A few days ago, I guess I threw my back out. I wish I had a cooler story. 🫠 

I wasn’t carrying anyone out of a burning building or lifting a car off a child. I wasn't attempting any Herculean feat that would at least make for a good cautionary tale. I was demonstrating something in class.

This time of year, routines tend to get a bit wobbly. The weather is finally nice, the days stretch longer, we start traveling more, making plans after work, eating dinner outside at 9pm, generally remembering that we have lives beyond our inboxes.

These are some of my favorite few days of the year - when the temps climb high for the first time, and New Yorkers collectively remember how hot they are 🔥🔥🔥 The short shorts and the sundresses and the tank tops and sandals and pedicures come out to PLAY. The energy in the city shifts completely. The evenings stretch longer, people linger outside instead of rushing straight home, and suddenly everyone is sitting on stoops and carrying giant iced coffees around like the Olsen twins.

At The Pearl, we’re proud to offer the only weekly perinatal yoga classes in The Bronx. Offering perinatal is so important to us because we know how essential it is for expectant and new moms to have a space where they feel supported and connected during a life-changing time. Perinatal yoga teaches more than just movement - it’s about connection, about acknowledging the fullness of this stage of life. We’re here to help you find your strength, not just in your muscles, but in your spirit, because motherhood doesn’t ask for perfection, only presence.

If there’s one workout that seems tailor-made for type-A personalities, it’s Pilates. The drive for perfection, the pursuit of precision, the obsession with getting every detail exactly right. In a practice where quality trumps quantity every time, Pilates offers an endless opportunity to refine, adjust, and focus on the minutiae of each movement.

Last Sunday, I had the incredibly surreal/awesome/weird experience of attending the Emmy Awards as a nominee for Associate Costume Design on the series Fallout. People imagine the glitz and glamour of movie-making, but behind the scenes, it’s a completely different story. The film industry is a Vita-Mix’d smoothie of stress, long hours, and the constant struggle to fulfill creative demands with either not enough time, money, or crew.

Something about the start of a new school year makes me feel like a character in the 80s /90s series The Wonder Years - that sense of nostalgia, the golden sunlight casting long shadows on the sidewalk, and the bittersweet mix of anticipation and reflection.

Let’s dip our toes this week into a topic that feels cloaked in mystery and misinformation: women’s health. It’s wild how little we actually know about our own bodies and the way they work, what’s normal, what’s suspect, and what lies between.

So, how do we manage our mental health without burying our heads three feet deep in the sand?

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” - Thich Nhat Hanh