Starting contortion age 27

During lockdown, I watched a cirque du soleil show on youtube and instantly became obsessed with the contortionists and their way of moving. By this time, I had been practicing Pilates for several years and had access to a much larger range of motion in my body. However, I was still far off a split and found any sort of intense backbending extremely uncomfortable. I felt inspired to start exploring deeper and deeper ranges of motion and decided to incorporate more contortion specific training into my routine. 

At first, I kept my contortion and Pilates workouts very separate, but after a while I realised that the reformer was a beyond invaluable tool in helping to strengthen and support these new (and often intimidating) positions. I am still vert strict with myself in maintaining a standard mat-work Pilates practice a few times a week as I notice a SIGNIFICANT difference in the way my back bends and feels if I don’t! 

I am passionate about both Pilates and contortion and how both can be intertwined to form an extremely effective, diverse physical practice