Inner Balance Physio

This is probably the most common question clients ask me. It’s a unique area and a fair question! When I was much much younger I was a medic in the military, and I was side trained as a Licensed Practical Nurse, as the military was trying to increase hospital skills within the medic field.After my then-boyfriend-now-husband and I got out of the military, I went to school for physiotherapy.While in university for physio, I continued to work as an LPN in a nursing home. As... you may know, urinary incontinence is a very common reason for admittance to nursing homes.Like many, I thought that this was just a normal part of the aging process.During one of our physio classes, the instructor showed us a picture of a muscle stimulation unit used to help strengthen the pelvic floor, and said oh by the way, pelvic floor physiotherapy also exists.We all sat there, utterly stunned, thinking. What?!?!?! But that night I went home and thought about all of the people in the nursing home, and wondered if any of that could have been prevented.I enrolled in the initial pelvic floor training course, and was blown away by how much could be addressed, and how little anyone knew about it. Coming from a medical background, and being used to doing bed baths and catheterizations, it was an easy progression into the world of pelvic floor physiotherapy.I was drawn to the possibilities of having this kind of impact on peoples’ lives. Then I caught one of my luckiest breaks ever, and was able to secure a pelvic floor physiotherapy student placement with the very lovely Sonja Bray and Karen Harschnitz.These women anchored my professional direction in this field, and are two of the most beautiful humans I’ve ever met.The experience was profound. 15 years later, my biggest daily take home is that we are all our own best healers.However, sometimes we just need someone who can help us not to feel isolated, embarrassed and ashamed of very personal symptoms and concerns, and someone who can help us find the path of recovery that our body needs at this moment in time.

A sunrise walk with this sweet girl on the weekend was a great way to start the day. We were even greeted by an owl, probably telling us to go back to bed! I love mountain walks, but we have so much green space here in Calgary to enjoy as well! #goforawalk #goforahike #fishcreek #yyc #yycliving

Non-attachment. Goals are important, but understanding why they are important can help identify what we are looking for, what we need. I find examples of this in my life almost everyday. Like all parents, I want my children to do well in school, but sometimes I recognize myself imposing my own drive for them onto them. And when I step back to consider this, it’s because I want their journey to be easier, smoother than mine. Of course, their journey isn’t mine to writ...e, but it is so painful and difficult to step back a little. I talk about non attachment with my clients, I’m starting to talk about it with my kids, and I’m always always talking about it to myself. It is a HARD art form, but truly one of the key elements to peace and lower anxiety. Namaste y’all and beautiful quote from the lovely @loveaprilgreen

External obliques. This muscle group is causing myself a little bit of grief lately, and has also frequently come up with clients. As you can see, it’s a huge group, that influences a lot of areas. The fibers run from the iliac crest to the 5th to 12th ribs, and then continue onto the linea alba (the connective tissue line in between the 6 pack muscles). They help you bend forward, rotate and side band. And yes these are the ultra helpful fibers that we are often trying to q...uieting down during breathing and transverse abdominus exercises. This is a loud and hyper muscle group. Accordingly, they can be quite vocal when they have areas of tension or strain. They can tighten from overtraining (think side crunches ), as well as from extra sitting time (think computer/desk work and extra Covid Netflix time....). Reaching one hand up and over is the first and easiest stretch to lengthen this group out, but my favorite is certainly restorative half moon. See more

External obliques. This muscle group is causing myself a little bit of grief lately, and has also frequently come up with clients. As you can see, it’s a huge group, that influences a lot of areas. They run from the iliac crest to the fifth to twelfth ribs, and then continue on to the linea alba (the part in between the 6 pack muscles). They cover a huge area. They help you bend forward, rotate and sidebend. And yes, these are the ultra helpful fibers we are often tryi...ng to quieten down during breathing and transverse abdominus exercises. This is a loud and hyper muscle group. Accordingly, they can be quiet vocal when there are areas of tension or strain. They can tighten from overtraining (think side crunches ), as well as from extra sitting time (think computer/desk work, extra Covid Netflix time.....). Reaching one hand up and over is the first and easiest step to lengthen this group out. But this will be the theme for our next stretches... #inpyteo McGraw Ed

Buller Pass. Well, school has started. Ringette has started. Larch hike done. Guess that puts us full into fall mode. Was nice having something like this, something that has become a bit of a tradition, to help orientate and ground me. ... Happy Fall Y’all. #foresthealing #kananaskis #larchtrees #hiking #goforahike #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #yyc See more

It’s a weird ass year, and a weird ass fall. Kudos and gratitude to everyone I see trying to keep some flow, while trying to keep everyone healthy. Watching my kids’ teachers do everything they can to keep the kids engaged, and my daughter’s ringette coaching crew give the girls as full of an experience as possible. Love and gratitude to all the rockstars, we see you. Thank you. ... See more

My coffee. My book. My fire. And NO ONE else is awake yet I love the family things we do during the day, but I seriously treasure quiet early mornings. ...