But life has thrown a lot of challenges at me:

• At age 12, I developed exercise-induced asthma 4 years after starting martial arts. It made martial arts very challenging.

• At age 16, I started experiencing hip pain. At 17, I was limping.

• In my early 20s, another condition suddenly appeared: I had vasovagal syncope. If I train too hard, I can black out.

• And most recently, I started suffering from vertigo. When it happens, it can be so severe that it is completely disabling.

For someone who’s been moving all of their life – from tennis and martial arts as a kid to now dancing and gymnastics– having all of these conditions has felt like a kick in the teeth.

How can I be so unlucky? It feels like the universe is trying to stop me from being active.

The thing that has affected me most, by far, has been my hip pain and my limping.

I already had terrible posture from a lack of confidence, low self-esteem, and poor postural modeling from my parents.

The hip pain and limping aggravated everything in my body and caused pain in my knees, shoulders, feet, and back… everything hurt at some point.

Can you imagine how 15 years of limping impacts your body? Everything was twisted and out of whack.

I’ve seen so many specialists, including Physiotherapists and Osteopaths, and I’ve had numerous scans and needles. Nothing helped much.

But after 12 years of seeking answers, the technology was finally advanced enough to capture the bone impingement (aka too much bone in my hip) and poorly formed hip socket.

Ultimately, I needed surgery, and there was quite a bit to do. The surgery did the job and fixed the ultimate cause of all my pain.

What the surgery didn’t help with, though, was
• the poor movement patterns
• the compensation patterns that were ingrained
• the fact that some muscles long stayed unused because I couldn’t walk properly.

The specialist physio and the cortisone injections did not help…

I was still limping.

This is when I decided that I couldn’t rely on anyone else. I had to figure it out myself.

A life without exercise, fun movement and with a continuous limp was out of the question.

I HAD to figure it out.

I was ready to take matters into my own hands.

I studied the body extensively. I learned about
• posture
• movement patterns
• muscle engagement
• muscle imbalances
• natural movement
• and corrective exercise

Thanks to over 10 years of martial art, I already had the foundations of body awareness, which was an amazing platform from which to spring off.

I tried new things, I changed my movement habits, and taught myself a lot… And gradually, I saw things changing.

Until one day, 3 years after surgery, I FINALLY got rid of my limp.

My hips will never be normal. But I’ve learned to live with them.

I finally figured out what my hips need and how to manage them day to day.

If you can only read and remember one thing, this is it:

We don’t have perfect bodies.

You may have aches and pains, even chronic ones.

Maybe you have injuries, medical conditions, or other things that stop you from moving like you would like to.

But I am here to tell you: there may be something that you can do.

If you have tried all the specialists and all the workout programs, and it still did not help, there’s probably a missing link.

And I can help you with that.

I can teach you about your own body and help you move without pain despite your limitations.

If Nez, at age 17, had listened to what the doctor told her; if she had believed that there was nothing she could do, that she would be limited and in pain for the rest of her life, then I wouldn’t have this amazing and vibrant life that I have today.

If you really want to know more about me

I completed the Lifesaving Bronze Medallion swimming level when I was 15.

I have also participated in tennis, netball, and athletics.

My current training interests are posture, running – endurance and sprinting, parkour, dance, unicycle, gymnastics, indoor rock climbing & flying trapeze (to name a few!).

Are you wondering about my qualifications? I understand. Here they are:

• Certificate III & IV in Fitness – Personal Training
• First Aid Level 2 & CPR
• Pre and Post Natal Exercise Certified
• Boxing For Fitness Certified
• Older Adults Trainer
• Group Trainer
• Kettlebell Accredited
• Diploma of Fitness – Exercise Specialist (currently undertaking)
• Corrective Exercise Specialist (currently undertaking)

Curious about what issues I may have worked with before? Here is what I know/ am experienced with:

• Improving posture
• Overcoming back pain, including lower back pain
• Helping you move through life without pain
• Corrective exercise – correcting muscle imbalances and movement deficiencies
• Rehabilitation, such as injury rehab
• Exercise and nutrition for weight loss
• Running technique coaching, as well as walking technique
• Functional training