I have always loved moving – from martial arts in middle school, to rock climbing in college, to aerials and weightlifting in my twenties. I was also increasingly in pain from joint injuries: shoulder, wrist, sternum, ankle… I couldn’t figure out why I seemed to injure myself much more often than the people around me.

A combination of therapy, good coaches, and exploring my gender identity helped: I realized how often I wasn’t present in my body and began developing tools to listen to my body. But I still couldn’t bring myself to tone down the amount of physical activity I was doing in order to let my body catch up.

Until my body hit its breaking point: in May 2024, a series of injuries meant I lost the use of both hands and both feet over the course of about three weeks.

Where I had once avoided slowing down, I had to allow my life to come to a stop while I grappled with my new limitations. I learned that I’m hypermobile, which means I need to make sure to do extra work to strengthen and stabilize my joints when doing complex movements. I also learned how to breathe, how to do nothing, and how to live with uncertainty about what my body might be capable of in the future.

Now I build strength on a foundation of deep relationship with my body. This intimate knowledge of what it means to move at a sustainable pace is one of the core values I bring to my personal training practice.