Denise Murray: Life, Health & Wellness Coach, PLLC

01/12/2026

In darker seasons, we carry the light — together. This is ever-present to those who practice Hygge.

We use warm lights to signal safety, calm, and connection.
We move our bodies with intention.
We slow down enough to recover.

Strength isn’t built by pushing harder all the time —
it’s built through rhythm, regulation, and community.

Cold mornings & evenings.
Gentle movement.
Warm lights. Shared moments.

If you’re ready to train in a way that supports your whole system, come practice this with me.

This is wellness that lasts.

Join me in carrying the light this season 🤍
Comment “LIGHT” or DM me to train with more balance and intention.

Notice the white: new slate, new beginnings. Like snow, quiet, holding, until new life is ready to burst forth.

And un-posted is the live greenery I have added for life.

I work to connect intentionally with others outside work 1-2x weekly. Here you see friends’ son joining us by request to learn about wine. You are missing an excellent sushi lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant with a friend.

🌿

01/06/2026

Today would have been my mother’s 83rd birthday.
Grief, I’ve learned, is mostly a solo journey.

It lives in the quiet moments we carry alone.
Presence—not fixing—is the greatest gift.
Grief is the evidence of love.

And for some of us, grief is complicated.
Raised by parents with mental illness or addiction,
the loss began long before death—
the loss of childhood, safety, and being cared for.

The work becomes re-parenting the inner child,
creating security where it never existed.
Sacred. Exhausting. Necessary.

I am grateful for my Savior,
who gives me peace while I live with unease.
This path is what led me into the healing arts—
nursing, wellness, coaching—
because true freedom requires inside-out work.

If this resonates, you are not alone. 🤍

01/05/2026

Sunday Reset 🍳🥣🥘 | Weekly Meal Prep Done Right

90 minutes well spent = a focused, fueled, less-stressed week ahead.

Yesterday’s prep included👇
✨ High-protein turkey sausage, egg, cottage cheese & veggie bake
✨ Overnight oats made with oats, yogurt, protein shake as the liquid, protein powder, chia seeds & fruit
✨ Pressure cooker turkey chili with kidney & pinto beans (recipe in pic, long used)
***another meal is add to 1/2 baked potato
✨ Sunday night easy win: Costco rotisserie chicken + bagged salad 🥗🍗

This is what working for your future self looks like.

As a fitness & nutrition coach and a nurse coach for whole wellness, I can’t stress this enough:
👉 Decisions made in advance change everything.

When meals are:
✔️ Planned
✔️ Shopped for
✔️ Prepared

You reduce decision fatigue, protect your mental energy, and shrink the number of daily tasks competing with work and life responsibilities.

Mindful mindset = intentional action.
Executing in advance = consistency without overwhelm.

A small, focused effort on Sunday creates powerful rewards all week long.
Your body, brain, and schedule will thank you.

Prep once. Decide less. Live better.

01/04/2026

🥣 Leftover New Year’s Ham → Cozy Veggie Lentil Soup

Nothing wasted, everything nourished. This veggie lentil soup was created by repurposing leftover New Year’s cooked ham and pulling the rest straight from what I already had on hand. I looked at several recipes and did what I always do… made it my own 🙌

✨ What went in the pot:
• Diced red & yellow onion
• Frozen peas & carrots
• Trader Joe’s pre-cooked refrigerated lentils
• 32 oz H-E-B Organics chicken bone broth
• 4 tbsp organic Better Than Bouillon (seasoned vegetable base, reduced sodium)
• Garlic, parsley, mint
• Smoked paprika, turmeric, curry powder
• Celery, salt (and likely pepper 😉)
• Diced leftover New Year’s ham

Very little measuring over here—season to taste and adjust as you go. That’s the beauty of soup 🫶

👉 Optional twist: Add diced tomatoes and a little tomato paste if you want a tomato-based version.

🍽️ Yield: 6 servings
📊 WW friendly: 1 serving = 3 Weight Watchers points

Simple, cozy, budget-friendly, and protein-packed. Proof that leftovers can absolutely glow up ✨

01/01/2026

NEW YEAR, NEW REAR! 🍑 💪🏻💯

8 of us start this new physical challenge today.

A simple… yet not easy one: the wall sit.

Wall sits may look basic, but they’re powerful—physically and mentally.

Why wall sits matter (physically):
• Build strong quads, glutes, and hamstrings
• Support knee, hip, and ankle stability
• Improve posture and core engagement
• Increase muscular endurance without impact
• Translate directly to real-life movements like standing up, sitting down, climbing stairs

Why wall sits matter (mentally):
• Teach you how to stay calm under discomfort
• Build grit, patience, and focus
• Strengthen the mind-body connection
• Show you that you can stay when things get uncomfortable—and that carries into life

Independence matters.
In nursing, we call it BRP – Bathroom Privileges.
Your ability to get up and down from a toilet unassisted depends on leg strength, joint stability, and confidence. Wall sits train exactly that.
Strong legs = independence, dignity, and longevity.

How to do a wall sit:
1️⃣ Stand with your back against a wall
2️⃣ Walk your feet forward and slide down until knees are about 90°
3️⃣ Knees track over toes, heels grounded
4️⃣ Back and head stay against the wall
5️⃣ Brace your core, breathe, and hold
6️⃣ Stand up with control when time is up

No equipment. No excuses. Just you, your body, and the wall.

Let’s go. 💪

12/20/2025

💥 Complete 💥

Late post from October 2025

10 participants — present and past clients — showed up and rocked their core strength and so much more.
We committed. We conquered.

Travel schedules, physical limitations, and real-life challenges didn’t stop this crew. All that was required? Our bodies in space and a floor. That’s it.

This challenge marks one of five month-long challenges since August, and the journey has looked like this:

• August —
• September — 30-Day Push-Up Challenge
• October —
• November — 30-Day Squat Challenge
• December — 20-Day Mental Wellness Challenge

As a coach, it has been incredibly inspiring to work with — and witness — each participant rise to both the physical and mental demands of these challenges. This is what building a lifestyle of intentional, thoughtful movement looks like.

We’re not just training bodies — we’re building physical strength, mental resilience, and consistency that carries into everyday life.

Proud of every single one of you. 💪🧠
Onward.



Shout out to for amazing work that inspires many!

12/13/2025

“Visible differences are not flaws…”

What if we held this about weight & body type?

Beauty is never about the outside. How many of us have known beautiful bodies, faces, covered in the luxuries of name brands & high fashion while having the meanest of spirits?

Her name is Victoria Wright. And while some people carry invisible burdens, she carried hers on her face, every single day.

Born with cherubism, a rare genetic condition that causes excessive bone growth in the jaw, Victoria grew up with a head so heavy it felt like carrying a bowling ball on her neck. By the time she was a child, her appearance had already made her a target. Stares turned into whispers. Whispers turned into cruelty. Kids called her names no child should ever hear, and adults sometimes looked away instead of meeting her eyes.

The physical pain was constant. Neck strain. Jaw pressure. Surgeries. Braces. Doctors warned her she could lose her vision, that mobility might be difficult, that life would never be “normal.” And for a long time, it wasn’t. Simple things like walking, balancing her body, or feeling comfortable in public spaces became daily battles.

But something remarkable happened as Victoria grew older. When puberty slowed the condition’s progression, she didn’t retreat into the shadows. She stepped forward.

Instead of hiding her face, she chose to show it. Instead of shrinking under stigma, she spoke back to it. Victoria began sharing her story, not asking for pity, but offering perspective. She reminded people that visible differences are not flaws. They are human stories written on the outside.

Today, she uses her voice to advocate for others living with rare conditions. She turns the pain she once endured into empathy for people who feel unseen, misunderstood, or judged for how they look. What once caused her the most suffering has become the source of her strength.

Victoria’s story isn’t about “overcoming” her condition. It’s about refusing to let it define her worth.

Because beauty was never missing. The world just needed to learn how to see it.

Follow for more human stories that remind us compassion matters.

12/07/2025

30 days. 7 clients. 1 coach. THOUSANDS of squats. Countless wins. 🍑🔥

We just wrapped up our November 30-day squat challenge and I could not be more proud of this crew (I am late in posting my shout out).
This wasn’t about perfection. It wasn’t about “never missing a day.”

Life happened.
Illness happened.
Some of us (🙋‍♀️ myself included) got knocked off track for a bit.
But we honored our bodies, allowed ourselves to be ill, rested, recovered, and then—we came back to the work.

That’s the real victory:
Not pushing through at all costs, but learning when to pause… and knowing we are still powerful enough to return.

Watching each client turn their “I’ll try” into “I DID that” has been the best part.
And yes, I was right there with them—wobble legs, rest days, resets and all. 💪✨

Here’s to stronger bodies, stronger habits, and stronger self-trust.
Proud coach moment, unlocked.

Who’s ready for the next challenge?

12/06/2025

Just learned day 6. I will now be off the entire day, back tmw.

I love social media sabbaticals! I took 4 mos of them this year, one month per quarter. I always have more energy, think more clearly, & am more positive & actually connected to humans who care mutually.

BTW: I invited my present & past clients to this challenge for December & those participating are rocking it!

Signing off!

11/29/2025

Got a tradition?

Decorating for the holidays means going down memory lane so we buy ornaments on our yearly travels to help us reflect through the years.

You?

✨️❣️🎄 ✈️

11/28/2025

Building More, Not Less

Yep. I am not the coach to come to for the dream of being much less in the world.

Can I help with weight loss & do I? Absolutely!

Today I awoke to this texted picture from who is in Onederland (a WW term meaning under 200 #) for the first time in a zillion years.

How?

I coach being more of who you are inside out. I ask my folks to really do some introspection, to look at their why. Who & what is driving said beliefs of a number on a scale. Years ago, I got one client to throw her scale out. Why? History of an eating disorder & obsessed & distraught daily by watching the scale daily.

With today’s client who is now under 200, her labs were revealing to her a scary trend of elevated A1C thus moving toward Type II Diabetes, elevated cholesterol levels that lead to heart disease, & years ago liver labs that would work toward cirrhosis…she quit alcohol altogether as we worked together & she utilized outside pros as part of her wellness team.

And, this client is truly losing body fat, not muscle, which means she is eating the appropriate macros of protein, fiber-rich carbs, & lean fats. It is next to impossible to lose so much fat without losing muscle unless one is doing the science of eating well enough & working out in a way that maintains & builds muscle!! As her coach she has given me permission to be on her like white on rice, following her measures & labs closely. The weight on the scale is the least valuable measure, it truly is watching her lean mass & lab values.

And I do believe in working toward balance, the balance of working on ourselves & resting in who we are now.

There is toxicity in never being satisfied, grateful, & as is, as much as there is in denying what one’s labs are revealing & one’s limitations with movement.

Thanksgiving: a time of gratitude. When we cannot appreciate the now (lack gratitude), we likely will not appreciate the destination as highlighted in the very disturbing comments reviewed by Beth in the video link in the comments.

11/27/2025

GRATEFUL FOR DISTANCE…

This dude! IYKYK - has gone many distances with me & me him & to many more.

This is just simply us after a lovely friends & family brunch out with some pretty neat folk, a St Sparty walk, & pre-BGE smoked turkey. Yes, wearing the stretchy pants to eat with abandon while also getting in at least one walk & 230 squats throughout the day. 60 down only 170 to go! 💪🏻😂.

What’s in your Thanksgiving wallet of gratitude & plans?

Happy Thanksgiving!!🍁🦃🍽