Pain Got Me Started. Curiosity Kept Me Going.

People often ask me how I became so interested in movement.

The short answer?

Pain.

Not because pain taught me everything I know. I've learned from incredible teachers, mentors, clients, books, courses, and years of study.

But pain was the reason I started paying attention in the first place.

For almost ten years, I dealt with chronic back pain. The kind that doesn't completely stop your life, but follows you everywhere. The kind that slowly wears you down.

At some point, I realized something important:

If I didn't move, I felt worse.

Much worse.

Not just physically. Mentally too.

There were days when my body felt so uncomfortable, so disorganized, so restless that I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.

So I started moving.

Not because I was disciplined.

Not because I had a perfect plan.

Because I was looking for relief.

At first, I was just trying to feel better.

But over time, something unexpected happened.

Movement became a daily practice.

For the last six years, there has rarely been a day when I haven't spent some time moving, exploring, or paying attention to my body.

Some days it's Pilates.

Some days it's strength training.

Some days it's yoga.

Some days it's a walk, a swim, mobility work, or simply getting down on the floor and seeing what feels good.

I usually start the same way: slowly.

I check in.

I notice how I feel.

I listen.

Then I follow the thread.

Sometimes that leads to a focused workout.

Sometimes it leads somewhere completely unexpected.

Along the way, I've borrowed ideas from everywhere.

From master teachers.

From clients.

From physical therapists.

From dancers.

From athletes.

From books.

From YouTube.

From Instagram.

From my own trial and error.

I've spent years collecting little pieces of the puzzle and testing them in real time inside my own body.

Some things worked.

Some didn't.

Some worked for a season and then stopped working.

And through all of it, I became less interested in exercise and more interested in understanding.

Why did certain movements make me feel better?

Why did some cues click immediately while others did nothing?

Why did my body keep returning to the same patterns?

What was it trying to tell me?

Looking back, I realize that pain got me started, but curiosity kept me going.

These days I don't move because I'm trying to fix myself.

I move because I genuinely enjoy the process.

I enjoy learning.

I enjoy experimenting.

I enjoy discovering connections.

I enjoy the feeling of being at home in my body.

And perhaps most importantly, I know how much better my life is when movement is part of it.

My journey taught me that movement isn't something you do to your body.

It's a relationship you build with it.

That belief shapes how I coach.

I don't want clients to become dependent on me.

I want them to become curious.

I want them to learn how to listen.

I want them to trust their own experience.

Because the most important things I've learned about movement didn't come from being told what to do.

They came from paying attention.

Pain may have been the thing that got me started.

But curiosity is what keeps me moving.