Can Your Body Trust You? A Conversation on Movement as Medicine with Dr. Nikia Evans
I recently sat down with Dr. Nikia Evans, a physician, human performance coach, and contributing author to the Handbook for Human Potential, for a conversation that went deep into the heart of our relationship with movement. Her chapter, “Minimum Effective Dose,” has already inspired so many readers to embrace walking as a foundational practice, and our discussion went even further.
We explored what it truly means to practice movement as medicine, not as a punishment or a chore, but as a way to come home to the body. One question she posed, which a mentor had once asked her, has stayed with me:
“Can your body trust you?”
Not, can you trust your body? The other way around. It’s a question that reframes everything.
For anyone who has ever felt like they were fighting their body, pushing through exhaustion, or following a fitness plan that felt more depleting than nourishing, this conversation is for you. Here are some of the key insights Nikia shared.
The Myth of Performance vs. Health
As a coach to elite athletes, Nikia has seen firsthand that peak performance does not always equal good health. The stress of high-intensity training, without a foundation of deep, resilient health, can lead to a state of chronic depletion. This applies not just to athletes, but to anyone navigating a stressful life—new parents, busy professionals, caregivers.
Stress is stress, whether it’s physical, mental, or emotional. It dysregulates the nervous system and, as Nikia explains, can create a disconnect between our capacity to perform and our underlying health. The key is to bridge that gap.
Walking: Your First Medicine
If there was one practice Nikia recommends for everyone, regardless of their fitness level, it’s walking. It is our evolutionary inheritance and a powerful tool for regulating the nervous system.
“If walking was a pill, everyone would want it.”
Here’s why it’s so effective:
| Benefit | How it Works |
| Aerobic Foundation | Builds mitochondrial density, which is our capacity to produce and manage energy efficiently. This is the true base of resilient health. |
| Nervous System Regulation | The rhythmic, bilateral movement of walking sends safety signals to the brain, helping to shift out of a fight-or-flight state. |
| Lymph & Blood Flow | Acts as a pump for the lymphatic system, crucial for immune function, and improves circulation to deliver nutrients and remove waste. |
| Emotional Processing | Offers a dedicated space to process thoughts and move stagnant emotional energy. |
Nikia shared her personal practice of walking 45 minutes every morning, a walk at lunch, and another after dinner. This isn’t about glamour; it’s about a non-negotiable ritual for staying centered and regulated, especially during the intense demands of her medical residency. She aims for around 12,000 steps a day, noting that a 10-minute walk is roughly 1,000 steps.
Cortisol, Stress, and Body Composition
We also dove into the science of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. While essential for energy and survival, chronically elevated cortisol—driven by over-exercising, under-eating, fasting too often, or mental/emotional stress—sends a signal to the body that it’s not safe. This has several downstream effects:
- It shuts down other systems: Fertility, for example, is deprioritized. High cortisol directly inhibits testosterone.
- It changes metabolism: The body becomes more prone to storing fat, particularly around the midsection, where fat cells have specific receptors for stress hormones.
- It creates a cycle: Trying to “diet or exercise away” this stress-induced weight gain only increases cortisol, reinforcing the body’s perceived need to store energy.
Nikia’s approach, which she uses herself, is to make the body feel safe. This includes not only restorative practices like walking but also front-loading her day with a high-protein breakfast (80 grams) to provide a steady source of fuel and signal safety to her metabolism.
The Invitation to Play
Beyond walking and restoration, Nikia emphasizes the importance of play—unscripted, adaptive, and novel movement. Play is a powerful way to exit a stressed state. It can be physical, like dancing or wrestling with a pet, or it can be social, like making a joke with a stranger in line.
The goal is to find small moments of playful expression, lowering the bar for entry. Simply lying on the floor can be an invitation to play. The key is that it’s an emotional state, one that is incompatible with stress.
A New Relationship with Your Body
Ultimately, the conversation circled back to that central question. Is your relationship with your body extractive, or is it nourishing? Do you love it conditionally, only when it performs, or do you care for it unconditionally?
As Nikia so beautifully put it, you wouldn’t treat a beloved pet the way many of us treat our bodies. We can learn to nourish ourselves with the movement, rest, and play we need to not just survive, but to feel truly alive and at home in our skin.
This blog post is a summary of a live conversation with Dr. Nikia Evans. To join our inner circle and be emailed for our interview seriex, noth live links and recordings, go to Handbook for Human Potential.