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Meet Sarah John
Sarah John is a Pilates trained, whole body wellness teacher, specializing in training moms throughout motherhood. She has spent the last four and half years working with and researching parental caregivers of children fighting cancer and other long-term diseases. Sarah came to this work indirectly. A lifelong runner and wellness enthusiast, Sarah turned to yoga and Pilates to balance out her running and gym training. She loved them both instantly and sought certifications in Pilates to understand more about how to move her body, how to apply the science of Pilates to running and other forms of exercise and movement and how to expand her own practice. However, it was not until she had her first daughter and she left her corporate life as a lawyer that teaching became her focus. A friend who owned a baby product store in the town she lived asked if she could create some programs for moms to-be. With that entry into the field, Sarah launched Go, Mama Go (tm) stroller classes and opened her studio, Body Baby Fitness (tm). Sarah built her studio to allow for moms to workout with their children in the same beautiful, open space.
In response to less than adequate child care at gyms and her own struggle to figure out how to workout once she was a mom, she believed that this approach created the best of several worlds: intense training for moms with a focus on getting their core back in shape, simultaneous playdate time for children and an immediate community of mom peers. It was a hit. Sarah closed her studio when her husband's job moved them from their idyllic seaside town in Massachusetts to Texas. Her clients wanted to keep training with her so she began training them virtually via Skype and Facetime long before virtual training was a "thing".
During her time in Texas, three friends from different parts of her life had children diagnosed with cancer bringing the number to four friends total. Sarah witnessed the toll it took on her dear friend who lived across the street when her then two year old child was diagnosed, the same age as Sarah's youngest. In response to her wellness posts, these moms would talk about how far they were from the fit, well person they were pre-diagnosis. Moved again for her husband's work, Sarah continued to explore ways to support her friends through their child’s journey. One day, on a run, she was struck with the idea to provide these moms and their circle of friends
the virtual wellness training she did for free, giving them an opportunity to give themselves self care wherever they were - in the hospital, at home, at a Ronald McDonald house or hotel. Although the concept did have a physical purpose, Sarah knew scientific and observed evidence showed a deep connection between physical exercise and emotional improvement, particularly in regards to anxiety, PTSD, exhaustion, and depression, all of which her friends were experiencing in response to their children's fight. Fit Like A CK Mother: For Moms of Little Cancer Warriors (tm) was born. What she expected would be for about 30-35 moms has grown to over 1700 globally solely by word of mouth. She is informed by her years teaching self-esteem and confidence building to girls based on extensive research she had conducted as an undergraduate. Fit Like A CK Mother is the first in the field of pediatric cancer to provide targeted, globally accessible exercise for the moms of cancer patients and it continues to grow and gain interest from the field. It comes authentically from her and is purely a gift from her heart for these mamas.
Outside of her work here, Sarah is grounded and motivated by her wonderful husband and children, enjoying time with them in the great outdoors or snuggled up playing or doing homework. She privately teaches fitness, wellness and well-being to clients virtually and in-person, runs regularly, meditates daily, consults on legal projects of interest here and there, and loves a good sunset and a glass of vino with her husband.