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Sheila Marie
Welcome to Unruly. I'm your host, Sheila Marie. I'm an author, a fierce advocate for Black women and the founder of the Curvy Curly conscious movement. In this space, I'm sharing what I've learned on my own journey while sitting down with some amazing women who are all navigating their own paths to healing. Because there's no better time than now to get a little unruly welcome back to Unruly, everybody. Today we're exploring a topic that touches on literally every aspect of our well being. The mental benefits of physical activity. Yes. At the top of 2025, it's always important to revisit that. Mind, body, spirit, connection. And our guest today is someone who knows that better than anyone. Ms. Masi Arias Massey is a celebrated fitness trainer, health coach, and entrepreneur who has redefined what it means to be from the inside out. In this episode, we'll dive into how fitness supports mental health. The myths, the misconceptions, and all things wellness. And I am so excited to welcome my girl Mossy to the stage. Masi, thank you for joining us.
Masi Arias
Thank you so Mash for having me. This is really exciting.
Sheila Marie
Yes. First of all, the boss.
Masi Arias
I can't wait to have this conversation.
Sheila Marie
I mean, me too. I've been following you for so long.
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Yeah.
Sheila Marie
I do have to finish that, though. The Bob is. Is. Is immaculate, y'all. Is. Thank you to the gods. I love it. Okay. I love it. So, Masi, I want to start with, like, some icebreaker questions and then we'll get into our topic. So you're the fitness queen. What is on your workout playlist?
Masi Arias
Oh, my God, Everything. When I'm saying I listen to every single genre of music, but currently what's on my platelet is Bad Bunny.
Sheila Marie
Yes. He just dropped.
Masi Arias
He just put out an album right now that is touching on every aspect of my Latino heritage as a Afro Latina, and I love it.
Sheila Marie
Really?
Masi Arias
Yes.
Sheila Marie
I feel like there's been a really positive reception around his album. Really? Yeah.
Masi Arias
I love that he's giving you everything. He's bringing in the culture. He's. He's like the Drake of Latin America.
Sheila Marie
Ah, okay. So what you're trying to say is I need to get into some baboni.
Masi Arias
You need to get into some bad Bunny. Even if you don't understand what he's saying, you just have to.
Sheila Marie
You feel it. It don't matter. Okay. I'm about to get into it. I literally speak Spanish at the level of like a third grader, but I think I will get into it. I'm gonna get into it. I've been seeing the reception. I'm like, I love what he's doing, so shout out to that. That'll definitely get you going.
Masi Arias
And yeah, me too.
Sheila Marie
And let's see, my other icebreaker question is, if you weren't in the fitness world, what do you think you'd be doing?
Masi Arias
I would be in the field of the Mind. I would probably be a therapist and. Or what I really wanted to go to school for was forensic pathology.
Sheila Marie
Ooh, what is that? Tell us.
Masi Arias
Forensic pathology is the study of why people are, you know, why they're dead. So, wow. I really wanted to study the minds of how this occurred and who was responsible for what. Because I am so interested in the mind. I love it doesn't matter what the culture is, the music, the belief system. My. I am just in love with humanity and humans. And I study humans all the time and I speak to, on a daily basis, hundreds of people. So I love the mind.
Sheila Marie
I feel like that really explains why you've been so successful too, because your approach to fitness, you can feel that in it that you are interested in everybody just using fitness as a tool to be better.
Masi Arias
Yes. And I, you know, as we. This was just an icebreaker. The one thing you're going to know about me is that I get really serious when we're talking about health and wellness, because this is. This is the outlet for preventative health. This is an outlet for us to feel better. This is an outlet for us to really discover the best version of ourselves. So when we talk about fitness, it's only one vertical. My goal for the 12 years that I've been doing this and moving forward, because I don't see myself ever stopping learning about my field and immersing myself in my field. I love it. I discover new things about myself, about the industry, about science and the mind every single day. We're continuing to learn more and more, and that's what excites me.
Sheila Marie
That excites me, too. I love learning. I feel like I'm a forever learner.
Masi Arias
And for blacks and browns, we need these conversations. So I was really excited to do this because the more I believe that education is power more than ignorance is bliss.
Sheila Marie
Hello.
Masi Arias
And I think the more education we have for our people, the better.
Sheila Marie
All right, so on that tip of education, let's get into talking about the mind body connection. And what's your sign, Masi, by the way? I was trying to guess. I'm like, I don't know.
Masi Arias
What do you think?
Sheila Marie
I don't know. It was kind of giving Capricorn, but I don't know. You're very like, your work ethic is so clear.
Masi Arias
Well, my responsibilities in Capricorn, so you know that. But I'm a Sagittarius. I'm a Sagittarius. Most of my placements. My ascendant is in Aries.
Sheila Marie
Yes.
Masi Arias
I relate my Venus. My Mercury is in Scorpio. My moon is in Scorpio. I mean, it's all over the place.
Sheila Marie
Okay? The Aries placements and Capricorn placements make a lot of sense to me. Me for you. So, you know, jokingly, literally, I always say this to my husband. My husband is so into fitness as well. Like, right now, he's doing a fast. Like, it's a spiritual fast, but he's only drinking water and still working out. Like, he loves working out. And I'm always asking him, this is what I feel like when I see you and him. I'm like, babe, what time is the battle or what time is the war? What? I feel like you guys train. Like, there's some Spirit Spartan 300 thing that I don't know about.
Masi Arias
But, hey, can we speak about that? Because.
Sheila Marie
Let's talk about it.
Masi Arias
Let's. Let's get into this conversation. Let's go. Because it's getting saucy here. It's getting. Let's go. This is getting spicy here. Let's talk. Let's make it interesting.
Sheila Marie
Because when people talk about health and.
Masi Arias
Wellness, it's usually like, super.
Sheila Marie
No.
Masi Arias
In a format that is really formal, let's really get down to business.
Sheila Marie
That's. Our ladies are unruly. They, like, they want it honest, they want it raw, they want it real. And so I know something about me.
Masi Arias
Is that I'm honest. I will tell you what you need to hear versus what you want to hear, period.
Sheila Marie
And I know I joke about that a lot, but I think both of you, your answers would be, no, I'm not training for a Spartan battle. I'm training for life. I'm training for a long, happy, healthy life. Like he always says. Like, when I'm older, I want to be able to play with my grandkids. I want to be able to lift things. I don't want to be. To fall. And. And it is so true. So can you start by explaining, like, how you. You. You know, what it is you do. Do you still do the dance? I went looking through your posts, and I didn't see them recently, and I was wondering if you retired it or not. For those who don't know, who don't follow Massy, I've been following her since early, early Instagram, and she would always. She would, like, be teaching you a workout, like, or, you know, giving you a workout that you can do. And she would always do, like, a little dance at the end. And what I loved about it was it just motivated me, it really to Me articulated. You feel good. It increases your own mental space. Like, you're happier.
Masi Arias
So for you, accountable, because I need to bring that back.
Sheila Marie
That's exactly so cute, Masi. It was the best. I loved it. It was like. It was like your signature thing. Like, she did the work, and now.
Masi Arias
She'S like, I need to bring that back. Oh, God.
Sheila Marie
Can you break it down to us how, like, fitness became a tool for, like, emotional resilience in your life?
Masi Arias
Yeah. Well, here's what you have to understand. So I came to the States when I was 13 years old at a moment where I was becoming a woman. Right. So people do not understand anyone who's coming and seeing me today. They think I'm a robot. They think I was a professional athlete. I have all these, oh, this is what she's been doing. And they make all these assumptions. But if you have been really following me for the beginning, I was one of the first who got on the platform of Instagram and started talking about why I started exercise. Because it was for my mental health. Okay. And when we talk about resilience, this is what people don't understand about exercise. And those who are really hurting right now, whether it's mentally, whether it's physically, whether you are emotionally eating, whether you are dealing with anxiety and depression, Life is happening for us, but it's happening as a collective. So if you live in America, you're going to understand what I mean when I say we're constantly stressed. So how fitness built my resilience. If you didn't know me, I was a person or a woman who lacked a lot of confidence. The person that I am today, it's literally, I was sculpted by fitness, in a sense, that the resilience that I learned was through the chemical changes that were happening every single time I was in that session. I was in so much pain, depressed, anxious, lost without an identity, feeling like feeling having no self worth. And when you're hurting in that way, you stepping into the gym, I'm someone who. I'm connected to my emotions. I'm an emotional person. And the resilience that I built was through the winds. The little wins that I was getting through those chemical reactions that I was. I was rewiring my brain. And the brain is such a powerful tool because your prefrontal cortex, your. It strengthens your willpower every single time you have a win. I don't know how to. How to articulate that.
Sheila Marie
No, you're articulating it perfectly.
Masi Arias
Yes. So I saw myself getting feeling better. And when I say I was depressed. I almost lost my life to depression. And fitness truly allowed me to understand that this person that was hurting, this person I didn't have confidence. This person that didn't believe in herself through her own willpower, I was able to create change. And the change started happening with what I feeling, the way that I was feeling chemically. And I became obsessed with that feeling. We call it now runner's high. So the mental benefits of aerobic exercise, or what we call strength training or even cardio, it has a neurochemical based response. Not only it reduces the levels of the body of your stress hormones, adrenaline, cortisol, which when we are in this heightened state of stress, it reduces it depending on the exercise type, but it also stimulates the production of all these hormones that we're constantly looking for. The endorphins, the oxytocin, the dopamine, the serotonin. Right. And we know that serotonin serves as an analgesic, it has an analgesic effect.
Sheila Marie
What does that mean?
Masi Arias
That we're numbing effect in your body. So we're constantly looking for serotonin, we're constantly looking for dopamine, we're constantly looking for oxytocin. These are the feel good hormones. So the resilience that I built was tapping into how I was feeling because the pain that I was in was not even, it was not even close to having to learn and unlearn and everything that is associated with exercise, like the soreness and this and that, I used that pain and I said it's either I do something different or this is going to consume me and I'm going to lose my life.
Sheila Marie
Wow.
Masi Arias
So when people understand why we move and you are associating the feeling versus this is for weight loss, this is for an aesthetic goal. You tap into that and you take that and you roll with it. And that's what happened with me. And then not only did I have this chemical change in my body that was lasting me hours, even post workout, I was feeling this high. Oh my God, guess what? I started meeting new people. That's the oxytocin. When you belong humans, you want to belong to a group. Once you are now finding your identity. I started hanging out with people in the gym and they were holding me accountable. And I saw I was not the only one here working out to feel good mentally. I build a sense of community. And at the same time where I was building that sense of community in the, in the real world, I was also sharing my experiences in the web, in the World Wide Web of people that didn't even know. I used it as a diary. My social media was a diary of everything I was going through. Right. And that's what builds resilience. When you know that this broken body can be fixed, that when you don't feel strong now, the strength that you're building in the gym, you know that outside of you, everything else that comes into your life, you're able to fix it. You're able to build it differently. You're able to build it even better than what you thought. So the brain is what you're strengthening in those first few months. If you do have the right perception as why you're using movement, you're not going to start. I didn't start doing all the really high level of movement that you see today. It was a slow process of learning and unlearning and being present with myself. And I became so obsessed with what I was feeling that I needed to learn, and it became my career.
Sheila Marie
That's beautiful. I was doing some research, and I saw this interview you did with bustle.com and you touched on the fact that you came to the United States from the Dominican Republic at 13 years old. And I cannot even imagine what that transition was like. At 13 years old, you're already struggling with identity, with placement, with social connections, and to be completely put into a new environment at that age, I. I can only imagine. And you said that it led to depression and even suicidal thoughts. And I just want to put a pin in that and just say, you're not alone. And if anyone is listening and if you've had those thoughts, I've had them. And I think a lot of us do. And I want to kind of remove the stigma off of that. That. That means there's something wr. It can be a part of the human experience. But you kind of. It's essentially like you're saying fitness saved you. And your entry point to fitness was a mental. It was a mental entry point. It wasn't like when you started fitness. It wasn't like, oh, I want to be snatched, right? I want to. I want to look good. I mean, you're so young anyway. Probably we already have. Our bodies are still moving and changing always, anyway.
Masi Arias
But I had better dysmorphia, though.
Sheila Marie
Ah.
Masi Arias
When you looked at me, I did not look like your average Dominican woman.
Sheila Marie
Okay. What does that mean?
Masi Arias
Identity voluptuous or. You know, I. I really had to figure out who I was.
Sheila Marie
Were you looking for a physical change or was it More a mental change. At the beginning, I was looking for.
Masi Arias
A mental change first. And then what happens when you are starting? Okay, let's do this exercise.
Sheila Marie
Okay.
Masi Arias
Right. Now, an individual knows exactly what they want for their life. Right. You know, what feels right in your body, what doesn't feel right in your body, even if it's your interpersonal relationships with other people, you know, who makes you feel good versus who doesn't make you feel good. Right. And I think it's important that we understand. How do I put this? You know, what you need to do. So when you're feeling. I was feeling like, hey, something is really odd in the way that I feel about myself. I don't know who I am. I, you know, even my dreams and my goals of wanting to go to university and study X, Y and Z, I couldn't even do that because responsibility came in. My brother having cancer, there was so many different things that contributed to falling into depression. And it doesn't matter if you're 13, it doesn't matter if you're 20, it doesn't matter if you'm 50 or 40 or 60. It can happen at any time. Your life, the way that you perceive your life can really create this perception. And it can happen at any point. And you mentioned something about the human experience, right? Being one that unites us all. Yep, we are. At any point, I don't think there's one person that has not experienced neither anxiety or sadness or frustration and everything in between. Now, health and wellness can be an outlet for you to tap in to yourself and for you to better yourself and create a better version of yourself. But it's supposed to be done in stages. And the miscommunication that we have in the fitness industry and even in the mental space, it's, it's, it's a lot of information. And we are individuals, right. So I, I always encourage anyone who's following me. Okay, you have this big brain that was given to you. Even if I give you my formula, right, it's not going to be your formula. So you have to really take on the facts that you're reading and you really need to do the research. You have to say, okay, does this information apply to me and my lifestyle? And in which context is this information being given to me? So I think we all know what we need to do in order to become the best versions of ourselves, whether we do it or not. And we're courageous to not follow the path of least resistance is what we need to answer here.
Sheila Marie
Do you feel like Discipline plays a role in that.
Masi Arias
You have to be disciplined with yourself.
Sheila Marie
How do you, Masi, how do you access discipline? I feel personally, that's one of my biggest challenges is that when I lose the willpower, I lose the discipline.
Masi Arias
Well, I am going to put it like this. How much do you love yourself? How much do you love yourself to show up for yourself? How much do you love yourself to now seek coping mechanisms that are going to yield a positive result if now you are destroying yourself, Whether it's with emotional eating, whether is with laziness, whether it is with like not even following through with the things that you said you were going to follow through when you were excited, right? The question is, how much self worth do you have? Because when I look at people, there's going to be a point in your life where you have enough, where you've had enough. You've had enough of feeling sick. You've had enough of looking at yourself in the mirror and going through the same narratives and saying, I hate the way that I look. You're going to have enough of being on the couch for months on end, feeling out of your body or even with the anxiety. At some point, if you have enough self worth and self love and you're tapping in to that, what you need, you're not going to let yourself go.
Sheila Marie
From the time you started your fitness journey to now, have you ever had a big lapse? Like have you ever fell out of discipline or were you able to always keep that in mind? Like, I love myself this much, I'm going to continue to commit?
Masi Arias
Um, yes and no. What has happened is that stress because I'm a, I'm a perfectionist, okay? So I can do fitness with my eyes closed because I study it and I apply it, right? So for me, what has happened is, is that there is, you're evolving, especially if you have all these layers that you have to tackle. I not only had to tackle me not feeling my best fitness wise, right? Because I have an exercise induced asthma or I had to tackle where is my body dysmorphia coming from? You know, then I have to tackle, how do I even know what fits into my lifestyle? There's so much reorganization that has to happen in your life that everything feels discombobulated when you are, when you want to make that first step.
Sheila Marie
Right, right, right.
Masi Arias
And I feel that people quit because they're not making their process sustainable and they're not really shutting the noise and at least grabbing on the information that they're seeing every single day. But really applying it to themselves and going through a process where there's this. Not this instant gratification. Right. I feel like we are constantly just like, oh, I just started this. I ate a salad tomorrow.
Sheila Marie
That's me. Mm. I'm guilty.
Masi Arias
Yep. It's. What is the relationship that you have with yourself? And if you cannot be disciplined with you. Right. How is that going to carry with everything else that you do in your life?
Sheila Marie
Okay, so what would you say to the woman that's like, you know what? I'm disciplined with everybody but myself. And I'm just over. I'm. I'm busy. I'm making sure my kids are eating well. My kids are doing great. My partner's doing great. I'm in my business. And me. My. My body stuff, I just put it on the back burner. I don't have time. I don't have space for it. I have too many things on my plate.
Masi Arias
You do have time, because I speak to women all the time. I'll give you an example. I'm the kind of woman, I don't ask for help when. When people think of me, they're like, oh, it's mossy. She's good.
Sheila Marie
She's strong, interesting.
Masi Arias
She has it.
Sheila Marie
Yep.
Masi Arias
I don't get calls like, hey, how are you? Besides my parents and obviously, like, my friends, like, hey, how are you doing? I do have loving people around me, but the perception is that Masi has it all under control. I'm the kind of person, in relating to the question that you asked me before, I take on so much and give myself so little, and I've burned myself out so many. Every single year, I was burning myself out. Burning myself out, burning myself out until. It wasn't up until I would say the last couple of years where I said, what are you going to do about this? Because you cannot be everything for everyone, even for my audience. Right. I have so much. So much knowledge accumulated that I have all the answers, and I want to be everything for everyone, but I can't. And when you understand a happy woman, when you feel good about yourself, how is that going to translate into your marriage?
Sheila Marie
Oof. Right?
Masi Arias
When you feel good about you as a woman, as a mother, your cortisol levels are down. How do you treat your kids? Cortisol dysfunction and your ability to be patient with your kids. Kids. It's a thing. So if you are not voicing, hey, I need help, and I am going to delegate this help these two hours or this one and a half hours. I need it for me. Okay. I promised myself this year that I was going to date me. Meaning what is it that I need? Because for 36 years all I've been doing is pouring onto other people. Whether it's my family, whether it's my daughter, whether it's my tribe. I am so connected with my brand. I am constantly. I'm like this always.
Sheila Marie
Yeah, right? Yeah.
Masi Arias
What am I going to do? So this is why you've seen me post less, right? You see me like, hey, there's going to be moments where you're not going to see me for a couple of days or maybe you'll see the information or my content being promoted in different social media outlets because I cannot be on my phone 247 and care for. For me. Right. So I think that's very important for you as a woman to understand that you have to come first and it is not selfish. Part of you being the matriarch, part of you being the nurturer of your family and the people around you, if that responsibility has been bestowed upon you, whether you've done it yourself or whether it's happened is circumstantial. Right. Like your family now, like you're responsible for more than what you have asked for. I think it's important for us to understand that we come first. So self love is important. Advocating for yourself is important. And understanding that you are only one person, it's important. And if you say I don't have time for me but I have time for everyone else, what does that say about your relationship with you?
Sheila Marie
Bars?
Masi Arias
So this is what I'm saying. We really need to tap into ourselves. We know exactly what we need and it is okay to take a break. It's okay. Like even with my daughter. I have a beautiful relationship with my daughter that when I say like mommy needs her time. Yeah, mommy needs her time so that we can read a book or she can read a book. She gives me my time and I give her her time. We have a partnership here.
Sheila Marie
Oh.
Masi Arias
So I think we can learn and unlearn and we have to be selfish with our time in ourselves.
Sheila Marie
What is a first step look like? Because like I think everything you're saying is absolutely on point. But what if some, what if a woman is starting from the place where she like maybe like that 13 year old Masi who. I don't know if I have so much self worth yet. Like I don't know. I don't. I don't know if I believe in myself enough to do it. I don't Know if I can take that first step, what would you say to the woman who's like, on the cusp of taking that first step?
Masi Arias
You have to believe in yourself. No one is going to do it for you. Not your mother, not your father, not a romantic partner. You. The best relationship that you're ever going to work on is the relationship with yourself. And I know that it's very cliche for us to say, oh, I love me, and.
Sheila Marie
But some cliches are just true.
Masi Arias
Yes. So, for example, if I didn't. If I had some, some. I used to, I used to hate my body. Really, all of it. I used to hate the fact that I had no glutes or that my hips were narrow and I didn't look. I have a very athletic looking. Guess what? What did I do about it? I started training for aesthetics at some point. You know, once I got the mental, then it came the aesthetics. And then you get to a point in which you understand, hey, your body is not going to be this other person's body. You can even compare yourself to someone who's not even your height. We all look different. So what did I start to do? I started working on the things that I loved about myself and started to pay attention about what, what do I like about me? The, the, the self worth that I found. No one gave me that. I found it to the point that now I have women saying, oh, Massey's body goals.
Sheila Marie
Yeah, that's funny. I was going to say you are in training for aesthetics, but you look, you're an inspiration for a lot of.
Masi Arias
Women, but this body of mine, it's my body.
Sheila Marie
And you know what, though, Mossy, I feel like when it comes to you, I think the, the pull to you is not just the way you look, but I know for me, it's what you can do. Like, I, When I watch you, I'm like, this woman's body will work for her for a very long time. Yes, her body, you know, she will be able to play with her grand, grand grandkids. You know what I'm saying? And I feel like that's something. I think for me, I kind of go about it sometimes in the wrong way. When it comes to fitness, where I just approach it from an aesthetic place, I just want to look this way. I just want to get toned. I just want to lose pounds. But not so much thinking about your relationship with your body. You can tell your body, hey, body, I want to jump over this cube or I'm going to do this thing. And your body can collaborate with you and that to me is an act of resistance. It is an act of self love because that nurtured your relationship. If I tell my body to do something right now, we may or may not be able to do it together, you know.
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Masi Arias
Imagine telling yourself every single day that you're ugly, right? Telling yourself every single day that you won't be able to do what masi does. Even though. Did you know I couldn't even run one block without having to pull my inhaler or I'm never going to be able to do. I literally have proved I'm not a professional athlete. I was able to do that. Every single thing that every. The world has told me I can do, I figure it out on my, on my own. Instead, I'm. I'm just going to do it anyway. Life is fun when you tap in, when you shut the noise and you start being in a relationship with yourself. So personally, I. Even though Google says otherwise. Google says I'm 34, but I'm 36. Okay. And thanks, whoever, thanks Google.
Sheila Marie
Give me two years. All right?
Masi Arias
And I don't even look at aging that way because not at all. People think I'm in my 20s, obviously, when I'm having a good day, but people think I'm in my 20s, but I'm still moving better than what, what I was in my 20s. The stuff that my body is able to do right now, even when everyone told me, oh, wait till you have a child. Okay, well, I had the child.
Sheila Marie
Oh, you hear that all the time.
Masi Arias
Well, I had my mid-30s. I will promise you, I will enter my 40s and I would pull pictures when I was 20, and I will still look better in my 40s than I did in my 20s, period. So we can say that the key of longevity is it's going to be. And I'm calling this. It hasn't existed yet, but I'm calling it preventative fitness. Everything that you do right now, when you treat your body well, when you are managing stress. So stress resilience. Because this is something that women really need to work on.
Sheila Marie
Yeah.
Masi Arias
The studies show we, out of both sexes, we are the most stressed, which is why we have the most autoimmune diseases. We're, you know, we're leading the charts and it is all coming down from stress. So managing stress levels, eating properly. Right. You have to. This whole idea that you are. Honey, you are a goddess. You are.
Sheila Marie
Wait, let me stop you there.
Masi Arias
Eat a Rolls Royce.
Sheila Marie
Yes, I want to be a Rolls Royce. But if I'm eating properly, can I stop you there? Because I feel like there's so much messaging now. It's like clean eating, keto, vegan. Like when you say eating properly, what does that actually mean? And what does that look like?
Masi Arias
Well, we know that food, it's not only. Cannot only prevent disease, keep you healthy, build muscle, help you lose body. Everything is connected to food. Right?
Sheila Marie
Right.
Masi Arias
Your body, we are one, right? I cannot separate myself from. It's like nature, right? Everything from the. From what you eat to how you treat yourself, to how you meditate, all of it, everything is connected. But eating properly, my. I don't diet. So when, let's say you're doing one of my programs, I'm teaching you how to eat. Even within your culture, I'm teaching you how to eat and what food. Foods you need to integrate. So even though I'm Dominican, I don't eat the way my culture eats. What I do is I make my culture's foods healthier and I balance them out.
Sheila Marie
Can you give us, like, one example?
Masi Arias
Okay, so I love Dominican food, by the way.
Sheila Marie
Oh, my God.
Masi Arias
I love. I love Dominican food too. But we're really unhealthy.
Sheila Marie
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Masi Arias
And I'm not saying that you won't have those things once in a while.
Sheila Marie
Right.
Masi Arias
Personally, when you start relating how you feel with what you're eating, how you move and what you eat, it's not worth it. So for me, when I wake up super energized and I feel great, it's not worth it to wake up in a fog, to wake up feeling inflamed, to. To wake up feeling groggy, to have to drink three to four energy drinks or two coffees and energy drinks just to keep you up and start the cycle again. Most people do not know what healthy feels like. Therefore, when I say to them, like, oh, no, like me and alcohol, we. I barely drink or fast food, I don't know, I haven't touched fast food in I don't know how many years. Or they think I'm an alien, but it's not. Once you start relating the way that you feel, those things are not worth it. And then once you start understanding the compound effects that it will have on your body and later on, it's not worth it. So it doesn't matter if you're following keto or following carnivore or following this. Remember, fitness is being presented to people as an outlet for a specific esthetic goal. Fitness is now for weight loss.
Sheila Marie
Right?
Masi Arias
Right.
Sheila Marie
Or especially when for women.
Masi Arias
Shouldn'T be. What we should be promoting is health and wellness.
Sheila Marie
Correct.
Masi Arias
Because again, you know why this hair looks great and this bob is bobbing is because I'm taking care of the relationship that I have with food.
Sheila Marie
The bob is built for me. It's not inside out.
Masi Arias
Correct? Yes. So even your hormones major. Your hormones major. With exercise and nutrition, you can control your whole. Your Gut health with nutrition. If your nutrition is not up to par, you are going to have gut issues.
Sheila Marie
Can you give us that picadillo recipe? So tell us, tell for the. For the listeners who are not familiar with Dominican food, tell them what picadillo is and how do you prepare it.
Masi Arias
How the equivalent of picadillo for, like, in America, it's just ground beef with a bunch of spices. And the way that we made picadillo, because we were a colony of Spain and then Spain was colonized by Muslims. It's sort of like a mix of Arabic culture, Spain, and African. So picadillo is beef that's ground and really flavorful. But the way that I do it is different.
Sheila Marie
With rice, right?
Masi Arias
Yeah, with rice. Rice is not the enemy here. Oh, I eat rice every day.
Sheila Marie
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, we gonna get back to. Let me finish the picadillo thing and then I need to ask you about rice because I. From my understanding, that's like the big problem. Okay, wait. So, okay, sorry. Picadillo is ground beef. Boom.
Masi Arias
So, yes. So I'm actually posting this picadillo recipe. It's part of the programs. Like when I. When I put out a program, I just give you recipes and you don't feel like you are.
Sheila Marie
Right.
Masi Arias
Dieting. Because what is diet? It's your nutrition. The word diet refers to bland.
Sheila Marie
Just chicken breast with broccoli every day. I'll get bored.
Masi Arias
Exactly. Bored. And that's not. That's not life. So personally, what I do is, okay, if the picadillo is done with like 80, 20B because there is a huge, like, bad reputation on meat. Right. I eat meat. I just, I'm just. I moderate how much meat I eat. So I only have meat twice a week. But I know I need it. But what am I going to do? I am going to choose a leaner cut. So I usually make it with like 90, 10 bison. Because I love bison.
Sheila Marie
My husband loves bison. We always have bison.
Masi Arias
Must be a fitness thing. I love the texture of it. And then not only did the picadillo, I'm just gonna make that picadillo. What am I adding to this picadillo? I am adding tons of garlic, which is an antibiotic. Garlic is our most natural antibiotic. I'm adding purple onion with enthocyanin. Right. This is a. A antioxidant that we actually need to fight free radicals and cell damage in the body. What am I adding? I'm adding red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, orange bell pepper. Every single color of the rainbow has A beneficial effect. So that color, it has a specific vitamin, a specific antioxidant for a specific function in the body. So this picadillo recipe, it will have like olives, it will have raisins, it will have lots of garlic and onions. And yes, you're eating vegetables, but these vegetables taste so good. And I don't limit salt. Oh, why? Because salt is a mineral that you actually need. It's essential. We cannot live without salt. What we are, who can limit salt? The person that's not perspiring, the person that's not drinking water, and the person that's not exercising. Which is why if you take someone who's sedentary and now you're eating a bunch of fast foods that are, the amount of salt that you're going to add at home is definitely not even close to the amount of salt that you're going to have in just one meal if you just buy a meal from McDonald's or from a fast food restaurant. So we really need to get familiar with the values and the values of foods, how much nutritional profile that food has.
Sheila Marie
We are so disconnected.
Masi Arias
So that's the focus that we are very disconnected.
Sheila Marie
Yeah. So rice isn't the bad guy.
Masi Arias
Rice is not the bad guy.
Sheila Marie
Really?
Masi Arias
I eat rice every single day. It's how you pair your meals, you understand? So my goal for this year is to teach people how to balance out their meals. So even though this picadillo recipe, okay, well, I already have the fat from the beef, right? So the way that I'm going to cook this meal, I'm not going to add more oil and butter and stuff to it. The rice is going to be steamed. You see, Asians eat a bunch of rice and they're not overweight. I'm not saying that all of them are not overweight, but the majority of the population will not be overweight, you understand? So I think it's a matter of us understanding how do we cook this its foods because you have nutrition. It's like a game of numbers. Every single piece of fruit, vegetable, meat, depending on the cut of the meat, depending on the carbs, all of them have a specific nutritional profile. And if you know how to balance out your fats and your carbs and, and what's good and how to combine these ingredients, then you can have so much food. People think that I eat so much, you would not understand how much I eat.
Sheila Marie
It's true. I feel like a lot of women think starving is the way to lose weight. Like I'll just not eat Anything, and.
Masi Arias
It doesn't need the right foods. So when it comes to all these diets that are out there, I always say to people, if you cannot maintain it for the rest of your life, then what is it that you're doing?
Sheila Marie
Period? Right. Because after, you're just going to fall off. That's a yo yo. A yo yo. Right.
Masi Arias
And unfortunately, we are in a capitalist country that's constantly just yo yoing. Hey, we're just going to tell you you have problems, here's the solution. But we're not going to give you the answers to keep you in this loophole. Yeah, right.
Sheila Marie
Yeah.
Masi Arias
So what is the best thing that you can do as a human? If you spend time scrolling or binging on 10 episodes of a show, you mean to tell me that you're not going to have one hour to go to PubMed, Pub Med and look at the research and in which context they're doing these studies when they're telling you, okay, you can have this and you can't have this and you can't have this. Okay, what is the context? So in science, you really have to look at the context in which this information is being provided to you and which populations fit the criteria of the information that's been given to you. Right. So I want to educate my community because that's important. And I'm going to say something that's going to be very poor polarizing. We're still, still eating like slaves.
Sheila Marie
Oh, yeah.
Masi Arias
I. The Dominican Republic, when we became, when we became free, we're still adopting the foods that we were eating when we were slaves. So when you look at mangu or when you go to Washington Heights, if you're on the east coast and you ask for a mangu with the tres golpes, which is mangu, it's the plantain with, it's delicious with the butter and then the fried cheese and the fried salami and the fried chorizo. Fried, fried, fried. Even the cuts of meats that are put in this one dish, they were the cuts of meats that they didn't want. Or if you look at Brazil with like feijoada, right. Slaves were hiding the meats like the ears and the tongues and this that their, their slave masters didn't want them to even eat, they would hide it in the beans because they were black. And you cannot see that there's meat and substance in there.
Sheila Marie
Wow.
Masi Arias
Right? So when we understand, and this is why I love people and the anthropological standpoint of humans, Right. Why? Because we are all connected. So why am I going to continue to eat like I'm a slave? Why am I going to continue to eat and choose foods that are not. They're doing the opposite. So not. We're slaved even in sickness. We're in this cycle. So oh yes, this is my culture. But we have to change the culture. We have to change the way that we do things. We have to change the way African Americans and the way Latinos are eating, period. And I always will say this.
Sheila Marie
I agree.
Masi Arias
That's a project of mine that I can wait to work on it one day.
Sheila Marie
I mean, I think there's something so rich there. Because you're not saying to abandon the culture. You're still holding it there. You're still keeping the recipes, you're still keeping that connection, but modifying it in a way that actually serves our highest good. Because yeah, those things might taste good and everything, but if, if it's gonna make you lay on the couch because you can't move cause your body is digesting it. Is it really good for you? You know, I agree with you. Like once in a, you know, holidays, okay, every now and then, but on a daily basis, are you feeding yourself things that are, that are promoting your highest good?
Masi Arias
Yeah. And, and when you purge your body from. Let me just give you another analogy. Drug addicts. If you have been around drug addicts, you know what they have to go through in order to clean themselves, right? Clean, get clean. It's a really intense process of withdrawal. Like withdrawal symptoms. Right. That's what happens with us too when we're trying to clean. Right. And it is uncomfortable when now someone is telling you, wait a second, I can't drink. Like what am I going to do when I'm feeling like high and now I need to depress my, my, my nervous system. Wait, you're mean me that I can't eat and, and, and go and have this.
Sheila Marie
I can't have food, huh?
Masi Arias
It's not that you can't, it's that you have to understand, you have to be clear. So that's what I'm doing this, this year with the community. We're doing this, this process of just cleaning yourself out. Which is why some people do like your husband, they go on this water fast. That I believe they're great. But your, your husband has, he's been doing this for a very long time. I am not going to tell, let's say Ashley, right. Who has been hurting. And now it needs to do body recomposition of £150 or even £50 to go in a water fast.
Sheila Marie
Right.
Masi Arias
It's going to be impossible.
Sheila Marie
You got to meet them where they are.
Masi Arias
Exactly. You meet people where they are and you slowly teach them a rhythm. Right. In this process, you are not broken. You can reverse, you can reverse type 2 diabetes, you can reverse blood pressure issues. You can reverse your way of thinking. You can reverse the damage that you have given your body through all these years. You can reverse your gut health. You can reverse, you can reverse your entire relationship with yourself, with food, with your environment and even with your interpersonal relationships. You can change all of that. So I want to hear more of my people saying I can versus oh I'm already here. Do you know the amount of I. I see women even in their 20s, like how are you letting yourself go or in your 30s? And I think you know the he's. Hahaha. We think it's funny, but it's not when I'm listening to a 30 year old who can't even bend down without knee pain girl. So is that the life that you want for yourself? The pain of learning and growing? It's not going to be in may mimic the pain that you're feeling right now when you want to start to make a change. But it's not going to be worse because guess what's going to happen. Just like you have self turnover of 28 to 42 days, it takes three weeks of you being consistent, pushing yourself like literally even when if I have to wake up at five in the morning and I'm telling you that that's what you need to do right now, every single day is going to be hard but there's going to be one day that you're just literally waking up at five in the morning because it's consistent. Your body is such a machine that adapts to whatever stress you put it through. It adapts.
Sheila Marie
We are so adaptable.
Masi Arias
Your body is resilient and you have to believe in your body and believe in yourself because I can give you the motivation and the confidence that you need to tap in your relationship with yourself. No podcast, no guru, no. No one. Not, not your mom, your dad, you. It is your responsibility to tap in.
Sheila Marie
Yeah.
Masi Arias
And build the self worth that you, that you need. You have to believe it so it starts to show. You know the whole fake it till you make it. You have to believe in yourself. I feel like you look at yourself.
Sheila Marie
I'm getting motivated right now. Masi, you motivating me. I know, but it's the truth. Yeah. You, you live and Breathe this. I can like feel it coming off of you. I love that so much because it just feels like you're in such an alignment. I have one more question that I want to ask you before I want to move to the toolkit section. You have a beautiful daughter. She's gorgeous.
Masi Arias
She's my best friend.
Sheila Marie
What'd you say?
Masi Arias
She's my best friend.
Sheila Marie
What is. There's a lot of moms who listen. So what? How has being a mom changed your fitness journey?
Masi Arias
This is going to touch a lot of women, this message. You don't have to go to jail to know it's a bad place. And I want to. I want you to analyze your mother. What relationship did your mother have with herself? What did you learn about self love and self care? The way that I'm raising my daughter, I don't see her as a child. I am raising a better version of me. I am not repeating the mistakes that my mom did. I also am looking at her and building her. The way that I eat is the way that she eats. You understand? So I'm not going to give my daughter McDonald's and this and that. Nobody knows this, but I don't have a nanny. I am the one who drops up my daughter to school, picks her up. I make her breakfast, lunch and dinner. I drive a business. Right. I also have to take care of my home. I clean even my own house.
Sheila Marie
Wow.
Masi Arias
I have so much. A lot of people don't know this about me. Like, look at my hands today. A lot of people don't know this about me. And it has come down with me having a relationship with myself and being regimented and disciplined with me. Right. In setting boundaries. So for her, for my daughter, I am not repeating the same mistakes.
Sheila Marie
Remember? What's one thing you want her to learn from you? If you. If she was like, looking back, this is the best. This is the most important lesson I learned from my mom. What would you love her to say?
Masi Arias
To put herself first. To put herself first and to not let the world tell her that she can't and that she's not worthy, period. How love starts from within. And that's what I want for her.
Sheila Marie
I feel like that's a perfect place to transition to the toolkit that was so beautiful. And I hope she one day will listen to this and one day we'll just be like, that's exactly. I feel that what exactly you intend will happen. Absolutely. There's no way it can. I'm inspired by just listening to you talk right now. I'M like, wow, thank you. And I just feel the love you have for yourself and others. So this is the toolkit. Before we get up out of here, we love to leave ladies with something tangible and practical that they can walk away with. Like, all right, Masi, I love everything you're saying, but how do I implement it? Like, what's one small step, one thing that they can do to implement some of these teachings into their life?
Masi Arias
The first thing, if you really want to get, like, healthy, I will say you have to prioritize your sleep. You have to prioritize your sleep because if you want better hormones, energy levels, appetite control, being able to have a fast metabolism, being able to put on muscle, decrease body fat, all of that, and being able to even like, for cognitive functions, we need sleep. So if you're not sleeping anywhere from seven to eight hours, from the ranges of like 25 to like 40, we're having an issue here. And to look at what can. Where can I make changes? I don't need to tell you that you need to drink water. Everything in your body requires water. So increase your water. As cliche. This has been told to simple, right? For centuries.
Sheila Marie
Yeah, the most simple.
Masi Arias
Drink your water, prioritize your sleep. Right. And start looking at having a better relationship with food. Can you from this point forward, say, let me look at the 24 hours that I have. I am going to give myself an hour and a half to do whatever I want. And if that is you doing yoga, doing a strength session, meal prepping for yourself, do self care, whatever it is, can you allocate that time for yourself every single single day? Because that is the time that eventually, once it becomes a routine, that it doesn't matter what happens, like, oh my God, the kids this, that it doesn't matter. That hour and a half. I've created that boundary with my family, with my kids, with my husband, with my work, with everyone. And you have to do it because if you don't do it, people will take and take and take.
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Yes.
Masi Arias
So prioritize. You need at least an hour and a half to yourself because, my God, you are an individual. Prioritize your sleep no matter what. Create routines and systems that are going to help you slowly build a routine where everything is getting done and you don't feel like you're burning out. And another thing, remember social media platforms, they're changing your perception every single day. There's no way that one human being can be just perfect. So if you're following people that show a perfect life, they have it all in this and that. Remember, is it really realistic? Once you start paying attention to your health, other things will take, you know, you're going to have to sacrifice maybe the social time, maybe you can't go out with the girlfriends that go and drink and eat. Really unhealthy. You have to get it done. So create a routine that's realistic and that's going to help you at least feel good about all the verticals in your life. And that doesn't mean that you're going to start in everything. You're just going to start doing it all. No steps, every single thing that you do, tap in and create systems that are going to help you slowly get there. There's no way that you and I are different. You and I are the same. The only thing that separates you from me is that I believe in me, is that I love me. Finally, I'm saying I love myself so much that I'm going to do something about it. And whatever doesn't make me feel good and it doesn't help me with my, like, my intuition is telling me this is not good for me. I.
Sheila Marie
It has to go. It has to go.
Masi Arias
All of it. It has to go. Do that.
Sheila Marie
If you don't feel inspired right now, are you even alive? Like, hello, Masi. This was so inspiring and thank you for just sharing so much information and so much of yourself. And I just, I think I. One thing that came through that I wasn't expecting, I was expecting all of the information and the knowledge, but I just wasn't expecting how much the passion you have for humanity, like, I can feel it off of you.
Masi Arias
I love, I love people. I love my tribe.
Sheila Marie
They're going to be looking for you after this interview and so please tell them where. I know you have your sculpt program. I know you have things where, where if someone's like, I want to learn more or maybe want to work with Masi, what. What could they do?
Masi Arias
Well, first and foremost, we did something really cool because again, I'm a community based person first. So if you want to see what sculpt is, you can head over to YouTube. And on the mobility side of things, I've created these mobility sessions for everyone. They look completely different than on the program, but I'm giving you the information. Go and check it out. But the sculpt program, I. I'm not doing another program this year. This is the program that I'm really focused on because it has all the foundations, the foundation on how you're going to eat. How am I going to get your body out of pain while we're continuing to move? So it's a system, you know, it's a system that is telling you how to eat, how to work out. It's giving you the right cadence, it's giving you even a physical therapy.
Sheila Marie
Wow.
Masi Arias
It's embedded in there. So that's how you can find me. I'm everywhere. I'm like air every social media platform but my focus right now is on long form content for YouTube and Instagram as well.
Sheila Marie
Definitely head over to that YouTube for everybody saying I can't, I can't. You can, you can watch the calm. Start small, start there. Masi, thank you for sharing yourself, your story, your time with us. I really appreciate you. I've admired you for so many years and I so thank you so much for being unruly with us. We appreciate you and thank you for listening. We love you. I hope you take something from this conversation, get in your body, get moving and really take that step to love yourself on a deeper level. Because as Masi explained, you deserve it. Thank you so much, Masi. Thank you. If you have something on your mind, a question or something you want me to answer, just send in a voice note@speakpipe.com unruly I can't wait to hear from you. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to follow or subscribe so you never, ever, ever, ever miss an episode of Unruly.
Title: Get In the Mental Gym: It's Time To Train For Resilience
Host: Shelah Marie
Guest: Massy Arias
Release Date: February 25, 2025
In Episode 21 of "UNRULY WITH SHELAH MARIE," host Shelah Marie engages in a transformative conversation with renowned fitness trainer, health coach, and entrepreneur Massy Arias. This episode delves deep into the intricate relationship between physical activity and mental resilience, debunking common myths and highlighting holistic wellness strategies. The discussion is enriched with Massy's personal journey, insights into sustainable fitness practices, and practical tools for listeners to enhance their well-being.
Massy Arias is celebrated for her holistic approach to fitness and mental health. With over twelve years in the fitness industry, Massy has dedicated her career to empowering women, particularly from Black and Brown communities, to harness fitness as a tool for mental resilience and self-love. Her programs, including the widely acclaimed Sculpt Program, integrate physical training with nutritional guidance and mental wellness strategies, fostering a comprehensive path to personal growth.
Mental Benefits of Physical Activity
Personal Journey and Overcoming Adversity
The Mind-Body Connection
Nutrition and Cultural Eating Habits
Self-Love and Discipline
Fitness Beyond Aesthetics: Moving beyond the superficial goals of weight loss and muscle gain, fitness should be a holistic tool for enhancing mental health and building resilience.
Community and Accountability: Engaging with a community, whether in-person or online, fosters accountability and provides emotional support, reinforcing one’s fitness journey.
Sustainable Practices: Emphasizing sustainable fitness and nutritional habits over quick fixes or extreme diets ensures long-term health and prevents the yo-yo effect.
Cultural Integration: Preserving cultural food traditions while making them healthier fosters a sense of identity and heritage, promoting overall well-being.
Prioritize Sleep and Hydration
Establish Personal Routines
Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Food
Set Boundaries and Advocate for Yourself
Engage with a Supportive Community
Massy Arias on Fitness and Mental Health:
“Fitness truly allowed me to understand that this person that was hurting, this person I didn't have confidence... I was able to create change.”
(14:21)
Massy on Self-Discipline:
“How much do you love yourself to show up for yourself?... The question is, how much self worth do you have.”
(22:47)
Massy on Prioritizing Self-Care:
“Prioritize your sleep no matter what. Create routines and systems that are going to help you slowly build a routine...”
(58:34)
Massy on Cultural Eating Habits:
“We are still eating like slaves... We have to change the way African Americans and the way Latinos are eating, period.”
(49:55)
Massy on Self-Love for Future Generations:
“To put herself first and to not let the world tell her that she can't and that she's not worthy, period.”
(57:41)
Episode 21 of "UNRULY WITH SHELAH MARIE" with Massy Arias offers an inspiring exploration of how fitness serves as a cornerstone for mental resilience and holistic wellness. Massy's candid sharing of her personal struggles and triumphs provides listeners with both empathy and actionable strategies to reclaim their well-being. By emphasizing the importance of self-love, sustainable practices, and cultural integration, this episode empowers women to embark on their own journeys toward a healthier, more resilient self.
Connect with Massy Arias:
Join the Conversation: Have a question for Shelah Marie or Massy Arias? Record your voice note at SpeakPipe to be featured in an upcoming episode.
Thank you for tuning into "UNRULY WITH SHELAH MARIE." Subscribe and follow to never miss an episode of transformative conversations around culture, wellness, and personal growth.