Equinox cycling instructor and new author, Katie Horwitch inspires members to find joy in movement and power in vulnerability.
Katie Horwitch was four years old when she first learned the feeling of shame — not from a big dramatic event, but from a four-second scolding by a teaching assistant, who told her to get in line with the rest of her preschool class. At the time, Horwitch had been admiring her artwork displayed for all to see. The seemingly insignificant scene became a “micro-moment” for her, Horwitch writes in her new book, Want Yourself: Shift Your Self-Talk and Unearth the Strength in Who You Were All Along.
“I remember shrinking back and scurrying toward the door, holding back tears. I remember feeling foolish. Because in my moment of awe and self-appreciation, I hadn’t realized the class was filing into a neat and tidy line out onto the playground,” she writes.
Over the years, these small moments reinforced Horwitch’s decision to no longer bask in her talents. It seemed more fitting, she thought back then, to live up to others’ expectations than her own.
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Now a speaker, mindset coach, and positive self-talk activist, Horwitch had to go through her own sort of reckoning. It wasn’t until she was studying musical theater in college that Horwitch experienced her first aha moment. An instructor pointed out that Horwitch was losing her voice during class, the result of an eating disorder as well as her internal struggle with living authentically as herself versus living for others, she says. This inspired her to use her self-awareness and high sensitivity to fight the everyday negativity that chips away at confidence.
“When I found group fitness — cycling in particular — it was really impactful. It really helped me heal in so many ways,” she shares. Starting her working life as an actor in Los Angeles, Horwitch became certified to teach cycling classes as a way to financially support herself, but she quickly found that she loved being on stage as herself more than any other character she could play.
“I realized that the things we say in the classes we teach are really impactful because we’re meeting people at incredibly vulnerable moments, where they’re really open to hearing what we have to say.”
Fast forward to 2011 when Horwitch auditioned to become an Equinox cycling instructor — a pivotal moment in her journey.
“I remember [Keith Irace, vice president of group fitness at Equinox] saying, ‘She's ready, she’s great.’ And it was one of the very first times in my life I felt that I had such wholehearted support from someone who was essentially a stranger at the time. It was a vote of confidence, and helped me realize I needed to be able to go on this journey that I had been on for over a decade, of finding out what my voice was, how I can use it in the best way possible, and how I could also empower others to do the exact same thing,” explains Horwitch, who would go on to help launch Equinox’s signature beat-based, emotion-driven class format, ANTHEM. “So when we talk about the work that I’m doing now, and the book that I wrote, I can draw so many direct lines to moments that I’ve had at Equinox that allowed me to fully step into myself and then help someone else step into themselves.”
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Armed with more research and certifications in mindset coaching, Horwitch says she felt compelled to write her book to re-energize the conversation around self-esteem by providing concrete solutions and relatable anecdotes to motivate readers. While the process of writing a book and getting it published was challenging, the real work came while exploring her inner workings — the very purpose of her book.
“When we talk about exploring our edge, a lot of times we will think of these really big moments,” she shares. “What exploring my edge looked like during the process of writing this book, was about getting to the core of my own truth and trusting that over and over again.”
She adds, “It's about going to the outermost corners of who I know myself to be and saying, ‘What else is there?’ and exploring that because I think that there is a magic to be found in those dark corners that we haven't yet explored or have been ignoring. And that, to me, is probably some of the bravest work that any of us can do as human beings.”