‘Terrible pain made me pass out on stage — But then I discovered pilates’

By the time I reached middle school, I was dancing five hours a day, six days a week.

But in seventh grade, I got an itch to try something else. I didn't want to stop dancing, but I also wanted to be more like the other kids in my grade, so I decided to join the track team. My dance coach was NOT a fan of the idea, so I ended up keeping it a secret. You know when you’re a kid and you sneak out of the house, and you know you’re doing something bad? That’s how I felt when I joined track. Then, in the very first meet, I competed in a long-jump event, which involves sprinting and then jumping into a sand pit. When I landed, it felt like someone stabbed me in the knee. My stomach dropped—I knew something bad had happened. I knew I'd screwed up, and I was devastated.

My mind started spinning—I knew people would be upset with me, and worse, I was upset with myself. I was dancing in The Nutcracker at the time, and I knew I'd have to drop out.

When I saw a doctor, I learned I had torn my miniscus, and all my fears were confirmed. At 13, I realized I wasn't invincible. But I started physical therapy to help rehabilitate my knee, so I could hopefully dance again.

But then, my physical therapist put me on a reformer—the machine that's used in Pilates training—and I thought: What the heck is this crazy contraption? It made my body feel so good—I could feel my muscles working, and I felt very connected to my body, similar to how I felt during dance.

I actually star ted looking forward to PT—injury aside, I wanted to get on the reformer as much as possible. That was the first time I'd ever done something that wasn’t a performance sport. It was more about rehabilitation, and learning about all the intricate muscles that stabilized my joints. I loved it, it made me feel amazing.

After my PT was complete, I went back to dancing. I also ended up joining a performing theater group in the Bay Area, and I traveled around California with them.When I was a sophomore in high school, I got into a summer program at CalArts. We were dancing all day, six days a week. It was such an amazing program, but at one point toward the end of that summer, when we were at the ballet barre, my knee literally gave out and I collapsed.

The instructors carried me out, and I went straight to the program's PT office. The verdict: I needed to get back into Pilates. After that, I started to take Pilates regularly, on top of dance.

I didn't think I'd suffered any major injuries at the time.

But a few years later, during my junior year of college at UC Irvine, where I was pursuing a degree in theater and dance, I started to experience serious pain around my ribs, especially when I was dancing. It got so bad that there were times when I would pass out on stage.

I finally went to see a doctor who told me I had broken my ribs in that car accident, and they were now covered in scar tissue. The injury was likely made worse by all the crazy twists I was doing while dancing.

The doctor told me I had two options: Get a $300,000 surgery; or rehab with Pilates, and strengthen my core muscles so they could securely hold my ribs in, almost like a corset. I remembered how much Pilates had helped with my knee, and decided to go with that option.

Luckily, it worked—I never had to get the surgery, and to this day I feel great.

After taking a break from dance and graduating college, I decided to get certified as a Pilates instructor. But even then, I didn't think it would be a career. I just wanted to learn more about the methodology, and how it affected my body.As a Pilates apprentice, you also have to learn how to teach, and after leading my first class, I realized I really loved that, too. Still, I didn't see it as a life path, so I actually ended up going to law school.It didn't take long for me to realize how much I missed teaching, though. I realized that my quality of life was so much better when I was helping other people, so I decided to leave law school and pursue Pilates as a full-time career. So I moved back to L.A. and started teaching again.

As I continued to gain more and more knowledge of fitness, I decided to incorporate all kinds of workouts into my Pilates classes. I started teaching a mix of ballet barre and strength training, and incorporated it with the classic reformer. I even brought in a trampoline to class, so people could jump off the reformer and get a boost of cardio mid-workout.

I was mostly working with private students, but in 2016, I opened up my own studio, Speir Pilates, using these methods.

Growing up, dance and theater was my life.

I do miss dance sometimes, but I still incorporate classes into my own fitness routine here and there. Plus, I get to fulfill my passion for performing by teaching classes and filming videos for Speir Pilates. And, as it turns out, the knowledge I gained during law school was helpful when I launched my business. All these different paths I went down were crucial in leading to the place I ended up.

I've learned it's so important to trust in yourself and know what you love, and let that become what it’s going to become. The best thing is to let go of trying to control everything and just enjoy every day.