Tracy Renee Stafford is a coach in Fully Embodied Fitness - a weave of yoga, pilates, dance, & functional exercise - and in Fully Embodied Living - based on 4 Pillars of Well-Being: Connection to Body, Nourishment, Presence & Growth. Her mission is to help people discover how they can make self-care a celebration, rather than an obligation, & enjoy the body for how it feels, rather than just for how it performs or looks. She ran her own studio in the Canadian Prairies heartland for 20 very rewarding years - where she taught various forms of fitness, with a specific interest in injury prevention & rehabilitation, and in empowering students with information on HOW the body works best. She is a Mindful Movement, Holistic Living & Nutrition Coach, weaving together all of her expertise into her Fully Embodied Living Programs. She currently lives in Buenos Aires, and keeps her passion for dance alive through the study of Argentine Tango.
Tell me more about yourself.
Next year I turn 50, and I feel better in my body now than I ever did in my 20’s. Focusing on the feeling within me & the experience of the present moment, rather than a future, external result, has been the secret to my success. My mission is to share this secret with as many people as possible.
My lifelong love for cultivating body connection, body intelligence, & body reverence began in the dance studio as a young child. So much of what I learned there and in university later on (I received my BFA in Dance from York University, Toronto) I still use to this day. A healthy discipline for daily movement, a curiosity for what the body is able to feel & express, an appreciation for self-care - these gifts and more have allowed me to stay motivated towards nurturing my own health (in all senses of the word) while inspiring others to stay enthusiastic on their own journey home to the body.
Dance was instrumental in fostering my interest in healthy, balanced exercise & holistic nutrition, as well as in mindfulness & personal growth, but not necessarily in an obvious way. Dancing feels amazing - some of the most memorable moments of my life have been on stage or in the rehearsal studio. But at the end of the day, in the world of performance (and often, sadly in our modern, image-driven culture as well), one is not judged by how they feel but by how they look and perform. External validation - not just to feel like I was a good enough dancer, but a good enough person - grew tiring. Never feeling at home in my body because I wasn’t thin enough, tall enough, or young enough became exhausting. And theatre life (aka ‘show business’) just simply didn’t live up to its sublime potential, instead of revealing itself to be shallow and ego-driven.
The universe was clearly listening to my complaints.
In the midst of my dance career, in my early 20’s, I was struck by a car while cycling, breaking my leg in 2 places. I was left with a sizeable bony protrusion on my shin and a significant leg length difference. Placing my faith in the rehabilitative power of pilates & yoga, I was able to go back to dancing stronger than ever, despite the leg issues. But the accident had woken something up in me. While health & well-being had always been an important part of my life, now my motivation was myself and not the approval of a dance teacher or choreographer. Trusting my instinct, it was not long before I was teaching Pilates, yoga, and functional, rehabilitative exercise full-time. Helping students discover their inner strength & inner healing power became far more rewarding than the applause of any audience. I became interested in creating health from the inside out in a more complete way — not only by focusing on exercise but also on creating a kind, healthy relationship with food & nutrition. I became curious about my own thoughts, and how they were holding me back from living fully in my body, confident in who I am. Rather than feeling like I needed to wait to enjoy my body until it achieved a certain look or external goal, I wanted to enjoy the experience of my body and living healthily in it, NOW, and I wanted to inspire that in my students as well.
Dance transitioned into a passion, rather than a career, once I opened my own studio in Western Canada, where I am originally from. For 20 very rewarding years, I taught many different types of mindful movement to a clientele ranging from new moms wanting to re-connect to their core, to professional athletes needing cross-training, to those suffering from chronic pain. Teaching students how to become active participants in their own healing & strengthening journey, running my own business, training new teachers, and immersing myself in the art of leadership - all of this was immensely satisfying. But I knew that I had more to offer. I trusted my intuition to go independent, to relocate, to plunge more deeply into mindfulness practice, and to obtain my certification as a coach in holistic living & nutrition. All of the wisdom & education that I have accumulated over the decades is now within my Fully Embodied Living Coaching Program. Fully Embodied Fitness is the movement component.
What is Fully Embodied Living?
Defining ‘embodied’ might be the best place to start.
To me, embodied means that we honor & celebrate the full experience, intelligence, & intuition of our bodies, hearts, & souls - and not exclusively our mental intelligence. Embodiment means that we take care of our whole self because we want to live courageously in, and from, the one thing that is with us through our whole life - our body.
My Fully Embodied Living Coaching Program is based on 4 Pillars of Well-Being: Connection to Body, Nourishment, Presence & Growth. The primary pillar, as you might imagine, is Connection to the Body and its primary expression is through movement. Movement is what I like to call ‘nutritious & delicious. Physically, it gives us stronger muscles & bones, increased flexibility & coordination, while improving our sleep, metabolism, & energy levels. Mentally, it increases cognition & memory, while reducing stress. Emotionally, it boosts self-esteem & mood, while alleviating anxiety & depression. Movement is a powerful medicine that everyone can access in their own way, even if it is just by connecting to the movement of the breath.
The second pillar, Connection to Nourishment, is about letting go of the unkind and very often untrue lessons that we have been taught about food, dieting, & body image, and instead empowering ourselves with our own unique, healthy, yummy, DO-able nourishment plan. It’s about making small but steady positive changes in our attitudes & actions around food & eating and embracing the good medicine that can be found at the end of every fork.
The third pillar is Connection to Presence. When we cut out the external noise, and just sit in the present moment, listening within, we discover reservoirs of wisdom, joy, clarity, & serenity. It does require practice, but in time, we can build trust in our own selves, rather than seeking answers or approval from an outside voice.
The fourth and final pillar is Connection to Growth. Living fully embodied allows us to live with courage, curiosity & creativity. We can more easily envision how we want to grow, so that we can discover the most radiant expression of ourselves, and share it with others.
When we take good care of ourselves in all of these areas, we live more fully embodied. As I said before, next year I turn 50, and I am very thrilled to say that, in embracing these 4 pillars, I feel happier in my body now than I ever did when I was in my 20’s. I want to feel just as wonderful for at least another 50 years, and with the way that I am exercising and feeding my body, heart, mind, & soul - I think it’s very possible.
What are your current offerings?
I offer online, 1-to-1 coaching in Fully Embodied Living, using the 4 Pillars as a basis for my programs. I help clients create
a safe, effective, & fun, customized movement practice, that lets them appreciate their physicality,
a nourishment map & mindset that is enjoyable, healthy & realistic for their lifestyle,
a relationship to mindfulness that honors their own intuition & insight, and
a plan for personal growth & realization, that allows them to enjoy both the journey and the destination to living fully embodied
I also teach online group and 1-to-1 classes in Fully Embodied Fitness. 1-to-1, I create customized exercise plans designed to correct imbalances in strength & flexibility, to relieve tension while building inner strength, & to inspire deeper body awareness & appreciation. Group classes also have these objectives and are a weave of yoga, pilates, dance, and functional, mindful movement.
I am also currently editing a package of workouts for both total beginners (The Essential Series), and intermediate students (The Progressive Series) in Fully Embodied Fitness, which should be available soon. This allows people to work out at their own pace & schedule, while still receiving the expert guidance that I have acquired over my 30+ years of teaching.
This seems like a lot. How do you focus on so many aspects in your work?
For many years I strictly taught movement. Then I added mindfulness & breathwork. While my clients were feeling better in many ways, they weren’t necessarily reaching the goals that they had for themselves. Adding in coaching on holistic nutrition, mindful living, and personal growth has allowed me to engage with the whole person in front of me, helping them see the interdependent factors of their well-being. For example, someone may be suffering from inflammation due to work or life stress, lack of, or inappropriate exercise, poor diet, or not enough sleep. In order to truly move past the inflammatory state, their whole lifestyle needs to be considered in a customized way. This is just one example of how I am now able to more fully be of benefit to my clients. Honestly, it’s easier now. Instead of needing to put blinders on and only focus on 1 component of their health, I am able to connect with my clients as the whole being that they are.
Who is your ideal client?
My ideal client is someone who is tired of waiting for some moment in the future to feel content within themselves, and whose intuition is telling them that it is possible to feel good now. They are tired of looking outside for acceptance & approval and have a longing to feel at home in, and in love with their body and themselves. They suspect that their lifestyle - their diet & exercise habits, their stress levels, & their disconnection to a sense of purpose - may be contributing to their lack of enthusiasm, energy, & resilience, but find the thought of change a little overwhelming. They are ready to address their potentially long-held beliefs of unworthiness, shame, and disempowerment, and replace them with body-positive, healthy habits, & trust in self, but are not sure what’s the first step. Most importantly, they are ready to enjoy nutritious & delicious movement, nourishment, presence & growth!
What have been some of the biggest lessons you have learned over your 30+ years of teaching different forms of movement, and more recently in coaching?
Without a doubt, the biggest source of my learning is from my students and clients. Most people that I teach movement to, even the very experienced & adept movers, have injuries or chronic issues that require care & attention. When a student comes to me with a limitation - such as a shoulder injury, or chronic lower back pain, it is an opportunity for me to use my skills as a movement analyst and teacher, to help them move safely & enjoyably within their comfort zone as well as in helping them gently stretch beyond it.
I also learn from listening to what resonates with my clients. For example, recently, a client of more than 10 years told me that what keeps her coming back is that instead of overwhelming her with too much to do in between sessions, I look for opportunities of how she can take tiny yet, consistent steps to improve her well-being, and to celebrate them! For example, taking a moment each day to feel her body & breath, or noticing how she feels in her body, not only after she creates a healthy meal, but how it felt to prepare and to enjoy eating it. Over time, she has made enormous shifts in her life and in her well-being, but it came in tiny, do-able morsels, focusing on the experience rather than the outcome. She teaches me how to be a better coach.
What are you currently excited about in your work?
I am looking forward to having the Fully Embodied Fitness Video Series available to all as soon as possible. The workouts are designed to improve core strength, flexibility, balance, posture, coordination, cardiovascular endurance, and include guided relaxation & meditation for reducing stress & improving focus.
I am also loving the various series I am sharing with my community on social media. I share simple exercises & techniques on a regular basis to improve posture & increase mindfulness, as well as recipes to inspire more veggies in our diet. It’s so much fun sharing bite-sized ideas of how to feel better, simply & immediately.
Finally, I am excited to be creating an online group retreat, focused around the 4 Pillars, allowing people from all over the world to be able to come together in a shared experience of fully embodied living!
What are you excited about in your personal life?
I moved to Buenos Aires a year before the pandemic struck the world, with the intention to study Argentine Tango intensively and to deepen my own personal practices of movement & meditation. While the latter has been able to flourish (I feel like I have been on retreat for over a year!), I am looking forward to being able to dance in the community here once it is safe to do so. For me tango is a shared, moving meditation - it is a perfect mix of presence & playfulness, and of discipline & freedom. I love sharing the dance floor with people of all ages, from experts to beginners, who all share a love of moving to music together.
What aspects of your personal philosophy would you like to share with others?
Stop focusing on the destination, let go of the journey, and just enjoy the experience of each moment. Ironically, not only do we have better outcomes this way, we can also enjoy the whole process of becoming embodied into who we fully are, rather than waiting for some moment in the future to enjoy ourselves. Being healthy does not need to be a chore, it can be a delight, just by focusing on how we feel every time we make a positive choice for ourselves. For me, it started with a passion for movement, and from that base, I was able to see how when I fed myself better - with food, with thoughts, with a healthy love & respect for myself, and with healthy, balanced movement, I am able to relax more deeply. I am able to truly realize that the destination is here. I am now able to be more fully present for myself, for my dear ones, and for my clients, and I am so grateful for that. I wish this same sense of deep relaxation, presence & joy for everyone. To me, this is fully embodied living.
Interested in Fully Embodied Living?
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