Coming Home to the Body’s Wisdom: The Story Behind Mela Moves

I didn’t come to this work through a neat plan or a clear career path. I came through lived experience grief, stress, burnout, relearning, embodied joy and the long process of learning to trust my own body again.

Mela Moves exists because, for a long time, I didn’t fully belong in, or listen to, my own body.

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From movement as performance – to movement as presence 

My whole life I have been involved in movement one way or another from the athletic track, gym floors and yoga mats, to festival fields, restlessness and overdelivering. Movement was always present.

But for years it was mostly about trying hard. About proving I was capable. About staying productive, staying “fit,” or trying to “fit in.”

Like so many of us, I learned early on to treat my body as something to manage rather than something to listen to.

Midlife changed all that.

Perimenopause, burnout, and a nervous system stretched thin slowly stripped away the old strategies. The ones based on discipline and willpower stopped working. The workouts that used to energise me left me depleted. The routines that once held me together began to feel like cages.

I realised I didn’t need another plan to fix myself.

I needed a different relationship with myself as I entered this new era of life.

Discovering a body led way

Somatic movement was the doorway back in.

Not the loud, performative version of wellness – but the quiet, honest kind. 

The kind that asks:

• What does your body actually need today? 

• What rhythm are you in? 

• What happens if you stop trying to override yourself?

Through gentle, nervous-system-informed practices, I began to feel something

I hadn’t felt in years:

• Safety. 

• Trust. 

• Belonging inside my own skin.

And I also discovered that safety didn’t only come from practices. It came from people and places. From queer and POC-led spaces where I didn’t have to explain myself. From communities rooted in shared experience, music, culture and care. From environments where my whole identity could land,  not just the “acceptable” parts.

Those spaces taught me what embodied joy and belonging really feels like. They shaped how I hold space now: with tenderness, inclusivity, humour, honesty and respect for lived experience. All of it changed how I move and how I work with people today.

Who this space is for

• Mela Moves is for the ones who don’t quite fit the mainstream wellness mould.

• For midlife bodies that are tired of being pushed, fixed, and optimised.

• For queer bodies, marginalised bodies, and anyone who has ever felt “too much” or “not enough” in traditional fitness and wellbeing spaces.

• For people navigating midlife and perimenopause wellbeing, stress, or burnout who know they need to move, but want to do it with compassion, care and curiosity.

  
  

Here, movement isn’t about transformation photos or rigid goals. It’s about coming home to yourself.

My approach

Everything I offer is grounded in a few core beliefs:

• The body is wise

• The nervous system sets the pace

• Small, gentle practices change more than heroic ones

• Rest is not laziness – it’s intelligence

• Movement should create more life in you, not drain it

I blend somatic & functional  movement, therapeutic yoga, mindfulness and nervous system awareness, alongside over 25 years of lived experience in community, music, coaching and facilitation.

What you’ll find here

On this website and in my work you’ll find:

• simple and effective body-first practices

• coaching that meets you where you are

• spaces designed for curiosity to unfold

• retreats and workshops rooted in connection 

• honest conversations about stress, midlife, identity and belonging. No perfection. No pressure.

An invitation

If you’re tired of forcing yourself into wellbeing systems that don’t fit…

If your body is asking for different rhythms in a more connected, nourishing and honest way…

You’re in the right place.

• Take a look around. 

• Read the blogs. 

• Join a session. 

• Come to a retreat.

• Let’s jump on a call.

And begin, gently, to come home to yourself.

With warmth, 

Mela

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Offerings

Coaching 1:1 with Mela

£300.00

1h 30min

Book Now