If you’ve ever wondered how exercise can affect your fertility fitness journey, or if you’ve simply run out of ideas to motivate yourself to continue exercising through it, today’s podcast is meant for you. In this episode of Fertility Forward, we chat with Mahri Relin, a former professional dancer, and find out how it was through dancing that she discovered her passion for fitness. Mahri spent her early years in the fitness industry working as a trainer for the Tracy Anderson studio and went on to become the creative director for FlyBarre at FlyWheel Sports. After extensive experience, Mahri noticed gaps in fitness solutions for women going through their most significant life events and changes.
If you’ve ever wondered how exercise can affect your fertility fitness journey, or if you’ve simply run out of ideas to motivate yourself to continue exercising through it, today’s podcast is meant for you. In this episode of Fertility Forward, we chat with Mahri Relin, a former professional dancer, and find out how it was through dancing that she discovered her passion for fitness. Mahri spent her early years in the fitness industry working as a trainer for the Tracy Anderson studio and went on to become the creative director for FlyBarre at FlyWheel Sports. After extensive experience, Mahri noticed gaps in fitness solutions for women going through their most significant life events and changes.
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Speaker 2:Hi everyone. We are vena and Dara, and welcome to fertility forward. We are part of the wellness team at RMA of New York, a fertility clinic affiliated with Mount Sinai hospital in New York city. Our fertility Ford podcast brings together advice for medical professionals, mental health specialists, wellness experts, and patients because knowledge is power and you are your own best advocate. As a former professional dancer, Marie Raelin spent 12 years dancing around the world. It was through dancing that Marie discovered her passion for fitness. She spent her early years in the fitness industry, working as a trainer for the Tracy Anderson studio and went on to become the creative director for fly bar at flywheel sports. After extensive experience, Marie realized that there were big gaps in fitness solutions for women going through their most significant life events and changes. She refined her own dance inspired method through extensive research in and out of the studio and devoted her life to providing women with the most intelligent, personalized, and joyful fitness experience possible. In this episode, we discuss the importance of modifying and adapting exercise during fertility journeys and how you can do that. The use of music to help with motivation and mindfulness, as well as how to continue to incorporate fitness into your fertility journey. Hi everyone. We are so excited to have you here today to talk to us about fitness and fertility and overall health. Thanks for coming here. Thanks for having me. So you came a long way. Where do you live? Where are you based? Yeah, well, right now I'm in Denver. Most of the time I used to live in New York city full time, but I needed a little change in lifestyle, but I come back here all the time to run the business that's here and see clients and develop the business. So what's the name of your company and how did it get started? It's called body conceptions by Marie. A lot of times we just call it body conceptions. And I was a dancer for a really long time in New York. And it was towards the end of my career, actually that I was recruited by someone who worked for a dance fitness company and they invited me to come try out and see what I thought of it. And I immediately loved it because I love dance. Of course. And then I came to really understand how dance and fitness can come together. And I found that I felt happier and stronger and I danced better. I almost wish I had done it earlier in my dance career. It would have made me stronger as a dancer. So doing that work was great. No, but it was really wonderful to kind of get introduced to fitness that way. I also worked with a lot of pregnant women through that business and I learned that there was a lot more that I wanted to know a lot more that I realized we needed to know in general, in terms of pregnancy and fitness. And I realized at that time, a lot of trainers or fitness businesses didn't really address prenatal exercise. And there was a lot that was missing in terms of what was known. So I really at that point realized I do want to start my own company and I want to really focus on prenatal fitness and really learn as much as possible because I want to be specialists in that. So we started our business eight years ago and that pre and postnatal exercise was they were the big focus of what we did with women. And in addition to other things as well, other just general things in their life that they wanted to address through fitness, like getting married or any transitions in their life. But pre postnatal is the focus. Wow. So women's health, which is great. That's wonderful. So you started eight years ago. That's 2013. Yeah. 12, 12 first started in New York. Yes. Yeah. It was really great. Private training for me has been our huge love of mine because I love that one on one contact with people and getting to know their lives and really caring about them. And they've also, this is a method I developed. So we actually started providing public classes in that method. And I had a ton of private clients I was seeing at home, but then there were too many to handle. So then I had to hire more people and then we started offering classes publicly and it just kind of grew from there. My love is really the one on one training. I just love helping people that way and really getting to know people's lives and how I can boost them and make them stronger. I love that. And I'm so excited to have you on because most people that know me know exercise is a, certainly one of my favorite things. So I wish I had known you when I was going through everything when I was pregnant, because a huge question for me was, okay, what can I do and not do? And what's safe because obviously if you're pregnant, you're not just thinking about yourself anymore. So I know a lot of people wonder, I mean, are there any restrictions, what is safe during pregnancy? I mean kind of smell the training for a marathon and iron man, all those things, or is that a time to take break? How does her training on that? Like that's yeah. Right, exactly. So this relates to fertility as well as pregnancy and postnatal. Every single body is so different. And so it depends on how you're starting. If you're a really athletic person, if you're already doing marathons, I've known of pregnant women who were great continuing to train for marathons, but there's a time when your body tells you, you need to slow down. So the biggest rule is that you have to listen to your body at all times, and it might change literally from day to day, week to week. And we say that in our sessions, maybe previously, we might've pushed you in ways that you maybe never thought your body could be pushed, but when you're pregnant and, and postnatally as well, you really end when you're trying, you really, really have to listen to your body and pay attention to whether or not you're going too hard or not. And there are certain movements that you might feel work for your body. There are definitely certain principles to follow. I could get into all that if you wanted me to. But the big thing is to really pay attention to what you'll know immediately, what feels comfortable and what it well, I'm curious, especially about when you're trying, because I know a lot of our patients in the fertility world, they may not be pregnant now, but they're trying. And so a lot of my patients come to me and I'm sure to Dara and say, well, I really am into exercising, but should I stop? What sort of the guidelines there, because also, you know, from a mental health perspective, exercise is a huge coping mechanism. So what would you guide somebody who's trying to get pregnant? What would you say to them with safe? Yeah, I'll say that the research out there is a bit contradictory and I think it's so contradictory because everyone is different. So I'm saying everything with that caveat. And we've talked to a bunch of doctors in this area and as many experts as possible, but I would say that there's more research to be done. So I definitely want to put that out there. Normally what I would say for someone who's trying to figure this out is if you have a regimen already and you've been doing this and you met, you feel very comfortable, you're likely find continuing it pay attention to whether your body feels exhausted or energized. If you tend to be exhausted by your workouts, I might try to find something that makes you feel energized because it might be a sign that you're doing things that are depleting your body possibly. But I can't say that for sure. Talking about you're talking about inflammation. And what I see with a lot of my patients is that I understand going through a fertility process can be very stressful and it can be a great release to be able to work out. And sometimes we use that as a coping mechanism, but it is amazing. It could be used for something yeah. Positive. But the problem is, is sometimes when we do it to access as a way to help take our mind off of what's going on, it can actually create more inflammation in your body and be more detrimental to your hormones and your overall. Yeah. So then you're in a virtuous cycle and you're not really exactly. Some of the research has suggested maybe not more than one hour a day. I mean, I, as a fitness, professional workout more than one hour a day. So it depends on what I'm used to with my body and what I'm actually doing. So rules don't always necessarily apply. But Mara, you said even about the research that it's tough. I was speaking to someone about this before that it's so hard to do research on this fear of women control. Like what factors that if he wants to be in a potentially detrimental group yes. For exercise, but then what role does nutrition play in that too? If it's all currently in a lab, but then eating enough or are you exercising and then not filling your body with fuel. Yes. Yeah. And I think what you said is listening to your body absolutely. A hundred percent and then their issues of being underweight or overweight. If you're underweight, you have to be careful about how you're exercising. Maybe you do different kinds of exercise. That's not causing you to lose any weight if you need to know those weight. But definitely it's a huge stress reliever. Reducing cortisol levels is a wonderful thing. That's where you want to head. If you're trying to have a baby, but I will add, there are some ways in which exercise can increase cortisol levels. It's rare, but let's say you're in a really stressful situation. And at the end of a stressful, stressful day, you do a really high intensity workout that can increase cortisol levels. I was going to ask you, is there an optimal time of the day to work out or depending on the person? It depends on the person. Everyone has a different bio rhythm and a different response to exercise. Some people prefer mornings. Some people prefer evening exercises. We were talking about genetics earlier. I'm an evening person. And I used to love taking dance class at night. I mean, it made me so happy. I would come home. I'd be just bopping around. I tended to go to bed later. I mean, I was the happiest ever. And I'm prone to waking up later. Everybody is so different and you could still sleep. I know. Can you believe? Well, I always went to sleep later than maybe others. I slept. Well, I was on another podcast. They important thing is if you work out late at night to get good quality sleep, you want to cool off. So go take a shower. That's cool too. I love that. And that can decrease your body. Temperature will make it easier to sleep, to fall asleep. Usually. So energized. Yeah. 11:00 PM. Super tired after our workout. Yes I do. I need to eat protein afterwards. That's another thing I know. It's important to know post working out the importance of protein. Women need protein, especially in the fertility process, but right after workout, you want to refuel your muscles. Well, I'm glad we're on track day. That's wonderful. So what do you love most about your job? The people person side of it is really what fills me up. As I mentioned doing that one on one stuff. I mean, I'm a performer. So teaching a class gets me on this high and that's great. But for me really getting to know people and what's going on in their lives and how I can help and boost them in different ways is amazing. So maybe they're really stressed out. Maybe something happened at work. Maybe they've had a life event that happened. And the workout itself, it's hard to explain, but it's has a huge improvisational component. So a lot of times I like to talk to someone right before we're working out and also getting to know them in general. But every time I see them right before we work out, what's going on in your day? How are you feeling? And I actually work out next to them. I mean, it's all about them. It's not about me getting my workout, but I'm doing it next to them. And I'm channeling, this sounds a little woo, but I'm channeling the energy. They just told me they're feeling into the workout. So that together we're on the same page and we can have a bit of a catharsis. So I love that workout. I'll do, I'm doing that. I'll feel better. I get that because yeah. Yeah. When you work up next to someone else, like if they could do it, I could do it at[inaudible]. Somebody is energy 100%, but that must be hard for you. If someone's really stressed and low energy, how do you not let that then totally suck you down. And how do you keep your energy up to boost everything? Oh, I love that questions for some reason. I think being a performer has really helped me. There's something about compartmentalizing what's happening and making a decision. Even on my end I'm decision on what's going to happen. It's I'm channeling their energy, but I've decided we're going to go in a certain direction where we're feeling better. It's so strange to say that, but there's also music. That's a huge part of this. And I can't work out with that and has a big part. I saw on your website that you guys are all about. Yes. We're all about the music. So there's something about, especially for me, if I plan to playlist or I ask people what their favorite music is. So we're using stuff that hopefully motivates them as well. When you're just moving to music and you're paying attention to where the music is taking you. There's something that just lifts the energy. So it's high energy stuff. I loved to music too, but I get a hard time. I run code says it's not real running run without music. I don't know. How do I get up at 5:00 AM and go running without the yeah. It's different. I love it. Yeah. I need music to keep going for so long that I tell people to help de stress exercise can be one. Meditation can be another by listening to good music or just feeling the music really lower your stress a little bit, 100% people ask me all the time. How were you able to do this? Every day? If I wake up really tired or something has happened to me, I put on my playlist before I see someone, it works every time I feel so much more relaxed. And then I get excited. It's a positive energy, high energy. What do you have a bad day? I have bad days all the time. And I'm telling you exercise. It resets me every time. I'm much more balanced because of it. You found your passion. I did find your passion. And you've mentioned before that, even if you have someone who comes in and is kind of down, of course, it makes you feel bad. But I think you're so positive to begin with that. Hopefully people feed off of that and feel that coupled with the music, coupled with the movements a hundred percent, I will add to that. It's important for me when I'm working with people to really understand where they're coming from. And sometimes I might even mention something in my life. It's not about me, but I feel uncomfortable. I can say, I can feel where you're coming from. I had something similar happen because it's not even just being like, Oh, you're sad. Okay. Let's really be happy. You know what I mean? It's more, that sounds like it's so frustrating to you. I can't even imagine that that must, so people feel like the conversation at the beginning is a way to just let some energy out people to open up because it's very hard to be the only 100%. I mean, I had this one client in my early years, I just adored her. She was one of only a few people I worked out with at the time. So I had so much time. This is not recommended. I'll say that to start, but we would spend a couple of hours together. So this was a little too long, but a lot of stuff she was going through, I could totally resonate with. And then sometimes when she was angry, these were my favorite workouts. I mean the whole workout would just be punching and letting it out like, ah, just expressing ourselves. And the music would be loud. And by the end, we'd just be on a heap on the floor. It was in pools of sweat, but it was so we would laugh. I mean, it was just so fun. So your work at their all dance space. Yeah. And I will always use dance to describe it. And then I will always say, it's actually not dancing because I think dance is a really scary word. I was going to say, I'm very happy to say like five years to learn how to do a barcode. And people immediately say, Oh no, I'm not coordinated. This is not gonna feel good for me. And I always say, I'm a dancer. My method uses a lot of dance principles. There's a lot of issues with alignment and using the muscles, engaging the muscles, certain positions we use that are reminiscent of dance. And if there is someone who's highly coordinated in dancy and wants to do a dance, we can do a dance because of the cardio part. I know that there is dancing, dancing. It's not necessarily dancing. We could be describing doing jumping jacks to music. Oh, I like[inaudible] using punching to the side to music. It's just, you feel like you're dancing. Cause you're moving to the beat. I love this. This is where I always get worried about is I think again, there's not enough research to show, but I think where a lot of people get concerned about is after they've had a retrieval. So after they've had their eggs, there is that time period, a couple of weeks post where the doctor's caution not to do the twisting and the jumping and the heavy lifting and assuming maybe the dance needs to be taken down. And yeah, and it's very individual. I just want to be really clear that especially, let's say during the IVF process and after we will always respect what a doctor says. So if a doctor is saying, do not exercise for a certain period of time, I will not say hi, let's go off and exercise. Anyway. That's not going to say, cause I know what you can do. It's not what I'll say, because as far as we understand, but we are still learning. It depends on how many eggs were retrieved for example, or how long it takes for the ovaries, not to have this dangerous of twisting and the hyperstimulation a hundred percent. So that's the rule that I will go by. As I'll say, please let me know what your doctor says. And then I might ramp up maybe on the slower side and then we'll get going. But I don't then just smash our bodies until crazy cardio. All of a sudden back into again. Yeah, exactly. So your body doesn't feel shocked. I think that's a matter for patients to know too. It's not forever. Again. I was very frustrated when I was going through this. It was not exercising. I wanted was the most difficult thing, but to say, okay, this isn't forever. It's for a finite period of time, you can modify, you can walk out of there much you want, yes, there are things you can do and it's temporary. And you will get back to being able to exercise how you used to. Yes, that's tough because a lot of friends that is people's main outlet to help these stress. It's hard, but it's so true that walking walks music,[inaudible] millions that's per day. And I learned Hamilton by heart. That's awesome. Was great solution. Yeah. But knowing that there is a great resource in Marie and her team. So it's great that also that predominantly it's one-on-one do they go to come to you? Yes. Could you do this in an apartment or you need to we're in a small bullish room right now. We could do it in this room. We could get three people in this room. Oh, we can meet a lot of small room, small rooms. You may be surprised at how little room you need to do our workout because it's self contained. If you had a big studio, we would definitely use it. So I'm not against it. But yeah, we would do it in apartments, private gyms. We have some sessions in Manhattan and also the Hamptons during the summer, we have a few places in New Jersey and then of course, Denver, Colorado, and maybe parts of Brooklyn as well, depending on where our instructors live and whether they can come to you. I was going to ask if you do videos, but I'm assuming, probably not going to say, can you watch it on Instagram or something or your website? So we have Instagram ad, body conceptions. There's some sort of videos and tips that you can see there. We do have an on demand part of our business. And I mean, it's great to be one on one with someone live, but there are plenty of people who live elsewhere outside of the range of where we can give sessions who want to have access to us. And then we actually have clients who go off and travel and still want to do our workout. So that's also do do Skype to it.
Speaker 3:We do.
Speaker 2:Yes. I've also come to learn what works and what doesn't on Skype. Cause there's a tiny delay. So coordinating music and movement, Skype has been interesting, but we've absolutely done that. So we can do that for sure. And probably have to learn how to verbalize things really well. If you can't use your hands to help, like I see your hip slightly higher. That's the right hip, right? No, your left hip. Yeah, exactly. But no, we've definitely done that with these work out an hour. Each workout is an hour. Yes we could customize. I have some people in Denver doing 75 minute workouts, someone in Shavasana or meditation for 20 minutes. I know I love the stretching. We actually do two stretches in our workout sections of stretch. I love that. It's so important. I think that's equally as important for them. Yeah. I was just talking today with new moms that the importance of relaxing your pelvic floor as well as engaging in contracting your pelvic floor. So stretching, releasing, and relaxing as well as contracting slash stretching equally important.[inaudible] yes, exactly. Very important. Yeah. So anything else that you want to talk about in terms of your business, in terms of your clients that you see? So I've been talking so much about pre postnatal and fertility. We will see a range of people. I always say, if you have a major transition going on in your life, consider us, we can really help you through, especially if it's stressful or you want to prepare for something awards, shows, whatever it is. Or just as a lifestyle, we really see this as an important part of one's life is to do something you really love. We have a lot of clients who have been with us for years and years because they get hooked on the feeling and we change up our workout every time. So it's not like you're doing the same thing. And the music changes every time the exercise has changed, the principles stay the same. So, you know, it's our kind of workout, but we'll challenge you more or less depending on where you are in your life, what you need. And we love being contacted. If you guys have any questions and want to ask us anything about any of the things we brought up today, or just have questions about exercising at these, where can we reach you? Email it's on our site, admin@bodyconceptions.com or privates@bodyconceptions.com. Either one is fine. We receive them for sure. You can DMS through Instagram. It might be a little longer for me to notice you DM me, but I will pay attention. We have Facebook. That's probably maybe a little less active. So Instagram is a good one. And my website, www.bodyconceptions.com. You're very humble, but you've had a lot of training in terms of the prenatal, which I want you to, I didn't really talk too much about it, but I think it's important to know that you've had lots of training and certifications. Yeah. I'm like, yes, yes. I have trainings national certification as a personal trainer, as a prenatal exercise specialist for in general corrective exercise and also postnatal corrective exercise, some nutrition and wellness certification. However, I always refer out to experts in nutrition because I feel most comfortable doing that. And then we require all of our instructors as well, to be certified as personal trainers, nationally recognized companies. We need people to really feel like they're going to trust their trainer. That's an important relationship. And especially if you're trying to become pregnant or you are pregnant, there's so much that goes into that. Yeah. We hire people who are really loving, supportive, motivating, caring people who aren't afraid to push people if they need it. But that's the underlying thing is that they just really care about what they do and who they're working with. So we always end our podcast with words of gratitude, but we're grateful for today. What are you grateful for at this moment? Could anything I'm really grateful for the people I have met through this business who really mean a lot to me. I have to say, I'm really grateful along those lines to know you guys. You're such great resources. And that's all I think about in my business is who is in our constellation. That's a huge point of gratitude. And for myself, I'm grateful for my body and what I can do today, which was different than yesterday and will be different for tomorrow. But I really love what I can do today. That's great. And yeah, I love what I do. I love the people I'm helping and I hope that they can see how much we care. I'm sure. Yeah. So yeah, we all get to talk. I was going to say kind of along the same lines, I really appreciate people who are great connectors and I'm gonna give a shout out to my friend ma Hey ma put myself and Marie together. She's like, you guys are gonna get along. Really. You guys need to connect and it took us some time. I don't live here, but I know you came in. We had, I could have spoken to her all day long when I first met her. And I'm grateful for people who are passionate about what they do. And it really does show in how animated you are talking about your business and working and helping people out and helping women and empowering them and hopefully making them a little less stressed. So I'm grateful for that. Rena. I love, I mean, I'm gonna have to take some of, both of you are gratitudes and day so grateful for Dara. Introducing me to Mary and find another strong, powerful woman. Who's so passionate about your work. I love that. I think it's so wonderful to find someone who just has so much positive energy because you love what you do. And to find a new resource for my patients to connect them with. I always empathize with them so much. And I say, they're so frustrated about exercise because that certainly resonates with me. And so to find another great resource, I'm grateful for that. Thank you. Same here. So listen to your body, get moving, reach out tomorrow and stay in the present. Thanks so much for being here, Marie. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening today and always remember practice gratitude, give a little love to someone else and yourself. And remember you are not alone. Find us on Instagram at fertility underscore forward. And if you're looking for more support, visit us@wwwdotrmaandy.com and tune in next week for more fertility forward,
Speaker 1:[inaudible].