The Library
A thoughtful collection for living well in a changing body.
Things worth reading, listening to, learning from, and returning to. This is a considered collection of books, conversations, teachers, research, and resources that have shaped the way I think about movement, strength, nourishment, longevity, the nervous system, and being at home in the body.
B Approved
Useful things, chosen slowly.
B Approved is Kate’s personal edit of products, practices, and everyday objects worth keeping close. Each pick is shaped by what she uses and trusts herself, as well as discoveries shared by the teachers, practitioners, friends, and wider community who continue to influence the work.
Explore B Approved →
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
Maya Angelou
Books
Movement, women's health, longevity, nourishment, psychology, the nervous system, relationships, and living well.
Book · Women's health
Next Level
Dr. Stacy Sims with Selene Yeager
The clearest account I have found of what changes in a woman's physiology through perimenopause — and how to train with it rather than against it.
Book · Women's health
ROAR
Dr. Stacy Sims
Written for the athlete in every woman — how to fuel and train for a body that is not a small man's body.
Book · Longevity
Outlive
Dr. Peter Attia
A long view of health that treats strength and stability as the currency of the last decade of life. I return to the chapter on stability often.
Book · Nervous system
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk
Not a movement book, but it shaped how I listen. It explains why the first hour of any practice belongs to the nervous system.
Book · Breath
Breath
James Nestor
A reminder that the most available tool we have is the one we forget to use well.
Book · Psychology
Burnout
Emily Nagoski & Amelia Nagoski
On completing the stress cycle. Written for women who are carrying more than they say out loud.
Listen
Podcasts, interviews, lectures, and conversations.
Podcast episode · Hormones
How to Navigate Menopause & Perimenopause for Maximum Health & Vitality
Huberman Lab, with Dr. Mary Claire Haver
Dense, but worth the walk it takes to finish. Good grounding before any conversation about hormones.
Podcast episode · Training
Female-Specific Exercise & Nutrition for Health, Performance & Longevity
Huberman Lab, with Dr. Stacy Sims
The training conversation I wish every woman heard in her forties. Practical, specific, unhurried.
Podcast · Muscle & nutrition
The Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Muscle as the organ of longevity. A useful counterweight to a lifetime of being told to make ourselves smaller.
Podcast episode · Nervous system
Christine Runyan — What's Happening in Our Nervous Systems?
On Being with Krista Tippett
For the drive home. Not about the body at all, and entirely about the body.
Watch
Documentaries, films, talks, and series.
Work in progress
Watch this shelf fill soon.
Teachers
Researchers, physicians, and educators whose work shapes how I think, teach, and practice.
Researcher · Physiology
Dr. Stacy Sims
Exercise physiologist
Her research reframed how I program for women through every season — prenatal, postnatal, perimenopause, and beyond.
Physician · Longevity
Dr. Peter Attia
Physician, longevity medicine
For the long arithmetic of the last decade — and the case for training now for the body you will need then.
Practitioners
Los Angeles-area practitioners I trust and refer clients to — doctors, therapists, bodyworkers, and other trusted voices.
Physician · Aesthetics
Safa Sharabi, MD
Board-certified plastic & reconstructive surgeon
A surgeon who brings rare technical precision and an artist's eye to every consultation. I trust her because she sees the whole person, not just the procedure — and because the results look like the best version of you, not someone else.
Practitioner · Women's health
Dr. Carla Vidor, L.Ac., DAOM, FABORM
Ren & Tonic Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine
A Doctor of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine and fellow of reproductive medicine with deep expertise in fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and women's hormonal health. For anyone trying to conceive, carrying a child, or finding balance after — she is one of the first names I give.
Practitioner · Energy work
Marguerite Nesteruk
Earth & energy practitioner, Resonating Earth
A longtime friend from New York who turned her love of the natural world into a healing practice. Reiki, herbal tea ceremonies, plant wisdom, and energy work — her sessions are quiet, intentional, and deeply restorative.
Practitioner · Aesthetics
Alexis Veliz
Licensed esthetician, Aesthilex
A licensed esthetician since 2018 who built her practice from the ground up. She specializes in brows, lashes, and sugaring — the kind of small, precise work that makes you feel effortlessly put together.
Practitioner · Sensory integration
Courtney Harris
Kinder Clinic
A pediatric clinic expanding into work with women in midlife. Courtney is developing sensory-integration therapy for adults, applying the same careful, body-based lens to nervous-system regulation across the lifespan.
Research & Ideas
Articles, studies, essays, and emerging ideas.
Randomised controlled trial · Bone
High-Intensity Resistance and Impact Training Improves Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women — the LIFTMOR trial
Watson et al., Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2018
The case for load. Bone responds to being asked something — and it keeps responding far later than most women are told.
Position paper · Nutrition
Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people
PROT-AGE Study Group, JAMDA, 2013
Most women I meet are eating for a body they had twenty years ago. This is the reading that changed my questions.
Review paper · Recovery
An Overview of Heart Rate Variability Metrics and Norms
Shaffer & Ginsberg, Frontiers in Public Health, 2017
A useful number, held lightly. It tells you what kind of day to ask for.
Consensus statement · Sleep
Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult — a joint consensus statement
American Academy of Sleep Medicine & Sleep Research Society, SLEEP, 2015
The consensus recommendation on how much sleep adults actually need — the quiet foundation under strength, recovery, and mood.
The Library will continue to grow.
As the practice evolves, so will this collection.
Receive occasional additions from the Library.
Sessions and classes remain under Practice.