I was diagnosed with juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at 16 years old and it came on like a freight train. One day my knuckles were hot and hurting, and within 2 weeks I was unable to walk. After jumping into western medicine for the next 5 years, taking medication that masked symptoms, yet was unable to help with the actual disease, I had an unexpected uptick with my health and began my search for alternative healing. I have not been on pharmaceuticals since.

Since I was in good health for the next few years with no flare ups in sight, I just danced and bicycled my days away while eating mostly whole foods with a sprinkling of acupuncture. Then I became pregnant and spent my whole pregnancy in pain using a cane to move about.  This was my longest flare, continuing into my son's preschool years. Luckily for me Blue's teacher had a second job as a Pilates Instructor and told me daily: try Pilates!

Within 3 months I was out of flare and knew I had to become a Pilates instructor. The beauty of the Pilates method for me is that it meets me exactly where I am at, at any given time. I have extreme joint sensitivities due to the arthritis that make it imperative for me to have precise form. Pain is a good teacher with lots of feedback. If I am in slight flare I can keep up with my practice and modify. If I am in big time flare I can still keep up with my practice, it just looks incredibly modified, but I am still able to flood my body with consciousness and care. If I am out of flare I can star in my own slow motion gymnastics routine harkening back to yesteryear when I was a junior elite gymnast.

The method is so vast and variable with so many layered insights as you journey through it, that even for this distracted citizen of the world, it will keep my attention for decades. I have been able to use it as a tool for myself in multiple ways: to walk again; as an emotional fortifier; as a triumphant energizer; and as good company in sometimes solitude. In sharing the method as a teacher I have been able to coax grace, strength, emotional and physical flexibility, confidence and enthusiasm out of a variety of students.  Interestingly, while the method is about the uniform development of the body through a series of exercises, it also becomes a therapeutic expression of emotions and experiences. Kind of feels like the new hairdresser or bartender role of accidental therapist. Yay for unregulated therapy: freedom for psychological adventurers in a time of much regulation!

I owe much to the method and the man Joseph Pilates.  I have also had many teachers who have inspired me along the way to hear my own truths while following a prescribed method. It is interesting to me that within such structure we can become free or experience freedom. A sound physical body allows us to not only pursue our dreams but to have a fit house in which to dream. Imagining the landscape of our futures is in tandem with the strength and fortitude to march forth and carve out that future...with the added bonus of a robust community of movers and seekers.