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Workshops & Speaking

Lifting From Within:
Self-Leadership Under Load.

Experiential workshops and talks that give your people language and tools for staying grounded when the pressure is real. The goal is not to eliminate pressure. It's to stay with yourself through it.

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Lifting From Within workshop in session
Signature Workshop

Lifting
From Within

A 90-minute experience for groups of 3 to 300. Through reflection, discussion, and simple embodied practices, participants explore how the dynamics that show up under a heavy load, such as doubt, urgency, and self-criticism, translate directly to leadership, work, and relationships. Strength training becomes an embodied laboratory.

There are many things that help the body and mind find their way back. The gym is one of the most powerful, not because it distracts you from what's hard, but because it gives your nervous system a place to process, recalibrate, and return to steady. That's not just exercise. That's regulation. Training it in the gym. Using it in life.

Format

90 minutes, in person or adapted virtually.

Group Size

Ideal for 3 to 300 participants.

No Experience

No athletic background required.

You Leave With

Shared language and practical tools for staying present under pressure.

What Participants Gain

Not just insight. Practical tools.

Tools they can use the next time things get heavy. The ability to recognize when they've lost their footing, and a system to help find their way back. A different relationship to pressure, feedback, and self-criticism. More trust in their own strength. And a simple framework they can return to again and again.

The goal is not to eliminate pressure. The goal is to stay with yourself through it.

From the Room

What People Left With

Responses from the first Lifting From Within workshop.

Emily Frydrych presenting at a Lifting From Within workshop, beside a lectern sign reading The Method, Embodied with the four phases listed below it: stabilize, open, mobilize, integrate.
This experience isn’t only for people who lift. It’s for anyone willing to become more curious about themselves and more conscious of how they move through the world. We are all “lifting” our way through life somehow. I walked into Emily’s workshop ready to learn. I walked out feeling powerful, connected to myself, and, perhaps most importantly, deeply seen.
Jessica Leigh
I attended Professor Frydrych's Corestead seminar, excited to support my gym colleague, not knowing what to expect. What I got in those 90 minutes was a masterclass on mindset, growth, resilience, and personal patience. Corestead is truly a metaphor for how we approach life's daily challenges, and how to expand with positivity. I applied it to my very next workout, and my next work challenge as well. It changed how I view my strength. Eye opening and heart felt, Ms. Frydrych shows you a growth mindset model in a fresh, new manner.
Laurel Janssen ByrneWriter, editor, gym rat
In their own words

  • I noticed the pressure I put on myself while I am lifting a heavy barbell is the same pressure I put on myself when I'm dealing with conflicts involving family. I tend to not ask for help and hold the emotion in, similarly to when I’m lifting a heavy barbell.

    Mattan · Trainer

  • Certain perspectives - like when we're in the middle of doing something and we tell ourselves "we can't do it" WHILE WE'RE DOING IT! So funny and so true.

    Kayla

  • So many amazing analogies and concepts that are simultaneously firm and compassionate.

    Michaela
Engagements

Ways to work together.

Each engagement is different. Please contact to discuss your team's needs.

Signature Workshop

  • Lifting From Within, 90 minutes
  • Up to 300 participants
  • Pre-session scoping call
  • Takeaway four-phase guide

Keynote / Talk

  • 60 minute keynote
  • Conferences and events
  • Customized to your theme
  • Optional Q and A

Ongoing Program

  • Multi-session series and retreats
  • Leadership cohorts
  • Personal trainer and coach education
  • Follow-up resources
Signature Talks

Keynotes & talks.

Each talk stands alone as a keynote or anchors a longer session, and every one is tailored to your team, theme, and goals.

01

Lifting From Within: Self-Leadership Under Load

A framework for staying steady, focused, and effective when the pressure is real.

Best forBurnout prevention, executive and leadership development, resilience programming

02

The Return: Why People Stay When They Have a Way Back to Themselves

What actually drives retention and engagement, and why most wellness programs miss it.

Best forRetention, engagement, employee experience, culture-building

03

Data, Not Verdict: Leading Through Change Without Losing Your People

A practical framework for managers navigating uncertainty, feedback, and change fatigue.

Best forChange management, manager effectiveness, psychological safety

Who This Is For

Built for people who lead under pressure.

Performance CommunitiesGyms, studios, sport teams, and coaches looking to deepen what's already happening on the floor, and to give athletes language for what happens internally when performance is on the line.
Leadership & OrganizationsCompanies, professional teams, and universities where pressure, feedback, and high expectations are daily realities. This work doesn't ask people to do more; it helps them relate differently to what they already do.
High-Pressure ProfessionsHealthcare workers, first responders, security professionals, and educators who operate under sustained pressure, and who need tools for finding their way back when the weight of it starts to show.
Therapeutic & WellnessTherapists, somatic practitioners, coaches, and wellness professionals who work with the internal landscape, plus physical therapists and rehabilitation and injury-recovery specialists who work where body and mind meet, alongside anyone navigating a hard season or major life transition.
Credentials

Education & Teaching

Education

  • University of ChicagoM.A., Postgraduate Fellow, Human Rights Program
  • University of MichiganB.A., Graduated with High Honors

University Teaching

More than 20 years teaching sociology at the university level, across 13 institutions, including:

  • West Coast University
  • California State University, Los Angeles & Northridge
  • California Lutheran University
  • University of Arizona Global Campus
  • Aurora University
  • College of the Canyons
  • Glendale Community College
  • Ventura Community College District
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