Luisa Sandbox 3

About Luisa

  • About Luisa

About Luisa

Author, wellness advocate, speaker

Luisa Heymann grew up in Washington, DC and nearby Bethesda, Maryland, but hit the road in her 20s, eventually visiting and occasionally working in 45 states and 43 countries. 

Over the years she's worked at running an ice cream parlor in Vieques, Puerto Rico, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, as a writer/editor, and as the advertising director for Kitchen Bazaar gourmet housewares stores. Hobbies include snorkeling somewhere warm whenever possible, singing in the Napa Valley Community Chorus, cooking with friends, teaching aqua aerobics off and on for 20+ years, and 10 years as part of a hot air balloon crew, proudly coming in twelfth in the cross-Australia race in 1988.

Currently, Luisa and her husband John live near Yountville California in an area they call "rural lite" (well & septic but only eight minutes to Whole Foods) with a couple of rescue dogs who get them out walking in the vineyards every day, rain or shine.

 

After a lifetime of being physically active, in 2014 Luisa was side-lined with a broken neck after being hit by a drunk driver. For months she could barely move, so when finally able to resume something approaching normal life, she had to start getting back in shape in teeny-tiny bite-sized pieces ... thus, the concept of mini-workouts was born. She soon realized that these were a fantastic addition to her weekly schedule--even once she could exercise normally again--and has kept it up ever since.

 

How About You ... What's Your Story?   

If you’re in a similar situation working to come back from an illness or injury, are sedentary and/or tire easily and would like to have more energy, have a scary health problem that you need to get under control, or are just plain tired of being out of shape and don’t know where or how to begin to get your body on the road to better health, Mini-Workouts are a great place to start!

 

Midwest Book Review

“Anyone looking to add more movement into their schedules needs to start with Get a Move On! Its outline of an achievable objective is inspirational, educational, and rewarding. All it takes for these routines to be personally attainable is a degree of commitment...Get a Move On! makes the effort a snap with its chatty tone, science, and encouraging discussions.”

—D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer

 

Reedsy Discovery — Must Read 🏆

An excellent quick read full of motivating tips and suggestions. Sure to get you moving! Get a Move On! is a great read! It is a simply-structured, easy to read step-by-step guide to improving your health and fitness. All of the suggestions are realistic and achievable – no special equipment required, no huge time commitments, just real advice for real people! Five out of five stars!”

—Monique Gunther, Reedsy Reviewer

 

Rosanne Hodin

Author, Growing Goats and Girls,
Tales from the Good Life on a Cornish Farm

“As a fellow fitness-as-you-wait expert, one who has run easy Pilates sessions for a collection of crumbling seventy-year olds stuck in a marina in Greece during a Covid lockdown, I rate your book as excellent. It gently persuades any reader how to actually manage the life changes they might need without stressing or spending a fortune…Luisa needs an all-encompassing hug for her wise and lovely words on how to make us get fitness, attitude and diet just right.

This is the sort of book one wants to have in vast quantities to hand out in the street. Take this, read this, change your life.”

Frederick Marx

Author, Rites to a Good Life: Everyday Rituals of Healing and Transformation;
At Death Do Us Part

“I require regular daily exercise to help keep my restless, overactive mind calm...  Luisa not only may well have written the Bible for my physical well-being, she has kindly taken the time to write down the why and the how of mini-workouts for us all.”

 

Nicole Cutts

Ph.D. Success Coach & Clinical Psychologist

“What I love about this book is that it speaks to real people like the busy executives and entrepreneurial women that I coach who lament not having enough time in the day to engage in self-care. As a practitioner of somatic coaching, I stress the importance of exercise for anyone who wants to be successful! I will be adding this book to the toolkit that I offer clients."

Dr. Anita Gadhia-Smith

Psychotherapist and Author, Practical Therapy

“Get a Move On! is a profoundly helpful book for anyone interested in improving self-care and maximizing time. It is like having a personal trainer in your pocket!” 

 

Donna Hanes

M.D., University of Maryland Medical Center

“I am absolutely charmed by this book. Herein lies a well-organized, relatable and informative guide that teaches all of us how to insert healthy bursts of movement into our seemingly mundane routines. I applaud the author’s ability to make these tasks meaningful and fun. This is the epitome of progress, not perfection. And progress, my friends, is what sustains health.”

 

Nicole Cutts

Ph.D. Success Coach & Clinical Psychologist

“What I love about this book is that it speaks to real people like the busy executives and entrepreneurial women that I coach who lament not having enough time in the day to engage in self-care. As a practitioner of somatic coaching, I stress the importance of exercise for anyone who wants to be successful! I will be adding this book to the toolkit that I offer clients."

 

About Mini-Workouts

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RECIPE for Being Flabby and Feeling Lousy
You sit all day and rarely get off the couch at night (except to go to bed) You have weak muscles, are easily winded, have no energy, are vulnerable to illness, and don’t sleep very well You basically feel like crap most of the time and have to drag yourself around You feel out of control and are not self-confident and develop ailments that accelerate in a downward spiral as you progressively feel worse and worse
RECIPE for Being Reasonably Fit and Feeling Well
You move enough that your body can easily perform normal activities You have fewer aches and pains and sleep better, so you’re more alert and your body is better able to fend off illness Because you are healthier, you have a more positive outlook and have sufficient energy for both work and play, so you enjoy life more You have the stamina to accomplish what you need to get done each day You feel more self-confident and in control of your life as you reinforce the habits that keep you feeling well because it’s oh-so-much-better than the negative cycle described above

Morrie Warshawski

Arts Consultant and Author, Shaking the Money Tree, The Fundraising Houseparty, and This Afternoon, 30 poems

“If, like me, you yearn to get fit but can’t find the time to make it happen, then Luisa Heymann’s new book, Get A Move On! was written just for you. Who knew that a little bit of effort invested in mini-workouts throughout the day could produce maximum results?  Heymann’s advice is simple, sensible, and—most of all—it's DO-able. She guides the reader through an instructive explanation of how she developed her methods, and gives very specific examples of how to piggyback mini-workouts with almost any activity or environment in a normal day: cooking, sleeping, sex, driving, shopping and even couch-potatoing! An inspiring book for anyone who wants to get fit without getting physical at the gym. Highly recommended.”

 

Robin Joy Meyers

Molecular Geneticist, Joy Architect, TEDx & International Speaker, Author and Self-Mastery Mindset Coach

“Luisa Heymann’s book, Get a Move On! is a fantastic read. It is so much more than a motivational exercise book or program. It’s a healthy perspective of incorporating exercise into your life anywhere at any time. No pressure, just do something. As a self-mastery mindset coach myself, I love this perspective, because for the first time this author doesn’t make exercise a chore requiring a huge time block in your schedule. This is a must-read... especially for all those women who think they just don’t have time.”

 

Amy Tucker

Game designer of Xeco, Matter Group founder, Media consultant (Microsoft, T-Mobile, Nintendo), Yogini & Snow-boarder

“It is impossible to read this book and not start moving… in the kitchen, at your desk, or anywhere you happen to be. If you’re recovering from an injury or looking to ease into exercise but don’t know where to start, this book makes it easy and fun with simple exercises, practical tips, and a lot of charm.”

 

Colleen Newvine Tebeau

Marketing Consultant, Coach and Principal at Newvine Growing

“I found Get a Move On! to be conversational and accessible—when so much fitness content makes us feel like a fat, lazy, failure, this tone of "just do a little something, you can do it!" feels welcome.

The timing of this seems so perfect. People have been trapped at home, many of us have put on pandemic weight, so now let's get moving again.”

 

David Kerns

Author, Fortnight on Maxwell Street and Standard of Care

“If you want to shape up but don’t even know where or how to start, this great little book will help you get moving. Incidentally, this is the only ‘fitness’ book that ever made me laugh out loud.”

 

Virginia Hume

Author, Haven Point

“This is a little book that felt like a big permission slip, freeing me up to feel good about mini workouts. Get A Move On provides a wonderful service for body and spirit.”