Many women find it difficult to adopt long-term health and fitness behaviors in this celebrity-obsessed, appearance-oriented culture. Interviews with 400 women reveal that taking back authority from external sources — such as parents, husbands, physicians, the media, or the fitness industry — is a critical step toward adopting a healthy lifestyle. Previous research declared self-esteem a by-product of fitness, but this study found self-esteem and self-empowerment as necessary antecedents to adopting exercise routines. Jordan designed movement, games, and experiential sessions to help participants discover which of the four 'movement personalities' they were drawn to — stroller, dancer, trekker, and racer. Once self-identified, a person can easily develop a natural fitness plan suited to her individual tastes, preferences, and inborn rhythms. This thesis is the basis of Jordan's latest book, The Fitness Instinct: Tapping into the Seventh Sense.

Master's Thesis, June 1996

Peg Jordan, R.N., M.A., the first graduate of the CIIS Philosophy and Religion/ Women's Spirituality program, is an international health journalist and author of five fitness books. She is editor and founder of American Fitness magazine, a psychiatric nurse specialist, president of Health & Lifestyle, Inc., a CIIS trustee and president of the Alumni Board.