The Where I Work series explores San Antonio’s evolving workplaces. It takes readers behind the scenes to learn from the people who work at companies large and small, nonprofits, family-owned enterprises, and in other nontraditional workplaces. Get in touch to share your story.
I grew up in the ballet world and found a first career as a dance artist, performing in shows around San Francisco and Los Angeles. Performing in ballets and contemporary works was a childhood dream come true.
I loved the job, although long days of training and rehearsals took a toll on my body. I found myself with chronic back pain and hip pain. There were mornings filled with aches and stiffness. It was a hard job.
After a few unfortunate injuries and a few cross-country moves, I found my way to the fitness and Pilates world. More traditional fitness and Pilates were fantastic for helping me build strength but they were, at times, hard on my joints and past injuries. I stumbled onto the Gyrotonic method while teaching at a Pilates studio in Oregon. My first class offered me an incredible workout and for the first time no injury flare-ups. I was sold.
When I arrived in San Antonio, I realized the Gyrotonic community and training network was very small. We needed a host studio for others to come and to experience this great method, so I launched Kind Body Works, where I teach the Gyrotonic method and Pilates. I’m a coach, a trainer, an anatomy nerd and a body mechanics virtuoso, and I absolutely love what I do.
Kind Body Works is a cozy studio situated in a lovely small business community located off Blanco Road. The space overlooks a courtyard of oak trees and is lined with tall windows that allow natural light to pour in. It’s San Antonio’s first Gyrotonic method studio and features personalized one-on-one training.
The method is a dynamic exercise system based on movement through the joints. It has a tough name, although think “gyroscope” and you’ll get something close to Gyrotonic. Think strength training meets martial arts and yoga, all with specially designed weighted equipment. It’s an exercise system that can build strength, agility, mobility and can enhance neuromuscular coordination.
There’s hard work and, yes, sweat. There is resistance training, weights and stretching our range of motion through the work. Although the real secret sauce to the Gyrotonic method is that it can build the endurance of our focus. There is often an emphasis on how an exercise is performed. That may look like a focus on breath, or a reminder to relax certain muscles or use more. It’s a practice of building efficiency in how we move and think. It’s a body workout and a brain workout.
I like to say that in my job I get the privilege to help people do what they love in life, longer. Sometimes that means I help the professional athlete stay injury-free or reach greater performance. Sometimes that means I help our elder and wiser community members stay strong, to keep up with the aging process (and to play with grandchildren!). Sometimes it means helping a superhero mom who has chronic back pain recover well enough to sit and read a book to her little one. Sometimes it’s helping the cancer survivor, the trauma survivor and the chronic pain survivor to find a new way to experience the body they inhabit and therefore the life around them. It’s an incredible job.
My favorite part of the job is that it’s a practice in finding possibilities. I get to help others find new ways of moving and new ways of seeing themselves. There can be new strength, new access to mobility, a new map of what the body can do. If we start to see that more is possible in our physical body, then we can see that more is possible in life. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a wonderful place to work.
