Today is my birthday, so I want to take an excuse to be a little philosophical about a skill I learned in adulthood: physical agency.

Much of our culture implies that we don’t have control over the outcomes of our lives. Identities and physical traits are treated as immutable. Even in fiction, heroes are often pre-destined to their grand achievements, regardless of the efforts they make.

I was a skinny-fat nerdy kid growing up, and I thought I was simply destined to be out of shape forever. It wasn’t until I was 18 that I grew frustrated with not feeling good about myself, and decided I wanted to change.

My favorite VR app on the Oculus Quest 2 is not a game or chat room, but a meditation app called TRIPP.

TRIPP offers guided meditations, but unlike the standard Calm/Headspace audio apps, TRIPP transports you to otherworldly settings. The surreal images of giant polygonal forests or cosmic spaces help you to fully bring your attention into the meditation. TRIPP works so well, there are now several studies that verify TRIPP has a measurable positive impact on mental wellness.

Many of us are looking for friends to help us stay accountable to our fitness goals. But maybe we should be looking at our furry friends instead of our fleshy human ones.

A study found that people with dogs walk 22 minutes more per day than people who don’t have dogs, or in their words “Owning a dog indicated a large, potentially health improving, average effect…”

The hardest part of going hard on workouts is the period of soreness afterward.

I decided to invest in reducing soreness and tested the trendiest tech available, including rollers, massage guns, electric stimulation, and compression boots.

While all of those tools are helpful, the one I’ve found to cut my recovery time the most is compression boots.

Squats are great for loosening your hips, knees, and ankles. This quick and easy morning warmup can help reduce stiffness and get your legs feeling limber for the day ahead.

The warmup is 3 sets of 3 squats in 3 staggered positions. Once you try it, it’s really easy to memorize, and your joints will feel great.

When first I started yoga, I was incredibly inflexible and couldn’t do many of the poses. I was sharing my frustrations with a friend, and told her I was bad at yoga.

“You can’t be bad at yoga.”

I thought she misunderstood: I couldn’t touch my toes or clasp my hands behind my back. I was bad at yoga.

“If you can’t do a pose, just move in the general direction. You’ll get closer eventually. That’s what yoga is.”

Like 1/3 of adults, I struggle to fall asleep. My story might sound familiar: you lie down and your mind starts racing through the day’s unsolved challenges or tomorrow’s tasks.

One surprisingly helpful aid is bedtime stories. Bedtime stories give your brain something to focus on that isn’t your anxious thoughts about work, responsibilities, or relationships. You pay attention to a slow plot, a soothing voice, or detailed scenery. Eventually, you relax and fall asleep.

I interview people on their exercise habits to inform Pantheon’s design. One frequent comment I hear is that people don’t move as much as they want because they need time for rest days.

Many people mistakenly believe that they should do absolutely no exercise on rest days. Doing nothing can cause problems. They get no workouts done that day and they lose momentum on their training routine.