Joyful Fitness Pilates

After two years of physical therapy for a rib injury brought on by my joint hypermobility, I was still in constant pain with an altered range of motion, and a new “normal” for gauging pain. As many chronic pain sufferers may relate, I was at my wit’s end having tried different things for treatment with no significant progress. My aquatic therapist recommended Pilates. Save for home exercise videos here and there, I knew nothing about it... thankfully, I discovered that Pilates fairies lived on Yelp! I now realize how amazing and essential Pilates truly is. I have been doing Pilates with Nicole since November of 2017, and it has made ALL the difference! I went from constant/chronic pain management with temporary relief, to a significant decrease in pain, continued progress through overall strengthening, better mobility, and more pain-free days than not. Nicole is an amazing instructor-- incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about what she does, great attention to detail, and an awesome sense of humor! Her beautiful energy and warmth alone are therapeutic. Pilates with her has become an integral part of my self-care regimen and overall well-being. She is a godsend, and I am so very grateful to have found her :-)

I tried Pilates for the first time with Nicole and she always made me feel comfortable every step of the way. I could tell that she really cares about the health and well being of her clients and strives to make their experience as positive as possible. The great thing about Nicole is that she uses vivid (and sometimes funny) visual descriptions that help me understand the moves better. After only a few sessions I can feel the improvement in my core.

December 10, 2014, is a day I will never forget. It was the day of my first serious wreck and the day my body changed forever! I played sports growing up and was extremely active in my day to day life so I thought my body would bounce right back after the wreck – oh, how wrong was I? I spent 10+ months in physical therapy and over a year later, I still deal with my hip being out of alignment and severe neck/back pain. I finally got cleared to start easing back into workouts so I began doing yoga again. I heard that Pilates was great for posture, alignment, and overall strength but I was too scared to go to a studio and take lessons with other people watching. That’s when I saw Nicole offering private Pilates lessons and I knew I had to give it a try!nJanuary 12, 2016, I fell in love…with Pilates! I was greeted by Nicole with a huge, comforting smile which made me instantly feel comfortable. She explained what Pilates was, how the session would work, and took some measurements. I did not mention to her about my hip being alignment/my wreck – I wanted to see how good she really was (and didn’t want her to say I couldn’t do Pilates) – and she spotted it right away! I knew she was going to be fantastic!nI did my first session and was rather impressed with myself but totally blown away by Nicole! She was so patient while she explained the moves (over and over again) and so encouraging when I would doubt my ability to do a move. When the session was over, I was thrilled she was willing to schedule another. YAY! I didn’t scare her off with my seriously beginner moves! I have continued to see Nicole each week for a Pilates session and have improved my skills, my confidence, my posture, and the pain in my back/hip has gotten so much better!nNicole is a fabulous Pilates teacher. She is patient, encouraging, knowledgeable, and has such a charismatic personality that leaves you feeling stronger and happier! If you talk to anyone I know, they will say that I look forward to my Pilates session every week and am no longer afraid to try new things – even an intermediate move.