In our second wellbeing feature, we interviewed fitness and business guru Ange Hartman about the topic of wellbeing.
Tell us about yourself and what you do
My Name is Ange Hartman. I am a coffee drinking, developing, meditating, passionate health enthusiast. I run the studio and retail business for a Vancouver Based Company called TurF.
At OQ we are committed to championing individuals like yourself who create your own vision. Tell us how you got into health and fitness? What influences led you down this path?
I have been an athlete my whole life - surfing and running marathons all through my 20’s and lots of time training and working out. I have always been really passionate about feeling good versus focusing on the external. I believe if you feel good you look good and I want to teach people to build up their inner awareness around what they need each day.
What does the topic of well-being mean to you?
Health to me is a combination of physical, emotional and spiritual health and I work on the up-keep of these things almost every day. I get up early so I have time to journal, meditate and take my dog outside before I even start my workday.
This allows me to move into my workday from a more balanced place. I teach an endurance cardio class called meta 4 or 5 times a week, and mix in strength and yoga on top of that so my physical practice needs the least amount of attention. I typically need to spend more time in rest and calming my nervous system to allow myself to recover so that I have enough energy to do all the things I need to do.
Do you feel as though the challenges of the last couple of years have pushed us towards a place where we are prioritizing our well-being?
To be honest, I don’t know. The last few years for me have required so much resiliency and I have dealt with more anxiety, fear, frustration and anger that I can remember feeling in my adult life. The only thing that has allowed me to keep going during this time has been my practices for my physical, emotional and spiritual health. If I didn’t have these, I don’t know what I would’ve done.
I see that a lot of statistics now coming out about depression, stress and anxiety being at an all-time high and as a teacher I’m constantly thinking about how to support the community that I’m a part of from this lens.
The biggest feedback that I heard from the TurF community is that the studio was the only thing helping them cope through the pandemic and closing it down was devastating for them. As I continue to develop the programming in the TurF Studio I think about this a lot and want to make sure that I am giving our students exactly what medicine they need.
What would your 3 pieces of advice be for anyone is is wanting to focus on their physical and emotional well-being this year?
- I would first sit down and have someone write down their one year vision (how do you want to feel) and then create 2-4 specific health goals based on that. For me, I’m really passionate about being able to move really well as I age. From there I would think about what workouts I would need to do (it’s NOT only one thing - the body needs a combination of things to operate really well), how I properly recover (stretching, yoga, treatments such as Chiropractic care and Cupping), how I rest and how I have fun.
- I would recommend practices such as Journaling and meditation. Start really simple with 8 mins of daily meditation and grow it from there. It is during the quietest moments that I have the biggest learnings about what is or isn’t working for me.
- Find what brings you joy and do more of that. My girlfriend crew got me through everything in the past couple of years and prioritizing spending time with them in any capacity is critical to my emotional well-being. We are not meant to live life by ourselves and community is so important.
What are the benefits specific to health and fitness?
So many it’s hard to narrow down to just a few. From a pure physical point of view - having enough muscle mass to burn calories and keep the metabolism in high gear is really important as we age so our bodies can continue to do all the things we want to do. On top of that you gain resiliency, happiness, strength, endurance, joy, community……
Many people think January is the best time to set intentions for the upcoming year and define new resolutions. Which well-being practices do you hope to implement for yourself this year?
My goals are all around proper rest and recovery since I have such a high energy output already. I am currently working on my sleep routine and getting minimum 8 hours of rest a night. For anyone like me, I would recommend Karen Brody’s ‘Daring To Rest’ audiobook that uses Yoga Nidra to reset your nervous system. I also took up Tennis in the past year and have a goals to build my tennis skills.
What impact do you hope to see your work make this year?
My highest calling is as a teacher and I want to spend time teaching and showing my students how to live their biggest, most fully-self expressed life. I plan on continuing down this path and my goal is to run a few retreats in the upcoming years to take this work even deeper.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Yes! Here are some tools for anyone interested:
- Karen Brody’s ‘Daring to Rest’ audiobook
- Make Miracles in Forty Days by Melody Beattie
- 12-week (online) Anchored Course with Kylie McBeath
- Breathwork with Bree Melanson or Eliza Butler
- Beautiful meditation that I use whenever I start to doubt myself