Page 97 - Tracy Anderson Magazine – Summer 2020

THE PATH TO SUCCESS

The Method, my PhD, and me, by Clare Byrne.

When I was putting the final touches on the 100,000-word and providing new challenges to conquer every week,
PhD thesis that had taken me the best part of a decade TAM is something that never bores me and that I always
to complete and was getting ready to have it printed look forward to. Making sure I did TAM daily throughout
and bound for submission, I sat down to write the ac- my PhD kept my body healthy, counterbalanced all the
knowledgments page. The list of people whose input was hours spent sitting at my desk or hunched over books in
essential to me completing this mammoth project came the British Library, helped me sleep at night, engaged my
easily: my PhD supervisor, who helped at every stage; mind and gave it a break from other topics, provided es-
some other academics, who sential stress relief, and gave
read chapters and provided me a lot of pleasure. All these
feedback; my family and aspects kept my mind sharp
now-husband, who pro- and enabled me to have those
vided encouragement and magical moments of original
occasional financial support; thought in which I formulated
and Tracy Anderson, who all the best and most import-
created a workout that was ant parts of my PhD. So when
essential not only to getting it came time to thank people
me through these intense in my thesis, it seemed imme-
and stressful years but also to diately clear that Tracy should
the intellectual quality of the be one of those people.
work I produced.
As I had no funding for my
The Roman poet Juvenal PhD, I had to juggle it with
bequeathed us the phrase working three to four days
“mens sana in corpore sano,” per week in publishing,
which conveys the idea that which was itself a demanding
a healthy body is essential to and time-consuming job. Of
a healthy mind. I have found course, I also had a social
this to be profoundly true. life and other commitments
Working on a PhD, like many during this time, so life was
intellectually taxing projects full. People often asked me
we take on at school, work, how on earth I fit in exer-
or for pleasure, has two main cising. But to me, this was
aspects: 1) gathering informa- always a somewhat silly ques-
tion. The way I feel about it
tion that already exists on the reminds me of a story about Mahatma Gandhi, who when
Photo by: Adrian Moise, courtesy of unsplash.com must be functioning at its highest level. I can do the first this morning.” Trying to face a busy and stressful day or
topic (e.g. research, reading, summarizing, etc.), for which
told he had an especially busy day is reported to have
the brain must function but not necessarily be firing on
said, “Then I better meditate for two hours instead of one
all cylinders; and 2) original thought, for which the brain
kind of work even when I’m not feeling great (when I’m a
do rigorous thinking without exercising is anathema to
me. It would be akin to getting drunk the night before or
little under the weather or have had a few too many glass-
es of wine the night before) but can only do the second
not bothering to eat that morning. I wouldn’t be able to
kind when I feel my best.
do my best work.
Now that my PhD is complete, I juggle academic work
The Tracy Anderson Method (first Metamorphosis, then
streaming) was key to me feeling my best throughout my
PhD and still is now. I fell in love with this complex and
of intellectually taxing things alongside the many other
aspects of life. TAM continues to be an essential part of
fun workout as soon as I found it. Unlike any other work-
my day, of feeling my best, and of doing my best work.
out I’ve tried, TAM is intellectually engaging and thus for with running my own company and often have to do a lot
me effective as well as enjoyable. Changing constantly So, thank you, Tracy!
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