March 30, 2019Erin Nicole
Have you ever been in a funk? I mean like having one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? I had a few of those days growing up and discovered the power of movement on my mood. When I was 14yrs, I discovered my passion for jogging outside. We were going through some major transitions in the family (my eldest brother was returning from his Air Force stint, I was transitioning into high school, and mom had started working again, 3 years post my father’s kidney cancer survival).
I was in 9th grade at the time and the beginning of the year was actually pretty spectacular. I had 5 out of 6 classes with a new girl at Spanaway Jr High School. She and I clicked right away and had almost every favorite everything together. We both played the flute, we both LOVED Mariah Carey, we both sang in the choir, and we just both plain had a lot of fun together. Anneliese is her name. She’s still one of my dear friends and just ran for office in Washington State! #SoProudOfHer
We started doing duets together around the school around Christmas time. It was so fun! Our teachers would let us skip the last 10mins or so to go and share our love of music with the office staff or other classes that were working on projects. She taught me to be resourceful in pursuing my passion (and get out of class a lot haha)!
I cannot recall exactly what month things started to change but I know it was later in the spring sometime. I had this math teacher that was a sweet heart. He got diagnosed with some intestinal cancer and his student teacher had just graduated and took over for him for the remaining part of the year. She was pregnant, not clear on her teaching style like he was because she was new, and also very hormonal (understandably so).
Mom at this point had started substitute teaching and had started this home based business with selling cookware and doing lots of home parties at peoples’ houses in the evenings. My eldest brother was emailing us from overseas that he was being questioned for things he swore he didn’t do but was being detained and questioned as standard protocol. He was terribly home sick and wanted desperately to get out of his assignment. We knew he was coming home after a few weeks and was being released from his duty on mutual agreement.
To say things were stressful in our household was an understatement.
Anneliese wanted to join the track team and invited me to join her in the tryouts. One of my other friends from band, Natasha (who I’ve referenced in my book) was also on the team. I had never turned out for track before and had to decide between fast pitch and track. The week prior I tried out for fast pitch and the pitches were getting really really fast. I am left-handed, bat right-handed because of the equipment we had in the home, and was just plain awkward. I was more of a cheerleader and encourager/bench warmer on the team in 7th and 8th grade. So I decided after the tryouts and not getting on the fast pitch team to try out for track.
We had 2-3 hour practices every day after school. The head of the track team was also one of the scary math teachers. I say scary because all the kids feared her teaching style and also she would get you suspended if you tried out for track just for the photo op for the year book. HA! It turned out to be a good experience of a couple weeks for me. We did our school work the first hour or so of practice and then after that we ran a ton of drills outside.
She and the other coaches needed to see if we were sprinters or distance runners. I had never ran for track before and skipped out on PE because of band and choir so I had no clue if I liked to run distance or for speed. I knew I didn’t really run very fast in elementary when we’d play home run derby in the front yard compared to all the boys I grew up around. So we had to figure it out by trial and error. Everyday we’d try different run distances and the coach assistant would time us.
I got moved from the sprinters to the distance side and was enjoying it. Then one day it just hit me. Pure exhaustion.
Meanwhile we also had auditions for the elite high school music group, The Music Company, around this same time. We had to get all 6 teachers to evaluate us as good citizens in class and prove we had good grades to be able to even audition. I had done the process and had auditioned some time around the track practices. Everyone in choir wanted to be in this group. About 150-300 auditioned for this group annually and there were only 10 spots for girls. 5 altos and 5 sopranos. I auditioned for the alto split spot because I could read both parts and do so adequately.
My eldest brother was in this group when he was in high school and I got to watch them perform at different gigs around Washington from like 7-9 years old. I had the honor of watching because I was home schooled in elementary K-5th grade and mom took me everywhere. I was dreaming of being in this dancing and singing group since I was little.
I didn’t make it.
Natasha had gotten her letter and called me so excited that she made it. I was so happy for her, but I was also sad I hadn’t heard back yet. Then about a week later I got the letter in the mail. “Thanks for auditioning, but due to the number of applicants, you were not selected. Please audition next year.”
I was devastated.
My eldest bro was coming home and I wanted to make him proud and my parents.
I lost interest in everything. I don’t think it was this bad news from the audition, but I think it was everything happening all at the same time. New school next year, new sports team, mom working again, etc etc.
I stopped speaking for about 2 weeks straight. I had some straight up anxiety about going to school. I had trouble sleeping and was afraid for my life. I didn’t know where the thoughts and fears had come from and started seeing a counselor for a 3 sessions (as much as insurance allowed without costing the family money). I also quit the track team so I could focus on my mental health. I know it sounds a little backwards but I was so 1st place minded and achievement based (that’s my personality style) it made me feel worse if I didn’t get to win. I couldn’t bare getting cut from the team or getting put on the side lines like I had from this music audition been asked to audition next year or like the fast pitch team had made me do…
I couldn’t shake the good feelings of running though. So I started jogging for fun outside my home because my therapist suggested I try some exercise. I did a little bit every day by myself. I jogged down the street and back. The next day I jogged down to the elementary which was about 4 blocks. Then the next day I added a little more. I started to feel better. I started to notice the muscles on my legs begin to develop. I started seeing my neighbors and one cheered me on saying “its good to see someone being so healthy!” I was encouraged socially and in my own mind and body to continue moving.
I started really focusing on my studies as well as my fitness. My history teacher was advised from the school counselor to help make things a little simpler for me because I was so stressed about everything. Mom later told me she didn’t really like him because he told her all I needed was a Valium and to just ‘chill out’. I didn’t know what that was at the time, but later reflecting on it and my dad’s comments in high school, I care about my work. I take pride in everything I do. Some may call this perfectionism. I call it, achievement based.
I continued with the running and I think got up to 2 miles non stop by the beginning of summer. Then I got a phone call right before the end of the school year 9th grade year…
My Saving Grace
“Erin, it’s Mr. Crouse, The Choir Director of Spanaway Lake High School. We’ve had one of our Alto Music Company Students just move out of district and you scored the same as her on the audition. You’re next in line for the group. Are you still interested in being a part of the Music Company?”
Me: “Wow, I’m really honored! I feel kind of bad that I didn’t make it the first round. How did I score the same as her?”
Mr C: “She is going into her senior year and you’re going into your sophomore year. I base it on a 50-point scale including the reviews from all of your teachers, your music site reading ability, your vocal tonality, and your ability to capture an audience from some concerts I’ve watched you sing from. You scored the same as a senior as a freshman. That’s got to feel good right?”
Me: “Yes that feels awesome! I want to do it. What do I need to do?”
Mr C: “We have summer camp down in Weed, California. We’re taking 3 vans down there and you’ll get to learn songs and dances from the top musicians and choreographers in the world. I just need your parent’s permission.”
Me: “Okay I’m not sure if they’ll be able to afford it” (I was always worried about the family money and didn’t want to be a burden)
Mr C: “We’ll figure it out and I have some scholarship money available from previous members who have graduated. Maybe your mom or dad can help volunteer at the stadiums on the weekends coming up to raise the remaining amount for camp and we’ll cover the cost so you don’t miss out on the camp experience.”
Me: “Okay that sounds great I’ll talk to my parents.”
I was still dealing with major anxiety in the mornings before school but this good news really helped to give me hope and not overwhelm over the future. Mom and dad gave me permission to join The Music Company, and said they’d be able to help take a van down to drive some kids so I wouldn’t be too far away from them. This helped ease my anxiety. They also knew there was a performance at the end of the week and wanted to watch us perform (along with about 2000 other parents and community members)!
Oh and my middle brother Josh was already invited into the music group first round of auditions as he was a senior. That was a BIG determining factor in the choir director not wanting me to be in the group originally in case there was family drama. After discussing it with the choir president and vp they agreed I would be a good addition to the group.
I never had dance lessons before. In camp we had 3 hours a day of dance rehearsal and 3 hours of choir rehearsal for a week and had a performance at the end of the week to prepare for. We wanted to be the best we could be as a large ensemble (about 150 students 3-12th grade). To say I was intimidated about the dancing is an understatement.
I kept at it though. I was rooming with Natasha and she was getting the dancing down quickly. I compared myself to her in my mind one night then she was tapping her drumsticks on her lap before we went to bed. I asked her what she was doing and she said practicing for her up coming performance with her Buddhist group. She was the drum major I think for the Seattle Fair. She wasn’t worried about the dancing because she was already practicing for the next thing! I started to worry less and just focus on what I could do. Obsessively practice what I did well and watch other dancers who knew the moves.
By the end of that first week I knew the routines well enough to perform for the audience and sing the songs. No solos but it was done. By the next summer, I knew to learn the music before we even drove down to Cali. By the time we got to the camp, I had all the music memorized and convinced about half of the Music Company to do the same with me. I got to dance in the front row for 2 songs and no vocal solos. I felt on top of the world though!
Dancing made me feel confident because I compared myself to the year prior. By my senior year, I had a gospel solo with the entire choir in the background and I sang “God Bless America” beating out in my opinion the best singer in our group for the spot. I also got to be in the front row for dancing in 3 or more of the dances (you’d have to get the VHS from my mom to see haha)!
(this was me singing a solo at Disneyland my senior year with the Music Company)
I never was a PE fanatic. I had positive experiences with running and dancing that fit my personality. Set a goal, achieve a goal, expand and create a new goal. If happiness means progress towards your goals (as many define happiness as), then regular fitness participation, if used simultaneously with goal setting, can improve your mood. More simply stated, I know from scientific experience and my own mental health journey that participating in fitness regularly (that you enjoy) can help enhance your mood.
The following tips and strategies are from personal experience, scientific evidence, and I’ve even included a program at the end if you’d like to dive deeper as a group facilitator. If you are enjoying my content please share with a friend or two and follow me on all social media channels!
(my fav singer of all time! Mariah, if you’re reading, I want to sing on stage with you in my lifetime!)
Purposeful Strategy 1: Practice Cardio Regularly If You Deal With Any Level Of Depression
It is estimated in this article that one in 13 people will have some sort of psychotic episode related to depression before they turn 75.
Depression is something that I struggle with personally and work daily on.
I refuse to allow a diagnosis to have power over me. I have way too many people I want to help to sit back and be mopey. Granted there are some days that are harder than others. I found a few tricks to keeping my mood pretty balanced and one of those is having cardio be a regular part of my lifestyle.
I love running outside by myself. It is one of the only things that got rid of my depression and anxiety for a few hours during the hard transition between junior high and high school.
I joined an aerobics class in high school my senior year and noticed that my mood was improved even more during the day. The aerobics was similar to the dancing routines in the Music Company but a little more simplified. By my next period, psychology, I felt like I could do anything 💪🏼
The more I looked into the research behind it, the more I realized cardio exercise positively impacts your mood physiologically. In simple terms, cardio exercise brings more oxygen to your body and it releases the the feel good hormones that can last a few hours or more!
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the term cardio, it’s any physical activity that gets you into your target heart rate zone (like swimming, dancing, plyometrics, etc). Some of my favorites are dancing and running, though I love trying new activities every year that I know won’t kill me HA!
Purposeful Strategy 2: Practice Regular Muscle Fitness Exercises To Improve Your Confidence
My fav way to get some muscle fitness in is sunrise yoga in Miami (OMG So nourishing) I can’t wait to go back!! Here’s a great article by Sue Kauffman on the topic.
Just like any other skill, it takes time to build confidence and it takes time to build your muscles 💪🏼 .
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 3 to 4 days a week of muscle fitness exercises with alternating days of rest between (yoga, strength training, CrossFit etc) if you already have an established muscle fitness routine of at least 1-2 days a week.
However, if today you are not doing any muscle strengthening exercises consistently for at least 12 weeks go ahead and start with just 1-2 days a week (like a Monday/Thurs) so you don’t get injured or are too sore and not want to do it next week. #BeenThereNotFun
Purposeful Strategy 3: Cool Down After Every Workout To Promote Feelings of Relaxation and Closure
I just finished 💃🏽 in my kitchen for a #30minuteworkout when I posted this portion in my social media share this last week. Felt #Amazing
My mood is like wow-za so happy! Of course I was jamming out to some Spotify Pop Dance Hits 🙌 Then i needed to cool down to get me back to resting.
Why does a cool-down matter?
Well, a 19 year old college student keeled over dead on the floor from playing a pick up basketball game with his friends in 2011. I was a graduate student there at the time. I wasn’t directly in the room but heard about it through the university email system and my supervisor warning us to include warm ups and warm downs for all OSU Physical Activity Classes that I was a part of.
No one knew he had a heart abnormality and the doctors at OSU said it could have possibly been prevented had his heart been ready for the basketball game and the intensity of the exercise on his heart muscle. If he had an opportunity to cool down to allow his heart back to a resting state, that might have prevented it also. No one really knows for sure, but I’m not taking any chances on something so preventable and simple.
I love to walk a bit to cool down then do some light stretches with the yoga and meditation channel (on Spotify) or the brain food one, or silence if I’m feeling quiet.
I’d love to hear 👂 your fav way to cool down in the comments below!
Inside or outside in nature?
With people or without?
Music or silence?
Purposeful Strategy 4: Want to Quickly Improve Your Happiness? Dance It Off
What’s your favorite dance style? Comment ⬇️ .
I was blessed in high school with the opportunity to go down to the college of the Siskyou‘s in Weed, California every summer and learn from one of the best choreographers in the world John Jacobson, and Grammy Award Winning Composers Roger Emerson (every music teacher has seen his music guaranteed) And Kirby Shaw (just about every high school and college music teacher has seen his music). Because I auditioned for the Music Company even though I was scared, I was blessed with the opportunity to learn more about dance.
John has done choreography for Disney among other organizations.
Our choir director, Mr. Crouse knew the value of visual presentation and keeping the attention of your audience #PeopleRememberWhatTheySee
In fact, Alfred Bandura, famous psychologist and researcher on modeling behavior would agree, modeling is best done from a physical representation, in multiple angles (aka live in person is best, video with multiple angles next, followed by pictures last).
Mr. C was a genius marketer. He knew in order for the brand and the mission he had of creating a positive impact on low income families to spread, he needed to use dance. So we learned from the best.
We were singing 🎶 group mainly but I truly enjoyed the 💃🏽 because it’s in my soul! .
When I was little my dad and I would dance in the kitchen. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but we could also find a way to have a good time!
(dad and I dancing I think at my great aunt Carmella’s)
Dance is a part of every culture and respected everywhere.
Men take note 📝
Most women want to be taken on a dance floor at least once in their lives 😉
Dancing makes you feel good. Am I right?!
.
Heck I dance 💃🏽 in my car at red lights!
Go out and get some dancing on today!
Purposeful Strategy 5: Know The Frequency Of Exercise For Mood Enhancement You Need and Do It!
How Often Should You Workout For Mental Health?
If you want to see good results without obsession, 3-4 days a week is perfect at about 30-60 minutes per session. Every workout you do should include: cardio, muscle fitness (that’s muscular strength and or muscular endurance) and flexibility (to keep your overall fitness health balanced).
There was a study that was done in 2016 in Europe over 11 countries and 11,000 adolescent participants (12yr olds or younger). They measured their physical activity and sport participation and compared it to well being and anxiety and depression. What they found was the mean (average) amount of physical activity of these groups was about 60 minutes a day (recommended for adolescents). From there they found a correlation between positive well being with more participation in physical activity and sport and a negative correlation with depression and anxiety. Simply stated, the more anxiety and depression your adolescent has, the more they should be moving. This fact does not change when we get into adult hood, but many of us forget to focus on it as other responsibilities seem more important (I am guilty of this too sometimes)!
The more physical activity consistency you have, the more balanced your mood as an adult or as an adolescent is and if you have depression and anxiety specifically, the better you’ll be able to handle it when life throws you curveballs.
(My lil sis from Big Brothers and Big Sisters and me visiting OSU a few years back. The youth you surround yourself with are influenced by how you choose to spend your time, not as much the words you use)
Move Happy Was Born
I created a program for my patients in a psychiatric hospital setting. Most of the patients there were diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or a combination of the two. Many of them also had depression as what the psychologists called a secondary condition in addition to obesity (as was reported monthly from the Registered Dietician).
I knew the value of intentional movement (whatever you want to call it) on my mood. I cared for my patients because they were so kind to me when I lost my father. They didn’t know me very well since I had been working there for about 3 days in active treatment. These were the coolest and most compassionate people I’ve ever met. Some came from money but most came from homelessness and low income situations.
The hospital had a $100/month budget for us to split between about 15 staff members for supplies to enhance active treatment. I asked my colleague, “of those patients that get discharged how much would be able to spend on fun stuff each month?,” out of curiosity. She used to work in that role outside of the hospital previously and knew it was about $50-60 a month.
No Xfinity. No cell phone. (well maybe a free one that gets some text messaging). Definitely no gym membership (even if it is only $9.99 at Planet Fitness).
I knew with my experiences in dance, K-12 teaching experience, a Masters in Science in Exercise and Sport Psychology, and my own journey, that I could help these patients feel better and be healthier in their mind/body. I suspected I could also help improve their fitness and lower their BMI levels (possibly positively impacting their obesity diagnosis as well), and improve their mood as I had experienced myself.
Sue my supervisor said it sounded like a lofty goal and one that would be really challenging considering the patients had no interest in working out. I laughed inside because I saw the same DVD being played 3x/week on the same Yoga show for the patients and the other 2x/week they did a walking DVD.
I am not disrespecting my colleagues on their class instruction. They didn’t have the experiences I had. They didn’t have the teaching years I had. They didn’t get in front of an audience of thousands and have the pressure to perform at a gold standard that I had (I got to sing for the Sonics basketball game my senior year). And they didn’t have the resourcefulness I had learned from years of not having money growing up and a creative mom who helped make movement fun in our home school years (like walking in the cemetery and doing math using the gravestones for how old the person was when they passed, kind of morbid I know, but free because we lived right down the road)!
Standards of excellence were ingrained in my soul. I just knew I could create something long lasting, sustainable and fun for the patients. Whether they stayed in the hospital for continued treatment, or whether they wanted to take the skills I taught them in mindset, building a community and working out with minimal equipment required.
So with Sue’s permission, I went to work on organizing exactly how I wanted the program to run and what my big hope and expectation was of the 16-week experience. I wanted to move these patients away from depression towards their own happiness and I wanted them to improve in their fitness levels. I wanted it to be a fun experience so they’d want to continue moving their bodies if they got discharged.
There is enough empirical literature (that’s studies that have gotten professors stamp of approval for professional research) that shows the benefit of journaling on mental health. I looked for different journals on happiness and didn’t find one that was what I was looking for so I created one for the patients. I broke down different components of happiness that I believed were the ingredients of a happy person. I then had my colleagues evaluate the content prior to dissemination (handing it out to patients). I got some feedback and revised a few things.
I also asked my colleague and mentor to run the program with me (she’s a licensed mental health therapist, certified Zumba instructor, and well liked at the hospital from the patients). Then I created a system of workouts that didn’t require equipment so it wouldn’t cost patients or the hospital any money to run.
I have a background in being a certified Group Fitness Coach through the American College of Sports Medicine (2012-15). I incorporated their philosophies of including in every workout: Muscle Fitness, Cardio Exercise, and Flexibility. I got to facilitate this program and revise it 3 times from my patients’ suggestions, my colleague and co-facilitator’s suggestions, and my own reflections.
Word started spreading around the hospital campus. Random patients started asking me if they could move to the hall where I worked so they could join my program. Say WHAAA?? I was flattered and really shocked. I knew it would be fun, but I didn’t think about them sharing it with others. What an honor! Unfortunately, the patients cannot move halls just to take a class. So I was encouraged to share it with other hospitals and out into the public from my patients. One of them said, “Erin I could see this on TV.”
I missed my dad a lot during this year and this program was a healthy distraction for me to work on. Through a series of unfortunate events, I had to leave the hospital and get a job that paid me enough to move out of my ex-fiance’s place. I was really sad I had to leave the hospital, however I knew I was going to continue this mission of moving people away from depression towards their own happiness by empowering them to find it within themselves.
(my co-facilitator of Move Happy is in the front left, and Sue my supervisor is in the teal sweater next to me in the front row right side)
So I wrote out the curriculum of exactly the process I went through and provided all the content I had created for the program. I needed to create video workouts for the program and was on a very limited budget. I met this amazing person who used to film videos for a Seattle rapper Macklemore (famous for Thriftshop).
His name is Sunshine. He loved my story and decided to help me by filming and editing the videos at a very low cost. If you need filming services in the Seattle area, he is hiring but not cheap! I paid a little under $1000 for 60+ workout video demos, editing, and sound editing as the mic made some weird crackling sounds during the exercises he was able to edit out. He’d probably charge 4-5x that amount regular price but he knew my mission was to help people with mental illness and wanted to do a good deed.
The program is 16 weeks long, 4 days a week including: journaling, group discussion, and workouts with minimal equipment. Each days total is 45-60mins depending on the discussion length and how long you want the workout to last (about 20-25mins). Although you can shorten or lengthen it depending on your needs.
I included questionnaires to measure their progress in their fitness and measure their self to perceived happiness levels because of my original goals. My patients’ moods improved by their own report and their fitness improved by my own eyes and measuring pre-mid-post using the questionnaire I created for low budget fitness testing.
Of course this was not run by an outside party because I wasn’t planning on selling the program.
I was just trying to create something for my patients that were so kind to me when I lost my father my first week on the job.
My patients told me I should share it with you.
I’m offering a special for you today. To the first 5 that sign up for the Move Happy Facilitator Program or VIP Coaching I’m giving you a 30-min phone/Skype consultation ($40 value). 30% of all Move Happy Sales Goes back to a Mental Health institution of your choice (or non-profit). I want to make an impact and to be able to do that, I need to generate revenue.
If you’d like to dive deeper and sign up to be a VIP Elite Leadership Move Happy Coach, I have only 5 spots available. The next class rolls out April 15th (including a 6-week online course format with simple-bite size videos, worksheets, FB Live Q&As, Swag, continuing education credits, and more bonuses). To sign up for the VIP Coaching Program, apply here.
I’d be grateful if you at least purchase the Move Happy Facilitator Program if you cannot afford the VIP Coaching if you found value in my writing.
My vision for this world in the next 100 years is that everyone has a community they are connected with. People are loving, kind and uplifting to their neighbors. People are moving more and are healthier living longer more productive lives. Move Happy communities are planted all around the world with local country, city, and town chapters. No one feels left out. No one is unclear how to be healthy. Everyone has the resources available to them to have a healthy mind, body and spirit. No one wants to end their life prematurely because they’re depressed. People that are having a bad day are checked in on regularly by their friends and loved ones.
Won’t you help me create this vision into a reality? Apply to become a Move Happy Coach Today.
PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today…
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