From a young age, I loved to explore the natural world.  There was a dead-end near my house where my friends and I would play in the woods: sometimes on foot, sometimes by bike, and, as I got older, on cross-country skis in the winter.  I think movement always went hand-in-hand with the exploration for me.

As I grew through my teens, I began to adventure further distances on my bike, including overnight trips, and I joined the swim team.  I got deeper into these activities and began to develop a fascination with human health and performance, and also with what we called, at the time, the “MIND/BODY” connection (as if the two were ever separate!).

I studied and practiced meditation, strength training, and began doing triathlons; researching a broad spectrum of conditioning methods and “mental training.”

At Michigan State University, I decided to more completely devote my energy to human health; I believe this was partially inspired by the loss of my father to Coronary Heart Disease when I was 10 (he was 38).  In earning my degree in Exercise Science, I took all the “traditional” health education, science, nutrition, biomechanics, kinesiology, and anatomy classes (I was a teaching assistant in the cadaver lab), but I also took many psychology, philosophy, and religion classes as well as activities like windsurfing and T’ai Chi. Throughout college, I also enjoyed a terrific part-time job in a technical running store and learned a great deal about gait mechanics, among many other things.

My love for movement and for human health continued after college as I worked with folks with developmental disabilities, starting with children and, later, adults.

When the opportunity to work at an internationally-acclaimed facility specializing in Mind/Body Medicine presented itself to me, I jumped at the chance!  In 1996, I began working as a Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, and, soon-after, a Pilates Instructor.  I was doing lots of post-rehabilitation, working very closely with Physical Therapists, Physicians, Exercise Physiologists, Acupuncturists, Massage Therapists and Nutritionists.  Pilates made so much sense to me and to my clients who all needed a great deal of neuromuscular re-education.

I was immediately taken by Pilates: the combination of Healthy Movement, the Spirit of Play, the Aesthetic Beauty, and the Development of Awareness. I found that, personally, it kept me safe and made me more confident and capable in all my activities:  including Mountain Biking, Snowboarding, Canoeing, Hiking, and Trail Running, and with many clients, it got them back to adventuring in activities from which they had been restricted.

I have been blessed for many years now, to be able to watch Pilates change people’s lives in both the clinical and the studio setting.  Watching people’s comfort level in their bodies change, watching them get fitter, and watching them thrive in all their other activities due to their Pilates work is a joy and an honor. 

In the near future, I look forward to utilizing what I’m continuing to learn in Pilates as I branch deeper into back-country snowboarding, my ongoing meditation practice, and partner dance, such as the Argentine Tango.