The Journey

I am a Pilates Instructor and an advocate of any movement that refreshes you and keeps you healthy.  Along with those passions comes my love of an overall healthy lifestyle from eating organic to homeopathic remedies.

I come from a long struggle with back pain.  My journey with chronic back pain began ten years ago.  At the time I had just stopped swimming for my Division III college team.  I had just walked on to the Cross Country team and the season had just begun.  It turned out that I had a severe disc herniation and degeneration in my lumbar spine.  I went from specialist to specialist and was in severe pain.  It was a long year of Physical Therapy and pain killers.  Nothing was really working and my health was plummeting fast.  Finally, my parents and specialist agreed that surgery was the only option because my disc herniation was causing severe damage to my sciatic nerve.

I had surgery in February 2002 and immediately felt 70% better .  The road to recovery was long and back pain still persisted just not as severe.  Frustration and determination led me to explore other options.  I was introduced to pilates about 5 years ago.  I fell in love.  It was exquisite.  I now compare it to biting into a chocolate lava cake.  I got stronger, had mind and body awareness again, my back hurt less and less often, my posture improved and I lost weight.