Enlightened Moves The Beginning Part 2

I came to meet ö-Sel after stumbling about various Pilates’s studios looking for a great teacher.  I had just moved back to NYC from Seattle where I had the great privilege to study Pilates with some very well known and accomplished Master Instructors.  And I had just spent many months in physical therapy due to an accident where I had been a pedestrian and was struck by a truck. 

I vividly remember the EMTs and the subsequent doctors and therapists I worked with all saying that if it hadn’t been for all the Yoga and Pilates I had been doing, I probably would’ve broken my back.  Instead, I got up and limped away.  That accident changed my entire life.  It changed many of my personal relationships, for a time it changed my daily activities and it changed my view of fitness and health forever.  Up until that point while I had been very fit, having been a long time student of Dance, and Yoga and Pilates, I had never lifted a handweight in my life and I had only ever briefly belonged to a gym.  And even though I had completed the Yoga Alliance teacher training course…I had only half-heartedly considered teaching. I never took any of these physical gifts I had very seriously. Once I had my accident those words I kept hearing from all of my physical therapists rang repeatedly in my head.  I knew it was true and I wasn’t going to take my body for granted anymore. 

I gave up smoking.  I changed my diet.  I began a serious Pilates-based physical therapy regimen.  I was back at Yoga. And I was longing to start taking dance classes again but wasn’t quite strong enough. Once I was cleared for take off and back in NYC, I began looking to take my fitness to the next level.  One problem: no one wanted to touch me…everyone kept treating me like a victim and wouldn’t let me progress.  It was very frustrating.  I was gaining weight.  I was becoming depressed and anxious. Then one day I showed up to a private Pilates session and this beautiful English woman was reading my chart/client history. She looked up at me with such clarity and light in her eyes that I knew something was different about her. To this day I laugh because it is such a dichotomy for someone to be so serene and proper and English and yet be such a bitch of a trainer!  Needless to say, we clicked immediately.  She understood exactly what I was having trouble with.  She completely put me back together again.  I was getting stronger everyday with a combination of Pilates and Feldenkrais treatments from ö-Sel.  Eventually we began to work together in my home.  I had no idea what was in store for me.  I had never had a “personal trainer” it sounded so masculine, like something a bodybuilder would have.  We really began to create these amazing workout sessions together. And I say we because she was instructing me but I kept wanting to be pushed further, in fact I’d try so hard not to grimace if something was difficult because I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing it was a challenge so we could keep going further.  We actually had a lot of fun together and it felt like old friends hanging out and sharing advice and bonding over Clint Eastwood and James Bond movies rather than another dull workout on the treadmill.  I lost weight.  And while my body was changing, so was my mind. I felt calmer in situations that I used to find stressful. I felt like I had a glow. A friend I hadn’t seen in a long time jokingly referred to me as “Benjamin Buttons”. And I was literally getting stopped on the streets and asked what I did to get those arms or that butt.  And I’d try to explain the workout to people but it was really personalized to me so it was hard to sum it up…it was different every week.  I remember telling this one stranger that I was doing Pilates and Tibetan Yoga and that it’s these exercises my trainer has me doing and she said “oh, you must be an actress” like it would be unheard of to have a trainer otherwise! And all I could ever say to people was you have to call ö-Sel…She’s a witch, a healer…call her immediately!

Eventually ö-Sel moved back to England and I got married and we drifted apart for a short while as she was obviously no longer training me and we were no longer in each other’s living rooms.  As someone who loves being fit, I definitely kept up my workouts but everything was different.  Life happens.  I had a hernia that needed abdominal surgery and a year later I had a baby via c-section…another abdominal surgery. I gained 70 pounds while pregnant with my daughter, and I’m not a huge girl.  I was desperate to lose the weight and get fit but after two abdominal surgeries in a row, my doctors wouldn’t clear me for real exercise for 12 weeks. That’s three months!  I was allowed walking but nothing more.  When the time came, I knew there was only one person who could get me back to where I was.  Yes partly because she knew me and knew what my body had been capable of but also because she is truly gifted at creating unique fitness programs for people.  So via skype and the internet, across the Atlantic she began creating workouts for me once again.  And I’ve lost the weight.  And more importantly I’m feeling strong and confident again. 

And I now have the honor of being her protégé! After years of us talking about doing it, ö-Sel has put me through the ringer to teach like she does. And it is wonderful to finally be able to give back to others what was given to me…healing through exercise. Together with our various disciplines and trainings we’ve created an amazing Method of Fitness that is very whole body and whole mind. And the best part is it can be adapted to any level and can benefit anyone. We hope you enjoy it with us!  

Carolyn DeFir-Hunter @thegirleats @enlightenedmove