Change is good part deux

By Thursday, January 23, 2014 0 Posts (Articles) No tags Permalink

I’ve completed the first part of the Pilates teacher training. It was anatomy focused, so you knew what moves where, why it moves and how it (whether muscle or bone) helps to move or stabilize another area. It was really interesting and we did some exercises to demonstrate to ourselves what the muscles did and how they helped. This was familiar territory to me – thanks to my biology degree, my involvement in different sports, and most importantly, the years of physiotherapy – nevertheless, it was great to look at it from a Pilates angle. Speaking of physiotherapy, I’d be remiss if didn’t mention the fantastic Pilates session I had with physiotherapist Bonnie Jeng! While I’m talking about physiotherapists, this seems like a good time to say that I will soon also be writing for an as-of-yet-unlaunched blog along with Jess Schwartz (@DPT2Go). I’ll provide more information about that blog as it’s launched and when my new posts go up on that site. I feel I can’t mention physiotherapists without saying how awesome a physiotherapist and human being Jennifer Shears is – incredible knowledge and full of enthusiasm!

So, I’m still in Toronto and I will begin the second part of my Pilates teacher training course on Friday. This second part is focused on exercises, so it should be a tough, tiring, and terrific three days. Although I’ve only taken one part of the course so far, I’m really excited about the doing the rest of it! I hope to come back to Toronto later in the year to finish it up. So far, so good.

So why am I doing this? That’s the question I’ll be asked tomorrow at the first day of the course, therefore I’d like to have a good answer (Plus, I’ll likely be the only guy there, so my answer will stand out more than most): I’m doing this because I was a bit of an athlete before my brain injury – I played water polo for 8 years, biked across Canada, did triathlon for 7 months, and a less than a week before my cycling accident, I had swam in a 3km open water race. I was fit and loved – and still love – sports. When I came out of my coma I wasn’t able to walk, my left side was weak and uncoordinated, and I had double vision – which exacerbates many of my difficulties. Physiotherapy, lots of hard work and time, got me back walking, improved my balance, enabled me to swim and, perhaps most importantly, has allowed me to have what I think is a positive forward looking attitude despite difficulties. Pilates is not physiotherapy, I know that, but it is centred on efficient movement of the human body, increases core strength, improves one’s ability to recruit muscles, improves range of motion, and balance. Both Pilates and physio, have improved, and continue to improve, the ease with which I move my body, my confidence, and my happiness.
Or maybe I’ll just say what I said last week: “It’s complicated.”

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