🐝 From the conference to our communities · AHNA 2026
🚶💃 Move With a Nurse™—Bring the Joy Along
The spirit of Move With a Nurse™ reaches beyond counting steps: make room for conversation, companionship, and a moment people enjoy. Nathanael’s AHNA 2026 conference memory brings that invitation to life.
Getting to meet the president was such a joy. I have so much love and appreciation for her! This was the funnest conference ever for me.
Nathanael Elijah Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, DipACLM
🎬 Conference dance recording: the video has been uploaded. Public playback is awaiting a VideoPress privacy-setting change.
🎶 A Small Invitation You Can Make Your Own
Choose: a song you enjoy, a comfortable route, or a few moments of movement that suit you today. Invite: a friend, colleague, family member, or willing group. Offer choices: standing, seated, a smaller movement, or simply listening. Finish: ask what people enjoyed and whether they would like to do it again.
For our community: you do not need dance experience or a perfect routine. Choose a comfortable pace and a clear space. Joining from a chair, keeping movements small, or simply enjoying the music are welcome options.
A conference dance clip is a celebration, not an exercise prescription or a demonstration of a formal nursing qualification. “Dance Nursing” here names Nathanael’s creative invitation to joyful movement.
🌿 THE JOY THAT INSPIRES MOVEMENT NURSING
💃 Get Our Groove On — Move With a Nurse™
Learn together. Dance together. Help the world flourish.
“Thank you, Jill Edwards, for helping make the 2026 Power of the Plate conference one of the most joyful experiences of my life. We got our groove on while learning how to help people heal and flourish—and I had the best time of my life! This moment is a personal inspiration for Movement Nursing and Move With a Nurse™: bringing joy, connection, and movement into the way we care for ourselves and our communities.”
— Nathanael Elijah Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, DipACLM
To my fellow nurses: I warmly recommend exploring The Plantrician Project and its Power of the Plate conference. Come for the learning, find your community, and bring your joy—let’s get our dance on while we learn to help the world flourish!
With gratitude to Jill Edwards, MS, CEP, DipACLM, Director of Education at The Plantrician Project. Explore The Plantrician Project →
If the Instagram player does not load, use “Watch Our Dance Reel” to open the original video. Instagram may require sign-in. This is Nathanael’s personal tribute and invitation.
The Book of the Lamp — Read free with Kindle Unlimited · Kindle eBook: $0.99 · Paperback: $5.75.
🚶 Move With a Nurse™
We move with you.
Walk. Ride. Roll. Stretch. Hike. Dance. Swim. Play. Every body can move, every step counts, and every person belongs.
◐ IN DEVELOPMENT Group events aren’t scheduled yet. Founding nurse leaders are being gathered now.
IN DEVELOPMENT Where Move With a Nurse™ stands today: this is an idea we’re building carefully. No Move With a Nurse events are scheduled yet, and no nurse is currently leading group walks, hikes, or classes under this name. Walk, Hike, Bike, Swim, Dance, Stretch, Roll, and Garden With a Nurse are FUTURE VISION activity ideas.
📋 Before any event runs, it will need participant safety screening, waivers, an emergency plan, accessibility planning, insurance, location permission, clear scope-of-practice boundaries (a walk with a nurse is not a medical visit), age rules, and local legal review.
Nurses shouldn’t only tell people to move. We can move with them.
🚶 Walk beside them. 🚲 Ride beside them. ♿ Roll beside them.
🤸 Stretch, 🥾 hike, 💃 dance, and ⚽ play beside them.
Help people rediscover movement they actually enjoy.
◐ In development — not currently offered. Move With a Nurse™ is a developing Kitchen Monk™ community-health concept. The gatherings described on this page are future programming and aren’t yet available in any community. The ideas in “Move today” just below are available to you right now.
🤝 This will never be a fitness club for people who are already fit. It’s meant for families, older adults, beginners, people living with chronic illness or disability, caregivers, and anyone who’d just like fresh air and company on a Saturday morning. Each gathering will be simple: move at your own pace, learn from a short, friendly nurse talk, connect with at least one new person, and leave with one small next step.
● AVAILABLE NOW · FREE
🌱 You don’t have to wait for us. Move today.
Group gatherings are still forming. Until then, pick one of these and try it today. Small counts.
🚶 Walk five minutes
Around the block, down the hallway, or to the mailbox and back. Bring someone if you can.
♿ Roll or move from your chair
A short roll outside, or seated marching, arm circles, and gentle reaches during a TV show.
🌿 Stretch and breathe
Reach tall, roll your shoulders, and take a few slow breaths. Gentle is enough.
👨👩👧 Move with your people
A dance break in the kitchen, a family walk after dinner, or a slow stroll with the dog.
⚠️ Go at your own pace. Stop and rest if something hurts, or if you feel dizzy or unusually short of breath. If you have a heart or lung condition, recent surgery, pregnancy, or balance concerns, check with your own healthcare professional first. For chest pain, fainting, or any emergency, call 911.
💃 Move to Music. Flourish Together.
Free dance videos, seated and gentle options, and classes near you or online. Start with one song, and invite someone to join you.
🧭 Movement by what fits you today
Pick the kind of movement that fits your body and your day. Not every activity suits every person; start small and stop if something hurts.
🎥 Recorded = a video you can play any time (tap to play, with sound). 📅 Scheduled = a class or group at a set date and time; always check the date on the class page. 💲 Paid is labeled where we know it.
🪑 Seated
Chair aerobics, Dance for Parkinson’s, and a seated Dance for Every Body lesson. 🎥 Recorded: play any time.
🌿 Gentle
Stretching, an 8-minute low-impact dance, and lower-impact ways to walk, ride, or swim. 🎥 Recorded videos.
🚶 Walking
Start with five minutes after a meal. Walking with others? Free Walk with a Doc groups meet on set dates. 📅 Check each group’s schedule.
💃 Dancing
Free recorded Zumba® and line-dance videos, plus online and local classes. 🎥 Videos are recordings. 📅 Classes are scheduled; dates are listed and checked on the class page. 💲 Paid classes are labeled.
💪 Strength
Adults are advised to do muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Wall push-ups or sit-to-stands from a chair are simple starts.
⚖️ Balance
For older adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists balance activities such as heel-to-toe walking. Hold a counter or sturdy chair. If you have fallen before, ask your clinician first.
👥 Group activities
Move with people: free group walks, free weekly 5K walk-or-run events, and dance classes. 📅 All happen on set dates; check before you go.
🩺 Ask your clinician before starting new exercise if you have heart or lung disease, chest pain, dizziness, or a recent injury. Outside organizations are independent and not affiliated with Kitchen Monk. Links checked October 14, 2026.
🧭 Choose your way: Walk · Ride · Roll · Stretch · Hike · Dance · Swim · Play
Movement should fit your body, abilities, and care plan. Pick one way that sounds enjoyable today. Seated, beginner, and lower-impact versions all count, and you can change your choice any day.
🚶 Walk
Around the block, a hallway, a mall, or a marina path. Five minutes counts.
Adapt it: Shorter loops, a walker or cane, rest stops, or a walking buddy.
🚲 Ride
Bike paths, a stationary bike, or an e-bike. Helmets every time.
Adapt it: Trikes, recumbent and adaptive bikes, or a stationary bike indoors.
♿ Roll
Wheelchair, scooter, or stroller: rolling is movement too.
Adapt it: Smooth, accessible routes; adaptive sports clubs; seated strength to music.
🧘 Stretch
Reach tall, roll your shoulders, and breathe slowly. Gentle is enough.
Adapt it: Do it seated, in bed, or holding a counter for balance.
🥾 Hike
A forest trail, a park loop, or a beach walk.
Adapt it: Flat, paved trails first; poles for balance; go with a friend.
💃 Dance
One song in the kitchen, a free video, or a class.
Adapt it: Seated and gentle dance videos, and smaller steps.
🏊 Swim
Water can make movement feel lighter on the joints.
Adapt it: Water walking or aqua classes; always swim where a lifeguard is on duty.
⚽ Play
Tag, catch, gardening, or a family game in the park.
Adapt it: Any pace, any age: play from a chair or on the floor.
🆓 The planner, National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability programs, park finder, and our videos are free. Move United programs and swim lessons are run by local providers who set their own fees; check before you sign up. Buttons marked ↗ open independent websites in a new tab. If you have a heart or lung condition, recent surgery, pregnancy, balance concerns, or pain, ask your care team which options fit your plan.
🚶 The marina walk
150 minutes a week, one loop at a time
The Hammond Marina basin near the mouth of the Columbia is a lovely place to walk: boats, gulls, sea breezes, and the breakwater where Willy made his famous jump in Free Willy. Loop by loop, a walk like this can add up to 150 minutes of movement a week, the amount United States guidelines recommend for most adults.
Find your own marina walk: a place you love to look at, and a few minutes more than yesterday.
Illustration created with artificial intelligence assistance
The best medicine might be a sidewalk and a friend.
Someone walks. Someone rides. Someone rolls. A toddler naps in a stroller and a dog leads the way. A nurse is right there in the group, not behind a desk. No one is told what to do. Everyone is simply invited.
🏮 A moment by the Lamp: what movement did you love before someone called it exercise?
Illustration created with artificial intelligence assistance.
🌦️ There’s no bad day to move, only different ways to move
Pacific Northwest weather changes fast. So can your plan. The best movement is movement that fits your body, your life, your environment, and your joy.
🌧️ Rainy day
Walk a mall, library, or covered path; stretch at home; dance in the kitchen; visit a community recreation center. A rain jacket turns drizzle into a forest walk.
☀️ Sunny day
Park, garden, waterfront path, or bike ride. Bring water and sun protection, and go early or late on hot days.
❄️ Cold day
Dress in layers, watch for ice, or move indoors with chair exercises, stairs, or a stretching video.
🔥 Smoky-air day
Check the air quality first. When it’s unhealthy, move indoors, especially if you have asthma, heart or lung conditions, are pregnant, or are an older adult or child.
Heavy day? Small steps are still steps.
❄️ Cold-day stretching video: #LiveWholeHealth: Joint Mobility
🎥 Recorded video (prerecorded episode of Veterans Affairs’ Live Whole Health series) · 👤 United States Dept. of Veterans Affairs (YouTube) · 🪑 Seated · ⏱️ 12 minutes · 🇺🇸 English · 💬 Captions: not verified
🦴 What you’ll practice: a seated, chair-based session that gently moves each joint through a comfortable range, perfect for staying warm indoors.
🎥 More Veterans Affairs videos · supplementary publisher uploads
Open the Veterans Affairs publisher uploads collection on YouTube ↗
🛟 Go gently: stop if you feel pain or dizziness, and check with your care team before starting something new.
🏗️ Group movement we’re building
These gatherings aren’t scheduled yet. Here’s what they’ll look like when they launch.
◐ IN DEVELOPMENT
🚶 Walk With a Nurse™
Free community walks with three easy pace groups and a Trail Buddy for anyone who wants one.
◐ IN DEVELOPMENT
🚲 Bike With a Nurse™
Relaxed family, beginner, e-bike, and adaptive rides, with helmets and bike checks every time.
◐ ALSO IN DEVELOPMENT ♿ Rolling routes designed first for wheelchair users, 🧘 gentle stretching and chair movement, and, with qualified partners, 🥾 hiking, 🏊 swimming, 🛶 paddling, 🏓 pickleball, yoga, tai chi, and adaptive sports. When a nurse isn’t the right guide, we’ll look for a physical therapist or other qualified professional instead.
🐺 For families: movement should feel like adventure, never punishment. Shebah leads a Wiggle Trail and Willow leads quiet stretching on Flourishing Guardians.
🦵 After rehab: Therapy to Trail (in development) will be a welcoming place to keep moving after physical therapy, building from therapy toward trail participation and mobility confidence. It complements rehabilitation and never replaces it.
🏮 Help start one near you
We’re gathering a founding network of nurses, students, faith communities, parks departments, and community partners. A simple Nurse Leader Toolkit is in development. There’s no chapter system or certification yet; this is an invitation to help build it.
📰 Nurses moving communities, everywhere
Nurse wellness, workforce well-being, and community and public health nursing are happening all across the profession. See the latest headlines, refreshed automatically:
Headlines come from outside news sources. Linked organizations are independent and do not sponsor or endorse Kitchen Monk™.
🛡️ Safety & participation
Right now, there’s nothing to book. You can’t yet schedule a nurse walking partner, a nurse-led ride, hike, swim, or game, or a personal exercise plan through Kitchen Monk. When gatherings begin, we’ll announce them clearly on this page.
When they launch, Move With a Nurse™ gatherings will be community wellness and education, not physical therapy, rehabilitation, personal training, supervised exercise testing, an emergency service, or an individual medical visit. Having a nurse present won’t create a nurse–patient relationship. Nurses bring encouragement, education, and company; physical therapists, rehabilitation teams, and exercise professionals bring different, specialized care, and we’ll point you to them when that’s what you need.
If you have significant health conditions, new symptoms, recent surgery, pregnancy, or mobility concerns, talk with your own healthcare professional about what’s right for you. Go at your own pace and rest whenever you need. For chest pain, fainting, or any emergency, call 911.
Before any event launches, we plan to have risk assessments, emergency action plans, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, automated external defibrillator, and first-aid readiness, weather and air-quality plans, route safety review, helmets for every ride, and lifeguards for anything in the water.
A nurse steps outside. A neighbor joins.
Someone who hasn’t exercised in years walks five minutes.
Someone who has been lonely learns another person’s name.
Five minutes becomes ten. A stranger becomes a friend.
And flourishing becomes something we practice together.
MOVE TOGETHER. FLOURISH TOGETHER.
🌲 From the EVERgreen World
In the story, Willow teaches at a young one’s eye level, and the lamp lights only the next few steps of the trail. In real life, Move With a Nurse is about walking beside someone rather than merely instructing them.
🩺 Nursing professionals: explore movement, fatigue, workforce well-being, and nurse flourishing on our companion site.
🚶 “A nurse” means the whole nursing team. Certified Nursing Assistants often help people stand, walk, and move safely every single shift, and they deserve a walk of their own too. Certified Nursing Assistants, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, Registered Nurses, and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are all welcome to join or, one day, help lead.
👑 Andie 💪🏼 Otto 🪷 — Our Chief Flourishing Coach™
🌱 Health & wellness coach (NBC-HWC) helping people build lasting habits around food, movement, and midlife health.
“My choice for the best coach in the world!” — Nathanael Elijah Smith, FNP-C, DipACLM (personal recommendation)
🏃 A patient story from Nathanael: how custom-molded orthotics and steady stretching coaching got him running again after years of knee pain. Personal experience; individual results vary.
🥬 Ready for a walk, a stretch, or a dance break in the kitchen? May Mac’s “Lettuce BEET It!” pin is a cheerful reminder that any movement you enjoy, at any pace, is worth celebrating.
Artwork and product photograph: May Mac / Wood Be Remembered. Your purchase goes directly to May’s business; we receive no commission.
🌿 Where to next?
🌲 Wonder at creation
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
Psalm 19:1 · KJV
🌿 Nathanael’s reflection: A walk under open sky can be a moment of gratitude. Movement outdoors looks different for every body. A short roll, a slow walk, or a few minutes by a window all count. Caring for creation is part of caring for one another.
ℹ️ About this page
✍️ Written by
Flourishing Nurse Ninja Nathanael Elijah Smith, FNP-C, DipACLM, with artificial intelligence–assisted drafting
🔍 Independent external review
Not yet completed
📅 Last updated
October 2, 2026
📚 Key sources
Everyday movement ideas are consistent with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (United States Department of Health and Human Services), which note that some movement is better than none.
Move With a Nurse™ and its activity pathways are developing Kitchen Monk™ initiatives, not affiliated with any other walking or movement organization. Kitchen Monk™ provides educational information intended to support informed conversations with qualified healthcare professionals; it is not a substitute for personalized diagnosis, treatment, or emergency care.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” 
