Celebrating Women’s History Month

This is my story of learning to let go, trust and saying yes to life.

Leap and the net will appear.

Say yes to the things that make your heart race.

In June 2006, my husband and I moved from Evergreen, Colorado, to Panama in Central America with our three sons. We always had an adventurous spirit. Living abroad was something we dreamed about doing. We felt importance in showing our boys how people lived in other cultures and lived well.

While in Colorado, I became a Pilates Instructor and shared my passion for teaching for 10 years. Suddenly, I moved to a new country where I did not speak the language and had little information about the Pilates community.

I was being challenged.

• Would I have to give up my passion for Pilates for the dream of moving internationally?
• How much would I sacrifice?

A crystal ball revealing what life would look like in a year, in five years, etc., would be amazing, but that’s not reality, and reality was right in front of me. That’s when I made a choice to surrender and leap into the future, knowing the net would appear. When we surrender, we let go of fear and make room for magic to happen. The universe conspires, and the unimaginable begins to take shape. Life is full of surprises and opportunities…little did I know that this was the start of a great Pilates career, greater than I could have dreamt.

Within 48 hours of arriving in Panama, I was teaching in the only Pilates studio in the city. My bags were not even unpacked. My priority was transitioning my sons into their new school. As hard as it was to start working in a studio so quickly, it was the thing that grounded me. It gave me confidence. I knew now that Pilates and my passion would exist in this new setting.

In 2008, two years after moving to Panama, I attended Pilates on Tour (POT) in Arizona. I was excited to return to this venue, find inspiration and reconnect with my Pilates friends and the Balanced Body community. While attending the conference, Balanced Body presented invited me to apply as a Master Instructor for their education program. They were creating an education team to teach curriculum all over the world. Given my new location in Panama, this developed into a wonderful opportunity. Two months later, I attended the Master Training Program in Sacramento, California, at Balanced Body headquarters.

Within my third year of moving internationally, I opened peace.love.pilates, a boutique studio for local clients, and the Authorized Training Center for Balanced Body education in Central America. Today in 2022, peace.love.pilates celebrates 14 years, offering English and Spanish courses for Pilates Instructors.

Currently, I am experiencing success and gratitude beyond my wildest dreams by leaping towards the unknown without fear. I allowed life to lead me with trust and an open heart and mind. I learned the more I let go, the more my dreams became my reality far beyond what I could have ever imagined.

Here’s to the future and landing in the net.