Meet Ashley O’Connell of Renew Movement™ in Louisville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley O’Connell.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 1996, I developed chronic neck pain after surgery. Having always been an active individual, it was a constant struggle to be held back from the things I loved due to pain. After I had exhausted all surgical and pharmaceutical options, I turned to bodywork. For me, stretching muscles in my shoulder released the chronic pain I was experiencing in my neck/head. I also found that my relationship with the individual performing the bodywork had a profound effect on my results.

Renew Movement™ was created when we coupled a highly effective bodywork modality and a business culture based in kindness, compassion, evolution and connection. Renew was created from the desire to help people live life to its fullest with the freedom to climb higher, run farther, play longer and sleep deeper without discomfort. The initial concept was aimed at athletic performance, recovery and injury prevention/management. However, Renew quickly branched into helping most anyone experiencing limited mobility and muscular pain. We believe that the things people love doing shouldn’t have an expiration date due to physical limitations.

Renew opened its doors in December 2018 in Louisville. Word spread quickly through the community and many used Renew Movement to supplement existing therapies or as a stand-alone modality.

Today we are a small brick and mortar with big dreams ahead. We plan to open additional stores in the near future and reach more communities both locally and nationwide.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There is so much beauty in obstacles. When they appear insurmountable and you have little to no more fight left in you, you stop and breathe, regroup to find perspective and the value of simplicity.

Pre COVID, my challenge was allowing my company to breathe. As a founder, there’s a separation from a company, much like a baby, that is unnerving. When you begin to unwind your identity from the business and trust that it will thrive without your watchful eye. In 2019 that was my challenge, learning to not ‘be’ Renew and that its successes and failures were its own growing pains and not my own.

Early 2020 brought a sudden restructuring of Renew’s Board and management. I wove myself back into the fabric of my business. I was determined to make her stronger than ever. When COVID hit my 100 miles an hour life came to a standstill, a whiplash inducing, re-evaluate my life, kind of standstill. The calm was unsettling and the fear was overwhelming. The beauty was in the breaking point that came during the shutdown. The point where I was forced to remember WHY I started this business and to breathe that ‘why’ back into my life, back into my business and back into the culture where it all began.

It began with helping people. Not just helping the clients but also creating an environment of growth and kindness for the team we were building within the walls. We now had a new landscape to navigate during the shutdown, a new way to reach our clients and our community. Our doors were closed but our ability to help didn’t. I repurposed Renew to be a place where people could get free disinfectant during the shutdown (and it’s still happening today!) We had an industrial cleaning station that filled hundreds and hundreds of donated containers. We asked the community to bring us containers and wow, they did! My team worked to deliver the disinfectant to homes of high-risk people locally.

Obstacles are an opportunity to navigate a new path; “lemonade out of lemons” as they say. It’s easy to fall out of love with one’s business. I signed up for this for a reason, with a fire and passion burning in my heart. Spending time and rekindling that fire was critical for me to find my motivation to climb another mountain and reap the benefits of the next peak.

Please tell us about Renew Movement™.
Renew Movement™ is a holistic approach to injury prevention, injury recovery, repetitive use strain, chronic pain and immobility. We offer a progressive way to address aches and pains of the modern person. People that are drawn to us are individuals who prefer result-driven modalities with fast and long-lasting results. We work with youth to the young at heart, helping them to stay active and live their best lives.

We specialize in looking at injury and pain a little differently and getting to the root cause of the problem. Every “body” has a story to tell that begins with an injury or an asymmetrical movement pattern. Our goal is to unwind the lockdown within the muscles to restore balance within the body.

Our Coaches have varied backgrounds in Physical Therapy, Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, Personal Training and more. Our bodywork modality is unique. We offer a specialized systematic approach to pinning muscle adhesions (knots) while coaching our clients through actively moving and stretching. It’s unlike most modalities available and the results can be felt, in most cases, instantly.

As a company, I’m most proud of our team and how we work to build one another up and succeed. I strongly believe in managing a business with integrity and authenticity with everyone’s best interest in mind. The team we build and the culture we follow set the tone for who we are and what we do. That culture and tone translate into real connection with our clients. Those connections bring deeper meaning to success and support within a bodywork space. A relationship built on trust and genuine care will help to heal the body, nourish the mind and bring a critical component to success which is a positive outlook on the process.

We offer three different Renew Movement Sessions:

The Flow Session addresses major muscle groups in a systematic approach to unlock immobility and/or muscle tightness. This session space is perfect to give the body a wellness boost by increasing mobility and blood flow for everyday movements.

The 45-minute Flow Session space will target the upper or lower body. An upper body session addresses posture issues, neck tightness/pain, shoulder mobility/pain concerns and arm tightness/pain. A lower body session will focus on tight hips, tight (bilateral) lower back pain, or lower leg tightness/pain. We invite you to enjoy this session space regularly to keep your body feeling its best.

The Fix & Go Session is a customized session that is specific to your body’s needs and patterns of tightness. Most chronic and acute issues like back pain, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, knee pain, (and much more) stem from muscular tension and imbalance.

This 45-minute Session addresses one, possibly two, areas of concern where you are experiencing chronic or acute pain, The Fix & Go Session can also be used to increase sport-specific performance by increasing muscle contractility for increased speed/power, or immobility that is impeding performance goals. The Fix & Go Session is customized for your body and your goals, let us help to get you where you want to be quickly and efficiently.

The Evaluation is designed for pain, immobility or repetitive use injury. This detailed movement assessment allows your Coach to identify movement patterns from head to toe. The Fix & Go Session that accompanies the Evaluation gives further insights into your tissue density and patterns of change/relief during the session. All factors are considered when creating your custom program. The Evaluation is used to guide future Renew Movement™ Sessions along with home mobility tools.

A comprehensive take-home report and custom home-mobility program included.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Boulder holds all the memories of my childhood. I miss the summer nights of open space, calm streets, beeping pagers and greasy (post Abo’s pizza) hands dropping quarters in payphones. Fairview class of 94′ – the good ol’ days!

Pricing:

• Flow $70
• Fix & Go $90
• Dry Needling $0
• Evaluation $90

FLOW10 for $10 off your first Flow session
RenewMe15 for 15% off your first Fix & Go session

Contact Info:

• Address: Renew Movement ™
  1061 Courtesy Road
  Louisville, CO 80027
• Website: www.renewmovement.com
• Phone: 303.467.3639
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
Heidi Howard www.heidihowardphotography.com; Ken Apodaca

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