Bodyful Episode #19: Laura Khoudari on Healing Trauma through Movement, One Rep at a Time

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By Valerie Martin

Each year, there are just a few books that make it onto my all-time favorites roster, and this year, one of those is called Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time.

I highlighted damn-near half the book because there was so much that resonated personally and professionally. A few chapters in, I knew I wanted to try to get the author Laura Khoudari on the podcast.

Fortunately for me, she quickly responded and was down for it— after all, Bodyful is kind of a perfect fit for all the topics she wrote about in the book! And as a fellow Health at Every Size-aligned practitioner, Laura approaches fitness and training from a weight-neutral perspective (which, I don’t have to tell you, is unfortunately a rare thing in that industry).

This was such a rich conversation, and I can’t wait for y’all to hear it. Whether you’re a trauma survivor, work with trauma, love fitness, are repelled by working out— you’ll gain something from listening to this one.

To listen to the episode, stream from the podcast player below, or search & subscribe to Bodyful on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About Laura Khoudari

A trauma practitioner, and certified personal trainer, Laura Khoudari is passionate about giving people the tools they need to heal from trauma and cultivate mental health and wellness. She is the author of the book Lifing Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time. Her work has been widely recognized by the trauma and fitness community, and she has been featured on Buzzfeed, UpWorthy, Outside Online, Medium, Tonic, Nike, and Girls Gone Strong. She lives in New York City with her family and two cats.

Links + Additional Resources:

Bodyful Episode #11: The Non-Diet-Trainer Barb Puzanovova on Joyful Movement

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by Valerie Martin

Spoiler alert: Diet Culture (along with its co-conspirators The Patriarchy and White Supremacy) is THE WOOOORST.

And even though it may be called “diet" culture, this term has come to represent a tangled, shitty web of harmful systems that impact not just our relationship with food, but also our relationship with our bodies, movement, and how much privilege (or lack thereof) we carry in our day-to-day lives.

For the majority of people who were raised in that overculture, “exercise” was something to be dreaded— an entirely unpleasant (even punishing) experience intended to whittle away fat (which was determined to be disgusting and unacceptable), and carve sharp, angular edges.

But there is a new generation of fitness leaders heading the charge to both dismantle diet culture and revolutionize our relationship with movement. One of them is badass Nashville-based personal trainer Barb Puzanovova, who is on a mission to bring the JOY back to training and fitness.

In this episode with Barb, we dig into the harm caused by diet culture, how to reclaim bodily autonomy in regards to movement, and why the conversation around privilege and body size in our society is complicated.

Here’s the truth: Thin doesn’t equal healthy, fat doesn’t equal unhealthy, exercise doesn’t have to be about weight loss, and most importantly, health is context-dependent. There is no one-size-fits-all... both literally and metaphorically.

Barb’s body of work is all about redefining and cultivating joyful movement, and she reminds us that we don’t have to force ourselves to do exercises we hate…and yes, you will hear me proclaim on this episode that I may never do another single burpee again 😂. There are no rules to exercise (walking counts! bouncing around and prancing through the park counts! stretching counts!)— and tapping into pleasure with movement creates a much more powerful experience that can help you become more bodyful in your WHOLE life.

This episode with Barb will empower you and give you a giant permission slip to move in a way that feels good, and I can’t wait for you to listen!

Barb offers training sessions virtually, and her schedule opens up again in late January if you’d like to work with her!

To listen to the episode, stream from the podcast player below, or search & subscribe to Bodyful on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About Barb Puzanovova, CPT (she/her)

Barb Puzanovova, aka The Non-Diet Trainer, is a Health at Every Size (HAES), weight-neutral, and inclusive ACE-certified Personal Trainer, Behavior Change Specialist, and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Due to her own story of recovering from an eating disorder, she empowers people to step off the scale and into their life so they can move their body with less rules and more joy.

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