For me, injury recovery looks like movement. It’s Pilates with the elimination of some exercises and the modification of others. Sometimes it’s returning to pre-Pilates with deep awareness and breath. It’s paying attention to the imbalances in my powerhouse and working to correct them, even with the most subtle of movements. It’s using all the inherently corrective tools that Joseph Pilates invented to restore the body.

But injury recovery is also PT, acupuncture and manual MFR treatments.

My response to injury is instant frustration and the muttering of expletives because, more often than not, I believe I could’ve prevented it. The overuse injuries, that is. Not the sudden, acute injuries like when I was an aerial artist and someone flew into the back of my head giving me a concussion. But the times when I’d “go hard” and neglect regular body maintenance. Back in the day, I’d return to stage before healing 100%. For example, I’d secure my sprained ankles with tape; and then run, jump and stomp onstage, numbed by adrenaline and endorphins.

I don’t push through pain because I’ve done it enough to know that pain is a cautionary tale. In fact, the “No pain, no gain” mantra needs to disappear forever because it’s absolutely false. Pain usually means I’m doing too much, too fast, too soon and my body is about to go on strike. But in the past, while doped up on adrenaline, endorphins and youth, I’ve ignored all the pain signals that eventually landed me in the emergency room. Multiple times. And then I was relegated to rest and a boring regiment of PT exercises which really sucked as a professional dancer whose passions and income were wrapped up in my ability to perform.

My primary fitness goal is to simply keep moving and feeling comfortable in my body. For me, comfortable means “athletic”; constantly challenging what I’m physically capable of. Plus, exercise energizes me, inspires my creativity, sparks my productivity and puts me in a much better mood. And it makes me a more confident and better version of myself. That alone is #goals