Unconditioning Movement

How your identity and breath shape your posture and vice versa?

Sun, 17 May 2026 10:11:41 GMT

Posture class is in session…

Deep dive into the intersection of posture, identity, and breath, and how nervous system patterns and life conditioning shape the way you stand, move, and relate to the world and how to uncondition yourself.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that our posture is a conscious choice, and if we walk around robotically long enough… we’ll finally transform our posture and stop the pain.

But your posture holds you, not the other way around.

Your posture is how you’ve learned to respond to life, it’s systemic.

Stress, trauma, familial and cultural conditioning, even the roles we take on in our relationships and work shape how we stand, sit, and move.

Some of us overextend, pushing through and holding everything together with tension.

Some of us shrink to take up less space, rounding our shoulders and collapsing inward.

Others are caught between opposing forces, never quite settling into a posture that feels natural

.Discover your body’s story here → https://hedishah.com/your-bodys-story-quiz-hedi-shah/

These patterns show up not only in our movement but also in how we feel and relate to the world.

A posture stuck in collapse can lead to exhaustion and a sense of powerlessness.
A posture locked in rigidity can create tension and burnout.

The good news is that just as these patterns were learned, they can be unlearned.

And in this workshop, you’ll learn how to work with posture through breath, nervous system regulation, and identity, so change actually sticks.

💚 When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help:

Body Check-in: a 2-hour online session to assess your body’s current state, identify patterns and hidden imbalances (posture, breath, nervous system tone), and leave with a clear, personalized plan (plus 7 days of support after).

Hire me for Live Experiences: immersive, interactive wellbeing events (virtual or in-person) that bring the body back into the conversation, helping your audience build mental + physical resilience through nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused practices.

Discover Your Body’s Story (Free quiz): a 5-minute pause to understand what your body has been trying to tell you, especially if you feel “wired but drained,” stuck in a loop, or disconnected from your deeper embodied wisdom.

🐉 Subscribe for more mindfulness, posture, and embodiment practices

….to help you move beyond the conditioning that keeps you stuck and in pain.

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

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Hedi Shah
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👁️ Mindfulness Teacher & Bodyworker
🐉 Nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to target the cause of what keeps you stuck and in pain, not just symptoms.

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

This is the sign you've been asking for

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:22:52 GMT

Your enjoyment is your answer

Your joy is the bridge between doing and being

You get stuck in doing and forget your being

You resist your joy because it’s the very sword meant to change this outdated paradigm,

but the system keeps sucking you in.

It’s not your fault, it’s how they hold you hostage.

All you need is to remember what’s on your heart.

It’s always been this:

unconditioning yourself from the “should”s that make your joy wrong

You are afraid this won’t work.

You know they succeed when they no longer need to keep you captive.

You do it willingly,

with the way you judge yourself

with the way you beat yourself

with the way you deprive yourself of yourself

But child, it’s time to step out of this jail and ask:

what if you design a life so joyful that it feels illegal?

The answer to that is your sign…

💚 When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help:

🐉 Subscribe for more mindfulness, posture, and embodiment practices

….to help you move beyond the conditioning that keeps you stuck and in pain.

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

The “As If We Broke Up” Experiment

Sun, 10 May 2026 10:11:49 GMT

47 days ago, I had a moment….

that led to “breaking up” while staying in my relationship with my husband.

Basically, I decided to act as if we had broken up, so I could see who I would become, what I would choose, and where I had been using the comfort of being “a couple” as an excuse to stay complacent.

Here’s what happened leading up to that moment:

One morning, I was FaceTiming a dear friend who was going through a painful breakup. Even though I knew she was hurting, I could not ignore what else I was witnessing. A kind of wildness was returning to her, along with a deep sense of conviction and aliveness. I felt moved by her energy, and I found myself wondering when the last time was that I had felt like that.

Later that same day, I was scrolling on Pinterest (of all places) and came across a girl talking about something similar. She said she was acting as if she had broken up inside her relationship, not to end it, but to interrupt the stagnation and comfort that had started to make her feel unsatisfied.

Her story landed in me. Paired with what I had seen in my friend earlier that morning, I felt a strong pull to start an experiment.

Before that let me give you a backstory on how we got here:

My partner and I dated long-distance for 2.5 years. I was in Canada and he was in the UK. In the middle of the pandemic, I moved to the UK. We both moved to Manchester, where we didn’t know a single soul. Then we worked from home, with rare interactions outside our bubble, mostly just trips to see family and friends when we could.

Caspian Sea, Iran

A year and a half ago, we moved again, this time to a small town in the northwest of England. We lost the little community we’d built, and we had to start over again.

And again, it was mostly just me and him.

Yes, I started litter picking with neighbors and helping with our local garden. But day-to-day, we only really have each other to rely on. We are working from home, with very little opportunity to meet people.

After those moments of clarity, I sat down and asked myself:

Where do I say no to opportunities to socialize and get out of my comfort zone because the comfort of our couple habits is easier?
How would I show up differently if I were actually broken up?

So I began a practice of noticing, in real time, where I was relying on the relationship to meet needs I could meet myself, where I was using it as an excuse to not take risks, and where it had become a soft place to hide.

And then I started doing the opposite.

St. Bees Beach, UK

A tangible example: I’d been trying to make friends locally, but I had this story that it wasn’t worth expanding my Bumble BFF radius beyond 15 minutes. When I checked the app again, I caught myself. Why wouldn’t I widen it?

I expanded the distance. And I ended up meeting someone who lives 40 minutes away.

We had one of the deepest, most stimulating conversations I’ve had in a long time because I chose to go a little further than what was convenient. Not only did I potentially make a new girl friend, but I also got to enjoy a solo road trip with my fav playlist, which I had not done in a while.

Basically, I decided to spread my wings while still being in a relationship. Sometimes we slowly cut our own wings, little by little, because staying open and alive requires us to keep choosing movement, risk, and growth.

I’m planning to keep this going for 3 months and see what happens. All I need to do is organize one social activity per week that pushes me outside of my comfort bubble.

Unconditioning is not prescriptive. It is about finding out what medicine you need. Even though I cherish the comfort and safety I have in my relationship with my husband, which we need more than ever in this world, in this phase of life stepping out of that comfort is what feels most supportive.

What is your medicine these days?

💚 When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help:

🐉 Subscribe for more mindfulness, posture, and embodiment practices

….to help you move beyond the conditioning that keeps you stuck and in pain.

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

Unconditioning My Relationship to Prayer

Sun, 03 May 2026 10:12:00 GMT

I remember lying on the ground after a powerful meditation. I felt gooey and relaxed, and tears were streaming down my cheeks.

The first thing I wrote in my journal was: “How could I forget this?”

My connection to the divine.

A deep remembering that there is a loving presence all around us.

This was back in 2020, during my Heart Resonance Practitioner training. That process opened my sight and restored my relationship with the Creator.

I realized there is a difference between meditating to relax or “work on yourself,” and meditating to connect with this unexplainable force.

Shortly after, I was introduced to writing prayer. It became one of the most powerful practices I have ever tried. The level of mind-body coherence I experienced was unmatched.

And yet, I was afraid to go all in.

On the surface, the reason was logical. I carry a deep resistance to indoctrination.

As someone who was Muslim by birth, and who has seen how religion can be used to suppress people, I could not fully let my guard down.

But there was another layer too. Whenever I connected deeply through prayer and meditation, life moved fast. Something shifted quickly. I was unconsciously scared of the momentum and the trust it asked of me.

This year has been challenging on many fronts. There were moments when I dropped to my knees and asked for help because my humanness and all of my nervous system regulation toolkit did not feel like enough to carry me forward.

After one of those breakdowns, I was on a Zoom call with a group of beautiful women. I shared what I was feeling and said I was craving a prayer practice. They volunteered to join me.

We began with an 11-day prayer practice together until the Equinox (and it still going), which Iranians celebrate as the new year. Shout out to you lovely humans 💚

Since that day, so much has changed for each person in that group. It was a huge reminder of the power of community, and of praying together for the life and world we actually want.

Lately, I also have been getting pings to record more prayer practices. I also noticed my only prayer practice on Insight Timer went semi-viral. I do not think I can ignore it anymore.

In the meantime, if you are craving a prayer practice too, you can start with this:

💚 When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help:

🐉 Subscribe for more mindfulness, posture, and embodiment practices

….to help you move beyond the conditioning that keeps you stuck and in pain.

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

my history with anger

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:11:55 GMT

I grew up carrying an unbearable amount of anger.

My mom felt attacked by it. She was on the receiving end of my anger more than anyone else.

My dad pretended it did not happen.

But they never asked why I was so angry, basically all the time.

Often, the people closest to me, like close family members or romantic partners, would become the targets of these outbursts.

Other people had no idea about this side of me.

The first time I truly felt what was underneath my anger was when I started writing every day, after reading The Artist’s Way.

But the outbursts continued. I was just more aware of them.

When I started dating my husband, then boyfriend, Navid, he was the first person who did not feel offended by my anger or leave the room because of it.

He would sit with me in my anger, which was something I had never experienced before. I couldn’t bear sitting with myself in my anger.

And when the anger finally passed, a heavy sadness would wash over me. Under it was this raw sense of unworthiness. Part of me even wished he would leave too, just so I would not have to feel it.

At that point, the effect of my anger on our relationship was so clear, and I wanted that to change.

Here are the two practices that helped me loosen anger’s grip on my life and relationships…

1) Inner child work:

Inner child work finally showed me where my rage was coming from, and it was the most surprising thing I had learned about myself.

As a kid, I watched women get manipulated and controlled, then swallow their pride and carry on as if everything was fine.

In those moments, I wanted them to get angry. I wanted them to refuse. I wanted them to choose themselves and, in doing so, choose me too.

That rage came from the helplessness I felt as a girl, watching it happen and not knowing how to stop it. I hated that reality. Inner child work helped me go back and give my younger self what she needed then, so I could finally close the loop.

2) Embodiment work:

Learning to stay in my body while anger moved through me was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. At times, my mind genuinely wondered if it could devour me.

It taught me something I could not think my way into. Sensations are meant to be sensed, not controlled. When I stopped trying to override them and started letting them be felt, they shifted.

As I grew my capacity to feel the intensity of anger, I also grew my capacity for everything else. I could feel sadness, tenderness, pleasure, clarity, and choice.

I can honestly say I metabolized that rage. It has been years since those outbursts. I still get angry. I am human. But anger does not control me like it used to.

I recorded a unique embodiment practice to help you process any pent-up anger.

Go on a walk and press play:

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

What keeps me sane these days..

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 10:11:37 GMT

As we go through life (especially with the state of the world), we keep meeting the same fork in our unconditioning path:

Are we going horizontal or vertical?

This distinction between what I experience in my body and mind when I go vertical versus when I go horizontal is what has kept me sane lately.

Let me explain:

We go horizontal when we spread outward to control the moment. This is the part of us that tries to play “god.”
We go vertical when we come inward to meet the moment. This is where we accept our humanness and let God, Spirit, or Life Force move through us.

When I choose a horizontal path, I often notice one or a few of these sensations:

my body tenses up (ribs flared and knees locked)
I go numb
I feel an argument going in front of my head
I negotiate for my rightness
I’m scattered and disconnected from myself and my surroundings.

This is when we are:

leaning on stories, people, situations, and familiar habits as a crutch
spreading our energy outward to manage, perform, overexplain, or stay comfortable
quietly reinforcing the patterns that keep us stuck and in pain

Reflection question:

What do you sense in your body when you choose the horizontal path?

On the other hand, when the axis shifts to vertical, when I stop spreading my attention outward and bring my senses back online, here is what I notice:

my body relaxes
the rush melts away
my mind goes quiet
I feel what wants to be felt the most
my grip softens (physically and/or metaphorically)

It reminds me of this song each time:

If you’ve been in my Monthly Unconditioning Practice, you’ve heard me play it. Join the next one here.

This is when we are:

choosing love over fear
returning to sensation, breath, and the information your body is giving you
listening to what’s true beneath the noise
choosing differently without abandoning yourself or rushing into polarized “either/or” sides, whether that pressure comes from inside or outside

Reflection question:

What do you sense in your body when you choose the vertical path?

When I’m in horizontal mode, my mind gets stuck in survival. In those moments, noticing my automatic body patterns helps me shift faster than trying to think my way out of it.

I first noticed this axis shift through posture work.

For me, posture of neutrality is a physical doorway into the vertical path.

It is the moment your body says:

“I don’t need to brace for what’s next.”
“I can have readiness without armor.”
“I can be here without performing.”
I can exist without overexplaining or justifying myself.

Posture of neutrality is a quick somatic reset that helps me find the next-softest, most grounded version of myself, so I can respond instead of react. You can try it here:

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

Rehab failed me after my car accident

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 10:11:36 GMT

My career started purely through a physical and biomechanics lens, nearly 10 years ago.

Originally as a personal trainer, then specializing in Joint and Spine Mobility.

Those methods helped after my car crash…

Until they didn’t.

My accident was the beginning of an entirely new way of understanding our human body, now through the nervous system perspective.

Because it’s never just your mind or just your body.

It’s the integration of both.

Nothing creates lasting change because we live in a system that separates them.

Most approaches like mindfulness, pilates, strength training, physio, chiro… treat them as separate.

And worse, they only focus on symptoms, never root causes. Never what’s actually causing your pain.

So, no matter how long or how intensely you “treat” your symptoms, you’ll always fallback into conditioning patterns that will keep making your pain comeback.

Not here, tho.

Here, I integrate nervous system work, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to help you move beyond what keeps you stuck and in pain.

Because without the combination of the three, you’ll continue “treating” your pain forever while falling back into the patterns that will keep demanding that treatment…

Stop the loop with Your Unconditioning Path.

Start with a Body Check-in: https://hedishah.com/body-check-in-hedi-shah/

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

She thought it was a leg problem

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:55:43 GMT

She came to me with a persistent pain on the outside of her leg, thinking it was an “IT band problem”, (a connector from our hip to our shin).

That’s what she’d been told. That’s what it felt like.

Constant pain along the outside of her leg, sometimes traveling all the way down towards the inner part of her knee.

Every workout became a question mark, “Will this make it worse today?”

And a lot of times, it did.

It got bad to the point it affected her confidence and trust in her own body.

Because Sharon was doing everything “right”:

Yoga. Pilates. Strength training. HIIT.

Trying harder. Tweaking form. Pushing through.

But the more she pushed, the more her body pushed back. She started feeling frustrated and scared.

Scared that if nothing changed, she’d have to stop training. Scared she’d feel weak, stuck, unhappy in her own body.

Deep down, she just wanted to feel strong again. And trust that her effort would actually make a change.

When we met, we started with an assessment, and what I saw immediately was this:

The pain was showing up in her IT band, but the pattern started upstream.

Her pelvis wasn’t getting the support it needed, her ribcage and breathing weren’t helping her move efficiently, and her nervous system was living in a “brace and push through” mode.

Something had to give, and in her case, it was her leg.

So, instead of chasing the painful area, we worked with the whole system that was creating the overload. We worked on everything that was creating the problem:

I assessed and re-assessed, we never “guessed” our way through.
We improved her breathing. Our breath is how our ribcage, core, and pelvis organize.
We regulated her nervous system. An always braced body doesn’t adapt to life.
We built pelvic stability and real core strength. The kind that stops hip flexors and low back from hijacking everything.
Then we started posture-focused strength training, progressively and sustainably.

Her IT band pain is gone.

She can feel her core in a way she couldn’t before.

Now she has actual stability.

And she lifts, heavy.

But even bigger than that… she trusts her body again.

She’s not afraid of pain. She’s not trapped in the “no pain, no gain” nonsense.

She trains less, recovers more, and gets better results.

She also told me something that I’ll never forget:

“I appreciate the range of work you do… I can show up no matter how I feel, and I know I will leave feeling better.”

I know you’ve been stuck in a similar loop.

Trying harder, doing more, and still battling with recurring pain. Please:

You don’t need more intensity. You need a plan that matches your body, and someone who can see the pattern underneath the symptom.

I’m that someone!

Start Your Unconditioning Path with a Body check-in: https://hedishah.com/body-check-in-hedi-shah/

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

The most restorative thing to heal a knee injury (day 3)

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:55:41 GMT

I get myself into a super slow walk as soon as I can. Walking is one of the most restorative practices for posture.

At this point, I’ve already done the check-in from Day 1 and Day 2, and I’ve listened to what my body is trying to communicate.

Now, I’m focusing on anti-inflammatory knee exercises, then my pelvis’ stability, and adding a few feet exercises to prep my body for my walk.

Rhythm matters a lot here, that’s why you’ll learn how to do a relaxed arm swing in this video too.

I may even play a rhythmic song, because your auditory cortex is connected to your movement cortex.

Getting into a steady rhythm can create real changes in how we move.

And if the pain still feels alive, I do a soften pain practice so I can stay regulated throughout the whole process.

If these last 3 days helped you, just imagine what it will look like when the process is built for the pain you’re feeling, your patterns, and your life.

With me always by your side, making sure you’re on the right path.

That’s Your Unconditioning Path.

Book a Body Check-in: https://hedishah.com/body-check-in-hedi-shah/

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

Healing my knee injury (day 2)

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:55:54 GMT

When I’ve covered the basics, like we did yesterday, I zoom out.

I rarely find only focusing on the injured area productive, so I do a quick assessment to see where I’m restricted on a postural level.

Historically, I am right oriented (my body naturally shifted to the right), so I double check if that same pattern is loading my right side, and in this case my right knee.

Depending on the result of the assessment, I take the pressure off by focusing on my pelvis’ position, plus neurological and breathing exercises that help bring my pelvis into a more stable place, and by doing that, alleviating my knee pain.

I also stay active.

What often happens with injury is we get so consumed by it that we stop doing anything that lifts our mood or reminds us we’re still capable.

It can take trial and error to find exercises that do not trigger pain. In my case I did an upper body session while spending the whole time reinforcing a better pelvis position.

I know you may have tried a lot of things to heal your pain but nothing sticks.

And it never will because the pattern underneath was never addressed (that’s what I’m doing this week for my knee).

That’s what we work on in Your Unconditioning Path. Start your path with a Body Check-in: https://hedishah.com/body-check-in-hedi-shah/

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

I injured my knee last week, here’s what I did to fix it (day 1)

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:55:14 GMT

First, do not panic.

Then, 1) I do a psycho-somatic check in:

Is there an emotional layer here, or is it mostly bio-mechanical?

I’ve come to believe they are deeply connected, so I look for what I can address right away.

Mine was very personal so I’m not ready to share, but as an example your body might be saying you’re controlling too much, so you bring in an awareness practice immediately.

Then, 2) I avoid movement that increases pain, and I add movement that feels safe.

We’ve been told to ice and rest, but that’s outdated.

Movement is one of the best anti-inflammatory tools we have. I look for options that do not cause pain, like knee CARs (see video below).

I use a lot of FRC style work here, meaning I move the joint in its available range of motion, no matter how small, because it gives me control and options to modify.

I’m sharing my own process publicly, but inside Your Unconditioning Path I tailor it to your body and your life.

Because I know you may need that kind of support, start with a body check-in: https://hedishah.com/body-check-in-hedi-shah/

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

Unconditioning, fresh out the oven

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 10:11:50 GMT

December 17th, 2016, was the day I officially became a certified personal trainer.

A few days later, I got my very first client.

They were a work friend who had basically been waiting for me to get certified so they could finally have a PT :D

My work has evolved so much since those days.

This year, my business turns 10.

And it feels like I’ve been preparing for a rebirth.

The past 15 months have been about:

letting go of what no longer works, internally and externally.
bringing all the pieces of my work together so I can finally see the full canvas.
fully owning what makes my work unique and where I can serve best

And, luckily, two beautiful souls came into my life to help me bring it to life.

Big gratitude to Joel and Patrícia from GrowingDesign for being the support I always thought was impossible to find.

There’s discomfort in letting go of what previously worked.

But there’s also a sense of peace when you finally take that step, put your foot down, and say, “This is where I stand for now.”

Like a dear friend said, looks like this rebranding process has been self-affirming, and I couldn’t put it any better.

It really has been.

The more I stripped away the clutter, the more I landed on this:

The pain and stuckness we’re experiencing comes from a life of deep conditioning.

So I’m here to help you uncover it, address it, and finally move beyond modern-life pain.

And today, I’m on the edge of my seat to share what we’ve been cooking for the past 7 months.

Sizzling 🥵

It’s hot… 🔥 And ready to serve!

I mean my very freshly new website.

Want to see the full menu?

hedishah.com

In honor of this milestone, I dusted off my podcast and pulled together 5 meditations I use the most in my 1:1 client work so you can try the exact practices I come back to again and again on your unconditioning path. Let me know your pick!

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

I’m unconditioning my attention (and you’re welcome to join)

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 10:11:46 GMT

Since the beginning of this year, a lot has been happening in my country, Iran. It’s now escalated in a way that’s impacting so many people globally. The worry about my family’s livelihood is real, and running a business on top of that has been especially hard. I also had a health scare, which was a lot, but I got it checked and, thankfully, it’s nothing serious (phew)!

I found myself dwelling in fear often. What supported me most was co-creating a prayer group with an amazing group of women, and it became the grounding I desperately needed during this time.

It reminded me what becomes possible when we keep each other accountable in community.

And today, I want to invite you to join me in something I decided to do for my own sanity during this time. I won’t be leading it, per se. It will be all of us coming together and keeping each other accountable as we uncondition our focus.

Let me explain what that means…

I’ve been deeply committed to regaining my attention and focusing on creation. Last year, I set some hard rules for myself, because I genuinely noticed my brain getting lazier and lazier, and that really worried me. In that distracted space, it’s much easier to be manipulated and programmed, and we have far less capacity to stick with a long-term project and find satisfaction in deeper work.

It was going really well until this year. With everything happening, as you can imagine, I let go of many of those boundaries, and my anxious mind is back….

And I’m committed to changing that, starting April 1st for 75 days. I see it as a way to self-parent myself into a more regulated state.

Here are 6 things I’m focusing on:

The most important one is regaining my attention. I’ll be using my Bloom card to set non-negotiable boundaries around my phone in the morning and in the evening, basically from 10 pm to 10 am. I’m only allowed to use Telegram to watch the news highlights and stay informed, rather than getting sucked into drama on other social media platforms. You can define your own boundaries, too.

The second most important thing for me is regular movement. I’m committing to two movement sessions a day, at least 20 minutes each, and one of them will be a walk outside. Fresh air and sunlight, even when we get very little where we live, can do wonders for an anxious mind. You can choose your own commitment. If you don’t have a regular movement practice right now, you can start as small as 2 x 10 minutes a day.

Rain or shine…

The third thing, and honestly the one I resist the most, is getting social locally. We moved here over a year ago and we haven’t built a solid community yet. It’s one of those things that takes the most energy, but it’s also the one I know, deep down, I need the most. So I’m committing to getting social at least once a week during this time.
Next one is to start my day with a prayer practice to reflect on where I’m stuck, where I need guidance and how can I best serve. This can be a minimum of 5 minutes, and more if I choose to. You can choose your version.

Sort out my evening routine. Take my time to actually wash my face and do my skincare, which hasn’t really been happening for the past 3 months, and read a minimum of 2 pages of a book I like. I’m currently reading The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Nourish myself. I typically eat healthy, but lately I’ve been feeling lazy and doing the bare minimum. I often only think about food when I’m starving. I want to change that by planning more colorful plates and taking the time to design and enjoy them. Define yours!

making it fun…

I also created a tracking template in Canva to print out, and I’m sharing it here. If you want to edit it and make it your own, you can. Click here!

This is a very spontaneous invitation, so I haven’t figured out how we’ll stay in touch yet. Maybe Substack chat, which I’ve never used, or WhatsApp, or something else.

If you want to do this with me, press reply to this email. Depending on how many people are interested, I’ll decide which route to take.

👁️ What has your body been trying to tell you?

The way we hold ourselves matters. Not just because of how it looks. But because it shapes how we live, how we relate, and what we’re capable of imagining. Let your body speak. Let it interrupt the collective war and offer you a new way of being entirely.

Discover your body's message

Start Your Unconditioning Path ↓

A 18-week journey that combines nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to address the root cause of your pain, not just symptoms.

Check this out

What’s next?

Monthly Unconditioning Practice

Mar 30th. Monday. 5 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

This session helps you reconnect with your body's innate wisdom, move beyond what keeps you stuck, and rediscover who you are beneath the conditioning.

You'll follow the rhythm within and the pulse of the music to guide yourself back to the wild Self.

Each month, we gather for:

Nonlinear movement with music to shake off tension and emotional residue
Guided reflection to integrate what the month brought
Intentional planning to meet the next cycle grounded and resourced

Show up exactly as you are. Leave feeling more alive, grounded, and free.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothes
Plenty of space to move around
A pen and paper

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

man with heart

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 17:55:36 GMT

In 2023, I bought this skeleton for my office.

At the time, the reason felt obvious: a teaching prop to demonstrate postural structure and movement more clearly.

But this particular skeleton isn't that flexible, and the ones I had in mind cost far more than I could afford.

Still, I kept it.

It changed my space. It gave it a little edge.

Later, I added a light to its heart as my back light, and it became a conversation starter.

For a long time, though, this skeleton stayed anonymous. I collected name suggestions, but nothing stuck.

Over the past six months, I’ve been going through a slow rebrand with the help of the amazing GrowingDesign team, and I thought maybe now it’s time to finally pick a name.

So this girl finally did, and I can’t wait to officially introduce you to this man.

But before I share the name, let me walk you through the inner process that gave birth to it.

My business turns 10 this year, and it really feels like a cycle has been completed. Hearing that numerology counts this as a new beginning makes it all feel extra special and meaningful.

This past decade has been a process of unconditioning from patterns, dynamics, and stories that kept me stuck and in pain so I could remember the sovereign self that lives within.

And my word for this year is returning to wild Self.

In The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock, she describes a turning point where the old model of “masculine” energy stops working.

That version, built on proving, perfectionism, and harsh self-discipline, is what patriarchal culture rewards. It’s built around external standards, “power over,” control, and domination.

It asks the heroine to override feeling, override the body, and measure worth through achievement and endurance.

After the crash that comes from living by external standards, the heroine begins to develop a different inner masculine: one that can still bring clarity, boundaries, protection, and action, but does it with warmth and respect for feeling.

This “man with heart” becomes an inner ally to the feminine rather than an inner critic.

He supports the heroine to choose what is true, say no when needed, and follow through on what matters, not as self-punishment but as devotion to wholeness.

And I feel like that’s where I am, right on the threshold.

That’s why I call him Man with Heart, a symbol of resistance for all the women before me, and a reminder of what I’m building within.

So without further ado, meet Man with Heart. He’s officially part of the unconditioning movement family.

👁️ What has your body been trying to tell you?

Discover your body's message

Start Your Unconditioning Path ↓

A 18-week journey that combines nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to address the root cause of your pain, not just symptoms.

Check this out

What’s next?

1) Uncondition Your Posture To Reclaim Your Power

Mar 24th. Tuesday. 5:30 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

“Stand up straight. Shoulders back. Chest up. Tuck your chin in.”

Have you heard that before? Did you just force yourself into those rigid positions? Okay.

Now relax…

Exhale, and let it all go.

For years, we have been told that good posture is something we have to force, that if we just hold our bodies in the right position long enough, we will magically fix ourselves.

But rigid, forced posture is not sustainable. A good posture reclaims ease, stability, and natural movement, it doesn’t lock yourself into an unnatural shape so you can reduce pain, be flexible and adaptable as you go through life.

In this free class, you’ll learn how to:

Understand the relationship between your posture, your identity and your life
Let go of unnecessary tension and discover true support
Activate deep postural muscles without clenching or bracing
Use your breath to optimize your posture, move freer, increase energy feel stronger, and calmer.

Let’s unlearn the myths and reclaim posture that actually serves you!

What to bring:

Wear comfortable clothes.
Go barefoot.
Have a chair nearby, ideally one without wheels and with a firm seat.

2) Monthly Unconditioning Practice

Mar 30th. Monday. 5 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

This session helps you reconnect with your body's innate wisdom, move beyond what keeps you stuck, and rediscover who you are beneath the conditioning.

You'll follow the rhythm within and the pulse of the music to guide yourself back to the wild Self.

Each month, we gather for:

Nonlinear movement with music to shake off tension and emotional residue
Guided reflection to integrate what the month brought
Intentional planning to meet the next cycle grounded and resourced

Show up exactly as you are. Leave feeling more alive, grounded, and free.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothes
Plenty of space to move around
A pen and paper

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

The urge to be right

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 22:10:33 GMT

I almost decided to quietly skip this week’s letter and unscheduled my original post, but part of me felt the need to speak on this.

I saw a post on LinkedIn where the person was talking about what’s happening in the world, and she used the word “Arab world” instead of “Middle East,” and I’ve seen people attacking her, saying Iran is not an Arabic country.

In response to comments, she said, “I was trying to use more inclusive language and had no idea Iran is not part of the Arab world.”

And the commenter said, “Then don’t comment on something you don’t know....”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, so I smirked....

The pressure to say something or to say the right thing is intense right now.

The hardest thing is to sit with uncertainty. This discomfort is so agitating that we often prefer the certainty of our own viewpoint to having that be challenged.

We reach that certainty by dehumanizing others, calling them “uneducated,” “stupid,” or “supporters of our enemy.”

It’s a trap I witness myself get stuck in from time to time.

Things the keep me sane these days

When we feel unsafe, we also gravitate toward fixed roles that give us instant moral clarity:

Victim
Perpetrator
Savior

Depending on your lived experience and your worldview, you may already have a clean map in your mind of who plays which role in this war.

None of these frames are entirely wrong, but they are incomplete, and they keep us trapped in moral certainty instead of honest contact with reality.

The painful truth is that all three live inside us: the part that has been harmed, the part that hardens and harms or judges, and the part that wants to rescue and control the outcome.

Moving beyond the triad does not mean denying injustice. It means staying awake to these inner forces without letting them run the whole story.

This is where the Self with the capital S lives, we have more capacity for nuances beyond outsourcing our agency to right/left narratives, villains and heroes, and take responsibility for the choices we have to make with our limited options. And refusing to make a choice is a choice too.

I lived more than half of my life in Iran, travel there every year, and become more homesick as time passes. My parents, my only brother, and my entire extended family except an uncle live there. And I have a dream of returning and running this little business from my homeland.

And sitting with the uncertainty for its future and my family’s livelihood is one of the hardest things I’ve ever endured.

Do you know what calms me the most?

When my family finds a way to call me through the regime’s internet crackdowns and says, “We are okay, and we are more hopeful than scared.”

👁️ What has your body been trying to tell you?

Discover your body's message

Start Your Unconditioning Path ↓

A 18-week journey that combines nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to address the root cause of your pain, not just symptoms.

Check this out

What’s next?

Uncondition Your Posture To Reclaim Your Power

Mar 24th. Tuesday. 5:30 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

“Stand up straight. Shoulders back. Chest up. Tuck your chin in.”

Have you heard that before? Did you just force yourself into those rigid positions? Okay.

Now relax…

Exhale, and let it all go.

For years, we have been told that good posture is something we have to force, that if we just hold our bodies in the right position long enough, we will magically fix ourselves.

In this free class, you’ll learn how to:

Understand the relationship between your posture, your identity and your life
Let go of unnecessary tension and discover true support
Activate deep postural muscles without clenching or bracing
Use your breath to optimize your posture, move freer, increase energy feel stronger, and calmer.

Let’s unlearn the myths and reclaim posture that actually serves you!

What to bring:

Wear comfortable clothes.
Go barefoot.
Have a chair nearby, ideally one without wheels and with a firm seat.

Monthly Unconditioning Practice

Mar 30th. Monday. 5 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

This session helps you reconnect with your body's innate wisdom, move beyond what keeps you stuck, and rediscover who you are beneath the conditioning.

You'll follow the rhythm within and the pulse of the music to guide yourself back to the wild Self.

Each month, we gather for:

Nonlinear movement with music to shake off tension and emotional residue
Guided reflection to integrate what the month brought
Intentional planning to meet the next cycle grounded and resourced

Show up exactly as you are. Leave feeling more alive, grounded, and free.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothes
Plenty of space to move around
A pen and paper

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

what is beneath the physical pain

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 17:55:59 GMT

Most pain doesn’t need another stretch. It needs your attention.

If you’ve been living in a body that keeps “acting up,” you’ve probably been given the same checklist a hundred times:

Stretch the tight thing.
Strengthen the weak thing.

Sure they can help, but after nearly 10 years of moving beyond my own chronic pain, and working with people navigating injuries, flare-ups, and “random” aches, here’s what I’ve learned:

Pain is rarely just a mechanical problem. It’s a protective signal. And that protection isn’t only physical. It can be psychological and emotional, too.

I started this work believing the standard story: if I could figure out what was tight and what was weak, we were good to go. That is what I was trained to look for. It is also the lens most of us inherit from modern fitness and rehab culture.

These days, whether a client comes to me with a sudden new pain or they’re just beginning our work together, we start with a body pain check-in.

This check-in helps you shift from:

Fixing → to listening
Forcing change → to creating the conditions for change
Fighting the sensation → to building a relationship with it

After this practice, the pain usually softens and the body’s insight is often surprisingly practical.

What your body has been trying to tell you?

Here are a few pieces of body wisdom that have come through for clients:

Shoulder pain: A client kept getting shoulder flare-ups. When they asked the body what was going on, what came through was: I’m bored with work, and we need to change it.
Severe neck tension: Another client’s neck was constantly on guard. When they stayed with the sensation long enough, they realized they were shutting down their voice in daily life, swallowing needs, and constantly censoring themselves. They needed to speak up.
Deltoid pain: Another client’s shoulder (deltoid) pain delivered a clear message: slow down. Stop pushing so hard.
Knee pain: Knee pain: A client developed knee issues out of nowhere. When they checked in, what surfaced was fear of all the changes happening in their life, even the positive ones.
Upper back pain: Another client’s upper back pain said: to build the life they wanted, they would need to loosen the negative loyalty to their family of origin. The body was bracing around the cost of letting go and not being the good little girl anymore.

I’m sharing these not to claim that every pain has a neat metaphor, or that you can “think your way” out of symptoms.

If anything, you need to listen and get comfortable sensing what’s here.

When we include the nervous system, the psyche, and the life context, the work stops being a tug-of-war with the body.

Try it: the body pain check-in

I recorded my signature mindfulness practice, the one I guide my clients through when pain is in the room, for you. And please remember: the goal is not to become a person who never feels pain. It’s to become a person who can meet pain without panic.

Watch it here:

👁️ What has your body been trying to tell you?

Discover your body's message

Start Your Unconditioning Path ↓

A 16-week journey that combines nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to address the root cause of your pain, not just symptoms.

Check this out

What’s next?

Monthly Unconditioning Practice

Mar 30th. Monday. 5 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

This session helps you reconnect with your body's innate wisdom, move beyond what keeps you stuck, and rediscover who you are beneath the conditioning.

You'll follow the rhythm within and the pulse of the music to guide yourself back to the wild Self.

Each month, we gather for:

Nonlinear movement with music to shake off tension and emotional residue
Guided reflection to integrate what the month brought
Intentional planning to meet the next cycle grounded and resourced

Show up exactly as you are. Leave feeling more alive, grounded, and free.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothes
Plenty of space to move around
A pen and paper

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

No pain, no gain is a ridiculous lie.

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:55:31 GMT

I always pushed through anyway because I was told… “No pain, no gain.”

Before unsubscribing from the “no pain, no gain” nonsense, I used to work out every day while:

Having tight hamstrings and stiff lower back was a regular thing.
Feeling a hurtful pinch in my hip was “normal” during heavy lunges.
I couldn’t even sit on the ground (let alone crossed-legged).

For nearly 10 years, I’ve also seen how this plays out in my clients’ lives and how often it creates more setbacks than progress.

No pain, no gain is a ridiculous lie.

This narrative trains us to ignore our body’s signals, disconnect from our instincts, and override our intuition. When we’re cut off from our bodies, we become easier to control, easier to sell to and more likely to blame ourselves instead of the system we’re living in.

Back in the days, I thought stretching could help... and it kind of did.

But nothing sustainably improved until I started doing inner work, joint mobility, and postural restoration practices.

I still strength train 3-5 times a week. What I no longer do is normalize pains and aches. I address them head-on, and I’m the strongest and most flexible I’ve ever been in my life at 38.

Today, I believe in foundational deep work and strength training with space for recovery.

Now, I practice and teach a training model that makes me and my clients better at doing human things: breathing, playing, running, sensing and moving first and foremost.

Because when we get better at doing human things, all the other things like:

Going on your favorite long hike without knee pain
Feeling strong lifting in the gym without the fear of back pain
Playing with your children freely without being afraid of your body’s limitations

Become easier, no matter your fitness goal.

Check out this 14-minute morning posture routine to build a stronger foundation and feel more human ↓

👁️ What has your body been trying to tell you?

Discover your body's message

Start Your Unconditioning Path ↓

A 16-week journey that combines nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to address the root cause of your pain, not just symptoms.

Check this out

What’s next?

Monthly Unconditioning Practice

Feb 27th. Friday. 3:30 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

This session helps you reconnect with your body's innate wisdom, move beyond what keeps you stuck, and rediscover who you are beneath the conditioning.

You'll follow the rhythm within and the pulse of the music to guide yourself back to the wild Self.

Each month, we gather for:

Nonlinear movement with music to shake off tension and emotional residue
Guided reflection to integrate what the month brought
Intentional planning to meet the next cycle grounded and resourced

Show up exactly as you are. Leave feeling more alive, grounded, and free.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothes
Plenty of space to move around
A pen and paper

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

Here is why my teenage self would 100% judge the hell out of me

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 17:55:58 GMT

My dad used to tell me:

You can do and be whoever you want to be. You are different.

Then I looked around me.

I didn’t see any women doing or being who they wanted to be.

That dissonance was very confusing for a young girl.

Layer that with the oppressive Islamic regime that controlled every aspect of our lives including what we wore.

I learned: I’m not enough, but I’ll do everything in my power to become enough.

My first strategy was to “man up”:

I refused to wear dresses, put makeup on, or come across as girlish to be taken seriously.
In my teens, I used to cut my hair extremely short, wear baggy clothes, and pretend I was a boy, taking immense pleasure in people thinking I wasn’t a girl.
I hated feeling my feelings, they made me feel weak. And anger was my best friend for a looong time.

I lived disconnected from my body for years...

Returning to my body changed me so deeply that my teenage self would 100% judge the hell out of me.

Here’s what changed:

Now creative expression is my top value in life
I lead from my enjoyment not to prove my enoughness
I’ve stopped performing my life and started living it

That’s the power of doing the work that addresses both body and mind.

If you’ve spent years trying to fit into boxes that were never built for you.

If you’ve been disconnected from your body as a way to survive.

If you’re ready to stop proving you’re “enough” and start living like you already are:

Join me and for The Unconventional Women’s Journey: From Limitations to Liberation.

📅 February 11-13 (live online)

Somatic and mindset work to help you understand your deep-rooted limiting narratives, and give you the tools to no longer let them control your life.

Book your spot: tinyurl.com/unconventionalwomen

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

My 3-year sabbatical that changed everything

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 17:55:14 GMT

This is me on the day that…

UBC, Vancouver, Canada

I graduated from UBC Urban Design School with dreams of making a life in this field.

Back then I thought having a master’s degree would open up so many doors for me.

But it didn’t.

Later when I started my business pursuing degrees gave way to endless certificates, coaching and courses.

The more credentials I collected the more hollow and insufficient I felt.

Until I went on a 3-year sabbatical from:

Investing in new certificates
Reading self-help books
Hiring coaches
And consuming the content of people in my industry.

It was haaaardddd…

But it was the first time in a long time I heard myself think.

And in those 3 years I began integrating everything I’ve learned through my own lived experience.

For the first time, I didn’t feel like someone who had learned a bunch of things and was just repeating them.

I fully embodied them.

In that process I had to also let go of loads of BS that I no longer had any use for.

Because I was ready to carve my own path…

Shortly after that I learned that my late illiterate grandma helped her family and community set broken bones.

My hometown-Sari, Iran

She just knew how…

I was dumbfounded.

These days when traditional training fails me, I ask her (joking, but partly 😁)

We live in a system that measures people by their degrees and certificates (sure, I’m all about running an ethical practice).

But that same narrative prevented me and so many women from trusting the things we intuitively knew.

I separated my lived experiences from my work for a long time.

That changed when women from unconventional backgrounds became clients.

My life experience became the very thing that gave me the ability to facilitate transformation.

The more I leaned into it, the more powerful my containers became (if I say so myself).

It’s about time we stop separating ‘legitimate’ knowledge from embodied knowing.

Most women who’ve built unconventional lives are out here crushing goals, making moves, doing the damn thing… and still feeling like they’ll never find their seat at the table.

And you know what? That’s because the table was never built for us in the first place.

So here’s the thing: You don’t have to keep trying to fit in. You can dream big, live bigger, and build your own damn table. Or flip the one that’s there.

If you are ready to make that choice join The Unconventional Women’s Journey: From Limitations to Liberation

📅 Date: February 11-13

💵 Investment: Your time

📍Location: Zoom

🔗 Book your spot: tinyurl.com/unconventionalwomen

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer

I forgive myself

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 17:55:30 GMT

A boundary felt like this line I “should” learn to draw around myself to finally feel safe and at ease in my relationships

I just never got the placing right. It was either too close to me that I felt suffocated, or

too far from me that it felt performative

But lately, it’s as if lines are melting rapidly

not to the other world

in the inner world

the lines between me and the parts of me that were hurting so deeply while I was busy “saving” others and playing god

and in that melting, I suddenly found a deep sense of okay-ness in failing at being the “good” friend, wife, daughter, sister, business owner, and human…

I found myself whispering

This phrase has become the strongest shield against the most intrusive thoughts that would paralyze me with shame and guilt before

I forgive myself for not doing better
I forgive myself for failing them
I forgive myself for not wanting to do that
I forgive myself for needing that
I forgive myself for not having more capacity
I forgive myself for wanting better than this for myself
I forgive myself

If you’ve always tried to be the understanding one for everyone except yourself, self-forgiveness may be the medicine you need for your broken places.

As I’m finding the fine line between being human and doing better in the world while “surviving” in a world that is so heartbreaking at times, I came across this by June Singer:

“A wise person once said that the goal of the masculine principle is perfection and the goal of the feminine principle is completion. If you are perfect, you cannot be complete, because you must leave out all of imperfections of your nature. If you are complete, you cannot be perfect, for being complete means that you contain good and evil, right and wrong, hope and despair. So perhaps it is best to be content with something less than perfection and something less than completion. Perhaps we need to be more willing to accept life as it comes”

Maybe being content with life as it comes starts with forgiving ourselves for who we weren’t and who we no longer want to be.

I continue showing up here because I believe this is my life’s work. These days, I do that with an aching heart for my country and a longing to see my parents’ faces on FaceTime again soon. Keep my people in your prayers and thoughts.

Share

👁️ What has your body been trying to tell you?

Discover your body's message

Start Your Unconditioning Path ↓

A 16-week journey that combines nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to address the root cause of your pain, not just symptoms.

Check this out

What’s next?

Monthly Unconditioning Practice

Jan 28th. Wednesday. 4 pm GMT

Book you spot (it’s free)

This session helps you reconnect with your body's innate wisdom, move beyond what keeps you stuck, and rediscover who you are beneath the conditioning.

You'll follow the rhythm within and the pulse of the music to guide yourself back to the wild Self.

Each month, we gather for:

Nonlinear movement with music to shake off tension and emotional residue
Guided reflection to integrate what the month brought
Intentional planning to meet the next cycle grounded and resourced

Show up exactly as you are. Leave feeling more alive, grounded, and free.

What to bring:

Comfortable clothes
Plenty of space to move around
A pen and paper

Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,

📲 Website | Youtube | LinkedIn | Insight Timer