mental health & fitness from a recovered skeptic.
“Calling this brand anything other than Work In Progress would be so hypocritical. I don’t have it all figured out, I don’t know everything, I make mistakes with clients, and my relationship with my own body isn’t perfect. Some days I feel so proud of myself and my work and some days I feel like I phoned it in.
It took me YEARS of therapy to be able to say all that.
The first 50 times a therapist told me to take a deep breath, I thought it was dumb and internally rolled my eyes. But after years of resistance, I finally gave in to the idea that my brain and body and feelings were all connected- and for the most part, my life got a lot better. But I had to be open to new ideas, get vulnerable, and hold myself to a different standard.
That’s what WIP is all about- we hold ourselves accountable, but we show ourselves grace. We acknowledge when our shit gets kicked up and that it hurts, but we take control of what we can in soothing and helping ourselves. Some days we do a full morning routine and some days we sit on Tik Tok for 30 minutes and then stress because we don’t have enough time to get ready.
I’m a real, messy, imperfect person just like you. I also just happen to have a lot of training, experience, and insight that might help you.
I’m not just going to tell you to take a deep breath, I’m going to explain to you, on a scientific level, why it will help. I’m not just going to tell you to pull your belly button to your spine, I’m going to teach you how your core works so you can figure it out for yourself when you need to.
If you’re ready to take care of yourself for real, not performatively, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get to work. It won’t be perfect- but you’ll definitely make progress.”
-Abby
about abby
Abby was born and raised in Nashville and moved to New York for undergrad at NYU. She started teaching barre as a part time job at 19 for some side cash, but mostly so she could work out for free.
Part time teaching morphed into full time studio management post grad and eventually into a corporate position as a master teacher trainer. Throughout her fitness career, Abby has worked with: Pure Barre, Solidcore, PVolve, Bodyrok, and more. She’s been featured on the Today Show and MSNBC, as well as collaborated with brands like: TopShop, Ivy Park, Lululemon, Samsung, Uncommon James, and Women’s Health.
The whole time- she was in therapy. She’s no stranger to trauma and her relationship with her body (and everybody else for that matter) showed it. As her own emotional language and attunement broadened, she recognized just how emotional fitness can be- and that there was nobody attending to that intersection.
After a couple months of trying to talk herself out of it, she started her Masters in Social Work at Fordham University.
After over a decade in New York, she moved back home to Nashville to start her career as a private practice therapist, focusing on polyvagal and somatic therapy methods, including EMDR, helping women, teens, and LGBTQIA+ heal their relationship with themselves, their bodies, and move on from complex trauma.
She simultaneously stepped in as the Director of Fitness for BodyRok Nashville, as well as a consultant at the corporate level. She was named best group instructor in Nashville, as well as runner up for best pilates teacher and mental health professional, in 2024 by Nashville Fit Magazine.
When she’s not talking at work, she’s talking her husband’s ear off at home, playing with her dog, watching Bravo, reading cheesy books, and sampling every cheeseburger in Nashville.
