I was born wanting to move and dance and explore my world through movement.  However, when I was seven I injured my spine.  While this may have limited my physical capabilities it did not suppress my love of movement.  In fact it lit a fire that became an endless quest to better understand how the body functions and how to move well and pain free.  

 

I discovered a Yoga manual about the same time as my injury in a jumble sale, and practiced the movements and meditations in this book daily to help with my pain.  I still love Yoga, although being hyper-mobile meant that Yoga didn't help me to stabilise my broken over-mobile body.

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I continued to stay as active as I could, although there were times when I was bed ridden with pain.  I continued to study Ballet into my late twenties partly because I loved it and couldn't bear to give it up.... and as much as anything because I was determined to walk without a limp.  My dance classes where next to a body building gym..... so I tried body building too.  The combination of dance and weights seemed to work better for me than Yoga alone..... and so kettlebells were thrown into the mix.... and yes this is a theme I will try anything and everything to stay moving, strong and pain free.

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I was offered a "Harrington rod"  (spinal fusion) at seventeen but had this "strange idea" that if I could keep my muscular system strong it would support my battered spine, and was very reluctant to loose the mobility in nearly half my spine.  Much to the disgust of the surgeon I asked for another year to see if I could rehabilitate myself... he reminded me that he was the expert here and to expect a wheel chair if I didn't follow his advice.  I must say that now this is a far less common attitude... I find most surgeons now are happy to support my madcap ideas to dodge surgery.

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Then in 1991 when I was living in North London I heard about this "Pilates Studio"  to be honest I didn't really know what Pilates was but found I was able to stabilise my spine better and finally started to gain more control over my body and reduce the pain as I improved my core-stability. Although the courses where expenses and I was earning very little.   So I would save for several months to pay for a six week block, then would have to give up until I had saved for another six week block.  Even with my sporadic attendance the Pilates sessions managed to stabilise me in a way that no other form of movement or exercise had in the past. 

 

I went on to train as a personal trainer and sports massage therapist and with my history I naturally gravitated towards rehabilitative work and was lucky to get a position within a Physiotherapy unit providing mid to late stage rehabilitation under the supervision of the Physiotherapists. 

 

I finally came full circle and retrained as a Pilates mat work teacher on one of the "Body Control Pilates" first teacher training courses in 1999/2000 with Lynne Robinson, Helge Fischer and Gordon Thompson.  Since then I studied both mat work and Apparatus with Kelly Kane in NYC, The Pilates Foundation in the UK  and Stott Pilates... I am also a graduate of the Kathy Grant Heritage Programme, and a Madeline Black Method Pilates Teacher.

 

Unfortunately in 2010 I was thrown off a train in NYC and landed 12 foot down on my coccyx on concrete, the force of this fall shunted my spinal cord up into my brainstem leaving me with a nasty concussion, ataxia and and chronic pudendal neuralgia as well as prolapsing my pelvic organs. 

 

I have been fortunate to study with some amazing Pilates teachers including Rebekah Rotstien, Kuan Hui Chew, Elizabeth Larkham,  Kelly Kane, Marcia Thomson, Cameron Angus, Madeleine Black, Mat Mclaughlin Leonieke Albreghs. 

 

Being a geek I have continued to study other movement methods as well as advanced study of human anatomy and biomechanics.  To this end I have studied with Gary Carter, Tom Myers, Mia Munroe, Erica Hassan, David Zemach-Bernstein and Paul Chek. 

 

My own practice has included not only Pilates but Yoga, GyroKinesis, Kettlebells, TRX, Floor-barre, Static Trapeze, Aerial Yoga, Feldenkrais, Yamuna, Nordic Walking, Pole Dancing..... the list goes on.

 

When teaching I like to maintain a framework of Pilates However, given my eclectic movement background I enjoy mixing things up with with other modalities to keep you on your toes.

 

Most important to me is not what you do in the class but what you take home.  I want my students to understand their bodies sufficiently to be able to apply what they learn to their everyday life and other sports and activities.  To this end I keep classes small enough that I can ensure everyone is working correctly. 

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Now back in Scotland and as a result of my injuries have specialised in rehabilitation but in particular spinal and pelvic floor rehabilitation.