Coming home from a holiday can be a rude awakening. One minute, you’re sleeping well, moving your body joyfully, soaking up nature, and feeling deeply connected to the people you love. The next, you’re staring down an overflowing inbox, a growing to-do list, and a calendar packed with obligations.

In this week’s episode of Thrive Beyond Size, I share my own experience coming back from 10 days of camping — and how quickly the stress and old habits came rushing back. We’ll explore:

• Why vacations feel so restorative — from slower rhythms and more outdoor time to meaningful connection and permission to rest.
• The pull of old patterns — how environmental cues, habit loops, and cultural pressures push us back into busyness.
• The role of the brain — why familiar routines feel “safer” than new, nourishing ones, even when we want to change.
• Practical ways to bring vacation home — identifying the habits that matter most and finding their smallest, most doable versions for everyday life.

If you’ve ever wished you could bottle up the feeling of vacation and sprinkle it into your daily routine, this episode will give you a starting place. You don’t need to recreate your whole holiday — you just need to carry the parts that matter most into your regular life, and protect them like you would any important commitment.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

Connect with me on Instagram: @wayzahealth

Learn more about my coaching and programs: wayzahealth.com

What happens when the movement you love starts to feel like something you have to do?

In this off-the-cuff episode, recorded from a rainy picnic table while camping, I reflect on a week of intense hiking that pushed me—physically and emotionally. Hiking is my favorite kind of movement. It usually brings me peace, joy, and deep connection to myself and the world around me. But on this trip, something shifted. I started to notice the “shoulds” creeping in. The pressure to push harder, to keep up, to prove something—even when my body was asking me to slow down.

This experience led me to a powerful realization: even joyful movement can turn into burnout if we’re not paying attention. And often, it happens quietly. A hike you love becomes a test of endurance. A goal rooted in excitement becomes a measure of your worth. And before you know it, movement stops feeling like freedom and starts to feel like a burden.

In this episode, I explore:

• The fine line between joyful movement and exercise obligation
• How to recognize when your fitness goals are fueling you—and when they’re draining you
• The ways diet culture sneaks into movement, even in healing spaces
• Why listening to your body is the strongest move you can make
• How to reframe fitness goals so they align with joy, not guilt

I also share a few honest questions I’ve been asking myself—and invite you to do the same—so you can reconnect with movement in a way that supports your body and your well-being, not your inner critic.

Whether you’re a hiker, a walker, a gym-goer, or someone still trying to repair your relationship with movement, this episode will help you pause, reflect, and move forward with more intention and more trust.

Today’s episode is a little shorter than usual, but it dives deep—literally—into the body. Michelle shares what she’s been learning about two often-overlooked players in our physical and emotional well-being: the fascia and the psoas muscle.

Though rarely discussed in traditional medical training, these structures play a crucial role in how our bodies hold onto stress and trauma, and why safety in the body is so essential for healing.

You’ll learn:

• What fascia is and why it’s more than just “wrapping” for your muscles
• How chronic stress and trauma affect fascia—making it tight, sticky, and dehydrated
• What the psoas muscle is, and why it’s known as the “muscle of the soul”
• How the psoas connects to your nervous system and responds to perceived threat
• Why aggressive stretching can backfire, and how gentle invitations to release are more effective
• The connection between physical bracing and emotional coping patterns like emotional eating and dissociation
• How breath, somatic movement, and even rolling a dog toy along your arm can begin to shift things

This isn’t a how-to guide, and it’s not coming from a place of expertise—but rather a curious and compassionate beginning into a new layer of embodiment work.

💬 Michelle also shares her own story of tears rising during yoga, of mistakenly “going to war” with her body, and of learning to trust the body’s timeline.

📣 Connect with Michelle:
Website: https://wayzahealth.com
Email: michelle@wayzahealth.com
Substack: Rebellious Nourishment
Instagram: @wayzahealth

🎧 If this episode stirred something in you, would love to hear your thoughts. Have you worked with your fascia or psoas? Do you have resources to share? Reach out and join the conversation.

Thanks for listening—and remember, your body may not need fixing. It may simply need to be held.