Why I Still Show Up In Person
There’s a moment that happens in a group fitness class that I’ve never been able to explain fully — only feel.
It’s somewhere in the middle of something hard. The music is loud. Your legs are burning. And then you catch someone else’s eye across the room, and without a word exchanged, you both just… keep going.
That’s it. That’s the thing.
Michelle and I ran a studio on Abbot Kinney for almost ten years. We taught thousands of classes on that street — to the same women, season after season, life stage after life stage. Babies were born. Divorces happened. Parents got sick. People moved away and came back. The class was never just a class.
When we closed in 2020 and eventually built Movement Co. as an online platform, I was proud of what we created. I still am. The on-demand library means you can take a Sculpt class at 6am in your living room or a 30-minute Restore session after the kids go to bed. That flexibility is real and it matters.
But I’d be lying if I said it replaced the room.
There’s actual science behind why in-person movement hits differently — something called co-regulation, the way our nervous systems literally sync with the people around us. When you’re in a room full of bodies doing something hard together, you’re not just working out. You’re regulating. Grounding. Something in you settles that doesn’t settle alone.
And then there’s the push. The invisible, unspoken lift you get from the woman next to you who is also holding the plank. You will go further in a room than you will in your living room — not because you’re competing, but because humans are wired to rise together. That’s not a flaw in how we’re built. That’s the feature.
For women especially — and I feel this in my body when I teach — there is something profound about showing up in a physical space, in your body, and being witnessed doing something hard. Not performing. Not filming. Just being there, a part of the community, doing the work.
This is why I still show up in person whenever I can. Why we want to keep creating spaces to move together, not just spaces to stream from.
Abbot Kinney still feels like home. It’s where we built something real for almost a decade, and getting to bring people back to that street — to that specific community — doesn’t feel like a workout. It feels like coming back to something.
If you’re in Venice this Thursday, we have two pop-up morning classes. Come move. Grab a coffee after. Be in the room.
We’re currently popping up on different days and times so that we can figure out the best permanent schedule. The next pop-ups aren't until June 9th and 25th. So if you’ve been thinking about it, Thursday is the moment.
Book your spot here → RESERVE YOUR MAT
More coming very soon on all the topics that we’re talking about right now!
✌🏽Tenaya
