My life has been a great adventure and the journey to where I have arrived here at Lilyfit is colored with a lifetime experience.
I began my professional journey as a scuba diving instructor and underwater videographer at Great Barrier Reef, Australia and spent years doing so. Although greatly satisfying and absolutely pleasing to my soul, years of carrying around air tanks took a toll on my back, and I started to struggle with back pain for few years.
When I moved to Sydney, I studied Sports Injury Therapies at ACNT. I was always impressed by body mechanics. My grandfather was an athlete and growing up we were always taught to look after the body. He used to say, “healthy body, healthy mind” and his quote was recited regulary in my family. I understood it to the point, but it didn’t completely resonate with me until years later that the two are intricately connected.
It was in Sydney that I was first introduced to Pilates which helped my back pain greatly. I knew that I had found something special, but I did not know that would forever change the course of my life.
Enamored with this knew knowledge, I set out to further advance this practice. I soon got my Contemporary Pilates certification and traveled the world before dropping down at my anchor and settling in Dubai.
While I was working as a manger, the idea of creating Lilyfit as a video platform was born. I was blessed to come across so many amazing international instructors and I wanted to share that with the world.
In 2015 I launched Lilyfit as the first online video platform in the Middle East. Around this time is when I met Susanna Foustok. She often traveled to LA every few months to learn the “Work”. I remember thinking how the “Work” must be so special that she is ready to travel across the world to learn it. Little did I know that in years to come, I will be doing the same thing.
Susanna did a few Classical Pilates Videos for Lilyfit, and I remember editing her videos and thinking how everything was structured. It looked as she had a map as she knew exactly where to go next! I loved it.
In 2017, I attended the Classical Pilates workshop with Sandy Shimoda at Pure Pilates Dubai and remember feeling even more determined to study the method further.
I took a leap and joined Susanna’s Teacher Training Program at Pure Pilates Dubai and as I learn more about the method (and by the way one year is not enough to study the Method) I feel so grateful to Jospeh Pilates for creating such a method.
You know, ever since I started the course everything started to make sense, and there was no longer any confusion. All I know is that we work hard, we sweat a lot, and I have no pain anywhere in my body.
I am thankful to my mentor Susanna Foustok for being one of the gate keepers of this method. She sticks to the system and follows the lineage of her mentor Jay Grimes to every single detail. No frills just the original work.
I am looking forward to the continues journey of discovery and learning of this amazing method.
As Jay Grimes said: ” You don’t see exercises. Because it’s not about the exercises, but the overall method. And when you get there, you have arrived. And that takes time. Some people can do it for 5 years. Some take 20 years. You just have to let the nature take its course”.