BONUS EPISODE!! Turning Adversity into Renewal: From Car Accident to Transformation Through Pilates | Jennifer Pilates Appearance on Heidi's Lemonade Stand Podcast

When life handed her lemons, Jennifer Pilates didn't just make lemonade; she crafted an entire philosophy of rejuvenation and empowerment. In an episode that's as inspiring as it is enlightening, Jennifer takes us through her gripping tale of overcoming a life-altering car accident and how it steered her to the world of Pilates. Her journey is a profound reminder that we all have the inner strength to turn our most challenging moments into opportunities for personal growth. 

We don't just listen; we engage in a profound exploration of the transformative power of Pilates, an elegantly simple yet profoundly effective practice that unites mind, body, and spirit. Jennifer illuminates the path for anyone seeking balance, discussing her innovative approaches to Pilates, including virtual coaching and aquatic adaptations. With her guidance, we learn how to embrace self-care as a form of self-love and the courage required to advocate for our health through the long journey of recovery. Join us and discover how reconnecting with the joys of our childhood and the therapeutic embrace of nature can guide us back to a place of gratitude and growth.

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Speaker 1: 0:48

Welcome to Empowered Within, a soul-quenching, transformational podcast that will set your soul on fire. Through candid and inspiring conversations, leading experts, celebrities, healers and I share our journeys of how we've overcome challenges to living an empowered life from within. I'm your host, jennifer Pilates. Welcome to another episode of Empowered Within. Hi there, and welcome to today's bonus episode. I recently had the honor of being interviewed on Heidi's Lemonade Stand podcast. We talked about how, in life, it's important to remember that we need to take those lemons that were given in life, those moments, those challenges and we need to turn those into lemonade. We talked about my journey from car accident to Pilates and how I turned the lemon and turned it into my lemonade journey. I'd love to know what you think of today's episode. Pop over to Apple Podcasts, leave your thoughts, your comments and a five-star rating in the reviews. I thank you so much. It is food for my soul. Sit back, relax and enjoy today's bonus episode.

Speaker 2: 2:04

You're about to hear a true story of someone who has taken life's lemons and made lemonade. I am Heidi, your host, and thank you for joining me. Jennifer, welcome to Heidi's Lemonade Stand. I am so looking forward to getting to know you and hearing your story. So start out by telling me just a couple of things about yourself.

Speaker 1: 2:29

Oh, thank you, Heidi, first and foremost for having me here. I love everything that you're doing with the podcast. Truly, you are an inspiration to everyone. Thank you so much for having me here. A little bit about me, so I have been on this wild whirlwind of transforming body, minds and spirits for over 20 years now and I've been blessed through training, celebrities and working with clients through empowerment, coaching and intuitive advising. And to now to the new podcast, empowered Within, to really help empower people to feel so great from within and to let people know that they're not alone. And whatever you're going through, we've all been there in one aspect or another. I just want people to know that we're with you and we're all one and we're all human.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Oh, I love that and I'm sure that has come from some experiences in your life of why you're interested in this and even giving this service to others. So you got to take me back, tell me how this got started. What's your lemon to lemonade story?

Speaker 1: 3:31

So the lemon to lemonade story started back way back in the day of 1997. I was in a traumatic car accident back then and I was in Boulder, colorado, which at the time was the Mecca of alternative and alternative cares, and I just been living out there. I was in the corporate world, I was go, I had been in that industry from the time, honestly, that I had been about 15 years old and so I was in my late twenties running a retirement community specializing in Alzheimer's disease, and it was. It's a passion. I love seniors, I love being an advocate for seniors and for their families.

Speaker 1: 4:09

And I happened to, just like every other day, sitting there at the stoplight getting ready to go home, and I look up and I see this car coming. I'm like it's not going to stop. And in Colorado at the time there were six rows of traffic and so there was just nowhere to go. And it happened. He hit me, I hit the car in front, I ping-ponged a bit and, long story short, I ended up in and out of doctor offices for about eight hours a day for quite some time. And it's one of those things and it's interesting I was thinking about this last night of how, when you're in something you don't realize generally how big and how traumatic it is until after, it's almost like you are protected. The universe is protecting you, your mind is protecting you. So at the time I really thought I was going about life pretty well. So I thought, and in and out, the blessing was that in Boulder at the time I had the experience to work with incredible chiropractors and craniosacral therapists and acupuncturists therapists, neurologists, you name it. I had this experience and now, coming from Cape Cod as a little country bumpkin, didn't really know about a lot of this. So I had this incredible experience. I was in a lot of pain. I had soft tissue damage from the base of my skull all the way down to my tailbone and one day a chiropractor looked at me and he said you should really try this thing called Pilates. And I just said I'll do whatever you tell me to do. So I met this incredible instructor. She was just amazing and really worked really well with rehab Pilates. And so I worked for two years in rehab with her and she was amazing and fast forward through the story.

Speaker 1: 5:54

At that time, when you were in a car accident, you've got a little bit of money, your turn, they paid your health bills. You've got a little something. And one of the trainers looked at me and she said you should really go to school for this. And I thought, okay, I was just so in the flow. I was like, okay, sure, that sounds great. The amount of money that I got was the exact amount needed to get into the Pilates center in Boulder. And the universe really was like we're going to help guide her. Now she's really been so gung-ho on this corporate world. She's going to rule the world. We're just going to pull her to the right a little.

Speaker 1: 6:26

And that really began such a transformational journey for myself, my own body, mind and spirit. And I still tripped up Again. I was giggling last night and I was thinking here the universe had me going to the school after two years of therapy. It was a blessing had been laid off from the corporation that I was working for. It was a blessing had been laid off from the corporation that I was working for.

Speaker 1: 6:49

And I dove right back in. There was another company who needed my services and I was like, oh, I'll do that while I'm going to Pilates school. And the universe was like, no, can't make this up. Actually I don't really remember this timing. That is a little lapse from the cracks, but let's just say it was like I don't think it was a year later laid off again because that company was going public and all these different things are happening. And so that's really at that point in time when my entrepreneurial life began and it was just, there was no looking back. It was so much fun. It's been a blast, a blessing of 22 years of working for myself and now and again contractually working with companies and helping branding and consulting and coaching, but it's just, it's been such a blessing.

Speaker 2: 7:33

And it all came from a car accident.

Speaker 1: 7:35

That's all from a car accident all from a car accident and it's and there's so many more blessings my intuitive abilities that came out, the healing that came out, the things that I learned learning to go slow, learning to paint it really was just this incredible shakeup that truly just changed the whole trajectory of my life.

Speaker 2: 7:54

That is so beautiful. I love that you can look back on something a lemon or something so difficult and just see in the place that you are now. You wouldn't have any of this without that tragic experience, and I love how you've learned from that and taken it to make you who you are. So that's definitely your lemonade. So tell me more about that.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Yeah, so the lemonade since then. So I graduated from the school, I immediately just thought I'm just going to, I'll start teaching, I'll just jump in, I'll do what they did. This is. This was now four years in, basically. So I did.

Speaker 1: 8:26

I started teaching in Boulder and then I eventually moved back to Cape Cod and I started teaching there and at the time they just it was. I was like I was 10 years far advanced. Nobody was getting what Pilates was. I was so sad and my really good friend was still living out in Colorado at the time. She said why don't you come back? And so again I was like, okay, and by the way, I've moved cross country like eight times now, so this is not unheard of. So I went back out this time I was up in Summit County and other blessings.

Speaker 1: 8:52

You know, things happen in life and it goes into manifesting. And I had started working with a private client who really believed in me, saw my talent. One day I saw space that was available, that was gorgeous, overlooking the lake, and a client just looked at me and said how much do you need for that? Wow, and the studio was born in under 30 days. I'd never done it under 30 days up and running, going, and it's like when you are in your flow and when you're in alignment and when you are just going with the universe. So many magical things happen. And my mission in going to the Pilates school and when I came out to teach was about if I could help one person not feel pain. And all these, 22 plus years later, I'm so grateful for the numerous amount of people that I've helped to no longer feel pain and to progress in their life and to feel better in their body and to live in their body.

Speaker 2: 9:48

So tell me about Pilates. What is that about?

Speaker 1: 9:52

So Pilates is just a beautiful thing. And for those of you out there who are like I don't like to work out, I have a secret Neither do I. Like I don't like to work out, I have a secret, neither do I. That's why I love Pilates. It truly is a mind, body, spirit practice and when you go within, you are working and transforming yourself body, mind and spirit from the inside out. We always start with core and we work outward. So if anyone comes to me in there their knee hurts, their hip hurts, we acknowledge, we know what's going on. Where did the injury come from? How did this happen? And then we begin the practice, which always is based out of your core. And when you start from that center point, you begin to align everything along the way, because I can promise you where you're feeling, that dis-ease is not the only dis-ease or disalignment that's going on in the body. So it really strengthens and lengthens your body from head to toe. You are working with your body weight. So it is, I'll say, virtually impossible to overdo. I've done it. You can't overdo a little bit, but I really have to push it. It's a beautiful thing and you strengthen and you lengthen and you're elongating your muscles versus contracting and bulking them up, which is what we also do in the gym sometimes. So it's an incredible compliment to anything that you're doing, whether you're a runner, you're a cyclist, you're an equestrian, you're a professional athlete, whether you're a mom and you just need a time out. It's incredible, and over the years, I would say, my favorite places to teach have been my home studios and now my virtual studio.

Speaker 1: 11:22

Over the last two years we've all kind of transitioned and I told this funny story about, let's see, about 10 years ago, 10 or 11 years ago, I was leaving Boston another cross-country move, this time to Arizona, and I didn't want to leave my clients behind. At the time I had a studio on Cape Cod and one in Boston, and so I was the first person to ever do virtual training via Skype. That's how, like back in the day, this was written up in the wall street journal. Like you would have thought, I was the first woman on, like the moon, such a big deal. It lasted for about three, six months. Again, I was too far advanced. No one could comprehend or really get it, and now everybody's begging for it. So it's, it's so interesting how, again, things come full circle.

Speaker 1: 12:10

So I always tell people if something didn't work, it's okay, you're just being moved along the path. Maybe you come back and revisit it in a different way or maybe you move on from it. But I look at it and go how funny is this? Everyone's doing it. Now, I never want to do what everyone else is doing, so I'll change it up and do it differently and that's really how my Pilates training, the virtual training, has come. I've really incorporated a lot of what I call pool Lotties, so taking the Pilates into the pool, which is also another incredible concept, because now whatever pain, injury that you have, you're weightless, so we can really adapt the body. It's wonderful for every age. I always say eight to 88. My oldest client has been 90 to date and I love it. So I actually have a hard time staying in the studio because I adore being in the water.

Speaker 2: 12:58

I love that you do that. When I was in my really traumatic car accident and was learning to walk again, that's where I could in the pool as well, because it is. It doesn't hurt your legs so you can just sit and bend your knee and float around and it doesn't hurt, and I think that's a great concept. Like people don't realize that they can do that and then it really does help. It strengthens it without hurting it.

Speaker 1: 13:21

It really does. It's incredible therapy. And another part that I love is I get in there and we're doing a full Pilates workout class training session. A lot is still just private that I do with people in their pools and I've even done virtual Pilates because I don't have to be in the pool to help someone train in their pool or around the world. So that's been really fun with clients. It's so great because you don't realize again, just like in a regular Pilates class. You don't realize how much you're working till the next day. You really don't get it. And the other beauty that I love about Pilates is that it burns fat for 24 hours later.

Speaker 2: 13:58

Nice.

Speaker 1: 14:00

Something a lot of people don't know. So there's just so many amazing benefits, and especially right now, with the mindset and the stress that everyone is under, when I just always keep saying we're in the snow globe, that it's just, it just won't stop shaking, and so this, it's such an incredible quieting down of the mind and asking you to just be present in that moment. Pilates does have equipment. It can be equipment-based. Nowadays, people are realizing that you don't need the equipment. Your body and a mat or a towel or a carpet is truly all you need.

Speaker 2: 14:33

Okay, you use yourself as your own resistance, so it feels like that is the story of life though, right, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 14:39

It really is, right now, truly One of the interesting things, and it doesn't get talked about a lot. When Joseph came up with this practice, which was back in the 1800s, and his philosophy was everything in balance, everything in moderation, he smoked, he drank, he did his Pilates, he did his thing. Man, he looked great up and throughout his entire life he was the model for anatomy charts through Pilates as a man. And there are so many men now that are doing Pilates and open to Pilates.

Speaker 1: 15:16

Thank you, tom Brady, for opening the door for men everywhere to really realize, and for other professional athletes, what a gem it is and how priceless it is and how you can take it everywhere with you and knowing that in 10 sessions you really do feel a difference in your body. You feel after your first session you're going to feel different and that's amazing. After 20 sessions you really begin to notice your body is changing and within 30 sessions, as he said, you have your Pilates body. If you needed to lose inches, if it was weight, if it was the self-confidence, it's the glow, it's amazing. And the beautiful thing about Pilates is that you can.

Speaker 1: 16:04

The ideal practice is at least twice a week, three times a week. You're a rock star. He believed you could do it every day for 20 minutes. So there's that too. Say, you go on vacation and you don't want to do anything. Don't do anything. You come back. And what I love about Pilates is that your body is like a sponge. It remembers it so intensely and in a matter of moments your body is just going right back to that impeccable posture, feeling great. The alignment is there. I just I cannot say enough about it. It truly has saved my life in more ways than one emotionally, mentally and physically.

Speaker 2: 16:42

Yeah, so are you still in a little bit of pain from your car accident, or how is your body doing now?

Speaker 1: 16:47

Much better. Thank you, much better. There's always that residual and when you have soft tissue damage there's a little bit of residual there. So there's always a little something now and again that I have a little SI stuff that goes on and I know and it's nothing major I, between my Pilates and self-care, taking care of myself, getting in the pool, the chiropractor if it's a massage, whatever that is. So luckily, it's a true blessing that, um, yeah, all of that horrific pain has long been gone. Thank you to.

Speaker 2: 17:15

Pilates. Yeah, that's a miracle. I love that. I'm so glad to hear that too. That's good. I think I'm the same way, recovering from mine. It just depends on what you're doing. You feel it for a minute, or the weather changes where you're like, oh there's that ache and pain again, yeah, but otherwise it's good that it's gone. As you're strengthening yourself and as you're learning to align yourself, like you said, even spiritually and mentally and physically, then the aches and pains can definitely go away. So it sounds like you've got a great program there to be able to do that. So I'm so glad you're sharing this. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1: 17:46

Yeah, I feel so blessed and through the Pilates sessions along the way is how the empowerment coaching was born, because that session became a coaching session. It became a therapy session which then turned into advising, which just kept evolving. So I owe everything to that car accident. I owe everything to going to the Pilates school and experiencing all of this, to opening me up, to knowing that I'm an empath and intuitive, and how to work and how to heal through Pilates, how to heal other people through Pilates and guide them in a safe manner where they're comfortable.

Speaker 2: 18:26

So would you change anything?

Speaker 1: 18:29

Never. It's probably the only time I'm going to say never, never. There is so much. I wouldn't be where I am here, I wouldn't be with you today, I wouldn't have my podcast today, I might not be in Florida, so I would not change a thing.

Speaker 2: 18:43

That's a beautiful gift you've been given. So any cup of sugar.

Speaker 1: 18:47

Final advice tips for us I would say, to get comfortable with yourself, take time to be with you, whether that is one minute, five minutes, a whole yoga class, a whole Pilates class. Getting out in nature and really getting good with you, especially in the day and time that we're in, is so important, and remembering you are exactly where you're meant to be in this moment in time and that anything that is meant for you is not going to pass you by. So embrace the moment, embrace yourself and find that self-confidence so that you can feel empowered with it.

Speaker 2: 20:18

So well said. Wow, that's beautiful. Thank you. I think that's the best advice of all Just be yourself and find yourself and accept yourself. Be kind to yourself. I love that.

Speaker 1: 20:30

Absolutely have grace with yourself. We're only human and we are here for such a short period of time. There is so much to do. Get out and see your neighborhood, see the world, see the United States, see the lake down the street that you never get to go to.

Speaker 2: 20:47

And I think we tend to get caught up in whatever we're going through or whatever we're experiencing and we get stuck. And I think it's great advice to get over ourselves and just look for other people, look for other things to do. Go do something different. Go on that walk. Whatever it is to get away from yourself for a minute and whatever bad vibe you might be in.

Speaker 1: 21:07

Get away from the world to be with yourself. Exactly Right. Release all that. Remember what you used to do when you were a kid. What made you happy? Is that painting? Is it ceramics? Is it just splashing around in the water? Go do that. I love that. Go do that.

Speaker 2: 21:22

Yeah, go, go do that, go do that. Yeah, go do something that you would have done as a kid. I think mine is riding a bike. I really loved doing that. When we were kids We'd go as a family bike ride like after dinner, and it was so fun and I just have such fond memories of that and so now I love it because me and my husband live near a lake and trails and so we try to go as often as we can. It depends on the weather here in Utah that's tricky, but yeah, almost every day we try to go as often as we can. It depends on the weather here in Utah, that's tricky, but yeah, almost every day we try to go out on a little bike ride and I love it and it just centers you and even if anything, if it doesn't take you back to your childhood, it gives you something that you enjoy. So just find something that you can enjoy to do every day for a little while.

Speaker 1: 21:59

It just uplifts you. Yes, I agree a hundred percent. It's the small moments it is, just sitting outside on your step and just being in nature that way, if that's where you're comfortable, then that's where you need to be. I love just breathing and embracing these moments.

Speaker 2: 22:16

Yeah, don't make it a big deal, don't make a big effort out of it, like just do whatever you can.

Speaker 1: 22:22

Then it's something else on your to-do list. No, yes, self-care isn't about that. Self-care is about loving yourself and embracing yourself.

Speaker 2: 22:29

I love that. Even some days after lunch I'll be like go a quick walk around the neighborhood. I won't plan it. It won't be like, oh, I need to exercise today. It'll just be like lunch, I got 15 minutes, I'm going to go around the block, just throw it out there whenever you can, and it's amazing what it does to clear your mind for a little while too. Oh, absolutely Great benefit in many ways?

Speaker 1: 22:49

Truly, it's how I begin and end my days. Is a walk around the lake Just clear? It's clears your day in your mind for the morning and then clears the whatever transpired that day so you can relax that evening.

Speaker 2: 23:01

I love that.

Speaker 1: 23:03

It's that simple so you got to do it.

Speaker 2: 23:05

Yeah, that's great that you could take that worst day of your life, probably, and be able to benefit from it in this way. That's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1: 23:15

Absolutely, it really is. You have to, and you have to give credit and you have to give thanks to those moments.

Speaker 2: 23:21

Yes, and that is hard at the time it's almost impossible. But I love how you're able to look back and just be like, yeah, that changed my life for the better of that terrible car accident.

Speaker 1: 23:30

So yeah, it's that it was a long road to recovery and it was. There was a lot of ups and downs and and neurological not great moments. Yeah, yes, for sure.

Speaker 2: 23:41

Yeah, yes for sure. Yeah, I was laid up for a long time. Mine was a couple of years. I was actually laid up for about eight weeks, Just could not walk. I had to learn to walk. But yeah, it's those couple of years from until you're really back. But you're not really back yet.

Speaker 1: 23:54

Back in your body and then you're like what the hell just happened. Then you have to deal with everything that just happened. Oh, that's the worst. When you don't have any broken bones and you have no soft tissue damage and it's all neurological and soft tissue, people look at you like you're fine, I know so.

Speaker 2: 24:07

They treat you like you're fine, but I was so not fine, not fine, yeah, no, that's how I was, and it started messing with me too, cause even though my knee was injured and I did have that injury, they didn't catch it right away. It it was like, oh, just walk it off and work through it. And it was a year of trying to just deal with the pain until finally I got a different doctor and the lawyer and other things that made it like, oh, okay, let's get some serious help now and reconstruct the knee and then the rehab after that. It's just terrible, but it does something with your head too. You just go through depression and you're just struggling.

Speaker 1: 24:45

It's being an advocate for yourself and really fighting for the right care and renegotiating, because if not, you're just. You're a hamster on a wheel.

Speaker 2: 24:55

Yes, that is super important. I'm glad you said that, because that same thing happened to me after my knee surgery finally getting it fixed. And then a guy comes to my house like two days later to do like rehab and get it moving, and I'm like, and I'm telling him, I'm like it feels like it's on fire, it's burning. My knee is just burning. And he's no, you're fine, you're fine. And I'm like, no, it is, it is burning. And finally a week later I got to see my doctor. They took the bandages off and I had burned blisters all over because of some glue that they had used.

Speaker 2: 25:27

That I was allergic to and it had literally burned my skin and I'm like I thought it was burning. Yes, we need to advocate for ourselves and trust ourselves too.

Speaker 1: 25:38

Yes, and fight for ourselves. That happened to me like last week. I had a little medical fiasco and I kept and I kept. They had this like IV in the arm, but it was like just a setup one. There was no IV going in yet and I was like this is killing me. This is it had on my chart that I'm allergic to latex. Hello the band. Oh, my goodness See it's little stuff, little stuff.

Speaker 2: 26:01

Yeah, and I don't blame the doctor, the nurse or even the physical therapist when he was coming. He's no, it shouldn't be like that. It's you're fine, because if I'm like gosh, it really feels like it's burning. You had surgery, like you're going to have some pain and yeah, so I get it, but I think we need to be a little bit more louder, and so they were like whoa, you should have said something. Oh, we had no idea you were. I didn't know. I was allergic to the glue so I didn't know.

Speaker 1: 26:27

Now, how would you? You didn't even know there was glue there I didn't, I didn't you didn't, so how would you know?

Speaker 2: 26:32

yeah, absolutely so. Now my husband's very particular when we have any surgeries, don't use that glue oh, I have a list.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Yes, it's like Santa's list. I'm like oh, here's all the items that you cannot touch me with, or give me and unfortunately we learn those the hard way.

Speaker 2: 26:51

But we have to learn and we have to share them Right, and I need to look into Pilates.

Speaker 1: 26:56

I hadn't even Look, I called a Pilates teacher the other day and I said oh, do you have any classically trained instructors there? What does that mean? What is that? Yeah, that's what she said to me, and I'm thinking in a Pilates studio. If you don't know what that means, clearly I'm not coming there. But so classically trained means that you were trained the true classical program by Joseph Pilates. So you've been to the Boulder Center, you've been to the schools in New York, you've been to, maybe, power Pilates. So it's like the Harvard of all Pilates schools and like, with my training, I'm the third generation from Joe, unless you're going to my teachers. It's not getting much better, hi. So it makes such a difference. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:42

This has been so great to learn from you, so thank you. Thank you for talking with me today. How do people hear about you and get in touch with you?

Speaker 1: 27:50

Okay, so the easiest place to go is to the website, jenniferpilatescom. You can find out about me, the podcast, any virtual Pilates training or coaching that you're looking for, or intuitive readings. You can find all that information out right there, jenniferpilatescom. I'm also on all of the social media as jenniferpilatescom, so it's pretty easy to find me everywhere now.

Speaker 2: 28:12

Yeah, I love that. I've got to check it out, because this sounds like it would be really beneficial to try the Pilates route for a little while too, so I think it's a great idea. I love what you're doing, so thank you. Thank you for sharing with me.

Speaker 1: 28:24

Thank you so much for this opportunity, Heidi. Again, I love what you're doing with the podcast and keep shining your light.

Speaker 2: 28:30

Thank you. You too. You've been a gift to me today, so thank you, thank you. That's awesome. I have enjoyed spending this time with you. You might have a friend struggling with the same thing that we talked about in this episode that might enjoy listening to this too. So please share this episode, because no one is alone at the lemonade stand.

Speaker 1: 29:21

Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates. Your feedback is important. It helps me to connect with you and gives me insight into who you are and what you're enjoying about the show. For today's show notes and discount codes from today's sponsors head over to jenniferpilatescom. Until next time, may you live an empowered life from within.