I have been a national team athlete. I have conquered cancer three times. I have been a pelvic floor physio for 20+ years and I teach individuals to incorporate core activation into everyday functional activities. As a mom of two I have first-hand knowledge on how pregnancies and children impact the body and posture.
Having been a physiotherapist for 25 years, I enjoy learning and updating my knowledge and adding varying skill sets to help you with your body. I have taken post-graduate physiotherapy courses in Women’s Health, including Diane Lee’s pelvic organ prolapse, BC Women’s Incontinence Course, Pilates course and Hypopressive course work. Structural alignment coursework includes LJ Lee’s Thoracic Ring approach, Postural Restoration Institute’s course in Postural Respiration, Tom Myer’s Anatomy Trains for Pilates and movement instructors and Jill Miller’s Roll Model Method Fascial release work. I have deeply enjoyed the Stretch Therapy courses and workshops offered by Kit Laughlin and Olivia Allnut, out of Australia. And finally, I am a Certified STOTT pilates instructor since 2003 and loved the Fascial Movement Foundations course and have taken too many pilates workshops over the years to mention.
As your physiotherapist, I emphasize education, functional movements, and learning about your body and its stress responses. Together we can decipher how your physical body interacts and interplays with the nervous system and how your stress can manifest in the body, and how to release it. I have years of education, ongoing learning and hands-on experience, helping individuals feel better and move better.
Through most of the 1990s, I was honoured to be a national athlete for Field Hockey Canada. I also graduated from the University of Toronto in 1996 and began a lifelong passion for helping others feel and move better as I began my career as a physiotherapist.
After seven years of working in a traditional clinic, I experienced burnout from my role as a Clinical Director of five multidisciplinary clinics. I started Pilates to get back in shape for my return to the National field hockey team. It had such a positive impact on my outlook and my body that I became certified in the Stott Pilates Method.
After getting married, my husband and I moved to Vancouver, BC to return to the National field hockey team. I played for two more years and shared what I had learned about pilates with my teammates and realized that moving forward I would incorporate it into my profession.
In 2003, I started ProActive Pilates, a health and wellness studio incorporating Pilates, yoga, and body rolling with eight instructors working under me. It was a fun and exciting period in my career, but it was also taxing emotionally and physically.
The winding road of life took many unexpected twists and turns. I retired from the National team to start a family, but that was delayed for three years, as I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, not once but twice.
We had our first child in 2008 and as I worked harder and longer I learned that the pressures of work and motherhood could cost me my health. Motherhood is demanding, and when you add pain into the mix, it can become overwhelming. My core values of strength, flexibility, and balance really began to take shape.
After enjoying the beach, the food, and the lifestyle of Kitsilano for eight years, our family and ProActive Pilates moved to Port Coquitlam, BC in 2010 when we welcomed our second daughter into the world. In 2013, I underwent surgery for malignant melanoma, but I recovered quickly. As our views towards health and our bodies shifts and evolves, so does the way I approach my work.
Professionalism, excellence, and education. These are the backbone of my physiotherapy practice.
At ProActive Pilates, clients will find much more than a physio treatment. As my client you may experience connection and emotional release, and you’ll become more mindful of your body.
I teach my clients the techniques that improve core activation and stabilization patterns, mobility, and agility. Postural changes implemented into your daily activities and creating symmetry and balance through repetition, will help reduce pain, stiffness and tension in the body.
I provide a safe haven to release the tension and stress that can impact every aspect of your life. Through it all I have stayed true to my core values, both in my inner and outer world. I am dedicated to serving my clients to do the same.
Nothing is more rewarding in my work than to witness individuals living with strength, flexibility, and balance. If this sounds like it’s what you are looking for, I would like to meet you.
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