My Story
My name is Elena, but you may more commonly know me as Elle!
I am a 28 year old ozzie from Perth, who has a passion for punishing (loving) people with the beautiful form of movement we all know and love, Pilates.
I am a qualified Physiotherapist, Clinical and Group Pilates Instructor, and chocolate eating champion. I have a zest for life, and a keen interest in continuing to learn how the body moves, and treating each and every body as a blank canvas ready to create an art form with.
My passion for pilates stems a few years back, where I was practicing Matwork pilates without any real knowledge of what I was doing or that it was in fact this well known form of movement. Body weight functional fitness is a practice which I am incredibly drawn to, in how it can be done anywhere, any time, with anyone.
Back in 2019, my Pilates career commenced by running matwork classes out of a fitness retail store after my shifts a few days per week. It was during this time that I discovered the power of community, connection, and embracing movement in fun enjoyable way with like minded people. Our music was pumping, our pores were sweating, but more importantly, the sense of unity within the room was felt by all. The glue that we all felt was like a drug, I would leave these classes with energy levels sky high and a very full heart. This quickly became my happy space, and I knew that this was the start of something big and very special …
I began teaching reformer pilates not long after, with the combination of the two feeling like the apple to my eye, the pumpkin to my patch, and the grip to my socks!
Fast forward to the time we are all now so familiar with, covid! Teaching virtually was a whole new experience in itself! But thank goodness for technology and people taking it in their stride! It enabled me to have an incredible appreciation for instructors who can smash a cardio workout while speaking clearly into a camera! The heavy huffing and puffing was so real, but it kept us all sane! Our sweat on the screen thankfully then evolved into an outdoor bliss, with workouts under fairy floss sunsets, or by the sound of crashing waves. We were back! Covid times gave me time to really reflect on my Pilates journey, and recognise the power of connecting with people online. The magnitude of impact possibility, and being unrestricted from geographical placement wasn’t something I had really considered before this time. This has gently guided my path from this time in the most rewarding, fulfilling, and special way!
Over the years, I finished my Physiotherapy degree (yay - what a journey in itself…), have worked full time in private practice Musculoskeletal Physio, ran thousands of group reformer and matwork classes and guided countless clients along their clinical pilates journey.
My online presence on the gram has been an ongoing passion of mine, which satisfies my creative bug so wholesomely. This platform has been the core powerhouse for enabling me to connect with other instructors and movers from far and wide. It flourished my passion for helping other instructors in their teaching practice, and encouraged me to dive into writing my class plan packs and ebooks to support others. This is where my mantra of ‘inhale knowledge - exhale performance’ stemmed from!
Being addicted to seeing your bright shining faces in the flesh, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone, I wrote a few workshops and have since delivered them across the country, and am soon to be taking it over seas. I get such a rush out of hosting these events and sharing my skills and drills learned along the way. The biggest kick I get out of it, is hearing how much it has helped other instructors practice after attending. I feel like a proud aunty, cheering you all on from the side lines!
My second addiction in life, being activewear, paired with my first love in the pilates field, MoveActive, and my lifelong history of being a horse rider and wearing funky wild socks - It was only natural for me to dream about having my own grip sock out in the world. I was incredibly fortunate enough to have the honour of designing my own grip socks in 2022. You can find these in my shopping section, they’re pretty great!
There have been SO many highlights along this journey, too many to mention, but all add to the fire I feel in my belly every day. I have my beautiful community to thank for being in such a humbling position, to have your trust, loyalty, and support means more than you will ever know.
I can’t wait to experience what’s in store for me and us along this journey. It feels incredibly bright! So let’s stay connected, grow and glow together as we inhale knowledge, exhale performance, and keep reaching towards our biggest wildest dreams. Let’s get it!
