Pam’s personal approach to life and her number one operating principal is “less is definitely more” – something she had to find out the hard way!  In her ongoing personal yoga practice, she continues to explore the balance of attention without tension and comfort without slackness;  AKA:  effortless effort or, something she’s come to know as ease in motion.   She continues to practice and strengthen this feeling of ease, while still dancing and playing the sports she loves.  Pam explains her philosophy:

"Being an athlete and continuing to play my whole life has had its pros and cons.  It’s been good fun, but there have also been injuries that have resulted in incorrect movement patterns. After a spinal injury at age fifteen, I followed medical advice to build up my muscular strength – a practice I continued for the next three decades.

But the only problem with a continued focus on building strength is at some point, you start to build tension on top of the strength. Next you experience weaknesses and unhealthy muscular compensations. It happened to me: I became a tight ball of tension.  My old sports injuries started to come back and haunt me.  And no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to shake them. 

I went to physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors, cut back in my training, used ice and heat, read all about ways to improve flexibility and get rid of injuries.  But it wasn’t until I started seriously studying therapeutic yoga and building my own body awareness (i.e., listening to the cues my body was giving me) that I started to get relief.  

Through re-educating my body on the way my joints were intended to move, and becoming more aware of my breath and movement patterns, I have eliminated a great deal of pain. Sometimes I don’t even recognize this new body of mine!  I am still able to play the way I want to, but with a new awareness that prevents pain and tension.

Yoga is a life long practice:  think progress, not perfection.  You can accomplish all you need to, and have energy left over at the end of the day.  It’s not always easy to get started. But it's life-changing to finally feel at ease."

Once you learn the concept of strengthening ease, you can do anything you put your mind to.