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How barre3 Helped Me Break Plateaus—In the Studio and Beyond
This incredible story is from barre3 Portland instructor Nicole Skala. Read on to see how barre3 gave her strength when she needed it the most. Here’s Nicole in her own words.
A few months ago, I was driving my 7-year-old son, Jude, home from school, and we were talking about what we were seeing from the car windows. Trees, people, dogs, trucks. To most people, it would have been nothing special. To me, it was nothing short of incredible. It wasn’t so long ago that I wondered if Jude would ever speak at all.
As Jude continued our game, I found my mind replaying the events of past several years—all the doctor’s appointments, the sessions with speech therapists, the changes in medication. How had I managed to stay strong through all of that? The answer is simple: barre3.
My barre3 story started five years ago, when I was going through one of the toughest periods of my life. Jude had been diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and a serious epilepsy syndrome, and his father and I had recently separated. On top of all that, I was completing a master’s degree in technical writing and working at a job where one of my many duties was bringing people with traumatic brain and spinal-cord injuries into public schools to talk about injury prevention. Every aspect of my life felt heavy and complicated.
When life gets this intense, it can be so tempting to pour every last ounce of ourselves—and our time—into “fixing” everything around us. And although part of me wanted to do that, a wiser part of me knew I needed to find an outlet for myself amidst all the chaos. I was new to Portland and had no family in town and, now, no partner. I was feeling incredibly isolated. I needed to connect with people, but I also needed to exercise—I had barely worked out at all since Jude was born.
That’s when I found barre3. The studio in southeast Portland had just opened, and I was one of the very first clients—for those first couple of weeks, before people really knew about the studio, it was just me and instructor Viva Mertlich at the barre! Despite feeling very physically weak in the beginning, I was never intimidated. The studio was so accepting, so “come as you are,” that I felt like I belonged immediately. I started with two classes a week, gradually increasing to three and, when the Challenge rolled around, five. By the end of the Challenge, I realized I was the strongest I’d ever been in my life.
And the most remarkable thing happened: As my physical strength grew, so did my emotional and mental strength. Breaking plateaus in class was helping me break plateaus in other areas of my life—it was almost like building a strong, healthy body made me feel like “you got this” with everything else. At work, I became a more direct communicator and gave presentations with confidence. I found the drive and tenacity I needed to finish my master’s degree. I stood strong in my custody battle for Jude—and won sole custody. I continued to work like crazy to coordinate the best health care for Jude, but instead of feeling overwhelmed by our situation, I felt in charge.
After a couple of years, I counted and realized I had taken 384 classes. That adds up to more than two entire weeks when I could have been fretting about Jude, negotiating with his father, or worrying about work or school. But I wasn’t. I was taking care of myself and building my strength, in every sense of the word.
Today, Jude speaks in full sentences, and he is seizure-free. I have my master’s degree and, in addition to doing some technical writing, work in tech-support. And I’m a barre3 instructor—another plateau broken (as an introvert, I never dreamed I’d be comfortable leading a class full of people!). I wouldn’t be where I am without barre3, and neither would Jude. Because of barre3, I have been able to parent—and live—with true focus, and that has made all the difference.
This incredible story is from barre3 Portland instructor Nicole Skala. Read on to see how barre3 gave her strength when she needed it the most. Here’s Nicole in her own words.
A few months ago, I was driving my 7-year-old son, Jude, home from school, and we were talking about what we were seeing from the car windows. Trees, people, dogs, trucks. To most people, it would have been nothing special. To me, it was nothing short of incredible. It wasn’t so long ago that I wondered if Jude would ever speak at all.
As Jude continued our game, I found my mind replaying the events of past several years—all the doctor’s appointments, the sessions with speech therapists, the changes in medication. How had I managed to stay strong through all of that? The answer is simple: barre3.
My barre3 story started five years ago, when I was going through one of the toughest periods of my life. Jude had been diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and a serious epilepsy syndrome, and his father and I had recently separated. On top of all that, I was completing a master’s degree in technical writing and working at a job where one of my many duties was bringing people with traumatic brain and spinal-cord injuries into public schools to talk about injury prevention. Every aspect of my life felt heavy and complicated.
When life gets this intense, it can be so tempting to pour every last ounce of ourselves—and our time—into “fixing” everything around us. And although part of me wanted to do that, a wiser part of me knew I needed to find an outlet for myself amidst all the chaos. I was new to Portland and had no family in town and, now, no partner. I was feeling incredibly isolated. I needed to connect with people, but I also needed to exercise—I had barely worked out at all since Jude was born.
That’s when I found barre3. The studio in southeast Portland had just opened, and I was one of the very first clients—for those first couple of weeks, before people really knew about the studio, it was just me and instructor Viva Mertlich at the barre! Despite feeling very physically weak in the beginning, I was never intimidated. The studio was so accepting, so “come as you are,” that I felt like I belonged immediately. I started with two classes a week, gradually increasing to three and, when the Challenge rolled around, five. By the end of the Challenge, I realized I was the strongest I’d ever been in my life.
And the most remarkable thing happened: As my physical strength grew, so did my emotional and mental strength. Breaking plateaus in class was helping me break plateaus in other areas of my life—it was almost like building a strong, healthy body made me feel like “you got this” with everything else. At work, I became a more direct communicator and gave presentations with confidence. I found the drive and tenacity I needed to finish my master’s degree. I stood strong in my custody battle for Jude—and won sole custody. I continued to work like crazy to coordinate the best health care for Jude, but instead of feeling overwhelmed by our situation, I felt in charge.
After a couple of years, I counted and realized I had taken 384 classes. That adds up to more than two entire weeks when I could have been fretting about Jude, negotiating with his father, or worrying about work or school. But I wasn’t. I was taking care of myself and building my strength, in every sense of the word.
Today, Jude speaks in full sentences, and he is seizure-free. I have my master’s degree and, in addition to doing some technical writing, work in tech-support. And I’m a barre3 instructor—another plateau broken (as an introvert, I never dreamed I’d be comfortable leading a class full of people!). I wouldn’t be where I am without barre3, and neither would Jude. Because of barre3, I have been able to parent—and live—with true focus, and that has made all the difference.
