In this episode of the Creative Magic Club podcast, we’re diving deep into the power of movement practices for creatives with special guest, Missy Graff Ballone. 🧘♀️
As creatives, we’re often taught to push through pain, ignore stress signals, and sacrifice our bodies for the sake of our art. But by the time we finally start listening, burnout or chronic pain has already set in.
Missy—a movement specialist and advocate for creative well-being—shows us how small, intentional shifts in our daily routine can help us reconnect with our bodies and prevent long-term wear and tear. She shares how just 15 minutes a week (yes, even 3 minutes a day!) can build a sustainable, joyful, and supportive movement practice that enhances creativity and reduces physical strain. 🎨
Whether you're a writer hunched over your laptop, a maker whose hands and posture are under constant demand, or an artist juggling multiple roles—this conversation will inspire you to rethink how movement can fuel your creative process, not interrupt it.
If you’ve been experiencing lingering aches, stiffness, or creative burnout, this episode is your gentle invitation to come back home to your body—one small movement at a time. 💫
🎧 Tune in now to learn how to ease pain, boost your creativity, and build a body that supports your art for the long haul.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
What's up, this is Sarah Mack, and welcome to
Creative Magic Club.
Together, we'll discoverinspirational stories of
creative entrepreneurs livingout their dreams, doing the work
they are most passionate about,and building wealth in magical
and fun ways, while building asix-figure income as a writer
and coach, helping other womento launch their dream businesses
.
I've connected with so manyincredible people and seen it
(00:34):
proven again and again that youcan thrive financially doing
whatever it is you arepassionate about.
I am here to sharelife-changing strategies for
mindset, making money andreaching more people with your
work in a business and lifefilled with creativity, freedom
and fun.
Hi, everyone, welcome back tothe Creative Magic Club podcast
(01:01):
and I'm super excited tointroduce my guest.
Today.
We have with us MissyGraff-Ballone, who is the author
of the book Wellness for Makersa movement guide for artists.
She has a background in fineart.
She's also a licensed massagetherapist and she has over 800
hours in training as a yogainstructor, and her mission is
(01:22):
to empower creatives to addyears to their creative practice
through movement.
Hi, missy, thank you so muchfor joining.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hi, thank you so much for having me so tell me your
story.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
How did you come to do the work that you do today?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Sure.
So I first started as beforegoing to school for fine art, I
went to school for massagetherapy, kind of as a fallback
plan.
It was something that I thought, you know, I could do.
During fine art school Istarted to find these parallel
interests being much more than afallback plan and all of my art
(02:10):
became about the body and aboutmovement and the interior
structures of the muscle tissuesand connective tissue.
So after that, while I was inschool, I started noticing that
all of my peers were burning outvery easily and we were working
really long hours in the studio.
(02:31):
We were pulling out our backsand wearing out our hands very
quickly and we were very young,you know.
So this was alarming and one ofmy instructors had some time at
some point, had mentioned to melike oh, what are you gonna do
about it?
Kind of thing, you know.
And then I, you know, I kind ofsat with me a bit like yeah,
(02:52):
like what can I do about it?
Like outside of my work, and um.
So after school I was teachingat um I at a craft center for
adults called Peter Jolly Schoolof Craft, and I was at lunch
talking to a bunch of differentmakers and we were all talking
about the aches and pains in ourhands as a result of our studio
(03:13):
practices, and one of them waslike, well, we're all going to
end up with arthritis, you know,so we might as well just suck
it up and deal with it.
And in that moment I was like,oh no, no, no, we can do things.
Things you can massage yourhands right, because I had a
background in massage therapy.
I had been practicing yoga formany years at that point and I
knew there were things we coulddo, but I just didn't know how
(03:36):
to articulate them at the time.
So I went back to my room, Istarted looking for resources,
originally just to share, andthen I noticed that if there
were any, they were incrediblyhard to find.
So I and I couldn't findanything.
So I decided to createsomething.
(03:56):
So it originally started with meteaching workshops and and
classes at Peters Valley Schoolof Craft, and then I continued
my training.
I deepened my training with thebody I started.
You know, as a massagetherapist, you have to continue
your education in order tomaintain your license.
(04:16):
So I started focusing inself-care modalities and
modalities that I could bringback, that artists could then
apply to the artist studiopractice and then I went through
800 hours of yoga teachertraining and focused on the
alignment and the physical bodymechanics of the body and how we
(04:37):
can then apply that to thepostures that we move in in the
studio.
So, again, it was originallylike workshops and events and
then, around the pandemic, Istarted teaching more and more
online, but then there was likethis overlap of pivoting.
That was very interesting.
So, yeah, I've been teaching atdifferent universities and
(05:00):
craft centers ever since, andnow online, that's amazing's
amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I love that and such a great example of how you know.
By the way, I'm curious do youknow your human design?
Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I'm a manifesting generator.
Yeah, non-specific, which isvery manifesting generator.
Yeah, and I'm a manifestinggenerator.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, and I'm a manifesting generator.
I know like there's a lot ofmanifesting generators in my
community and it's like such ayou're such a beautiful example
of how you know you kind of takeall these different turns and
it just layers on skill setsthat bring your work so much
(05:43):
value for the clients thatyou're working with today and I
was kind of noticing that thatwas a trend among a lot of my
clients.
And one pitfall this is kind ofa sidebar, we'll come back to
you.
I want to talk about your booknext, but something that people
fall into, that I have falleninto, that I see a lot of my
(06:03):
clients fall into is like wekind of forget everything that
we came from.
When we come across a new skillor a new modality, we become
very obsessed with it.
We're really excited by it andwe suddenly like stop talking
about all those other thingsthat we bring to the table with
us when somebody hires us andit's so I love how you seem to
be really beautifully likeweaving in all of those past
(06:25):
chapters that are make you so,so, so relevant and, you know,
uniquely positioned to help yourclients.
So I love that about your workand I'm curious to hear about
the process of writing your book, like how did that kind of come
about?
What was the the process likefor you in publishing it?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
And before I talk about thebook, just what you said just
brought up this exercise that Idid when I was in graduate
school there, you know, becauseI believe that holding on to
parts of that story are veryimportant, at least for me.
And when I was in art school,trying to figure out, like, what
to make my art about, one of myteachers noticed that I it was
(07:08):
very important to me to mentionthat I was a massage therapist,
and this was really before myartwork pivoted towards the body
and I just kept talking about,well, I'm also a massage
therapist, and it was like, whyis this relevant?
And they asked me to draw out,you know, create something like
from the lens of a massagetherapist and to create
something from the lens of ajeweler, you know, and kind of
(07:29):
figure out how they combined.
And because my MFA is inmetalwork and jewelry making,
and that was like a reallypivotal moment because you're
you're connecting your stories,you know.
So, yeah, I think it's it'sbeautiful to hold on to those
different chapters of our lives.
And for the book, so basicallywhat happened was I had I
(07:54):
apparently met this publisher ata, an event years prior and had
told her about my idea forwellness for makers and she just
kind of kept her eyes on me andI didn't know it.
And then in the pandemic shereached out to me and said hey,
you know, I would love.
I've been watching you for along time, I wanted to see how
(08:14):
you, you grew and everything andI would love for you to write a
book.
And so I wrote the bookWellness for Makers a movement
guide for artists.
I wanted it to be the resourcethat I didn't have in fine arts
school, that my friends didn'thave and that it could just help
, you know, guide artists in thestudio to have them have
something tangible to hold on toand come back to.
(08:36):
So the guide is it goes throughdifferent movements but also
body mechanics and alignment.
So it's really helpful foranyone who, you know, sits for
long periods of time and lives avery sedentary lifestyle, right
, and it breaks down like whatmovement is and what movement
can be.
So movement we often think ofmovement.
(08:58):
We think of, you know, exercise, we think of working out at a
gym, going to a yoga studio,pilates studio, things like that
.
But the word movement literallyjust means to change positions.
So that could be, you know, assimple as moving from sitting to
standing right, like having anadjustable height desk, and it
could be taking a deep breath,right, like breath.
(09:21):
Work is movement, walking fromone side of your room to another
, that's movement, right?
So breaking it down to be likeas simple as that and as
accessible as that, to then openup the dialogue of how and
others feel that adding movementbreaks into their day can make
them less efficient.
(09:41):
But if we are, you know, buthow inefficient will we be if we
burnt out our hands or bodies?
Right?
So that's basically what thebook is about.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Love that, yeah, I love that, yeah, and I get it
(10:27):
with the resistance to likeadding extra things to do into
our day, especially forcreatives, because we're usually
so passionate about what we doand we tend to get lost in our
work.
And you know, I can say assomeone who's been through a
burnout and who has experienceda loss of health, you know like
that was the lesson I needed tonever deprioritize my well-being
ever again.
And you know, really see thevalue of those like sometimes
small but consistent habits thatwe bring into our day that
really create that longevity andreally do make a difference.
And I really got that lessonbecause you know I had chronic
(10:48):
fatigue for five years and I wasdoing all the things and you
know I obviously at that point Iwas willing to do anything to
get my health back and so I wasdoing everything within my power
and for many years it felt likeit wasn't working and I was
continually seeking newsolutions.
And then, you know, I got to aday where I was like, oh, like
(11:09):
I'm better.
And that was enough evidencethat the sometimes seemingly
small daily shifts that wecreate they're making an impact
and they are adding up over timeand they really do make a
difference and you kind of youknow this is why we need
teachers and mentors and likeframeworks to follow, because
(11:31):
sometimes we don't believe it,because sometimes, especially
with the body, you don't alwayssee instant results.
Sometimes you do right and Iknow like you have created some
really like quick breakthroughsfor your clients.
But sometimes we just need thatfaith and we need that
commitment before we finally getthat evidence and that feedback
of like, oh yeah, it's working,especially with pain, because I
(11:53):
feel like when it's not there,we don't notice, because we're
living a full life and we onlyreally notice it when it creeps
back in.
And you know, obviously as awriter, I went through a phase
of having really bad neck painuntil I realized that I had to
have an ergonomic station.
My laptop has to be at eyelevel and it's like when you're
looking down and texting, it'sthat simple repetitive movement
(12:16):
and I was like going to thechiropractor, going to the
osteopath, and I was like, ohyeah, if I just sit properly,
then I don't have to deal withthat issue, I don't have to
spend time and money going toget it fixed.
So yeah, it's so, so powerful.
I'm curious how you found inyour business kind of like.
Obviously there's a lot of likefundamental principles that
(12:37):
apply across the board.
How have you navigated thatwith you know, like tailoring to
more like specific, um kind oflike practices and practitioners
?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
there are a few things that came up for me here,
like um.
One is I like to break downthat pain also is not just a bad
thing.
Right, like, pain is a signalthat our body uses to
communicate with us, and we endup ignoring pain signals, and
that's not our fault.
We were taught that at a veryyoung age.
(13:09):
Right, we're taught to sit inchairs for long periods of time,
and once we enter school, we'retaught to ignore the signals to
need to get up for a drink ofwater.
We're taught to ignore thesignals to go to the bathroom
and to hold it longer.
So we're taught at a very long,at a very young age, that the
signals our body is sending usare less important than the work
(13:30):
in front of us.
So, by helping artists,creatives, you know,
entrepreneurs get back intotheir body.
This is, you know, a veryimportant thing.
Right, to be like.
We need to listen to the earlypain signals that our body sends
us, because our bodies do tellus, hey, you're uncomfortable,
(13:53):
and we ignore it.
Right.
Your body tells you you need togo to the bathroom and we
ignore it.
Right, and the pain signal willcome back and come back, and
come back again, until it is analarm system going off in our
bodies telling us that we'vereached a painful situation,
burnout or injury.
So my goal as a practitioner tostand out differently is to
(14:18):
help people get back into theirbodies to realize you know what,
like, help them gain morekinesthetic awareness to
understand what's happening andwhen.
What early shifts can we make?
What subtle shifts can we make?
Because, like what you weretalking about with that,
consistency is so important.
Like, how can we be moreconsistent?
(14:40):
Because, yeah, we can, like wecan do this whole thing and
maybe it'll feel great once, butwe won't keep it up, right.
Like when the new year comes,people are like I'm going to do,
you know, you know three yogaclasses a week, or I'm going to
do five Pilates classes a week,and it's like too big of a goal,
(15:00):
especially if, like, ok, if youusually do four classes a week
and you want to do five, that'stotally different, right?
But like, if you are new tomovement and you're like I'm
going to do, you know, I'm goingto go to the gym every day, I'm
going to do, you know, I'mgoing to go to the gym every day
, you know, it's like too big ofa goal.
So you have to work your wayinto creating consistent steps.
(15:20):
So, for me, I want to breakdown movement to be, like, the
most accessible, joyful thingthat you can have.
So that way, you said, oh, Iwant to do this more often,
right?
So by breaking it down to, hey,you could do this in 15 minutes
a week.
Who doesn't have 15 minutes aweek?
You can break down a video intothree minutes a day, right?
(15:42):
And then you can't tell me youdon't have three minutes a day.
Look at your scroll time.
Right, like, you have threeminutes a day to do a few minute
movements.
So what I've done is I createdthis Mindful maker membership,
where it's 15 minute segmentsthat you get every week and it's
, you know, movements directedfor long periods of sitting.
(16:06):
Basically, right, it's.
It's directed towards creativepractices, but also people who
sit for a long period of time.
So the first, like, four weeks,build off of each other and
their neck and shoulders.
Right, like, but not just like.
Oh, I'm gonna do a fewstretches that I can Google on
YouTube.
It's like, no, these arepinpointed to help you build
(16:27):
strength in that area, to helpyou, like, build a better,
stronger posture.
So that way you can feel moreease while you work for periods
of time.
It's also created to like.
These sequences are created tolike help you get back into your
body and acknowledge those,those tiny micro shifts that are
happening.
And then we go into the hands,wrists and forearms and do
(16:49):
things that you might not haveever done, so you might not have
ever felt your hands in thisway before, right?
So yeah, this is that's.
I hope I answered your questionkind of.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, and I love this concept of building strength
and how it relates to ourcreative practice, because I've
definitely found thatcorrelation for myself that when
I prioritize building strengthin my body, like everything else
in my work and my life, just itfunctions better and I'm I have
(17:27):
a higher level of capacity, Imake more money, I'm more
productive, I get more done.
It's like, you know, it's likethe preventative care, right,
instead of dealing with pain ordealing with fatigue or, you
know, the things that get in theway of us being able to fully
express ourselves and bring ourideas to life and actually, like
, put in the work that'srequired in order for that to
(17:47):
happen.
Like we're unable to do that ifour vehicle is not functioning
well.
And something that I alwayscome back to you is, like, when
I want to take things to thenext level, my number one focus
is my physical strength.
Like I'm going to turn up thedial in my commitment to the
things that make me feel good,the things that literally build
(18:10):
like muscular strength in mybody.
And I I think you know,especially for a lot of us
entrepreneurs, especially women,especially creatives like
confidence is a real issue, youknow, especially when it comes
to making the money that we want, because it all connects back
to confidence.
Confidence is the thing thatleads us to pitch with
(18:32):
conviction, that leads us topitch with conviction, that
leads us to take thoseuncomfortable actions to ask for
the money that we want to, youknow, show up and sell and
that's literally like our core,at our center, and so I, you
know, from remind my clients,like what can go and do some
core work.
You know, like, bring that intoyour practice, strengthen the
(18:53):
center of your body and like youstand taller, you hold yourself
with more openness andconfidence and people, people
pick that up.
You know, when you're on camera, when you're even if you're not
on camera, when you're speaking, like you're going to breathe
differently, you're going tospeak differently, and I think I
think this is why there's a lotof crossover with performers
(19:13):
and people who end up like incoaching and like content
creation and entrepreneurshipand just artists in general,
because you know we have thisbusiness and we're learning new
skills and we kind of can feelover our head at times because
(19:39):
you know the social mediaalgorithm changed again or
whatever.
Everything's always changing andevolving and adapting or we
always need new skills orthere's always another level
right, but it's so important toremember, like a lot of these
skills that we have as likefoundational things that we've
probably learned somewhere downthe line, that we kind of like
throw it out the window,especially when you're online
(20:01):
and everything's so like youknow, we're in technology, so
obviously I know your, yourclients, that you work with it's
.
It is very much focused onphysical practice, but I do
think this is such a a powerfulmessage for entrepreneurs as
well absolutely, and, and youknow, having a creative practice
.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
You're also, you know , um, promoting and doing all of
the things to be a creativeentrepreneur, promoting your
work, right, um.
So it's like double time, andwhen you're when you're
scrolling and you're like um,doing all these different things
to promote or working on yourcreative passion, whatever it is
like, you end up really in yourhead.
(20:38):
You know, and it can be hard totrust those decisions that you
were, you know, kind of talkingabout a moment ago.
Right, like, because you can'tdecipher what, what feel there's
a disconnection from your ownintuition.
And when we get back into ourbody, we can connect more to our
intuition.
Right, like, if we're notgrounded, if we're not in our
(21:02):
body, how can we know whatdecisions, or you know, are, you
know what I mean?
Are that like true intuition,that that calling that we feel
connected to?
Otherwise, there's a, there's abig disconnect.
So, definitely, like, gettinginto your body is just so, so
critical.
Yeah.
(21:22):
It's such a powerful, like a fewbreaths, right Like taking
three deep breaths calms youdown, it sends signals to your
nervous system to to calm youdown, to regulate right Like
moving your arms, shaking outyour hands, lifting, stretching
your arms up, right.
All of these things help get usback in our body.
(21:43):
So it's not as challenging oras complicated as some people
make it.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I love that message Cool.
Thank you so much for coming insharing these nuggets of wisdom
and really powerful reminders.
Missy, can you tell us, foranyone who's interested in
learning more about your workand what you've got going on,
where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My handle is at wellness formakers and you can find me on
Instagram.
I'm now on blue sky sub stackand yeah, and then I also have
the wellness for makers podcastand my book is available, so I
would love to connect with youall there.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Amazing.
Definitely go and buy Missy'sbook.
Definitely check out her work.
She is amazing.
Thank you so much for beinghere and if you know creators or
people who are suffering withpain, please forward this
episode on to them for anyonewho you know this would support.
Thank you so much for listeningand watching and we'll see you
(22:42):
next week.
Bye, for more inspirationalcontent, head over to my website
with sarah maccom and pleasesupport the show by liking,
commenting and subscribing.
What's up, this is Sarah Mack, and welcome to
Creative Magic Club.
Together, we'll discoverinspirational stories of
creative entrepreneurs livingout their dreams, doing the work
they are most passionate about,and building wealth in magical
and fun ways, while building asix-figure income as a writer
and coach, helping other womento launch their dream businesses
.
I've connected with so manyincredible people and seen it
(00:34):
proven again and again that youcan thrive financially doing
whatever it is you arepassionate about.
I am here to sharelife-changing strategies for
mindset, making money andreaching more people with your
work in a business and lifefilled with creativity, freedom
and fun.
Hi, everyone, welcome back tothe Creative Magic Club podcast
(01:01):
and I'm super excited tointroduce my guest.
Today.
We have with us MissyGraff-Ballone, who is the author
of the book Wellness for Makersa movement guide for artists.
She has a background in fineart.
She's also a licensed massagetherapist and she has over 800
hours in training as a yogainstructor, and her mission is
(01:22):
to empower creatives to addyears to their creative practice
through movement.
Hi, missy, thank you so muchfor joining.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hi, thank you so much for having me so tell me your
story.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
How did you come to do the work that you do today?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Sure.
So I first started as beforegoing to school for fine art, I
went to school for massagetherapy, kind of as a fallback
plan.
It was something that I thought, you know, I could do.
During fine art school Istarted to find these parallel
interests being much more than afallback plan and all of my art
(02:10):
became about the body and aboutmovement and the interior
structures of the muscle tissuesand connective tissue.
So after that, while I was inschool, I started noticing that
all of my peers were burning outvery easily and we were working
really long hours in the studio.
(02:31):
We were pulling out our backsand wearing out our hands very
quickly and we were very young,you know.
So this was alarming and one ofmy instructors had some time at
some point, had mentioned to melike oh, what are you gonna do
about it?
Kind of thing, you know.
And then I, you know, I kind ofsat with me a bit like yeah,
(02:52):
like what can I do about it?
Like outside of my work, and um.
So after school I was teachingat um I at a craft center for
adults called Peter Jolly Schoolof Craft, and I was at lunch
talking to a bunch of differentmakers and we were all talking
about the aches and pains in ourhands as a result of our studio
(03:13):
practices, and one of them waslike, well, we're all going to
end up with arthritis, you know,so we might as well just suck
it up and deal with it.
And in that moment I was like,oh no, no, no, we can do things.
Things you can massage yourhands right, because I had a
background in massage therapy.
I had been practicing yoga formany years at that point and I
knew there were things we coulddo, but I just didn't know how
(03:36):
to articulate them at the time.
So I went back to my room, Istarted looking for resources,
originally just to share, andthen I noticed that if there
were any, they were incrediblyhard to find.
So I and I couldn't findanything.
So I decided to createsomething.
(03:56):
So it originally started with meteaching workshops and and
classes at Peters Valley Schoolof Craft, and then I continued
my training.
I deepened my training with thebody I started.
You know, as a massagetherapist, you have to continue
your education in order tomaintain your license.
(04:16):
So I started focusing inself-care modalities and
modalities that I could bringback, that artists could then
apply to the artist studiopractice and then I went through
800 hours of yoga teachertraining and focused on the
alignment and the physical bodymechanics of the body and how we
(04:37):
can then apply that to thepostures that we move in in the
studio.
So, again, it was originallylike workshops and events and
then, around the pandemic, Istarted teaching more and more
online, but then there was likethis overlap of pivoting.
That was very interesting.
So, yeah, I've been teaching atdifferent universities and
(05:00):
craft centers ever since, andnow online, that's amazing's
amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I love that and such a great example of how you know.
By the way, I'm curious do youknow your human design?
Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I'm a manifesting generator.
Yeah, non-specific, which isvery manifesting generator.
Yeah, and I'm a manifestinggenerator.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, and I'm a manifesting generator.
I know like there's a lot ofmanifesting generators in my
community and it's like such ayou're such a beautiful example
of how you know you kind of takeall these different turns and
it just layers on skill setsthat bring your work so much
(05:43):
value for the clients thatyou're working with today and I
was kind of noticing that thatwas a trend among a lot of my
clients.
And one pitfall this is kind ofa sidebar, we'll come back to
you.
I want to talk about your booknext, but something that people
fall into, that I have falleninto, that I see a lot of my
(06:03):
clients fall into is like wekind of forget everything that
we came from.
When we come across a new skillor a new modality, we become
very obsessed with it.
We're really excited by it andwe suddenly like stop talking
about all those other thingsthat we bring to the table with
us when somebody hires us andit's so I love how you seem to
be really beautifully likeweaving in all of those past
(06:25):
chapters that are make you so,so, so relevant and, you know,
uniquely positioned to help yourclients.
So I love that about your workand I'm curious to hear about
the process of writing your book, like how did that kind of come
about?
What was the the process likefor you in publishing it?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
And before I talk about thebook, just what you said just
brought up this exercise that Idid when I was in graduate
school there, you know, becauseI believe that holding on to
parts of that story are veryimportant, at least for me.
And when I was in art school,trying to figure out, like, what
to make my art about, one of myteachers noticed that I it was
(07:08):
very important to me to mentionthat I was a massage therapist,
and this was really before myartwork pivoted towards the body
and I just kept talking about,well, I'm also a massage
therapist, and it was like, whyis this relevant?
And they asked me to draw out,you know, create something like
from the lens of a massagetherapist and to create
something from the lens of ajeweler, you know, and kind of
(07:29):
figure out how they combined.
And because my MFA is inmetalwork and jewelry making,
and that was like a reallypivotal moment because you're
you're connecting your stories,you know.
So, yeah, I think it's it'sbeautiful to hold on to those
different chapters of our lives.
And for the book, so basicallywhat happened was I had I
(07:54):
apparently met this publisher ata, an event years prior and had
told her about my idea forwellness for makers and she just
kind of kept her eyes on me andI didn't know it.
And then in the pandemic shereached out to me and said hey,
you know, I would love.
I've been watching you for along time, I wanted to see how
(08:14):
you, you grew and everything andI would love for you to write a
book.
And so I wrote the bookWellness for Makers a movement
guide for artists.
I wanted it to be the resourcethat I didn't have in fine arts
school, that my friends didn'thave and that it could just help
, you know, guide artists in thestudio to have them have
something tangible to hold on toand come back to.
(08:36):
So the guide is it goes throughdifferent movements but also
body mechanics and alignment.
So it's really helpful foranyone who, you know, sits for
long periods of time and lives avery sedentary lifestyle, right
, and it breaks down like whatmovement is and what movement
can be.
So movement we often think ofmovement.
(08:58):
We think of, you know, exercise, we think of working out at a
gym, going to a yoga studio,pilates studio, things like that
.
But the word movement literallyjust means to change positions.
So that could be, you know, assimple as moving from sitting to
standing right, like having anadjustable height desk, and it
could be taking a deep breath,right, like breath.
(09:21):
Work is movement, walking fromone side of your room to another
, that's movement, right?
So breaking it down to be likeas simple as that and as
accessible as that, to then openup the dialogue of how and
others feel that adding movementbreaks into their day can make
them less efficient.
(09:41):
But if we are, you know, buthow inefficient will we be if we
burnt out our hands or bodies?
Right?
So that's basically what thebook is about.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Love that, yeah, I love that, yeah, and I get it
(10:27):
with the resistance to likeadding extra things to do into
our day, especially forcreatives, because we're usually
so passionate about what we doand we tend to get lost in our
work.
And you know, I can say assomeone who's been through a
burnout and who has experienceda loss of health, you know like
that was the lesson I needed tonever deprioritize my well-being
ever again.
And you know, really see thevalue of those like sometimes
small but consistent habits thatwe bring into our day that
really create that longevity andreally do make a difference.
And I really got that lessonbecause you know I had chronic
(10:48):
fatigue for five years and I wasdoing all the things and you
know I obviously at that point Iwas willing to do anything to
get my health back and so I wasdoing everything within my power
and for many years it felt likeit wasn't working and I was
continually seeking newsolutions.
And then, you know, I got to aday where I was like, oh, like
(11:09):
I'm better.
And that was enough evidencethat the sometimes seemingly
small daily shifts that wecreate they're making an impact
and they are adding up over timeand they really do make a
difference and you kind of youknow this is why we need
teachers and mentors and likeframeworks to follow, because
(11:31):
sometimes we don't believe it,because sometimes, especially
with the body, you don't alwayssee instant results.
Sometimes you do right and Iknow like you have created some
really like quick breakthroughsfor your clients.
But sometimes we just need thatfaith and we need that
commitment before we finally getthat evidence and that feedback
of like, oh yeah, it's working,especially with pain, because I
(11:53):
feel like when it's not there,we don't notice, because we're
living a full life and we onlyreally notice it when it creeps
back in.
And you know, obviously as awriter, I went through a phase
of having really bad neck painuntil I realized that I had to
have an ergonomic station.
My laptop has to be at eyelevel and it's like when you're
looking down and texting, it'sthat simple repetitive movement
(12:16):
and I was like going to thechiropractor, going to the
osteopath, and I was like, ohyeah, if I just sit properly,
then I don't have to deal withthat issue, I don't have to
spend time and money going toget it fixed.
So yeah, it's so, so powerful.
I'm curious how you found inyour business kind of like.
Obviously there's a lot of likefundamental principles that
(12:37):
apply across the board.
How have you navigated thatwith you know, like tailoring to
more like specific, um kind oflike practices and practitioners
?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
there are a few things that came up for me here,
like um.
One is I like to break downthat pain also is not just a bad
thing.
Right, like, pain is a signalthat our body uses to
communicate with us, and we endup ignoring pain signals, and
that's not our fault.
We were taught that at a veryyoung age.
(13:09):
Right, we're taught to sit inchairs for long periods of time,
and once we enter school, we'retaught to ignore the signals to
need to get up for a drink ofwater.
We're taught to ignore thesignals to go to the bathroom
and to hold it longer.
So we're taught at a very long,at a very young age, that the
signals our body is sending usare less important than the work
(13:30):
in front of us.
So, by helping artists,creatives, you know,
entrepreneurs get back intotheir body.
This is, you know, a veryimportant thing.
Right, to be like.
We need to listen to the earlypain signals that our body sends
us, because our bodies do tellus, hey, you're uncomfortable,
(13:53):
and we ignore it.
Right.
Your body tells you you need togo to the bathroom and we
ignore it.
Right, and the pain signal willcome back and come back, and
come back again, until it is analarm system going off in our
bodies telling us that we'vereached a painful situation,
burnout or injury.
So my goal as a practitioner tostand out differently is to
(14:18):
help people get back into theirbodies to realize you know what,
like, help them gain morekinesthetic awareness to
understand what's happening andwhen.
What early shifts can we make?
What subtle shifts can we make?
Because, like what you weretalking about with that,
consistency is so important.
Like, how can we be moreconsistent?
(14:40):
Because, yeah, we can, like wecan do this whole thing and
maybe it'll feel great once, butwe won't keep it up, right.
Like when the new year comes,people are like I'm going to do,
you know, you know three yogaclasses a week, or I'm going to
do five Pilates classes a week,and it's like too big of a goal,
(15:00):
especially if, like, ok, if youusually do four classes a week
and you want to do five, that'stotally different, right?
But like, if you are new tomovement and you're like I'm
going to do, you know, I'm goingto go to the gym every day, I'm
going to do, you know, I'mgoing to go to the gym every day
, you know, it's like too big ofa goal.
So you have to work your wayinto creating consistent steps.
(15:20):
So, for me, I want to breakdown movement to be, like, the
most accessible, joyful thingthat you can have.
So that way, you said, oh, Iwant to do this more often,
right?
So by breaking it down to, hey,you could do this in 15 minutes
a week.
Who doesn't have 15 minutes aweek?
You can break down a video intothree minutes a day, right?
(15:42):
And then you can't tell me youdon't have three minutes a day.
Look at your scroll time.
Right, like, you have threeminutes a day to do a few minute
movements.
So what I've done is I createdthis Mindful maker membership,
where it's 15 minute segmentsthat you get every week and it's
, you know, movements directedfor long periods of sitting.
(16:06):
Basically, right, it's.
It's directed towards creativepractices, but also people who
sit for a long period of time.
So the first, like, four weeks,build off of each other and
their neck and shoulders.
Right, like, but not just like.
Oh, I'm gonna do a fewstretches that I can Google on
YouTube.
It's like, no, these arepinpointed to help you build
(16:27):
strength in that area, to helpyou, like, build a better,
stronger posture.
So that way you can feel moreease while you work for periods
of time.
It's also created to like.
These sequences are created tolike help you get back into your
body and acknowledge those,those tiny micro shifts that are
happening.
And then we go into the hands,wrists and forearms and do
(16:49):
things that you might not haveever done, so you might not have
ever felt your hands in thisway before, right?
So yeah, this is that's.
I hope I answered your questionkind of.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, and I love this concept of building strength
and how it relates to ourcreative practice, because I've
definitely found thatcorrelation for myself that when
I prioritize building strengthin my body, like everything else
in my work and my life, just itfunctions better and I'm I have
(17:27):
a higher level of capacity, Imake more money, I'm more
productive, I get more done.
It's like, you know, it's likethe preventative care, right,
instead of dealing with pain ordealing with fatigue or, you
know, the things that get in theway of us being able to fully
express ourselves and bring ourideas to life and actually, like
, put in the work that'srequired in order for that to
(17:47):
happen.
Like we're unable to do that ifour vehicle is not functioning
well.
And something that I alwayscome back to you is, like, when
I want to take things to thenext level, my number one focus
is my physical strength.
Like I'm going to turn up thedial in my commitment to the
things that make me feel good,the things that literally build
(18:10):
like muscular strength in mybody.
And I I think you know,especially for a lot of us
entrepreneurs, especially women,especially creatives like
confidence is a real issue, youknow, especially when it comes
to making the money that we want, because it all connects back
to confidence.
Confidence is the thing thatleads us to pitch with
(18:32):
conviction, that leads us topitch with conviction, that
leads us to take thoseuncomfortable actions to ask for
the money that we want to, youknow, show up and sell and
that's literally like our core,at our center, and so I, you
know, from remind my clients,like what can go and do some
core work.
You know, like, bring that intoyour practice, strengthen the
(18:53):
center of your body and like youstand taller, you hold yourself
with more openness andconfidence and people, people
pick that up.
You know, when you're on camera, when you're even if you're not
on camera, when you're speaking, like you're going to breathe
differently, you're going tospeak differently, and I think I
think this is why there's a lotof crossover with performers
(19:13):
and people who end up like incoaching and like content
creation and entrepreneurshipand just artists in general,
because you know we have thisbusiness and we're learning new
skills and we kind of can feelover our head at times because
(19:39):
you know the social mediaalgorithm changed again or
whatever.
Everything's always changing andevolving and adapting or we
always need new skills orthere's always another level
right, but it's so important toremember, like a lot of these
skills that we have as likefoundational things that we've
probably learned somewhere downthe line, that we kind of like
throw it out the window,especially when you're online
(20:01):
and everything's so like youknow, we're in technology, so
obviously I know your, yourclients, that you work with it's
.
It is very much focused onphysical practice, but I do
think this is such a a powerfulmessage for entrepreneurs as
well absolutely, and, and youknow, having a creative practice
.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
You're also, you know , um, promoting and doing all of
the things to be a creativeentrepreneur, promoting your
work, right, um.
So it's like double time, andwhen you're when you're
scrolling and you're like um,doing all these different things
to promote or working on yourcreative passion, whatever it is
like, you end up really in yourhead.
(20:38):
You know, and it can be hard totrust those decisions that you
were, you know, kind of talkingabout a moment ago.
Right, like, because you can'tdecipher what, what feel there's
a disconnection from your ownintuition.
And when we get back into ourbody, we can connect more to our
intuition.
Right, like, if we're notgrounded, if we're not in our
(21:02):
body, how can we know whatdecisions, or you know, are, you
know what I mean?
Are that like true intuition,that that calling that we feel
connected to?
Otherwise, there's a, there's abig disconnect.
So, definitely, like, gettinginto your body is just so, so
critical.
Yeah.
(21:22):
It's such a powerful, like a fewbreaths, right Like taking
three deep breaths calms youdown, it sends signals to your
nervous system to to calm youdown, to regulate right Like
moving your arms, shaking outyour hands, lifting, stretching
your arms up, right.
All of these things help get usback in our body.
(21:43):
So it's not as challenging oras complicated as some people
make it.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I love that message Cool.
Thank you so much for coming insharing these nuggets of wisdom
and really powerful reminders.
Missy, can you tell us, foranyone who's interested in
learning more about your workand what you've got going on,
where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My handle is at wellness formakers and you can find me on
Instagram.
I'm now on blue sky sub stackand yeah, and then I also have
the wellness for makers podcastand my book is available, so I
would love to connect with youall there.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Amazing.
Definitely go and buy Missy'sbook.
Definitely check out her work.
She is amazing.
Thank you so much for beinghere and if you know creators or
people who are suffering withpain, please forward this
episode on to them for anyonewho you know this would support.
Thank you so much for listeningand watching and we'll see you
(22:42):
next week.
Bye, for more inspirationalcontent, head over to my website
with sarah maccom and pleasesupport the show by liking,
commenting and subscribing.
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