Healing While Training: The heart of my work

As a child, I started in dance. I was studying at the National Ballet School of Canada when a reaction to a failed vaccination left me fighting for my life. I would be in and out of hospitals throughout my teenage years, changing my path forever.

 

So, I went to school to study Kinesiology, not knowing at the time it would be just the beginning of a deep dive into 20 years of studying and teaching movement. The heart of my own journey has been an exploration in how to cultivate a practice for strength and vitality while working with changes in my body, injuries or pain.

 

When I opened my first studio, I was teaching mostly mainstream fitness and Pilates but my own personal health experiences had pushed me deeper into exploring somatics, meditation, and other bodywork. I started getting referrals for clients with injuries, auto-immune issues, anxiety, chronic and unknown pain. What I discovered was this VERY large gap between healing and training modalities. Healing work seemed to slow people down, notice subtleties, and work in a more nuanced way. Training at the time was automatic, repetitive and copying the teacher—mostly just putting the body through its paces.

 

What I have learned is that most people want to feel fit, capable and settled in their bodies. What I also know is that we are human beings, and living a life affects our bodies. Our struggles live in and get metabolized by our bodies, so in varying degrees we are always HEALING and hopefully we also are moving in a way that practices us into the people we hope to become.

 

Here's the thing—I can't fix your body, only you can make that commitment and truly do the work, but I am here to help and share what I have learned. I am a person who is healing myself while at the same time committed to and inspired by cultivating a big and bright future. I don't see these things at odds, I think we must reconcile them moving forward together.

 

BEING IN BODY is about the acknowledgement that we are human BEINGS and live IN a BODY. How these things intersect is the heart of my work, my biggest questions and my most meaningful experiences in movement. 

 

Love,

Erin