9 Days later and I’m still reaping some rewards of our Dailey Method international Align & Shine Challenge. One of them being given the opportunity to hear how something we created- for fun and for community- ended up having a beautiful impact on so many people. And, how it even moved forward from there! Here are some of my favorite testimonials-
Keep on Shining on!
Jill
“When the Align and Shine challenge started I was excited to add an intention that would span across the entire month. The challenge gave me something to look forward to every single day. Being able to scroll through people’s journey helped me push through and feel successful. My life can get crazy and push me away from my goals. The challenge helped me remember those goals and showed me that others were pushing through too.” – Tamara M. (The Dailey Method – Lamorinda)
“After 16 years at my last job working 12 hour days with a 2 hour commute and sacrificing weekends to get office work done, I realized it was time to make ME a priority. I reinvented myself at a fantastic organization 5 minutes from my home and gave myself back the gift of time. Knowing the secret to a healthy life and longevity is daily movement I searched for a physical routine that would motivate me to wake up early and look forward to group exercise. After researching a number of studios and a variety practices around my home, I stumbled upon The Dailey Method Elmhurst with Stefanie.
I have always been a physically active individual, playing High School basketball, track and field and continuing my competitive track and field in college. After college, life started to happen, and making time for a regular fitness routine was challenging. At the age of 28 I was diagnosed and treated for Stage II thyroid cancer and luckily now, 22 years later I have celebrated many years of being cancer free but fighting weight gain every day.
Realizing that the scale is just a number, I no longer focus on the dial and rather on how I feel and how my clothes fit. The Dailey Method has “made me shine” from the inside out. I love seeing and feeling the mental, emotional and physical benefits of my barre and cycle practice. The support of my husband has been tremendous, he has been applauding my early morning routine and he even surprised me with new cycling shoes!
I am passionate about my classes; my instructors are very cognizant of alignment and the purpose of each movement. They motivate me and the entire class to bring the best out of ourselves. The practice is challenging and yes, there are many barre poses and cycle movements that this girl just hasn’t mastered yet but Stefanie and the other instructors teach me modifications that will help me build muscle and strength to power through the class safely and achieve maximum benefits.
The sense of camaraderie and community created at TDM Elmhurst is extremely inspiring with the early morning crowd. Without sounding corny, I often think of these 5:45 a.m. classes as having dessert for breakfast or starting my day off with recess! I compliment my Dailey Method practice with yoga and golf because I know the more I move, the stronger my bones, the more lubricated my joints and the better my balance and overall health will be as I age.
To track my success, I invested in a small notebook that serves as a personal journal in which I track my daily exercise, everything I ate that day and how I feel. It serves as a good reference of my daily and weekly accomplishments and inspires me to continue on my journey!” – Stacey R. (The Dailey Method – Elmhurst)
“Let me start by saying that I did not think I would enjoy this very much. I mean, I knew that I would like the challenge part of things (competition is my nature, I just can’t help it, even if I’m just competing against myself!) but I wasn’t looking forward to a better diet, dedicating time to myself, and all the other tasks that seem insurmountable when you’re a busy mom of 2 toddlers.
Still, I wanted to participate in the Align & Shine challenge AND tell the world about it because I think mine is a unique perspective. There are so many gorgeous, thin, fit, fine specimens who display the results of the TDM workout, but I wanted to show that it is for everyBODY – even the frazzled, mismatched size 12 who can barely process a thought at 6am but goes to class anyway.
I figured all of my friends and social media acquaintances would be unfollowing amid groaning and eye rolling. In this day and age, we live in social media world where we are often sold to, directly or indirectly, and the last thing I wanted to sound like I was trying to SELL this workout, or this lifestyle, or this…being.
My friends weren’t the skeptical ones. It was ME!
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The feedback I received over the course of the challenge via Facebook, via text message, or via private message was just amazing. I had friends telling me they want to come try TDM. I had friends telling me they’ve been motivated to get off their butts and go to the gym because if I can do it, they can do it. I had friends telling me that I have been giving them inspiration to do better, and be better. Me. ME! No eye rolling, no unfollowing, just pure positivity. How freaking cool is that? It was the perfect culmination to the challenge. I had made change in more ways than one…
I wish I could do these kinds of challenges all the time. It’s been so valuable for me physically, mentally, emotionally. I’ve found myself connecting better with my friends, my kids, my husband and newly – my classmates! My teammates, these people that really do make me keep coming back. Not to mention the teachers. They just KNOW what to do to make me reach higher. And when to play a little Bieber.
The Align & Shine challenge was just like class, the beauty in the structure is that it could be unstructured – modified, made to be my own, done on my time. All along the way, it still made me focus. Focus on myself, focus on my world around me. There is such purpose behind what might otherwise seem like “simple” tasks.
So…where do we sign up for the next one?” – Christina W. (The Dailey Method – Birmingham)
“My experience with The 30 Clean through my TDM studio was excellent! I have always thought of my diet as relatively healthy and balanced. But after the experience, I realized I had been making many mistakes. The support and advice of all the coaches really helped me to understand some of the simple changes I could make to have a better cleaner and healthier lifestyle. My husband was very skeptical but after the experience feels he understands how his diet and consequently his health is much better. We both feel more energetic, healthier, leaner, and we have better skin!! We both love the lifestyle change we have incorporated into our life and plan on continuing to eat clean. I am telling all my friends to try the program because I feel the results are so worth it! Thank you Dailey Method and The 30 Clean!” – Saira S. (The Dailey Method – Loudon)
“New to The Dailey Method, I’ve been incorporating it into my routine since late December, when I was taking a break from my usual running routine. I could tell within the first month that my core strength and posture had improved. Dailey Cycle has been a refreshing change of cardio workout and I had not been running as consistently as I used to. Despite this, I ran a 10k race in early March at my fastest pace in over 4 years! I was under 30 seconds from my 10k personal record. Then came the May Align and Shine Challenge, increasing my usual 2-3 class per week routine into a consistent 4 per week. At the end of the month, I came into a vacation at Acadia National Park feeling the strongest and most centered I’ve been all year. We did some pretty intense hikes in a short period of time that I couldn’t have done a month prior without my body feeling much weaker and sore. Recovery was so fast I was at a Dailey Cycle class just a couple days later, achieving my highest average and maximum power I’d seen on the monitor. As a runner, it’s hard to find the right balance of cardio and core/strength conditioning. With TDM, I’ve found one just adds to the other and vice versa. It seems everything TDM strengthens me for goes right back into better workouts at the Dailey classes. I feel like I’ve finally found my perfect balance.” – Kathy P (The Dailey Method – Washington D.C.)