Connect
How Barre3 Keeps This Mother-Daughter Pair Connected, Despite Being Miles Apart
For weeks, we’ve been imagining the post-quarantine gatherings, when we can experience true “face time” and hug our loved ones with abandon. And while Mother’s Day this year may look like sending your love over Zoom instead of an in-person brunch with mom, we’re taking inspiration from a client who’s familiar with fostering connection virtually.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Jodie Jones grew up in the UK. With her family back in England, Jodie went to the United States for college, eventually establishing her life here. Below, Jodie shares how she got her mom hooked on barre3 and how the online workouts keep their connection strong.
B3 MAGAZINE: Having grown up in Africa and Europe, what initially brought you to the United States?
JODIE: I’ve been an athlete my whole life, and I was a diver growing up in the UK. When my family moved there from Zimbabwe, one of the things my mom first did to create some consistency in our lives was to find a local diving team and sign me up. As the years went on, I got better, and I ended up competing for the national team. We traveled all over the world, and I was recruited to dive for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
I jumped at the opportunity, thinking that the worst-case scenario was that I wouldn’t like it and I’d just come home. Well, I’ve been here ever since.
B3 MAGAZINE: How did you discover barre3?
JODIE: I dove for the University of Tennessee throughout college, and that’s where I met both my husband and my best friend Lindsey, who were both on the swim team. After we graduated, Lindsey became a barre3 instructor.
My first taste of barre3 was because of her. As soon as I said I wanted to try it, her immediate response was, “It’s about time!”
Then my husband and I moved to California, and Lindsey stayed in Knoxville. I’d take her class when I visited, and I always loved it, but I never committed to becoming a client until I moved back to Tennessee a few years later. That’s when I really fell head over heels in love with it. Barre3 transformed the way I felt about my body.
B3 MAGAZINE: Can you tell us more about that?
JODIE: Having been an athlete for so long, I had a lot of injuries. There were many parts of my body that had been beaten up from moving them the same way repeatedly and not moving in a smart way. When you’re an athlete, everyone thinks you have a perfect body and you know how to use it. The reality is that you know how to use your body to perform the task you have to do. That doesn’t necessarily make you healthy.
But doing barre3 and yoga helped me reestablish my mind-body connection. The workouts helped me rewire my brain in relation to what it should feel like to lift my arms above my head without my shoulder going numb or bend over without feeling pain in my back. It’s taken a while, and there are certainly aches and pains that I’ll never get rid of. I’ve had shoulder surgery and a stress fracture in my back, but now I feel more connected to my body. That’s changed everything for me.
B3 MAGAZINE: How did you introduce your mom to barre3?
JODIE: Each time I would visit my parents, I would suggest doing a workout online with my mom, and I think that planted the seed for her. She wasn’t feeling great about her body at the time, and I could see how much the discomfort was troubling her.
Barre3 was something that made me feel good, and I wanted to give my mom access to something that would help her as well. She was hesitant at first, but when I showed her the workouts, I pointed to the person on the left side of the screen who was taking modifications, showing you how to adapt the workout if you needed something different.
Soon, when we’d FaceTime or text, my mom would say, “By the way, I did a 10-minute workout the other morning,” or, “Oh! I did a 10-minute workout last night.” Little by little, I could see her starting to feel empowered in her body.
B3 MAGAZINE: How did her journey with barre3 progress from there?
JODIE: Her office started hosting 30 minutes of yoga at lunchtime three times a week, but they paused for a few weeks while the instructor was traveling. Everyone was pretty bummed about it, but my mom just set up her laptop in the conference room and started doing barre3! Soon, her co-workers would join her for the workouts. And then it became a thing that they all did.
B3 MAGAZINE: And that’s when you and your mom started doing barre3 together?
JODIE: We’d FaceTime on our phones and try our best to sync up the workout on our laptops, counting down from three and pressing play at the same time. It’s not always perfectly in-time, but the fact is that we’re doing something that helps us feel good in our bodies, and that’s enough.
I know a lot of people say it, but I’m the kind of person for whom my mom is my best friend. The woman is truly my ride-or-die. She’s the most important woman in my life; she’s probably the most important person in my life alongside my husband.
My mom plays a massive role in who I am, and when you can’t see that person every day—when you can’t go out for coffee, can’t get your nails done, or can’t cook together on Friday nights, you do what you can to connect. I’ve learned that it’s the little things, like doing a barre3 online workout “together” that make the distance bearable.
My family would never try to convince me to come home. I’ve been successful here. I have an amazing husband, an adorable dog, and it’s all paying off, but there are a lot of things that I’ve sacrificed by making a life for myself in the United States. If I can find the things that can be ours, my mom’s and mine, that we can do together, I’m going to do it. And that happens to be barre3.
At barre3, we believe that building connection, to our family, our friends, and ourselves, is essential to our health. With every barre3 workout, we look to foster that connection and build a community focused on enjoying empowering movement. Join us today with a 15-day free trial of barre3 online.
*This feature image is of Jodie and her mother embracing at the beach on her wedding day.
For weeks, we’ve been imagining the post-quarantine gatherings, when we can experience true “face time” and hug our loved ones with abandon. And while Mother’s Day this year may look like sending your love over Zoom instead of an in-person brunch with mom, we’re taking inspiration from a client who’s familiar with fostering connection virtually.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Jodie Jones grew up in the UK. With her family back in England, Jodie went to the United States for college, eventually establishing her life here. Below, Jodie shares how she got her mom hooked on barre3 and how the online workouts keep their connection strong.
B3 MAGAZINE: Having grown up in Africa and Europe, what initially brought you to the United States?
JODIE: I’ve been an athlete my whole life, and I was a diver growing up in the UK. When my family moved there from Zimbabwe, one of the things my mom first did to create some consistency in our lives was to find a local diving team and sign me up. As the years went on, I got better, and I ended up competing for the national team. We traveled all over the world, and I was recruited to dive for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
I jumped at the opportunity, thinking that the worst-case scenario was that I wouldn’t like it and I’d just come home. Well, I’ve been here ever since.
B3 MAGAZINE: How did you discover barre3?
JODIE: I dove for the University of Tennessee throughout college, and that’s where I met both my husband and my best friend Lindsey, who were both on the swim team. After we graduated, Lindsey became a barre3 instructor.
My first taste of barre3 was because of her. As soon as I said I wanted to try it, her immediate response was, “It’s about time!”
Then my husband and I moved to California, and Lindsey stayed in Knoxville. I’d take her class when I visited, and I always loved it, but I never committed to becoming a client until I moved back to Tennessee a few years later. That’s when I really fell head over heels in love with it. Barre3 transformed the way I felt about my body.
B3 MAGAZINE: Can you tell us more about that?
JODIE: Having been an athlete for so long, I had a lot of injuries. There were many parts of my body that had been beaten up from moving them the same way repeatedly and not moving in a smart way. When you’re an athlete, everyone thinks you have a perfect body and you know how to use it. The reality is that you know how to use your body to perform the task you have to do. That doesn’t necessarily make you healthy.
But doing barre3 and yoga helped me reestablish my mind-body connection. The workouts helped me rewire my brain in relation to what it should feel like to lift my arms above my head without my shoulder going numb or bend over without feeling pain in my back. It’s taken a while, and there are certainly aches and pains that I’ll never get rid of. I’ve had shoulder surgery and a stress fracture in my back, but now I feel more connected to my body. That’s changed everything for me.
B3 MAGAZINE: How did you introduce your mom to barre3?
JODIE: Each time I would visit my parents, I would suggest doing a workout online with my mom, and I think that planted the seed for her. She wasn’t feeling great about her body at the time, and I could see how much the discomfort was troubling her.
Barre3 was something that made me feel good, and I wanted to give my mom access to something that would help her as well. She was hesitant at first, but when I showed her the workouts, I pointed to the person on the left side of the screen who was taking modifications, showing you how to adapt the workout if you needed something different.
Soon, when we’d FaceTime or text, my mom would say, “By the way, I did a 10-minute workout the other morning,” or, “Oh! I did a 10-minute workout last night.” Little by little, I could see her starting to feel empowered in her body.
B3 MAGAZINE: How did her journey with barre3 progress from there?
JODIE: Her office started hosting 30 minutes of yoga at lunchtime three times a week, but they paused for a few weeks while the instructor was traveling. Everyone was pretty bummed about it, but my mom just set up her laptop in the conference room and started doing barre3! Soon, her co-workers would join her for the workouts. And then it became a thing that they all did.
B3 MAGAZINE: And that’s when you and your mom started doing barre3 together?
JODIE: We’d FaceTime on our phones and try our best to sync up the workout on our laptops, counting down from three and pressing play at the same time. It’s not always perfectly in-time, but the fact is that we’re doing something that helps us feel good in our bodies, and that’s enough.
I know a lot of people say it, but I’m the kind of person for whom my mom is my best friend. The woman is truly my ride-or-die. She’s the most important woman in my life; she’s probably the most important person in my life alongside my husband.
My mom plays a massive role in who I am, and when you can’t see that person every day—when you can’t go out for coffee, can’t get your nails done, or can’t cook together on Friday nights, you do what you can to connect. I’ve learned that it’s the little things, like doing a barre3 online workout “together” that make the distance bearable.
My family would never try to convince me to come home. I’ve been successful here. I have an amazing husband, an adorable dog, and it’s all paying off, but there are a lot of things that I’ve sacrificed by making a life for myself in the United States. If I can find the things that can be ours, my mom’s and mine, that we can do together, I’m going to do it. And that happens to be barre3.
At barre3, we believe that building connection, to our family, our friends, and ourselves, is essential to our health. With every barre3 workout, we look to foster that connection and build a community focused on enjoying empowering movement. Join us today with a 15-day free trial of barre3 online.
*This feature image is of Jodie and her mother embracing at the beach on her wedding day.
