December 13, 2017
We Owe the World Our Experience
by Trent McEntire, Director of McEntire Pilates
Imagine getting to a busy crossroad. The light tells you that you are able to walk across safely, however the voice in your head reminds you that it’s not safe. You can’t possibly make it across the road before the light changes. Your body locks up, unable to move forward and the voice in your head confirms that the reason you are unable is because you have Cerebral Palsy. This was Kathy’s story.
When I met Kathy, she had reached out after learning that I was born with a mild form of CP and was curious about the work I had been doing to help myself. The day we met, it was apparent that she was frustrated, tired, and deservingly skeptical. Over the years, Kathy had met with countless doctors and physical therapists and had spent a large part of her savings on treatments. The lack of answers naturally led to a belief system that she carried with her everywhere. CP had given Kathy constraints to live by and it set a ceiling on every aspect of her life. Everything in Kathy’s life was viewed through the lens of the disease.
Today, Kathy’s story has changed. She is now able to walk across the busy crosswalk and the ceiling has lifted on many movement limitations. To get there, we worked on building movement patterns (connections between the body and the brain) that did not previously exist. As the movement patterns became stronger, Kathy’s gait improved immensely. At each milestone, the fear that once surrounded Kathy started to dissolve, the ceiling started to lift, and she began seeing possibilities for her life through newfound movement.
Kathy’s story is one of thousands that I have been able to share with other professionals throughout more than twenty years in the field of Pilates. As I conduct trainings across the globe, I continue to hear countless stories of the work that professionals in our field are doing to help people regain their movement and quality of life. Whatever the condition that brings a client to us – Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson’s disease, spinal injury, joint replacement, stroke, Fibromyalgia, and many more – it is truly a rewarding and emotional experience when you are able to help bring movement back into their lives.
So, I have to wonder, why is it that so many people need to travel down the long and winding road that Kathy did before they get the help they need? And, how many people are still out there that remain without answers, living within the constraints of their diagnoses?
I came across a staggering number the other day as I did some research. The United States spends more than $560 Billion annually on pain management, according to the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and this amount continues to grow as the population ages. The cost is clear evidence that there are far too many people suffering. As someone who is fully committed to the work of helping people out of their pain, I (like so many of my peers) find this outcome unconscionable. It is the thing that keeps me up at night – when I see people that we can help and yet they do not know that the help is available to them. The help we know as movement professionals that can diminish the pain and suffering and improve the quality of their life.
It seems so BIG, and yet is too IMPORTANT to ignore. So how as an individual Pilates professional do we begin to help? How do we reach the people that very much need our help? And how do we expand the awareness for the scope of work that we know we are doing as professionals to eliminate the unnecessary cost and suffering?
Full-Hearted Leadership
First, we need to come together behind this problem with full-hearted leadership. As an industry, we need to ask Pilates professionals across the world to raise their hand and commit to helping with this problem. Full-hearted leadership takes courage and commitment. It means living your authentic self and helping to lead people into action. Together, we can take a bigger stand. Together, we can accomplish more.
Collaboration
Next, we need to build a system of collaboration. We can share our stories and our experiences beyond the walls of our studios and serve as advocates. We each have so many client stories and social media tools are available to help us easily deliver our stories to the world. We can share our education and tools across the network and help each other to generate an impact that goes beyond what we can do individually.
Create Hope
Most important, we need to create hope for the many people that are suffering without answers. We need to reignite hope and inspire people to act by empowering them through awareness and education. We can show them real stories that they can relate to and help them understand how they can find resources. We can offer community classes that benefit cause partners. We can help by becoming part of their health team. And we can encourage people to share their stories with their doctors and medical team.
Through Full-Hearted Leadership, Collaboration and Creating Hope, we can build the awareness and education our world needs to fill the movement gap. Our work is too valuable to the people that are suffering and I believe we owe it to the world to let them know that we are here to help.
As someone that became a professional dancer after rehabilitating his own severe movement restrictions established at birth due to Cerebral Palsy, Trent McEntire understands how the quality of life is affected by how well you can (or can’t) move your body. For more than twenty years, he has been sharing his discoveries and method with those seeking to overcome their own movement limitations. His work has led to an international school and equipment designed to further the development of Pilates Therapy. Trent McEntire has presented his work at international conferences and host sites in Italy, Japan, Spain, Mexico, UK, Brazil, Canada, and throughout the US.