I’ve been in my Pilates era since the ‘90s—back when I got my first car and spent my free time driving all over Los Angeles, catching Beck, Weezer and Nirvana in gritty coffeehouses and small music venues, while also wandering the aisles of places like the Psychic Eye and The Bodhi Tree book shops searching for answers in astrology, psychology, mythology, and other spiritual texts. Crystals, candles, Jungian ideas, feminist writers, and stacks of metaphysical books became part of the landscape of my youth, right alongside my penchant for indie music, foreign films, and late-night coffeehouse wanderings around L.A.

I half-jokingly say I grew up in “the land of cults,” and in many ways it’s true. I was exposed early to an endless spectrum of spiritual beliefs, self-help philosophies, mystical practices, and alternative ideologies—which, interestingly enough, made me more skeptical than gullible. I learned to question everything and look at the world of “woo-woo” with a critical eye. But after experiencing a profound personal family trauma as a teenager, my search for meaning deepened. And despite my skepticism, two things always resonated with me to the core: astrology and breath work. Somehow, they simply fit.

Around that same time, I discovered Classical Pilates as a teenage dance major at Santa Monica College, and my world was rocked in an entirely different way. From the very first lesson, something immediately clicked, and my body didn’t just need it—it craved it. What began as a physical practice quickly evolved into a lifelong path rooted in therapeutic exercise, holistic health, somatic healing, and the deep connection between body, mind…and spirit.