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Tuesday 12pm - 6pm Wednesday 12pm - 6pm Thursday 12pm - 6pm Friday 12pm - 6pm

http://www.intuitive-movement.com/

Intuitive Movement, West Valley City, UT (2025)

06/05/2023

Pic feat. my husband and I on a local hike yesterday 🌸 Check out the podcast episode I did with Kyle Craik from The Wellness Dojo (link in stories)! Kyle was so kind and gracious and we had a great conversation about eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and my current line of work.
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https://thewellnessdojopodcast.buzzsprout.com/
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https://youtu.be/48VDkwczNBU
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08/28/2022

Intuitive eating is a self-care framework that involves developing trust and appreciation towards our bodies, regardless of how we feel about their weight, shape, or size.
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Essentially, intuitive eating is about making peace with food, your body, and movement by reconnecting with and rebuilding trust in your body and its signals.
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There are 3 main tenets in intuitive eating
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1) Holistic health
Health involves not just our physical wellbeing, but also our emotional, mental, and social wellbeing. If pursuing "physical health" is hurting other parts or our health (mental, social, etc.), then that's actually not healthy. Make changes that help ALL of you feel well.
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2) Intuitive body signals
Your body is very smart and has built-in signals to let you know when you are hungry or full. Start to notice how your body signals that to you. When you are preoccupied with weight and shape, that can make it hard to listen to your body. Rather than focusing on outside numbers (like calorie counting), practice listening to your body instead!
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3) Mindful eating
Let yourself slow down and spend time with your food. Get curious about foods you enjoy that help your body feel good and function
well, without judging yourself. What foods are delicious and satisfying to you? What tastes, smells, textures, and temperatures do you prefer?
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Overall, when we eat intuitively, we start to realize that food is just food, nothing more and nothing less. We also start to feel more grateful for our bodies and see them as the vehicles that will help us fulfill our dreams.
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08/25/2022

Clothing can be really difficult to shop for, especially if you live in a larger body. And even more so with activewear! No matter your shape or size or weight, you are deserving of wearing clothing that fits your body. Remember: clothing is made to fit YOUR body, not your body to fit clothing.
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A great way to show your body respect and to enjoy moving in enjoyable ways it to buy and find activewear clothing that fits.
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A few ideas for extended size/ size-inclusive activewear:
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SuperFit Hero - Up to size 7X
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Girlfriend Collective - Up to size 6X
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Fabletics - Up to size 4X
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Old Navy - Up to size 4X
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08/17/2022

3 intuitive movement tips
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#1 Take time to figure out what YOU like to do, related to movement.
Be honest with yourself. If you aren’t sure what YOU like (e.g., you may have focused for a long time on doing movement related to weight loss or changing how your body looks), get curious! What new skills would you like to build? What types of things related to movement did you like when you were a kid?
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#2 Buy and wear active clothing that fits your body AS IT IS.
Often when we are stuck in diet culture thoughts, we think we are not deserving of buying or wearing new clothing unless we are XYZ (smaller, thinner, more toned, etc.). That is a lie! Buying/wearing clothing that fits your body as it is shows it respect, kindness, and decency. We are all deserving of having clothes that fit our bodies. ***That being said, some people live in bodies that are hard to find clothes for, especially if you are over a size 10/12 in women’s (which is over half of women in the U.S.). I’ll put together a post with great extended clothing lines!***
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#3 Check-in with yourself before, during, and after your movement activity.
This is where mindfulness comes into play. There is nothing wrong with planning to do something active during the day (e.g., go for a walk). Check-in and see if your body still wants that. Does it want something higher energy, like kickboxing? Does it crave something gentler, like stretching? How do you feel during/after?
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08/14/2022

Mindful movement (or intuitive movement, as I like to call it) can feel anything but mindful or intuitive. Sometimes formal exercise can even feel like a prison!
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Because we live in a culture that glorifies thinness, muscularity, and weight loss, over time many people equate moving their bodies with looking a certain way, losing weight, or punishing themselves for eating something.
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The antidote to judgmental, harsh, obligatory, or compensatory movement is mindful movement! There are 4 main components to mindful movement:
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1) 𝗜𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝘂𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀. Feeling tired or sore after pushing ourselves is normal; feeling completely gassed, low energy, lethargic, and/or sore to the point of loss-of-function or range-of-motion is not! (Ever been so sore you couldn’t squat to sit down on the toilet??)
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2) 𝗜𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱-𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. This is where the mindfulness piece comes in. When we can approach movement with curiosity and awareness rather than judgment and “zoning out”, movement can feel like a celebration of our bodies, rather than a rigidly scheduled time.
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3) 𝗜𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁. If your movement activity-of-choice leads to mounting anxiety or feelings of dread, that may be a sign that your activity needs to switch to something else! What types of physical activities help you relieve stress?
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4) 𝗜𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲! Of course, when we start a new activity like tennis we may feel extra sore or silly because we are a beginner and it’s all new. That’s normal! For movement to last, it needs to be something that brings YOU enjoyment.
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What types of mindful movement would you like to engage in, in the future? Comment below!
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08/03/2022

What is weight inclusivity? When I or a healthcare provider or a therapist or dietitian or personal trainer take a “weight-inclusive” approach, what can you expect?
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Swipe left to see!
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Sources:
1. O’Hara, L. & Gregg, J. Don’t diet: Adverse effects of the weight centered health paradigm. In: De Meester, F., Zibadi, S., & Watson, R.R. Modern Dietary Fat Intakes in Disease Promotion. Humana Press; 2010:431-441 doi:10.1007/978-1-60327-571-2_28
2. Tylka, T.L., Annunziato, R.A., Bugard, D., et al. The weight-inclusive versus weight-normative approach to health: evaluating the evidence for prioritizing well-being over weight loss. J Obes. 2014;2014:e983495. doi:10.1155/2014/983495
3. Clifford, D., Ozier, A., Bundros, J., Moore, J., Kreiser, A., & Morris, M.N. Impact of non-diet approaches on attitudes, behaviors, and health outcomes/ a systematic review. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2015;47(2):143-155.
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08/02/2022

My 4 biggest takeaways from my master’s degree program:
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1. There are amazing people everywhere. I had a wonderful cohort and the most incredible, supportive mentors! I am thankful for the people I met at the University of Utah. 🏫
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2. Promoting a weight-inclusive philosophy in a weight-centric field is HARD, but so worth it. I had the opportunity to create, facilitate, and disseminate an Intuitive Eating course for U of U faculty/staff. The U has an overall weight-centric focus, so I felt nervous to promote a weight-neutral, weight-inclusive framework such as Intuitive Eating. The course turned out very successful and SO many people shared how healing the course was for their relationship with food and body. ❤️‍🩹
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3. I LOVE teaching and researching! I thought I’d get my master’s degree and turn my full attention back to Intuitive Movement. Little did I know that my program was going to shift my career and push me onward to pursue a PhD! I am positive my PhD work will contribute to Intuitive Movement as well. 🌈
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4. I am brave and capable and strong and resilient. During my first year in the program, I experienced a lapse into eating disorder behaviors and thought patterns. My OCD also flared up. I felt really scared, but with the help of therapy and my husband, I am still in active recovery and feeling proud of myself. 🙏🏼
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08/01/2022

Hi it’s Nikole, the owner of Intuitive Movement! I haven’t been posting on my business page the last 2 years. Let me explain why! 👇🏼
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From fall 2020 to spring 2022, I was immersed in a full-time master’s program. I graduated in May with my master’s degree in Health Education Specialization & Wellness Coaching from the University of Utah. 👩‍🎓
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And now, I’m starting my PhD program at Northern Arizona University this fall! The program is in Interdisciplinary Health, with an emphasis on Psychosocial Health. 🤸‍♀️I’ll be conducting research on weight-inclusive practices in the fitness, wellness, and healthcare industries and how those practices (or lack thereof) affect mental, emotional, and/or physical health. 🙌
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Another quick update: I will not be taking clients for the foreseeable future 😢 I wish I had the bandwidth for full-time school AND seeing clients, but that’s not the case for me.
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In the meantime, I hope to post things I’m learning about weight inclusivity, body acceptance, Intuitive Eating, and Intuitive Movement! 💃
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07/20/2020

Another frequently asked question: how can I undo the connection in my head about exercise and weight loss?
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This is such a good question! And an important one.
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First step to disconnecting the two: educate yourself on Health At Every Size and Intuitive Eating. Implementing both help you realize how silly the concept of weight loss is, reject the notion of weight loss as a health indicator, and connect to your body again.
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Second step to disconnecting the two: Be open to discovering movement and exercise you TRULY enjoy. This requires honesty and quiet introspection of intentions. Does your desire to run a marathon *actually* come from loving running and wanting to see if you can do it, or does it come from wanting to lose weight? Be gentle with yourself in this process.
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And last step to disconnecting the two: make a commitment to only exercising when and how you enjoy it! If this sounds daunting, I recommend buying The Intuitive Eating Workbook and doing the activities on joyful movement.
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07/19/2020

Mantra for this lovely, warm Sunday: “I choose love and connection over praise and admiration.”
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Because when it comes down to it, focusing exclusively on our outside appearance is actually seeking for praise and admiration, and living a life full of praise and admiration but empty of love and connection will feel empty, no matter how close to the “ideal” you become.
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Choose love and connection.
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07/17/2020

I wanted to answer a few questions I am asked fairly regularly regarding eating disorders, disordered eating, & body image recovery & healing.
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The best part of my recovery & healing has to be feeling emotions again. As hard as feeling “negative” emotions can be, my eating disorder numbed me not just of those but also of emotions many consider “positive,” like joy & excitement (I put negative and positive in “” because emotions are simply signals to our mind & body letting us know we may need to slow down & acknowledge what’s going on inside).
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My recovery & healing has helped me to process “negative” or hard emotions in a healthier manner & to relish in and enjoy “positive” emotions when they come.
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I also love that my brain now has more time & energy to devote to things I am truly passionate about, like my relationships with family & friends, my work, & my education.
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And lastly, I have WAY more energy. Food = calories = brain & body fuel. When you restrict your food, you also restrict your body & brain’s access to a full battery.
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Disclaimer: in the middle of recovery I emotionally felt much crappier than when I was in the middle of the behaviors. However, recovery & healing IS worth it!
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If you are having a hard time thinking recovery is worth the effort, I would ask the question, “What do I truly value & find important?”
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Most of the time when you dig deep, you find that your values are deeper than “be thin.” Really only one value may remotely connect with a desire to “be thin,” namely, valuing health. If you value health, then take an honest look at your behaviors & what they are doing to you mentally, psychologically, emotionally, & physically. Are they REALLY helping you live your value of health?
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07/10/2020

Intuitive eating is NOT a diet! It is not and never was intended as a way to lose weight.
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What is Intuitive Eating, then? According to the Intuitive Eating Workbook, “Intuitive Eating is about cultivating a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body - it’s about self-care and body appreciation, regardless of size - not about the pursuit of weight loss” (pg 4).
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In a nutshell, Intuitive Eating is about reconnecting with and developing trust in your body and your mind-body connection.
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Most people mistakenly believe that by eating intuitively they will only eat cookies and never eat anything with lots of vitamins and minerals (like vegetables).
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That is an idea that the diet industry has planted in our heads to get us to ignore our intuition and listen to/pay them. When we shed moralizing food into good and bad and instead focus on enjoying food and nourishing our bodies, bingeing decreases or completely stops, desire for variety of food starts, and normal, flexible eating occurs.
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07/09/2020

You are enough. Don’t let outside influences distract you from that truth.
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You are enough. Period.
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07/07/2020

We live in a society that tends to quickly judge whether someone is successful or not.
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The diet industry and consequent diet culture have pushed the envelope of what “success” or “failure” looks like to include the number on the scale.
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Never mind that when controlled for all other variables, weight has VERY little to do with overall health and well-being.
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Never mind that Body Mass Index (BMI, which categorizes people into “underweight,” “normal,” “overweight,” and “obese”) was created by Adolphe Quetelet, a European mathematician and sociologist (NOT a scientist or healthcare provider), to figure out what the ideal EUROPEAN MAN should mathematically look like (height/weight-wise only).
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Never mind that BMI is widely used as a national indicator of whether your height compared to your weight is “normal,” when the original sample taken to come up with BMI isn’t representative of the U.S. population and therefore statistically cannot be applied to a broad population with multiple races and cultural backgrounds.
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Never mind that BMI was adopted in the 1900’s by life insurance companies to determine their policies, rates, and fees, making weight a “health indicator” overnight.
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Never mind that in 1998 the National Institute of Health changed the categories for BMI so that people who were “normal weight” when they went to sleep woke up “overweight” the next morning.
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See what I mean? Years of diet culture have groomed us to believe the number means something. *Actually, the number on the scale means next to nothing.
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07/02/2020

What is body shame?
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Body shame (v): “To criticize someone based on the shape, size, or appearance of their body” (Cambridge Dictionary). This criticism can be aimed towards your own body or others’ bodies.
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The Center for Healing Shame says that “shame, like trauma, puts the body in a freeze state and lowers the ability to think and act clearly. Shame feels like a fog or cover...that makes it hard to function.”
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The good news is body shame is something we can heal from 💕 One of the biggest parts of healing body shame (for ourselves and others) is to remind ourselves that healing takes time, patient understanding, and self-compassion.
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Self-compassion is normally composed of three parts:
1. Self-kindness instead of self-judgment
2. Common humanity instead of isolation
3. Mindfulness instead of over-identification
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1. Self-kindness is basically giving yourself the benefit of the doubt, like you do for most other people.
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2. Developing a sense of common humanity means acknowledging that you are not alone in your struggles and actively seeking out support from your community, whether that is through group therapy, support groups, etc.
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3. Cultivating mindfulness comes over time as you recognize that your emotions are ever-changing signals to your body and mind and that your thoughts are just that: thoughts. Mindfulness practice increases the ability to sit with discomfort and unpleasant emotions and thoughts, recognizing that your emotions and thoughts will change depending on the day, situation, mood, etc.
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You CAN heal from body shame, I promise 🙏🏼
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07/02/2020

Your body is not the enemy. The diet industry (and the diet culture the industry consequentially created) is the enemy. A great way to know the ethics of an industry is to follow the money... —>
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Diet industry was valued at $72 billion in 2019 alone. $72 BILLION. They literally make money by making people feel inferior, less than, not beautiful enough, not thin enough, not muscular enough, just not enough. They falsely give people “hope” that by eating XYZ or exercising in XYZ manner, they will somehow be happier.
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Weight loss does not equate to happiness. The fact that the industry has successfully created a culture where people think that weight loss means more happiness shows how insidious the whole industry has become! The industry has created a beauty standard that has deeply racist & sexist roots, is absolutely unrealistic and unachievable by flexible, normal means, and pushes around 10% of women and 5% of men to develop eating disorders (and there are probably even more struggling, but undiagnosed). How is this weight loss we praise HEALTHY again??
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And now, the diet industry is getting sneakier and sneakier. Instead of outright saying it is a diet, they instead say it is a “lifestyle.” They do this because people are catching on that diets don’t work. They are designed to fail to make you come back and pay more money into the same industry for another “miracle” weight loss scheme. Examples of modern-day diets: intermittent fasting, keto, volumetrics, flexitarian, raw food.
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If you have to pay for the recipes, food, or community space, or if it claims extraordinary results, or if it advertises weight loss in any manner, or if it claims some sense of moral superiority, IT IS A DIET.
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So again, I repeat: your body is not the enemy.
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07/02/2020

If the answer to the above question is no for you, it may be a good time to reflect on why you are doing the behavior in the first place?
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90-95% of those who diet gain back all weight they lost plus 5-15% more within 5-10 years, even when they continue the food and movement patterns!
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Your body doesn’t WANT to lose weight! Our bodies have a happy place they like to sit in and even when forced to lose weight, they will often protect us by gaining the weight back.
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So before you try the next fad diet and claim it is a lifestyle change, or decide to exercise more often, or cut out a food group, ask yourself the question: “Am I willing to do this even if (or more likely when) I don’t lose weight?”
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If the answer is no, then ask yourself a more well-rounded question: “What am I willing to do to better my overall health?” and do THAT.
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Intuitive Movement

06/05/2023

08/28/2022

08/25/2022

08/17/2022

08/14/2022

08/03/2022

08/02/2022

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07/20/2020

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Tuesday	12pm - 6pm
Wednesday	12pm - 6pm
Thursday	12pm - 6pm
Friday	12pm - 6pm