Is your self-image suffering? Do you struggle with body shame issues? If you’re like many people, you may see yourself through critical eyes that tell you you’re not fit enough, thin enough, or as attractive as you’d like to be. From decades of research, I’ve found that many people of all genders suffer from feelings of low self-esteem and poor self-confidence that are often connected to body shame. And social media – with its often-doctored images promoting impossibly perfect ideals – can makes things worse. In fact, people often give up altogether when the bar is set too high. So how can you get unstuck and get motivated to simply be (and love) your best self–whatever that might look like? Are gentle mindfulness and self-compassion the keys?

I’m joined by barre3 CEO and co-founder, Sadie Lincoln who will walk us into the realm of how mindful, compassionate exercise can increase body positivity, self-love, and overall well-being. Topics discussed include body image, body shaming, self-love, self-compassion, mindfulness, mindful movement, fitness, compassion, exercise, barre3, weight, weight loss, dieting, self-care, female entrepreneurs, negative self-talk, and positive self-talk.

Please note that this episode may contain sensitive material; listener discretion is advised.

Emergency Assistance Note: If you or someone you know needs immediate support, please call your emergency services. In the US, 24/7 help is available by calling “911” or “988” (Suicide and Crisis Hotline). Support/informational links are in the show notes.

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Books by Dr. Carla Manly:

Joy from Fear: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Fear-Carla-Marie-Manly/dp/1641701218

Date Smart: https://www.amazon.com/Date-Smart-Transform-Relationships-Fearlessly/dp/1641704675

Aging Joyfully: https://www.amazon.com/Aging-Joyfully-Optimal-Relationships-Fulfillment/dp/1641701412

The Joy of Imperfect Love: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Imperfect-Love-Creating-Relationships/dp/1641709057

Oracle decks by Dr. Carla Manly:

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Learn to Love Your Body with the Power of Self-Love and Mindful Movement With Expert Sadie Lincoln

Increase Body Positivity and Self-Love Using Mindful Self-Compassion

Is your self-image suffering? Do you struggle with body shame issues? If you’re like many people, you may see yourself through critical eyes that tell you you’re not fit enough, thin enough or as attractive as you’d like to be. From decades of research, I found that many people of all genders suffer from feelings of low self-esteem and poor self-confidence often connected to body shame. Social media with its often-doctored images promoting impossibly perfect ideals can make things worse.

In fact, people often give up altogether when the bar is set too high. How can you get unstuck and get motivated? Simply be your best self, whatever that might look like, our gentle mindfulness and self-compassion, the keys. I’m joined by barre3 Cofounder and CEO, Sadie Lincoln who will walk us into the realm of how mindful compassionate exercise can increase body positivity, self-love and overall wellbeing.

In this episode, we’ll focus on this reader’s real life question. “Ever since I was a teen, I struggled with being overweight. I have a cycle of dieting, losing weight, and then gaining it again. I have seriously tried everything to keep it off but here’s my issue. I just turned 40 and I have gained more weight. My partner tries not to shame me but I can tell he’s not as attracted to me. I get it. I’m not attracted to myself either but now that I’m heavier, I resist going to the gym because I’m sure people judge me. I know I should work out but I don’t. How can I get out of this stuck place?” With that issue is the focus of this episode.

I’m joined by a wonderful guest, Sadie Lincoln. Sadie is the CEO and Cofounder of barre3. Her work has transformed the fitness industry with its focus on mindful movement and body positivity. Welcome to the show, Sadie. It’s such a joy to have you with us.

Thank you.

Sadie Lincoln Of barre3

Before we launch into this fairly common question. The same type of question is one that I often receive and see in my clinical work. Could you tell our readers just a little bit about what makes you, you?

We’ll just start with a small question. As an almost 53-year-old woman, what makes me, me is my life experience and just moving through life through the ebbs and flows in different seeds and the constant questioning and curiosity about being more aware of what my values are and showing up authentically that way. I’m a mother. I value being a mother.

I value my business barre3 and creating purpose in the world and creating a container where people can do what I said to investigate self and feel alive in their bodies as they are, versus trying to change them. I’m a partner to my husband who’s also the cofounder of our company. We do everything together, raise children and our business and everything else together. I value that a lot and conversations like this. I’m happy to be here.

Thank you and you for that beautiful background. One of the things when I was reading up a little bit on you, I love that you are so obviously authentic and inquisitive. In the fitness world, it’s sometimes a bit too uncommon to run into someone who has a body, mind, and spirit approach. We’re looking at making people feel good as you say just as they are. There’s often such a push to be better, fitter, or stronger, which it’s good to be healthier, but that ideal of this perfect physique or perfect attractiveness. It can get in the way of us loving who we are and if we want upping our game a little bit.

It gets in a way with results.

Say more please.

Which is super ironic because a lot of us see, like your reader who wrote in that question about trying to lose weight all those years. How I decoded that is because we’re all addicted to this idea, “If I lose that attachment to an end result, I’m not going to be motivated anymore.” We’ve all learned to be motivated by the idea of trying to conquer our bodies. It’s always with good intention.

We want to belong, be attractive, be successful, and healthier. We want all these things but what I have learned over the years studying specifically women in fitness is that it’s that motivation of going into a fitness concept wanting to conquer your body, change your body, or being motivated by, what I will say is shame. Which is, I am not enough as I am, so I need this fitness to be better for my body to be better.

That motivation is the problem in the first place of not sticking to an exercise routine and falling in love with exercise as something that’s just you versus something that’s going to change you. What we know if you study fitness in the lab, if you do fit fitness consistently that often leads to other lifestyle behaviors like getting a better night’s rest, eating whole foods, drinking water, being more social, and these other components of fitness. It snowballs.

We know that being consistent within fitness does lead to results. That’s not the problem. Fitness isn’t the problem. It’s the approach to fitness that I believe is the core foundational problem for most women. I speak about women because that’s who I study and that’s who I know because I identify as a woman. In my own experience, I know I’m not alone in this. I built my entire company around this thesis that we need to change.

We exercise to change ourselves, our physiology is one thing and very important. We deliver on that but we also need to exercise as a practice to change our psychology and to change our relationship with self. When you combine those two things, which is essentially combining mindfulness with the act of fitness, that’s the unlock. That’s when the results happen.

I love the approach and how you phrase it. I’m going to repeat one section that you said because it’s so precious and beautiful. When we’re motivated by conquering our bodies, changing our bodies, that’s motivation by shame versus being motivated by falling in love with exercise. That’s such a beautiful way of putting it because when we fall in love with exercise then it because it becomes something that we are doing because it feels good.

It’s a reward in of itself, versus doing it to crush ourselves into submissions so to speak or achieve this goal of, “I know my exercise wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding or fun if I went out with the intention I’m doing this to lose five pounds or create a better physique.” That’s seems a bit off-putting. Whereas, if I’m exercising or doing yoga or even teaching yoga.

It’s funny. I want to add this. One time when I was early in my yoga teaching career, I remember leading a class that felt so strong and tough to me. I was there to help people build muscles and enjoy the class. I got some feedback from someone who said, “I’m never taking your yoga class again.” I thought about what that class had looked like. It was a power yoga class but I realized it was so power yoga that the people who are on the other end of maybe not wanting that much intensity were left out.

It shifted me moving forward because I wanted people to be there simply to love practicing yoga. I once got one of the best compliments on a yoga class which was the opposite end, where guy came in. He was wearing jeans and he was in shavasana lying down, corpse post the entire class. I just let him be and he came up after class. He said, “That was the best yoga class I’ve ever taken. Thank you for just holding space for me.” I said, “You bet.”

Combining Intense Workout With Mindfulness

We can see that the two ends of the spectrum. One is pushing people with my own agenda, which at that time was not what could have been and changing to a place where it was more about whatever works for you or whatever makes you feel good, please do that. It sounds like that’s where you lead from.

I don’t. I’m going to challenge that thinking. In some cases, shavasana and coming in with a gentle approach is aligned with my mindfulness. I would argue the most intense workout you can imagine combined with mindfulness is equally mindful and powerful. I’m not challenging what you’re saying because I agree with everything you’re saying but I would say and. Anything like power yoga, power lifting, your boot camp classes, training for a marathon, or hit classes. Whatever the consumer thinks or the readers think of as hard.

What we’ve prevented at barre3 is we can teach a challenging powerful class with principles of mindfulness that are usually associated with a softer approach and get benefits that are a huge unlock because you can learn to challenge yourself and get very uncomfortable in a mindful way without fighting with your body.

I agree with you 100%. What I was referring to with that first experience was my lack of attunement. That was the piece that I learned from that I had an agenda and was clearly not attuned to the people I was working with. It sounds like in barre3 that it’s something that you’ve focused on, helping people be attuned and instructors be attuned to the need to be attuned.

Where the industry falls short is that a lot of fitness concepts have become wildly successful because they market themselves as the answer and as the hero. Where I as a consumer failed was I was following these heroic answers and fitness like this fitness guru or this amazing athlete designed this thing that if you follow, you too can be like that or you too can get to this after picture if you follow this answer. We all are craving that. We’re all craving like, “I’m in a stuck place. I need something to get out of this place. I need an answer.”

What I’ve learned and what we’re proving at barre3, every single time we teach a class is that barre3 is not the answer. We are not the hero. Every single client who walks in the door is the hero. We’re the guide. Our job is to help our clients understand the tools to investigate their own selves and become their own best teachers so that while they’re taking a barre3 class, they can modify moves according to where they have negative pain in the joints of the body.

They can modify the inner voice in their brain that’s taking them down, the psychology part and the physiology part. They can have that conversation with self while working out in a supportive and fun group environment to music that’s deeply rewarding, challenging and fun. Both and. It’s a conscious practice for us at barre3 to remind ourselves and all of our instructors, we are not the answer. We are not the guru because to your point, which is a beautiful vulnerable share. You as an instructor came in and you forgot that one class.

You became like, you had your own agenda as you’re saying and your word was attuned. They didn’t have that opportunity to be invited into mindfully moving. What I find is that we all need to be invited consistently to be mindful and to remind ourselves and remember that we are our best teachers. We all inherently know that but we forget it because life rights us every day and tells us, “No, you’re not enough. You need to follow these things.”

We believe it and then we fail at it because we’re not being our own best teacher. As soon as you invite it and as soon as you get that invitation. I have experienced that clients come back to their own knowing and they feel so powerful. They feel empowered and be like, “That workout was for me and designed for me and because of that, I love it.” It’s not something that’s a chore out of myself.

Dealing With Negative Self-Talk

It becomes a gift, a gift of self-love. Let’s talk and pivoting back to the question of the day. When we look at this very common issue of the inner voice, as you were calling it. The inner voice, the self-talk is saying, “I’m not good enough. My body is not good enough. I’m too heavy. I’m too this. I’m too that.”

If this were someone who walked into one of your studios, how would you walk her into a kinder, gentler and more self-compassionate way of being? First, getting her through the door without those inner voices saying, “Everybody’s looking at you. You’re too heavy and this and that. We only want thin people here.” Whatever the mantra. It’s the imagining in your head.

One thing I say all the time and I remind everyone all the time. I’ve worked with thousands of women and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t have that inner dialogue. We all think we’re the only ones that are like, “I’m too old. I’m not flexible enough. I’m going to look like an idiot. I’m not wearing the right clothes. I’m too overweight. I don’t belong. I’m not enough.” The women that you look at and you think they have it all together, they have just as loud of a voice, if not louder and you know this. We know it too at barre3.

We know as soon as they’ve walked in the door, the new and newish client. The one that’s maybe come through or four times but might get forgotten about. We know our job is to know that about her without even saying it and just make sure she knows and seen, know her name and we care about her because we do. It is hard to get through those doors. It is so hard. It is hard for me. When I go to a new studio or I try a new workout, I study the website. Where do I park? How early do I get there? What do I bring? What is it going to be like? Am I going to feel like an idiot? I go through that checklist and this is my life’s work.

I can’t even imagine what a new person who isn’t familiar with boutique fitness and doesn’t have that level of wisdom or experience that goes through to get through the doors. That’s part of it. It’s just knowing we know. We know you’re thinking that way. As soon as you do get through those doors because of that, the culture is contagious. One of my favorite parts of barre3 and it’s so fun. We get all of our owners together every year but we also meet once a month on Zoom. There are 206 studios now. We’re all owned and operated by women.

We share collective wisdom about common truths. One of our common truths is that our client base are the ones that shepherd the new clients in versus us because they’ve been there, too. We have such a culture around this that they make sure they know how to set up at the bar, even though that’s our job. Clients will just gather around them and like, “Welcome. Tell us more about you. You’re going to shake like crazy in your first class. You got this and you’ll feel so great here.” Our clients are amazing.

During the actual workout, we do talk about this stuff. We’ll weave it in. The main objective is to get a full body workout but we’ll weave in things. Notice your thoughts. Notice if now when I invite a modification you chose not to, even though your body is telling you something different. That’s okay. That’s what humans do. Maybe you should modify like Sally over here at the bar. We do weave that conversation into the actual experience of working out as well.

I’d love to pause for just a moment on something that you said, which readers that might have just floated on by you. It’s such a powerful piece, “Notice your thoughts.” When you said that, Sadie, that simple prompt, often our thoughts slip into without us. We’re doing a stretch, and we’re thinking, “My body’s jiggling. These clothes don’t feel right. Look at her clothes. There’s so much cuter. Look at my hair in the mirror. It’s awful.” Whatever our thoughts are doing and how important it is that if we notice our thoughts.

Our thoughts are going to places that are unkind and critical or maybe we catch ourselves saying, “This feels good. This feels a little bit like I’m stretching beyond here but it’s good.” When we notice our thoughts, which is what mindfulness is about, then we have the power if we so choose to shift them into something that feels even good. Instead of saying, “I look awful in the mirror.” Instead of saying, “Thank you for showing up.” Thanking yourself for showing up. I love your business model because who wouldn’t want to go back for more of that? If exercise offers community, positive reinforcement, gentle guidance, and the compassion that we are looking for. What’s not to love about that?

We call it a noticing practice. One thing we remind our clients during class that when you notice your thoughts, the act of noticing it is like doing a pull-up for your ability to be present compassionate with yourself non-judgmental. Whether it feels good or feels bad, noticing is the work. That’s where you get strong. Where some of us don’t even have awareness is when our thoughts are hijacking us completely from the whole experience and we don’t even know that. That’s when we get injured or where we lose our connectedness with our bodies and we get this associated.

One of the most profound hacks, if you will, to mindfulness and you use the word feel, is noticing sensation in your body. I went on a long walk. I was talking to my mom but I’ll go on walks by myself. Sometimes, I’ll take a whole walk and then end up at home and I don’t even remember the walk. It was like my thoughts hijacked me from that whole experience. Imagine you’re on a long walk barefoot and all of a sudden, you step on a bee. You feel that sting. That’s a sensation. The thought bubble bursts instantly and you’re back in your body.

That’s an extreme example of sensation bringing you presents, but what’s so cool when you bring that principal into working out in any workout you do. Throughout the whole workout, no matter what workout you’re doing, keep asking yourself. What is the most telling sensation in my body? What am I feeling now? Literally, what am I feeling? If you do that, that simple question. You can’t think at the same time.

It’s impossible to feel sensations and have something else going on out here. I love reminding my clients about that. That’s why I asked them over and over again like, “We’ll get into a posture. Where do you feel this? Where do you feel the dominant burn in your body?” I know just by asking that question, if they’re thinking about the episode of White Lotus instead of in their bodies. They’re instantly going to get back into their body and get the most bang for their buck and the class.

Thank you because that’s something that we can all experience, going on a walk or run and being hijacked by our thoughts. What that does is it robs us. Not only of being in the present moment of enjoying the sensations, whether they’re visual sensations or physical sensations. We did that walk or the run or whatever it was and we didn’t mindfully embrace the joy, that respite and that self-care because it went by in a blink of an eye.

I agree with you, when we focus on sensations in the body, not judging them but thinking, “I’m stretching here. This feels tense over here. This feels yummy over here.” Another benefit but you’re the expert on this. We also tend to be less likely to injure ourselves because we’re noticing, this is good or this is a good push right here. That’s too much, and then we’re able to pull back rather than the mantra that you hear in so many places, which is just push on through.

No pain. No gain. That got in there deep on a cellular level. That one’s hard to unlearn. What I’ve learned is I need to teach clients to guide themselves that way more clearly. One of the questions we all ask at barre3 in class is, where do you feel this in your body? Where do you feel the struggle? If it’s in the joints of the body like your wrists, shoulders, neck, jaw, low back, knees, and ankles. We go through the various joints of the body.

If you feel struggled there, that’s not a productive struggle. Where do you want to grow? Maybe neck tension. I don’t think any of us need more tension in our necks. We do want more attention on our quadriceps for strong thighs. We do want strong core and strong biceps. We help clients move that struggle to where they want to grow because it does take discomfort. It does take struggle and the burn to change the body. Many people even like exercise enthusiasts who love exercise mistake in their mind, negative pain for productive pain. They get those two things mixed up.

How Our Thinking Affects The Physical

I’ll raise my hand here. I was running and there was a pain in my hip. It was telling me, “Don’t run. Only walk.” I thought, “I’ll push on through that. It’ll get better.” It got worse. It’s that same thing in many areas. There are so many parallels between the body and what physiology is asking us to do and psychology. Sometimes we’re pushing through something and it’s mentally and emotionally. We think if we just try harder or do more, that it will pay off and sometimes it works against us. I do love all of the parallels here.

Me, too. I love it. There are so many parallels. I could talk about it all day. It’s my favorite conversation because I get stuck in our neural pathways just as we do in our bodies. They’re both connected. I remember my therapist told me I’ve had chronic low back issues and obviously, this is my life’s work. I’ve built my entire company around modifications and building core and all the things.

I got to a certain point where I still would have pain. I was talking to him about that and he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if after you work with me if that pain goes away.” I’m sitting here without pain and I’ve done basically the same thing, physically, that I’ve been doing for a long time. That therapy is all related. It is all related.

We often forget how much the body holds onto negative thinking, trauma, and anything that hasn’t been processed and the more we process it and pivoting back to the question of the day. This individual who’s feeling so shameful in her own skin, so not enough and sound like, “If only I lose weight and keep it off, my husband will love me, I’ll love me and life will be good.” Let’s lean into that just a little more fully. What would you say to her other than walk through the doors of a studio?

That’s not even the answer. You can walk through the doors and continue to practice that story. What I would truly say to her is, you are not alone. You are in so much company. Every single woman I’ve ever met feels that way. I’ve carried that story for so many years and you’re so brave to ask the question. You are so not alone, even though it looks like the world has lost the weight and their winning. Honestly, it doesn’t even matter.

That’s not even the thing to investigate. The thing to investigate is to compassionately be aware when you notice yourself talking around, “I’m not enough or have shame.” The nuance of this instead noticing compassionately, “I’m talking about myself in a way that is shameful or not loving.” If you trust that moving and exercise, in general, is going to help you. Perhaps walk into an exercise routine with a mindset, this is the big work, let go of losing weight. Instead walk into exercise as a ritual of love, of a practice of loving your body just as it is.

Listening to your body, understanding your body, and learning to move in a way that will get you out of your comfort zone. It’s not going to be fun but that’s honest. You’re going to feel the good pain in the right places and just test it. Try it. We have amazing data now because we have so many clients. It’s exciting to see all these live out numbers.

We know data wise at barre3 that if you take five classes in two weeks, that consistency and five mindful classes in two weeks. You’ll notice a shift and there was an article in Psychology Today about barre3. They did a study on barre3 and mindfulness that supports us. You’ll notice the shift that you’ll start exercising around compassion versus shame and then you exercise more. When you exercise more, the results come but again, the work is to let go of the results altogether.

It’s a great article. I was fortunate enough that someone on your team sent that to me so I had a chance to read it. It’s beautiful because it’s a game-changer for exercise. When we do, as you said a moments ago, create a ritual where exercise is an act of self-love and act of love for yourself, which I’m all about self-love. If we don’t have self-love, life is pretty difficult. It’s difficult as it is but if we take self-love and self-compassion out of the equation, it’s downright insanely hard many times.

For our readers and all the people out there, who find themselves thinking some of these same thoughts, “I’m not good enough. My weight’s not good enough,” and realizing that the gift of exercise or just something that humans have held close to them since the dawn of mankind in natural ways. That if you bring that back into your life as a gift that is restorative that builds resilience, self-compassion and self-love. That alone is a game changer because now you’ve taken your focus off. As you said at the beginning, you’ve taken your focus off being someone different, losing the weight and enjoying that gift of being in your body and helping it feel good.

The gift of honesty and presence because that’s the other thing. I know for me, I’m investigating and asking a lot of questions of others, sometimes when you exercise you won’t feel that way but feeling is okay. Being present with your body is okay. The most important thing is to be honest in your body and honest with how you feel in the moment while exercising. That leads to a better relationship and a more empowered relationship when you exercise. Your body exercise and also the psychology that surrounds those two things.

Self-Criticism Vs. Self-Compassion

Let’s pause for a minute because when we talk about being honest with ourselves, that can be pretty tough. Many people and I’ve seen this a lot, have become so used to an inner voice of anxiety and inner voice of criticism, hatred, self-loathing, whatever those voices are. That feels like honesty to them. It’s their default so they’re going into that place. If you say, “Be honest with yourself.” They may will come back with something like, “I’m not coming back.”

Either, I want to be ageless or if I’m honest with myself, I know I’m broken so I shouldn’t come back because irreparable. I’m too broken. That voice can sound so honest. How do you help people differentiate between that hardwired critic and the honesty of being genuine in a self-compassionate self-aware way? It’s pretty difficult for some people.

There’s a difference of believing your thoughts and being honest with your body. When you exercise and your honest with your body. For an example, I came in and I did twelve push-ups. I’m going to do twelve now push-ups because that’s my truth. That’s the conversation. You get down to do twelve push-ups and your wrist hurts all of a sudden. You could think, “I suck. I could do this yesterday.” You could go into that and be honest with that. That’s not being honest. That’s believing your thoughts. Being honest is listening to your wrist and being like, “That brings me to presence. I need to let go of yesterday and honor what’s going on now.”

In barre3, we’ll give you a modification to get up at the ballet bar if you have any wrist issues but that’s a practice of being honest. It doesn’t necessarily feel great because you’re still attached to wanting to do the twelve push-ups and it’s honest. The more you practice that and what I love saying and reminding clients is that when you modify, it is a practice of standing up for yourself. Literally, in that example. Literally and figuratively stand up from the floor and do the push up at the ballet bar. That’s what I mean by practicing honesty.

Thank you for that clarification and I agree. I tend to call it simply because I know so much about attachment style in the realm of psychology. I see that as surely honest in how you’re describing it and I see it as attunement. When we are attuned to ourselves, that goes not just through exercise. If we’re thinking about the readers’ question and I work with this a lot with clients, whether eating, eating too much, eating sweets and eating carbs then they say, “I hate myself in the morning and it felt good.”

We get into not shaming but looking at what were you looking for when you were eating. Were you very hungry or were you searching for comfort? Were you trying to diminish anxiety or negative self-talk? What they learn is when they become attuned to their body and the body’s often satiated, it doesn’t need more food but their heart wants comfort and their soul. Their mind wants some self-soothing.

The more they realize and we can think about this with the question of the day. The more this individual becomes attuned to what her body is telling her, “I’m hungry.” What are you hungry for? “I’m hungry for exercise. I’m hungry for a walk. Maybe I’m hungry for carrots. Maybe I am hungry for a cookie or popcorn.” Whatever it is. That gentle attunement to oneself is a big game-changer because it is being honest. You’re taking the time to tune in to your body, mind and spirit. Let go of the often, busy monkey mind and pause to check in.

That’s when therapy combined with exercise is so powerful because a therapist like you can help clients investigate that deeper why. It’s like, what do I need? Sometimes, that’s buried and something that happened when you’re eight years old. There’s so many unlocks like that that are so powerful combined with exercise. I love looking at fitness as a real holistic experience inside the fitness studio but also outside. All the other ways, people are surrounding themselves with guides who can help them be their own best teacher and live fully into themselves.

Many of us have roadblocks that we don’t even know are. We have no idea are there and only a therapist can help unlock it or a great book or a great show. You can investigate it on your own. I know I found that working with a talented person to help me walk through that, those unlocks has been powerful.

I appreciate your honesty and how you’re using the word unlock because so many times, people are afraid of going into a therapist’s office because they’re afraid of walking through the doors of a fitness studio. All of these voices are saying, “There’s something bad on the other side. There’s negativity. I’m going to find out scary things.” Yet when we walk through those doors, as you said, not only are you showing so much courage but you’re showing that you believe in yourself and love yourself enough to create a life that feels good.

Get In Touch With Sadie

Often, that does require psychotherapy for somebody or as you said, a good self-help book and putting all of that learning into action in your life. It’s never a magic day where you walk in and all of a sudden, after going to barre3 for one or two classes, you’re immediately going to change your life. As you said, five classes in two weeks, that commitment to the self, that natural rewards that come up with feeling better and feeling that they truly do not just make your body more fit. They improve your overall wellbeing because you’re teaching yourself a new language and that language is one of attunement and love. Sadie, thank you so much for your time. Are there any other pieces you’d like to highlight as we wind down?

No, thank you so much for having me on your show. I welcome readers if they’re curious about barre3 to check us out. Also, hopefully my wish is that just one little nugget of wisdom can be infused into any reader’s life right away, whether you do or not in some way.

That’s the goal, isn’t it? One tiny step at a time. Even going on the internet, readers, looking at links to Sadie in what her mission is. They’ll all be there. They’ll be linked to her Psychology Today article and so much more. It’s lovely. Thank you for being with us and offering us some light and loads of wisdom. Thanks again, Sadie. I appreciate you and the work you do.

My pleasure.

Thank you to our readers for joining us. It’s lovely and I’m so grateful for the ability to walk through topics like this with you.

Important Links

• Barre3
• Sadie Lincoln on LinkedIn
• Sadie Lincoln on Instagram
• Sadie Lincoln on Facebook
• Having Trouble With Positive Sense of Self?
• NAMI HelpLine
• Carla Marie Manly, PhD
•  Dr. Carla Marie Manly on Instagram
•  Dr. Carla Marie Manly on Twitter
•  Dr. Carla Marie Manly on Facebook
•  Dr. Carla Marie Manly on LinkedIn
•  Dr. Carla Marie Manly on YouTube
•  Dr. Carla Marie Manly on TikTok

About Sadie Lincoln

Sadie Lincoln is the co-founder and CEO of barre3, a fitness and wellness company focused on teaching people to be balanced in body and empowered from within. Starting in 2008 with the flagship studio in Portland, Oregon, barre3 has grown to include over 200 franchise studios powered by female entrepreneurs, plus an online workout platform with subscribers in 100+ countries. What began as a workout has transformed the fitness industry, creating space for people to embrace body positivity, build community, and commit to mindful movement.

Sadie is on the Forbes 50 over 50 list, Inc.’s Female Founders 100 list, the MO100 Impact list, has won EY Entrepreneur of the Year Mountain NW, and has been featured on NPR’s How I Built This. She regularly speaks on the topics of mindful leadership, the power of body wisdom, and the movement to redefine what success in fitness means.

Beyond running her company and being a global spokesperson, Sadie still enjoys teaching barre3 classes to many of her founding clients in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.