Page 134 - Tracy Anderson Magazine | Spring 2021 Issue

DEB SEAMARK supportive community that has built up around the
Location: Bordeaux, France Method. There are not enough words to describe how KIMMY CIANCI
special TAmily is. If ever I win an Oscar (highly unlikely,
IG: @tamenopausal but these are crazy times), my acceptance speech will be
Years Practicing TAM: 3 the longest on record, as I will have to thank each and Location: Chicago
every one of them. IG: @kimmyc79
Years Practicing TAM: 11
If you think that Tracy Anderson is only for young I carried on with Continuity for two years, building
Hollywood babes, sit down and listen to a middle-aged my strength, balance, and understanding of the Method.
Englishwoman. I was fit and sporty all my life, and Then I had the honor of being sponsored for a year of I started doing the Tracy Anderson
always at a reasonable weight. But as I reached 50, with streaming under the TAmily Cares initiative. I now Method shortly after watching Tracy
low thyroid and menopause, I was struggling. Struggling do atTAin (Advanced) six times a week, plus my usual on Oprah with Gwyneth Paltrow.
to keep in the shape I expected to be, my strength and cycling and hiking. Last year I even started doing Dance I have a dance background and
endurance were declining. I had more and more injuries, Cardio, which was way out of my comfort zone. I was the seeing that her Method stemmed
and everything was just sagging. My mindset was least dancey person you could think of, but with the great from a place of dance drew me
negative, defining myself by what I couldn’t do anymore, support of Tracy, her team, and my London TAM Zoom in. I started with Metamorphosis,
and focusing on everything that was wrong with my body. crew, I now love it! then continued on with four years
In short, I was feeling old, and I didn’t like it. So I pushed TAM has helped me tremendously with the physical of Continuity. I mixed in the
myself harder and harder. Exercise was certainly no and mental effects of menopause, giving me back control Precision Toning and Unleash Your
longer a pleasure, but a chore and a punishment. And yet over my body at a phase in life when it’s easy to give up. Inner Pop Star DVDs. Right as I
nothing changed, except that I was sore, exhausted, often Before TAM, I was losing confidence in my body, hiding was finishing Continuity, Tracy’s
injured, and increasingly disappointed in myself. it with baggy clothes, and not expecting to look good. online streaming was just beginning
In my desperate attempts to fight the dreaded Now I’m wearing sassy clothes again, and feeling great in to launch. So I jumped right into
menopausal belly, I bought Abcentric Metamorphosis, them. I’m learning that aging is not about declining but it. That was a total game changer.
gritted my teeth, and started what I thought was going about maturing. And we’re told that maturity can bring I was in love with online streaming
to be a crunchfest bootcamp. Instead I discovered a wisdom. Well, that works for physical maturity, too. My instantly. The energy is contagious! THEN NOW
whole new incredible way of thinking about my body body is much wiser now than when it was young, and I’m I was able to attend and meet Tracy
and movement. Slowly I realized that balance isn’t at last looking forward to growing older with it. at the first Vitality Week in Chicago, amount of loss in my life. Before I started Tracy’s Method
about being able to stand on in 2015. Since then, I’ve attended the Chicago and Miami I was in a dark place that I was having a hard time getting
one leg, but about finding Crash Courses and a Hamptons Vitality Week. Every out of. I didn’t have an outlet—a time or space where I
harmony and synergy in Vitality Week I’ve been to has been incredible. They just could connect with myself, process my emotions, and let
your body, with no part keep getting better! The one-on-one experience is like no it all out. Once I got to a place where I realized not only
of you over- (or under-) other. Meeting and spending time with not only Tracy but was this a physical workout but an emotional workout
developed. I started to other #TAmily members has been such a gift. I’ve made as well, I poured myself into it. I have spent so many
relish the strength, grace, so many wonderful friends through this Method. The emotional moments on my mat. This Method gave me the
and simple childish joy that community is so special and unlike anything I’ve ever time and space I needed to process my grief, my anger,
comes from exploring how experienced. all my roller-coaster of emotions. It allowed me to really
the whole body can learn to My body has changed so much physically. I didn’t feel it and stop resisting my pain. By connecting to myself
work together. And I could have a ton of weight to lose when I first started. I was I learned how to cope and move through it. I learned not
enjoy working hard without mostly just tightening and toning up. I had pretty much only is it okay to feel this way, but I needed to feel this
the resulting stiffness and tried every workout out there. Yes, I was fairly fit, but I way in order to work through my trauma.
joint pain I had come to felt bulky and unproportioned. The second I finished my Tracy teaches us daily about the mind/body connection.
accept as normal for my first TA workout I was hooked! I could tell instantly that You can’t have balance in your physical body without
age. Yes, I started seeing and this is what I needed to be doing. This was going to give balancing your mental and emotional body as well. This
feeling results pretty quickly, me the balanced body I was looking for. It was different resonates with me completely. By connecting the two, I
but that soon became less than anything else I had ever done. It was challenging in know it pushes me to perform the best I can. The results
important than the amazing exactly the way I needed. I discovered muscles I didn’t are beyond rewarding. Over the years the TA Method has
lessons I was learning about even know I had! Now 11 years in I cannot imagine taught me how to process whatever I’m going through,
myself. For the first time doing anything else. I look better now than I did in my happy or sad. I start my day, every day, on my mat. I
in my life I was nurturing twenties! And I love how it brings me back to my dance know when I’m done I will feel centered, energized, and
my body, enjoying it, and roots. ready to face the rest of my day with a clear head. I call
working with it, rather than What has been the biggest and most important change it my moving meditation. At this point, I would be lost
fighting it all the time. for me is how I feel mentally and emotionally from doing without it.
And of course, I was the TA Method. Connecting with myself every day, giving The Tracy Anderson Method has brought me so much
scooped up by the #TAmily— THEN NOW myself that hour or more has become a necessity. Not joy and confidence. Tracy’s Method has become so much
that incredibly strong, smart, only do I crave it, but I need it. I’ve suffered a tremendous more than I ever expected it to be. I truly connect to this

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