue

That’s a hard thing for me, because I was, you know, the young, hot fit influencer in a crop top, you know, at 36. Now, 10 years later, at 47 and a mother I don’t necessarily feel that comfortable and confident that you know, that girl that was in the crop top. So what part of my aging body am I showing what part of my you know, aging face and skin, emotional eating and, and trying to make that, like, normalize that and make that okay, because we’re all, you know, plastics. I mean, we live in Los Angeles plastic surgery everywhere, there’s filters on every single photo that you take so, so everything’s so distorted now that we were not really getting a real sense of what a woman looks like.

Claire  26:26

Right. What are the parts about yourself that you’ve appreciated in where you’re aging, your physicality, like, what do you see?

Simone De La Rue 

I think I’ve moved now beyond the physical image of my body. And now I look at the strength of a woman who’s, you know, had some really great life experiences. And obviously, carrying a child was the greatest gift. And still, I’m in awe of the fact that, you know, my body was able to house a child and feed a child, breastfeed. That was the other thing I was so determined to do. Because I had an emergency C-section, I didn’t get to have that natural birth, I was so determined to breastfeed, and we did for like, 19 months, and I was just so proud of myself, you know, being able to do that.

Claire 

I’m actually still nursing my three-year-old.

Simone De La Rue

It’s such a beautiful bond. You know, it is such a nice experience. But, yeah, I think, you know, so weird that my business is called Body by Simone. But now I think it should be, you know, Mind, Body and Soul by Simone. Because I think there’s, there’s it’s so much more to just the physical body now. And as I’m aging, definitely about your gifts and your talents, and, you know, gratitude and being kind and the personality.

Claire 

Yeah, definitely. So what are some first steps someone would take to change their relationship with their body to change the way their body looks and feels?

Simone De La Rue 

I always say this, you know, everyone jumps out of the date, January, New year, new you, I hate that phrase, because it’s, it’s not a new you, it’s the same you, you know, but I think the important thing is, I will say to my clients, let’s make small, manageable changes each day, you know, small changes add up to big changes. So rather than starting off January, cutting out alcohol, cutting out sugar, exercising two hours a day, you’re setting yourself up for failure, because it’s not sustainable. And you know, you’re going to be bored after the first four days.

Claire  28:29

This is sounding familiar.

Simone De La Rue 

Whether the first week is literally, you know, setting your alarm at 5:30 and getting up and tidying or sending alarm at 5:30 getting up and doing 20 minutes of exercise, you know, like making very small adjustments gradually so that you’re working and building on this lifestyle, making habits that you can keep, rather than you know, a quick fix and a quick fad, and something that is not sustainable. So I always say start off small and build from there.

Claire 

I love that. Okay, so last question. Congratulations again on your 10 years. If I come and talk to you again in 10 years. Who are you going to be?

Simone De La Rue

Wow, that is a good question. 10 years from now, who knows? I mean, I still hope that I’m working with women in some form I still hope that I’m empowering and inspiring I you know, I miss a really miss travel so I’m hoping that I can get back out there again. And maybe it’s taking, you know, all of my knowledge and sharing that on a you know, on a public stage in different countries. But no, I think as you get older you just want to be happy. I just want to be content and happy and have a good life. So maybe just doing what I am now but maybe a little bit more evolved spiritually.

Claire 

Well, thank you so much, Simone. This has been an amazing conversation and I appreciate you taking the time while mothering and working and all the things.

Simone De La Rue  30:08

Thank you. I appreciate you letting my son have a meltdown for a second.

Claire 

I’ll bring my little guy over, they can meltdown together. You and I will stare into the mirror. All right. Thank you so much, Simone.

Simone De La Rue 

You have a great day.

Claire

This might have been one of my favorite interviews yet, just because of how real it was. And speaking of rail, you might still hear my nine-year-old banging around upstairs. Also, speaking of real this week’s practice is about not subjecting yourself to the ideal body, but instead being in touch with your real body. Here are some ideas to play with. Show your body some love inside and out. It’s really important. Think about what are some simple low impact ways to move that feel doable for you. Try going for a 10-to-15-minute walk. Set a timer and just get outside. If you’re stuck in zoom meetings all day, try turning your camera off and just walking around your house or apartment. No one will care and maybe even inspire a co-worker. Do a simple set of stretches in the morning. Where are you feeling tight. Start your day with 10 minutes on the yoga mat to work out that tension. Also, I love Simone’s mirror minutes, try taking a look in the mirror and say something positive that you love about yourself. This is how we can teach ourselves to love what we see in the mirror and have a positive self-image. Lastly, a friendly reminder that no matter what it is weight loss, self-esteem, self-love. All these things take time and they come to life by making small steps and changes each day. For more support, I highly recommend any of Simone’s works her course called transformation from within, her book Body by Simone, her mobile app and even her blog. As always, thanks for listening. And if you get a chance to try one of these weekly practices, I’d love to hear all about it. Call and leave me a voicemail at 833-4-LEMONADA. That’s 833-453-6662, or email me at newday@lemonadamedia.com

CREDITS

NEW DAY is a Lemonada Media Original. The show is produced by Jackie Danziger, Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz and Erianna Jiles. Kat Yore is our engineer. Music is by Hannis Brown. Executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs, Jessica Cordova Kramer, Lily Cornell Silver and Claire Bidwell Smith. NEW DAY is produced in partnership with the Well Being Trust, The Jed Foundation and Education Development Center. Help others find our show by leaving us a rating and writing a review. Follow us at @LemonadaMedia across all social platforms, or find me at clairebidwellsmith.com. Join our Facebook group to connect with me and fellow NEW DAY listeners at facebook.com/groups/newdaypod. You can also get bonus content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium. You can subscribe right now on the Apple podcast app by clicking on our podcast logo and then the subscribe button. Thanks for listening. See you next week.