Tag: life

Karen Rico – Le Bureau’s client spotlight of the month Embracing Change and Positivity in Seattle

by lebureauetc, posted in client spotlight, Pilates, YOGA

Discover Karen’s inspiring journey from professional athlete to devoted mom, showcasing resilience and positivity during life’s challenges.

I met Karen in 2023 at LA Fitness in Seattle.  She would frequent my weekly yoga and mat Pilates classes I taught there.  Karen stood out to me right away.  She is someone that just exudes inner beauty with her kindness towards others, her contagious smile, and uplifting positive energy.  I always looked forward, and still do, look forward to seeing her in class!

Karen has had a lot of change over the past several years!  I met her in a pivotal time of her life not to mention it had just been Covid where borders were closed and she was obliged to stay in Seattle!    When I met her I learned that she had been a professional Ultimate Freesbie player for Colombia. She had recently suffered a knee injury requiring ACL and meniscus repair, and was in route to business school in Canada but was unable to attend University due to borders being closed at that time.  Karens ability to stay positive and focus on opportunities instead of what could have been is inspiring and uplifting!   Thank you Karen for sharing your positive energy and ‘go get em attitude’ with me and everyone you meet!

Karen is now living in Seattle indefinately, as she found love, got married, and became a mom!  She has 3 stepsons and a daughter, Mille, who is almost 2!  When she is not at Le Bureau she enjoys practicing and watching sports, reading and watching true stories, and of course being a mom!:)

“I met Brooke over three years ago when I was recovering from a knee surgery. Under Brooke’s guidance in both yoga and Pilates, I have grown physically, mentally, and spiritually. She has the unique ability to connect with everyone in the class, to meet each person where they are at, and create a safe space for everyone to meet their potential. Every class I can attend presents me different challenges with an emphasis on breathing, stretching, and the interconnectivity of the entire body to create body and mind harmony and balance. Instead of feeling drained at the end, I always leave feeling refreshed, thinking how to improve and how I can be a better version of myself.” 

-Karen

‘Love story’

by lebureauetc, posted in Uncategorized

Finding more connection in my body has been an evolving ‘love story.’  There have been tough and unstable times with highs and lows.   Shit happens!  Its part if the ‘love story.’ I have had many injuries over the years, some that still haunt me from years ago when I broke my back b/t L1/T12 when i was 7 and more recently in 2017 a disk replacement  b/t C6/C7.   Fortunately I have not had any more serious injuries.  I believe the reason why I am feeling stronger than I ever have is because I continue to practice with attention and presence.  I honor my body in the present moment.  My love is growing deeper and expanding greater because I am nurturing my relationship with my whole self –  body and mind.  Everything is mind/body.

As a movement – Pilates and Yoga teacher, sometimes words are hard to find. Especially when I do not know someone’s whole story.  As a teacher you have some ideas as you watch your students move and breathe but there is always so much to someone’s story that is hard to know and understand.  I do my best to observe and listen to the body and person in front of me, and trust what I am told and try to feel what one is feeling to better address that moment.

As  student, learning something new is hard.  Regardless of what it is –   Its takes consistency, dedication, patience, and a lot of practice!   Most importantly it takes courage to admit when something is not working, and to trust yourself when something feels off and not right. 

Sometimes ‘we’, (myself included) prefer to be told what to do, its easy (and its nice not to own up to our own mistakes:).  However the need to be told ALL the time will never help one build their own relationship with themselves.

Personally, Loving myself more has been my greatest teacher.  Trusting and honoring what my body is telling me in the present moment, instead of somebody else’s words, has been such a blessing.  

If you are struggling in your own ‘love story’ – with yourself or someone or something else, regardless of what the issues and injuries may be – loving yourself and staying present is always the better option than trusting or following someone else’s words.  

PEPPER

by lebureauetc, posted in Uncategorized

OH my Pepper is 5! If you have met Pepper 🌶️, you know she is spicey and sweet, she is loud and neat.  Her strong polar personality supports everyone she meets.  The beautiful thing about Pepper (and most children her age) is that she is discovering her voice, her power, her identity.  She has not been programmed (at least long enough) to be/act a certain way!  Pepper does her thing, unashamed and listens to her inner voice and honors what she is feeling and does her best to make herself be heard!

Its something that is so special and so sacred.  As her mom I try to honor her voice as I encourage her to learn and embrace sustainable routines and respect certain boundaries that honors the ‘whole.’

It’s a delicate balance.

It’s the same in our Pilates practice and daily activities, its important to honor our unique body as we move and strengthen in our preferred method (pilates or whatever else you do). 

As adults we are more programmed than Pepper!  WE have been taught and told to do certain things a particular way.  Sometimes these things that we are taught serve us, but sometimes they don’t but we are programmed to do it anyway.  Our programming sometimes pulls us away from what is true for us.  

Overtime these things we do over and over again become mindless. We do it on repeat and go through our days moving but not feeling and reconnecting to what it right for us.  I have been there!  I call them mindless motions.   

These mindless motions can turn to “addictions.”  These addictions are powerful, and can show up in many different ways because we can do them without thinking about it.  If you are a ‘mover,’ like me, it very likely that movement could be one of your addictions too, if you are not paying attention:).  

Mindless motions/addictions give us something to do, but that doesn’t mean we should do it!   These addictions take us away from ourselves and our need to keep honoring and connecting to who we are and what we need in that particular moment.  Our bodies/our lives are constantly changing and in motion, so it is necessary to be present and adapt our habits and our actions moment to moment, day to day, year to year and so on…

My wish for myself and anyone who reads this is to ‘hit the pause button’ time to time.

Question what you do.  How does it serve you to live/feel better?

Does what you do help you find more connection and stability or do you feel pulled and torn from it?

I think of Pepper an how she honors herself and her needs, how she is constantly exploring her body and her habits.  I try to do the same.

LOVE,

Brooke

Letting go – Active or Passive?

by lebureauetc, posted in inspirations, sel love, Uncategorized

Letting go – active or passive?

Nothing lasts forever…This can be either good or bad depending on your own perspective experiences and impressions you have.

For me, I know now that resisting the inevitable is a waste of my time.  “Time to be honest, Brooke” – I hear myself say often.  

With my eldest daughter, Ginger, starting SDSU this fall, and my middle daughter, Coco, transitioning to high school, my husband and I have decided to move and not renew our current lease we have now in View ridge.  This will be our 4th move since 2020!  Fortunately, we will not be moving far from we are now, and I will have plenty of space for my equipment and will continue to teach privates and classes once set up!  We will be moving in mid-June and therefore, I will be taking the month of June off.  Our “new home” is in Inverness!

Moving again, has me reflecting on how change and transition is a constant reality. We all know that resisting our ever-evolving situations and changing physical landscape will only delay our essential and necessary job of letting go.  This letting go is non-stop, old patterns, habits, diet changes, friendships, relationships, homes, even ideas will and should change.   Ideally the ability to let go will help us welcome the present moment to live with more vitality and ease.

In our movement practices we can practice letting go by first paying attention and noticing what we are feeling and asking ourselves if what we are doing ‘feels right.’  Once we build that awareness, we can hopefully discern what is ‘not working’ and/or not connecting well.  That knowledge and mindfulness can help us learn and discover ‘new’ ways to readjust and realign ourselves to make it ‘feel right’ for us at that particular moment (every day is different). Therefore, in my opinion, letting go of the old to welcome the present is active and not passive.  

I will be practicing letting go a lot more these next few months and I hope I can inspire this same idea of letting go of the old to let in with the NEW to you as well.

Here is to paying attention to let go OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

XOXO

Brooke