Karen's Pilates Story

Lately, I've been looking at what brings me life.  

You know, just one of those normal, reevaluate your life kind of times.  What makes my heart beat faster?  If you've never spent time looking at your own life to examine it this way, I highly (well, at least mildly) recommend.  

Let's get a little bit of back story first.  I was born into a family of athletes.  My mother was an all around lover of all sports, and broke a few basketball records in college.  My father was an All-American diver among other things.  Their first child played all of the sports as a child.  Their second kid... not so much.  I was more interested in other things.  Music.  Math.  I wish I could think of another thing I liked that starts with an M.  

The tallest, slowest soccer player is me. Check out that great posture, too.

Anyway, I was not an athletic child.  I went to a ballet studio for a short while.  They kept me out of practices because I wasn't good enough.  I played soccer for a year (on a half field) until six year old me decided there was too much running involved.  I tried out softball another year.  My team lost every single game, except for the three games I had to miss.  In fifth grade, I joined band.  In high school, my bandmates became my second family.  Some people say, "well, Karen, you marched, right?  That kind of makes band a sport."  I did march.  For two years.  After that, I became the drum major and stood in front conducting while all the other members of the band marched.

You could say I had a really slow start with movement.  I didn't find anything I loved until I happened upon Pilates (and shortly later, powerlifting, but that's a different story).  

I was hooked after just a few sessions of Pilates.  Back then, though, I didn't really see how amazing Pilates was for all populations.  I happened to be an able bodied person with no past injuries.  I just thought Pilates was fun.

I fell in love with how Pilates made me feel. The progress and accomplishment kept me going.

Fast forward a bit to the time I became frustrated with being a middle school teacher.  Pilates teacher training started to sound really great.  Mind you, I still didn't really know what I was getting into.  

I signed up for a teacher training program through the Pilates Sports Center, under Melissa Flynn.  This happened a little impulsively (being unhappy with your career will have you make decisions like this sometimes), but there have been zero regrets.  

Training was overwhelming at the start.  My minimal background with body science and movement made things a little extra difficult.  However, I was committed, and soon discovered how some of my own traits were actually working in my favor. 

My love of math and structure helped me to find patterns in body structure and movement.  

My attention to detail allowed me to really hone in skills of finding body alignment irregularities.

My need to be good at what I do forced me to spend time at coffee shops studying and making lesson plans outside of all of my studio practice time.

I could go more into all of the struggles, and all of the supportive people who helped me along the way.  For the sake of brevity, let me just say that they existed.  I'm sure I'll cover some of those topics in the future.

I've taught so many ages and ability levels. It's so fun to see what each individual can accomplish with their body.

Somewhere along the way, I fell in absolute love with my new "job."  I started to see Pilates as a way to help people who are in pain.  I realized that the version of Pilates that I teach is for every single body out there, especially those bodies who maybe feel like Pilates isn't for them.  I feel like my place in this industry is to help those who have become desperate to find something that works for them.  It's for those who have finished rehab and are wondering "now what?"  I'm here for those who haven't started moving their bodies regularly because they're scared or intimidated.  I have created a place for people who want to help their bodies prevent pain, or recover from pain, or just move.  

What brings me life?  All of the wonderful people of Pilates that I am thrilled to work with each day.  

If you have any questions, leave them below. To reach Karen directly, feel free to visit the contact page.  Karen is also active on Instagram and Facebook.