13/05/2026
A personal post from me in my own words.
Chronic pain in your body is debilitating and it stops you from moving, enjoying life and leaves you living in fear. How do I know? Because that was me!
When I say, reformer changed my life. I mean reformer changed my life.
I suffered 10years of chronic back pain and having a baby late in life didnāt help. I had all the best specialists around me and they all told me I had to get moving. But what did movement look like for me?
I went back to what I knew pre-baby, that didnāt help as my body had changed. Continuous injuries left me even more afraid to move. So I gave up. My physio who I owe my life to, limited me to reformer and mat based re-hab. Itās been two years and I havenāt seen my physio for pain in 1yr. I only see her now for management, every two months. Yesterday for the first time, I ran! (I was running late for an apt.) Something in me had shifted and it was my mind. Because I donāt live in chronic pain and fear and anymore, my mind naturally allowed me to run. I didnāt think once about my back.
I felt free, I felt strong and no pain.
When you have your 1:1 with me, youāll notice I donāt focus on breathing, Iām not constantly repeating typical Pilates instructor sayings, itās because Iām focused on getting you moving, your range of motion, isolating, not tilting and making you feel confident. I wish you all could have seen me when I first started. There was no planking, scooters were burning, I favoured the yellow spring, I had no balance, wobbled, fell over a few times and I gripped onto the foot bar for dear life.
Moving forward, structurally I still have limits, am still building strength and range of motion and still canāt do a bridge on a blue spring without the carriage moving. (I will get there, lol)
The biggest change is, I now donāt live in fear.
I am attempting new moves every week and thatās my motivation. Yesterday I attempted the side abdominal bend on the box. I felt a tweak in my problem area. Before, I would have stopped, stretched and moved on. Not having a mindset of fear, I reset myself, carried on but didnāt bend as far. I still know my limits.
Am I moving full range? Not as much as Iād like.
Do I look good doing it? Debatable
Am I breathing correctly? Absolutely not
Is my technique perfect? Could be better
But Iām doing it!
As I build my strength in that movement all the above will come.
Everyoneās movement will look different. My movement is the reformer and this is how Forma. was born.
A space where you can come and not be perfect, a space you feel confident trying something completely new and a space where you have the freedom to try and try and try again until it becomes your perfect.
Thank-you to my members who are joining me on this journey.
Like I say to myself and all of you. We donāt have to look perfect, we just need to show up and we all need to keep moving.
Please trust me when I say, showing up is the easy part, consistency is where you will feel it.
For all those starting outā¦. In 6 months time you will be thanking yourself.
Have the best day
Erin xx
