Dry Bones Rise
At the end of October, a select group of leaders who have graduated from our Full Armor Leaders Course gathered in Southern California as the core fitness leadership team for a Beautifully Flawed Foundation event. “Gym Day” was a culmination of a 5-day experience for young men and women with physical disabilities of limb loss or limb differences as a call to action in living out the purpose of their testimony - learning to exercise the power of their confidence and capabilities not despite of, but because of their stories.
Incorporating a blend of information about breath work, posture and creatively considering adaptive options for multiple varieties of limb loss, more than 20 attendees were challenged to explore their strength and mobility in new ways. And as stretched to grow and adapt as were the attendees, so was Melanie Lim who shared the following account of her experience -
This guest article was written and submitted by Melanie Lim, a Malaysian born visual storyteller living in Los Angeles, California. Melanie has six years of coaching experience in CrossFit and as a personal trainer in Singapore and Brunei, specializing in coaching kids, seniors and athletes recovering from injury.
“With an object like this, you’ll want to start by creating a hook with both hands...”
As the words left my lips, I instantly felt the urge to bite my tongue. Staring back at me were five beautiful women who had suffered limb loss of some sort and the very first piece of coaching I handed to them highlighted how severely out of depth I was.
Embarrassed, I braced myself for backlash, or worse - awkward silence.
Instead, I hear a thick Portuguese accent chime in from behind me,“this is how I do it with my arm.”
Mauricio began scooping the stodgy sandbag into his lap from a kneeling position with just one arm, peppering grunts in between. The women watched as he rolled the heavy object onto his body, skeptical about the task ahead. I smiled and nodded at my coaching partner, gesturing my gratitude for his timely intervention, before moving on with coaching the rest of the sandbag session.
Movement is accessible to all, but teaching it is an art. I have spent the better half of a decade connecting the dots between mind and muscle, breath and bones. Even after all the education, I felt sorely ill-equipped to lead out a basic sandbag session at the Beautifully Flawed retreat with the Full Armor leadership team. When Sarah first reached out to me to consider coaching, I felt prompted to go despite feeling afraid. I couldn’t articulate why then, but it was clear as day now - the missing component was empathy. Empathy takes its root word from the Greek ‘pathos’, which means feeling. The prefix “Em” sets us “in” the experience of another. Without the actual experience of being disabled, I could only journey with these men and women as far as I allowed myself to enter the tragedy and grief they have felt. Without empathy, any advice I give is akin to throwing darts at a wall in the dark - aimless and dangerous.
I wanted to tread carefully with my words, but there was no time to tiptoe. The room was pulsing with life at this point, with multiple movement clinics happening simultaneously - box jumps, jump rope, rowing, sled pushes, drags and pulls. Little breakthroughs and miracles filled every corner of CrossFit Invictus Sorrento Valley.
Women jumping rope with a single arm. Men with prosthetics and missing arms rowing their hearts out with a team cheering them on. And right next to me, I watched joy unfold when one of my own athletes drove a sandbag up and over her shoulder with one arm.
“I never thought I could ever do anything like this - even before my accident,” she disclosed while holding back tears. Dry bones were rising again.
I looked around me and a part of me was hungry to know the stories in this room. I used to believe that I needed to know exactly how it hurts in order to help stop the bleeding, but now I don’t know if that’s true. Grief and loss, though unique in each circumstance, is universal. We don’t like talking about it but the level with which I can embrace my grief and loss will determine how well I can hold space for yours. In turning towards my own darkness and deaths, I find company in journeying towards light and resurrection - because of the Cross, I don’t have to fear death or loss because it is never the end. He is making all things new again.
Want to join us for more experiences like this?
We’re opening up more live events and in-person experiences this year from Hawaii to Africa and our Leaders Course is the prerequisite. We’d love to have you join us!
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