[00:00:00] Well, hey there, welcome back. Today's episode is going to be a little bit different, but I am hoping that you listen today with a very open heart and an open mind and open ears to hear what you need to for your situation. I'm actually interviewing my sister in law Katrina to talk a little bit about her situation with health and fitness and her daughter Carson who has some special needs issues.
She has a very inspiring story about how she didn't let some of the limitations that she has in her life or some of the hard things that she has, maybe not fitting the mold in some areas, limit her and how she figured out how to work around them. And I think her story is so beautiful and inspiring. To remind people that you don't have to do things like everyone else and to do things that work for you.
So if you have something that you are [00:01:00] working on a trial in your life, something that's hard somewhere where you feel like it's just complicated, like you just can't get through something or you feel alone in that thing or just different than others. I hope that this episode sparks some empowerment in you to know no matter the situation.
You can work around it and you can be the solution to those things and make it work for you. I'm going to let Katrina tell her own story, but she is a mother of three. She has the biggest heart in the world. She is the most caring human being. She does have a daughter with special needs and she is a Zumba instructor who teaches adaptive Zumba for kids with special needs.
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Andrea, DFH 10 percent off. My name's Andrea Allen and I am a mother of. Four girls under seven, a wifey to a mountain man, a personal trainer, and a nutrition coach. I love all things women's health and fitness, but let's face it. The fitness industry is complicated and it's not built for the everyday mom.
There's so much conflicting information and you're busy and you don't have time to figure it out. [00:04:00] I hate feeling confused and overwhelmed. So I made it my mission to simplify health and fitness while creating a welcoming, realistic, and empowering home for like minded women. I'm happy you're here and I hope you stay a while.
Katrina, thank you so much for coming on today. I wanted to have you on for a long time, ever since we kind of started talking about your journey and your story. So thanks for taking time today. Oh, thanks for having me. I'm so excited. So Katrina is amazing. She's my sister in law. She puts up with me and my husband, who I'm sure was a pain growing up.
He was probably a sweetie, but not really a sweetie, wasn't he? He was always a sweetie. Always, I'm sure. But Katrina has a really amazing story. So Katrina, I want you to tell us a little bit about your journey because I think it's very inspiring and people can see as I talked about in the intro that like sometimes we have limitations, sometimes we have really hard things in our lives, but it [00:05:00] doesn't mean that we have to be stuck there or that we can't follow our dreams or be able to do and follow through with goals we have even in these hard situations.
So Tell us a little bit about you. Yeah, well, thank you. Um, I agree. I feel like choices are more important than our abilities. And I found that through my own personal life and then also as I've raised children. And, um, I have three children. I have one, I have Eight and 9-year-old boys. They're 15 months apart.
So that in itself was a challenge. And then I have a daughter who's 13 and she has what's called Cleef Stress Syndrome. And it is a combination of autism, hypotonia, cerebral palsy, speech, apraxia, OCD, a few different challenges. And so through the years we've learned a lot and we've also learned to change our mindset to sometimes you have to do things different and that's okay.
And so that's. [00:06:00] That's where pretty much my journey has began, um, and where I am today. So when she was little, and I know that you have been into fitness. We've talked about it for a long time. We've worked together and when she was little and you realized something was going on, how do you feel like that?
Um, limited your abilities because as I've mentioned on a previous podcast, the things that I can do without a child with special needs is different than the things that you can do. It doesn't mean you're overly limited, but the situations are different. So how, what was your experience trying to get into fitness?
Because that is something that's important to you. You've always cared about health. And you've always cared about being healthy and feeling strong in your body. And I love that about you. In fact, Katrina did one of the form videos and actually two of them, two of the form videos that are coming out in the app.
She's super great. And you've always cared about that. So how was that journey affected by your situation with having a special needs child and trying [00:07:00] to balance life plus the added, you know, stress of that? Yeah, thanks. It's it feels like you live in two different worlds. And so you're juggling this world with your child You don't know what type of special needs they might have and that's what our situation was that we faced with we didn't know what she And so we were at doctor's appointments nonstop.
We were at therapies nonstop, um, you're caring for your child nonstop and it's, that's just your world. But then the other world, the other side of things is you have your own personal things where you don't, you need to work out. And I love to work out. Um, and so. When you have a child with special needs, it's not easy to go to the gym because maybe that day they're extra sensitive to the light or to noises.
Or, in our case, Carson, she, she didn't speak. She had speech apraxia. And so we did sign language the first five years of her life. And so going to the gym sometimes, Maybe I was being [00:08:00] overprotective, but it was hard for me to bring my daughter who may not have been crawling or walking the same time as those other children or talking that I thought, is she going to be okay there?
And so I would work out at home 10 minutes here, or I had an elliptical, we'd go on walks. So those were things that. helps me get by. And I still remember having this thought one time where it was like, look for the bridges in your life. And so I would look for bridges, like today I got to go for a walk and that helps my sanity.
Um, and so I even now look back and think, I looked for the bridges in my life. Um, and as we, as we, You know, grew as a family. I, I thought that you had to look a certain way to go into the gym. I didn't look perfect. And so I started to get anxiety. I don't know if it was partly. You know, just having kids and I was battling postpartum depression, but I didn't want to go to the gym and I noticed that that was taking a toll on my mental [00:09:00] state because I always relied on working out so much.
But, um, what I found that if I just did the same routine every single day, I would get through to it. So I would drive the same way to the gym. I would park in the same vicinity. I would do the same workout at the gym and all of those routines helped me get through that. Side of things now fast forward Carson is 13 years old and we found that the gym no longer has daycare for children that age.
So that was another limitation that I thought, okay, well, we're working, we're going to work around it. That's what we learn as special needs parents. You just continue to jump through hoops. Um, and so I thought Carson no longer can come to the daycare. I still need to get a workout in. So she comes with me.
She brings her headphones and we go do the dance. You know, the dance jam sessions or we do the elliptical, but even then she gets tired after about 20 minutes and she wants to [00:10:00] go home. And so we again do work. We work out at home and we go on walks and things like that. But so yeah, you just continue to.
You know, evolve, just like every parent or human, we just evolve through our challenges. So what was the point at which like you had that shift with the gym? Because I agree with you, the gym can be tricky. So not only do you feel like sometimes in the gym, it can be a very much a body show, which makes me insane.
Um, I think it makes a lot of us insane, but it can feel that way. And then you have Carson, who is. A magnificent person. I love Carson. Carson is best. Carson, my five year old loves Carson, like loves her with all her heart. She asked me every day when Carson's going to sleep over now, by the way, she is, she loves her.
She is like her sidekick. She thinks that she is her new friend that it's, it's actually pretty awesome. But like, where did [00:11:00] you have that shift where you felt like I'm not. I'm not gonna care anymore. I'm not gonna care because I'm sure having Carson there and then also just the stress Sometimes the gym can bring for people you walk in there's machines everywhere.
You don't necessarily know everything you're doing Where did you have that shift? And how did you do that for obviously personal reasons? but also, you know feeling like now I not only now is a gym stressful, but now I have My child with me in in these workouts in the gym because she can't go in the daycare anymore.
Yeah, I learned that There's everyone has their own challenges whether you have a special needs child or not You have children you have your own challenges and many times people don't even notice and so my shift was I just had to start Reminding myself just let them stare And that's okay. And if they do, that's okay.
You just continue to do it. And many times people will be like, Oh, I have a child at home. And you, you just, you kind of just think [00:12:00] maybe they'll bring their kid and they'll, they'll, they'll face their challenges. Um, because they saw you there with, at the gym with your daughter. Um, I love that. Just, just like, what does it hurt if they're staring?
Like, you never know, like maybe they're thinking, Oh my gosh, look, she's here with her and maybe it will make them feel if they're having a hard time with a child in that situation or something else. You know, like you never know how other people, you might think they're staring out of even like what's happening, but you never know they could be staring out of awe, out of feeling themselves.
Like. Okay, maybe, maybe I can do that with, with my child if they're in that situation or something else. You don't even know why they're staring. So let them stare because you could actually be helping them. And it's not even an issue of judgment or anything like that. It could be an issue of inspiring them.
Yeah. And most people, they really are kind, you know, most humans are kind and accepting. And, [00:13:00] and, um, I learned that. It doesn't matter if you're rich or you're poor or you're whatever type of person you are, they all want to feel loved. They want to feel included. They want to feel accepted. It doesn't matter.
Every human needs that. And so I just have to go in with that mindset and be open. And if I, if I start to overthink it, then you start to really second guess yourself. And so you can't do that. You've got to just like restart every day. And if you still have that creeping in, I go back to where's my bridge that day?
Um, keep with your routine and, and just. Just, you know, that's, you just keep moving forward one step at a time. How did you decide, so once you started going with her, as she couldn't go in the daycare anymore, and you do work out from home and stuff sometimes, but sometimes we all know getting out of our house is nice as well.
Even, even sometimes I leave my house and people will ask me like, do you have a membership? And I'm like, I do. I go about once a week, maybe sometimes every other week, [00:14:00] but sometimes it's nice to step out. So how did you decide? that you wanted to start teaching classes and, and tell me that story. Okay. So I, I now I certified as crazy as it is.
I create, um, I certified as a Zumba instructor. It started long ago. Again, when you have, so I have two typical boys. And when I want to sign him up for basketball, there's five basketball leagues with any day and time that you need. Um, with Carson, when you want to sign her up for basketball, you have to drive 45 minutes away because that's where the, the basketball Special Olympics is at.
Carson has hypotonia cerebral palsy and, and autism and some of the processing is a little bit. And so, yes, some, some people with special needs children can sign them up for typical sports, and [00:15:00] they have no problem with it. For Carson, that's not the case, and so I have to really look and search for the classes that can fit her.
And there's sometimes just not many available. Our community does a really good job at trying to be, um, Give opportunities, but again, there's still limitations and I thought Katrina instead of being part of the problem why don't you become part of the solution and Become a Zumba instructor because what had happened is Carson loves music She loves to dance and she loved her Zumba class, but come to find out they weren't going to be offering it that season And so the where was she taking Zumba at school?
Were they doing it at school? She was doing it at the city of Gilbert It was an adaptive Zumba class. Yeah. And so we had, she's awesome. We have an adaptive Zumba instructor who was awesome, but she's so awesome that she's, she was doing another class during that time. And so she couldn't offer, she's one human being.
She couldn't offer, [00:16:00] um, Zumba at the same time as her other class. And so I thought, you know, I'll just. So I went and certified and I didn't know where it would go, but I thought at least I can offer this class and Carson can go with it with me. And, and I thought if it helps, I can't be the only mom out there with a special needs child or.
or parent or caregiver where they're looking for something for their child to do. And the thing with kids with special needs is they grow up, they grow into adults and, and sometimes finding things for the special needs adults is challenging too. And so I just wanted to be able to offer an opportunity.
And I have found that there are. There are lots of opportunity. These, these parents will bring their kids and the adults special needs kids into the classes and they love it. They love coming. So I'm glad that I was brave enough to just put my insecurities aside and just do it because it's been fun.
It's just awesome. So when Katrina started she said I'm going to get [00:17:00] certified in Zumba. And I was like, that's great. It's a great, you know, I, I was thinking, imagining like, that's, that's a great class. You're going to love it if you love dancing, whatever. And then as we were chatting, she was like, yes, but I mainly doing it because I want my daughter to have the ability to move like.
Every other kid and to have that opportunity and you explained to me the limitations of like there's not a ton of classes There's not a ton of this and she did have one and it's now not there anymore And so I'm gonna get certified and I'm gonna teach it and I love that you actually didn't you you're now Approaching like the YMCA and some other ones saying like let me teach a Zuma class for people with special needs, right?
Yeah. Yeah. I've, I've, um, reached out to some of the schools that I know that have special needs classes, um, and students in them, and they're really excited about it because sometimes they don't have the instructor, they don't have the opportunity. And so I'm just, again, [00:18:00] trying to help with that. So yeah, it's been awesome.
So what are, what are some of the benefits? Because I know we've talked about that. You have lots of different people to come. You have some nonverbal kids that come. I remember you told me that one, he's so cute and he claps when he's excited and I love that for him. But what are the benefits? Because I do think as you mentioned, as children, if they have special needs, they don't have as many opportunities.
And as you said, as adults, it sometimes there's more and depending on the situation, but there are some situations where people can't do mainstream stuff. So how is it beneficial to them? Not only Obviously to move, but like for their situation. Yeah. And I think a lot, I, I mean, I have a lot of people who are helping me raise my own daughter.
I have lots of therapists and so I've learned a lot with them and they talk a lot about sensory diet. They talk a lot about proprioceptive input and children, adults, people who lack that have poor [00:19:00] proprioceptive input. They're more clumsy. They're, um, For example, my daughter breaks her Barbie doll toys on accident because her, she has poor proprioceptive input because she doesn't know how hard to play with them.
And so the legs break off. She twists them around too much that they finally break off. And those are, those are just signs of poor proprioceptive input. Um, they need a sensory diet. So you want them to be strengthened. And I think I have such a passion for exercise for these special needs, um, adults and children because Those are the areas that they're weaker in, you know, and so that's strengthening them when they come to Zumba or when they are able to go to the fitness classes or go on the walks or, or anything like that.
It's strengthening them and they need that. And, um. So yeah, that's the answer. I hope that answers your question. No, that makes complete sense. So how does it help them even mentally? And what, what did you mean by sensory diet? I wasn't sure what [00:20:00] that meant. So sensory diet isn't necessarily the food that they're eating.
Sensory diet is, um, heavy lifting, weight lifting, you know, picking up, um, canned foods, picking up some, you know, Um, weight, that sensory diet, it helps ground them and children, adults with, with autism or other types of special needs, they really need to help. They need to ground themselves. Uh, and I, I know therapists can explain it way better than me, but I know that we're happy here with layman's terms, just so you know.
That's, that's why we call it make it simple, because we like that. So don't worry about, don't worry about watering it down to, to clarify. Okay. Well, even like swinging, you know, that helps with. The swinging is another example of sensory diet. And so many therapists will outline a sensory diet for them to help ground them.
And then they're able to learn better, just like anybody else. Like I find that I do better after I've worked [00:21:00] out. That's a very good point. Like they're no different than any of us. And so, uh, the proprioceptive, that is also your body's. Your brain is telling your body where they're at in space. So that's what proprioceptive is and that's why the Heavy lifting different types of exercises will help strengthen that.
I bet even that hand eye coordination when you're telling them to move a direction, you know, you're pointing in Zumba You're pointing and you're cueing and it's probably even good for them to connect Some of those things, you know what I mean? Yes, and even developmentally sometimes we, even people who aren't special needs, they miss development milestones.
And we, there's a lot of studies out there that talk about the right and the left brain and how important, you know, exercises are. And then also to make sure [00:22:00] that you're hitting all of those milestones because it's wiring your brain to help you progress. Yeah, that makes sense. It's really no different than us.
You know what I mean? Like, like, I think sometimes We forget we're all the same developmental delays maybe maybe obviously but the way they learn is the way we learn and so That's really important, yet there's less opportunities. Yeah, you think of those who are nonverbal, they can't tell, well, they can do sign language and things like that, but if you're not totally in tuned with your child who's, who's nonverbal or you're the caretaker, you're not going to know, hey, they're, they're needing to go be strengthened because they, they don't know it.
Or maybe they do know it and so it's just interesting how we all, everybody should be exercising. And that's where you're pointing out, you know the worth of exercise, you know that, I know that. And you're saying, I want everybody to [00:23:00] experience the worth of exercise. I want all special needs kids. I want people with limitations.
I want people, um, in all aspects. to experience that and, and not only that, but as you pointed out, like, you don't have to be a mold. Like, we don't have to all be the same to experience that. We can do it differently. What have some of the parents and the, you know, care providers and stuff said about the kids that are going?
Like, how are they enjoying it? Has it made a difference for them? Yes, I have had two different. Situations where the there were two different moms and they said are you going to be teaching again next season because it's not offered Because again, this instructor is still teaching this other class and I said, yes, I'll I'll be here next And so they said, Oh, good.
My son loves it. And this one son, he's, he's nonverbal. And so I didn't know that he liked it. I just knew that he came every time. And, and then the other one, he was excited and he can talk. And he was like, are [00:24:00] you going to be the next, are you going to be the zoom instructor? And so I know they look forward to those things.
They love coming. And that makes it worth it for me. And I had a new student come in last Tuesday and she was nonverbal. And so she kept trying to sign to me. And I, I. As I'm doing my routine and showing them the dance moves, she's watching me and there's a part in my extras, the Zumba routine where I go up and I clap their hand with my hand.
And I was able to make eye contact with her at that moment where I clapped my hands with her hands and her eyes lit up. And I just thought. You know, you want to make a difference in everyone's life that you come in contact with. And I felt like that just brightened her day. You could see it. And it was just, it was so rewarding.
Oh my gosh, you're going to make me cry. That's so sweet. Part of this journey for you was obviously that you wanted to be consistent with your workout routine and you wanted Carson to have the freedom to move her body and to be. [00:25:00] Doing something she loves and to build her own strength because she needs strength too.
How has doing this I know you're trying to get it into more schools and you're you're really trying to push it in our area Which I just love I feel like I'm like, I think it's amazing. Hence why I wanted to have you on I'm so proud of you, but how has that built you like what have you learned in this?
journey of having Carson and working on your own fitness and now working on the fitness of a Category of society that really really needs it and doesn't have all the same opportunities. Um, I've learned that with, um, with Zumba and you can do it with, you can incorporate really with any, any type of exercise.
But I thought Zumba is going to grow with me. It will grow with Carson. Um, Carson is still. Learning to ride a bike. We have tried strider bikes, we've tried bikes with [00:26:00] training wheels, and she either gets overwhelmed and is not able to do it, or she outgrows them. And so, going to the store, you can't just find all the adaptive bikes to try out to see what works for her.
And to be clear, Carson is 13, and Carson's tall. Like, she's like, I think she's my height. She's 5'8 She's tall. She's tall. She's probably 5'4 right now. She's almost as tall as me. And so she is not. I really over imagined, I really over imagined that height. I was off by like four inches. She's tall. That's the point.
She's tall. Yes. So when you, when you're trying to find a bike for someone like that, they're, she was growing fast. And so we've tried tricycle bikes. adult tricycle bikes, and nothing's working. And so as we're working through that and trying out bikes, I know that we can always go do Zumba or we can always go on a walk.
You know, there's, there's other forms of exercise, but I think that that's what I've learned is. [00:27:00] Find what works for you and your family and, and do that because I think I would like to think that this is something me and Carson can do the rest of our lives together. And we don't have to go on a bike ride to get our exercise in.
It would be lovely to do that as a family. But in the meantime, we, we get to go do our walks, our hikes, we do our Zumba. You know, those are things just you find what works for you. The thing about you saying that is. Katrina really does live by that. So, it's easy to look around and say, Gosh, everyone else can ride a bike with their whole family.
Or everyone else can do, insert whatever. Whatever it is. And your point is I know, but I can do other things and I can find other things and we can make it not, we don't have to fit the mold. We don't have to do it exactly the same as everyone. We can do it our way and I can be thankful for the things that we can do our way.
And that's the whole point of you even picking up this class and then teaching these kids is because you've [00:28:00] always thought, I may not be able to do it this way, but I can do it my way. And I think that your spore is really inspiring that way. Well, thank you. Yeah, and I think it kind of goes back to my whole idea of like choices are more important than our abilities Because you can have you can be special needs But you can be in a Special Olympics.
You could be someone who doesn't have special needs and find yourself stuck Whether you've chosen to do that mentally or not and not progress we have to choose for ourselves and then we can't help that maybe we You know, have the income that we have or we have the disability that we have, but our choices are really what going to help us take off in our own individual life.
Amen. It's so true. I also want to point out, you know, what would be cool is as you get doing this [00:29:00] and it's a different road than you thought. Who knows, maybe Carson will do it enough and maybe someday Carson will be teaching a class and we'll be so proud of her. We'll be so proud of her. I think that'd be so awesome.
She was practicing on her own. I mean, you never know. You never know. She does it for years and years and years. You never know. I mean, people do, like you said, the Special Olympics, people learn amazing skills when they have the opportunity. And I love that you're giving. Kids that may not have the opportunity, the opportunity to have it because you saw a gap.
You said, I can't just not have a class. I will get certified myself and I will teach it. Exactly. Thank you so much for being on today. Oh, you're welcome. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. I truly hope this episode helped inspire you. I hope that you can notice in your hard situations and your trials and the things that are difficult for you, I hope you can find the bridges.
As Katrina said, on those hard days, in those hard moments, she looked for the good things. She looked for the bridge to get her over the trial, to [00:30:00] not just fall in the water and let her take her away. She went over the bridge. So please look for the bridges in your life. Also remember that. Our choices matter.
I love that she pointed out that our choices matter more than the cards that we were dealt. Yes, they matter. And there are hard things in all of our lives. Our choices are going to help us not get stuck, no matter your situation. So hopefully you can think of something in your life where you might feel stuck or limited.
And Maybe you'll get an idea of how to shift out of that and see that there is power Within you to change and have a voice and to make it work for you in your situation No matter what it is I have added a link in the show notes for her Zumba page and also her Page on special needs and her experience with that as well on Instagram So you can find her that way as well for both of those truly your choices are more important than your abilities As [00:31:00] always, you know I mean it from the bottom of my heart, you are doing so much better than you think you are.
We'll chat next week.