July 21, 2025 • 31 mins
What connects the disciplined world of ballet with the adrenaline rush of mountain biking and the expressive art of pole dancing? For physiotherapist Fiona Drewbrook, it's the intensity, precision, and pure joy of movement that ties these seemingly disparate practices together.
From bleeding into pointe shoes while maintaining perfect form to conquering three mountains in a single day on her bike, Fiona brings the same all-in approach to every physical challenge she undertakes. Her journey from professional ballet dancer to physiotherapist reveals how early movement education can shape our relationship with our bodies for life.
Susannah and Fiona explore the misconceptions about ballet ("it's not just tutus and looking pretty") and how the discipline prepared Fiona for both extreme sports and her healthcare career. The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Fiona describes discovering pole dancing after years away from dance—finding in it something profoundly healing: a movement community that genuinely celebrates all body types.
This appreciation for diverse bodies directly influences Fiona's approach as a physiotherapist. She emphasizes building trust with clients, providing education, and helping people develop agency over their physical health. "If we can give people the tools where they can learn how to self-manage their conditions, I love that," she explains, noting that movement education now builds resilience for our later years.
Fiona's story offers inspiration and practical wisdom about finding joy through movement at any stage of life. As she aptly demonstrates, our bodies are made to move—and celebrating that capacity might take us to surprising places.
Where to Find Fiona!
Fiona Drewbrook - On Instagram
Book a Physiotherapy Appointment with Fiona Drewbrook
Fiona Pole Dancing - On Instagram
I'd LOVE to hear from you! Send me a text!
Heart of Motion Podcast host Susannah Steers is a Pilates & Integrated Movement Specialist and owner of Moving Spirit Pilates in North Vancouver, BC. She is passionate about movement, about connections and about life.
Through movement teaching, speaking, and facilitating workshops, she supports people in creating movement practices that promote fitness from the inside out. She loves building community, and participating in multi-disciplinary collaborations.
Along with her friend and colleague Gillian McCormick, Susannah also co-hosts The Small Conversations for a Better World podcast – an interview based podcast dedicated to promoting the kind of conversations about health that can spark positive change in individuals, families, communities and across the globe.
Social Media Links:
Moving Spirit Pilates Instagram
Moving Spirit Pilates Facebook
Susannah Steers Instagram
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Susannah Steers (00:00):
Welcome to the Heart of Motion podcast.
I'm Susanna Steers and I'll beyour host as we explore the
heart, soul and science ofmovement as a pathway to more
active, vibrant and connectedliving.
Nothing happens until somethingmoves, so let's get started.
Hello everyone, I'm so gladyou're here.
(00:21):
I've been looking forward tothis day for a very long time.
Today, I have the pleasure ofintroducing you to one of my
favorite people.
Since I met Fiona Drewbrook in adance studio many more years
ago than I'd like to admit, I'veknown her to be the kind of
person who is all in in her life.
She works hard and she playshard, and I think that outlook
(00:45):
has taken her to some veryinteresting places.
Much of Fiona's life has beencentered around training,
movement and learning about thehuman body.
In her childhood and teen years, she dedicated herself to
ballet training, which is wherewe first met, and if you know
anything about ballet, you'llknow that that training can be
pretty intensive.
(01:05):
After high school, fiona movedto Boston and then to Toronto to
continue her ballet trainingand to dance with Ballet Jorgen,
canada.
At 21, she decided to hang upthe pointe shoes and pivot to a
career in healthcare.
She returned to Vancouver tocomplete a Bachelor of
Kinesiology and a Master's ofPhysiotherapy at UBC, and she's
now working as a physiotherapisthere in Vancouver.
(01:26):
In both her professional andpersonal pursuits, fiona is
quite literally a mover and ashaker.
I know you are going to loveher story.
Welcome to the podcast, fiona,
Fiona Drewbrook (01:40):
thank you.
Thank you so much, Sue.
I'm so excited to finally speakto you.
Susannah Steers (01:45):
It's fun to connect right?
Absolutely.
Let's maybe start with theballet, because dance is what
brought us together those manylong moons ago.
Can you tell us a little bitabout your journey in dance?
Fiona Drewbrook (02:00):
Well, first, of all, we were connected through
dance, and so Sue actuallytaught a intro to anatomy for
dancers at the studio and thatwas really what sparked my whole
life journey of where I'veended up now.
So thanks, Sue.
You're the reason I'm a physionow.
Susannah Steers (02:19):
That's so fun.
Fiona Drewbrook (02:20):
Yeah, learning I mean it was more the
essentials of anatomy, but Ijust loved the fact of learning
like everything that's in ourbody and to be able to imagine
that that is actually inside ofme.
It was wild.
It's quite groundbreaking formy little 15 year old brain.
Susannah Steers (02:39):
Yeah, I remember some interesting
moments.
I think we had a - d o youremember the anatomy jeopardy
game we played one day?
Fiona Drewbrook (02:45):
Yes, yes!
Susannah Steers (02:47):
Well, let's start there.
The anatomy was part of thatpre-professional dance training
that you had, so you know, it'spretty serious when, as a dancer
, you're learning about thatstuff.
What did your days look like?
There was a lot going on backthen.
Fiona Drewbrook (03:01):
Yeah, there was .
So there's a couple ofdifferent schools in Vancouver
where you can do half-dayprograms.
But I kind of arranged it at myschool because we fortunately
were on a semester system, so Iwent to school just in the
mornings and then at lunch Iwould go to dance and train for
the rest of the day six, sevenhours and then did the rest of
my high school by correspondence.
So it was a lot of work, it wasreally stressful, but I
(03:24):
absolutely loved it.
I wouldn't have wanted it anyother way.
Yeah, unfortunately.
I mean, at that point in mylife I really just wanted to
dance.
That was all I wanted to do.
So high school wasn't quite asbig of my priority at that point
.
But of course my mother kept mein line and was like no, you
still have to do all of this.
Susannah Steers (03:41):
But it's a lot because, as you say, I mean,
you're dancing for six or sevenhours a day.
You're dead beat at the end ofit and, oh yeah, now I've got to
do my homework before schooltomorrow morning.
Fiona Drewbrook (03:50):
Exactly, it's really just
school sleep, school dance,school sleep.
But really the dance part of itwas that was all I wanted to do
.
That was so much fun to me.
I was excited to go to danceevery day, show up early, do
your stretching and warmups andthen you go home at the end of
the night and you go and try todo some school work and try to
(04:11):
stay off YouTube watching moreballet videos.
Susannah Steers (04:15):
You moved to Boston.
You were in Toronto dancing allthe time and I guess around 21,
you decided to shift gears andyou and I both transitioned from
a dance career to kind of amovement focused health
profession.
I know that transitions fromdance to normal life can be a
bit of a thing.
What was that shift like foryou?
Fiona Drewbrook (04:37):
It was a difficult transition, for sure,
In my process of leaving mydance career too.
It was by choice, but also notby choice.
My contract wasn't renewed atthe end of my season dancing
because I was too tall for thecompany, and that was an ongoing
battle that I had through myentire I mean short dance career
(04:58):
.
Susannah Steers (04:59):
It's a real thing.
Your body isn't right and whenyou're struggling against that
all the time, I was always toomuscular.
Fiona Drewbrook (05:06):
Especially when it's something like that, where
it's out of my control, I can'tdo anything about it, I'm just
told to do it.
Okay, I guess I'll go trysomething else.
Then it's not something I canchange, there's nothing you can
do about it.
Yeah, it's really wrenchingwhen you've worked your whole
career to be here and then allof a sudden they're like well,
actually sorry, we don't haveany guys that can partner with
you, so you don't have a placehere anymore.
So that was really difficultand I definitely I just lost a
(05:29):
lot of motivation.
At that point I didn't reallyknow where my life was going.
Dance wise.
I always knew I wanted to dancefor a ballet company, but I
didn't really have that muchinterest in teaching, to be
honest, which has actuallyshifted a little bit now.
I might consider it at somepoint.
But at that point I didn't wantto choreograph, I didn't want
(05:50):
to teach, I just wanted to danceand that was it.
So at that stage I was like,well, maybe it's just time to
wrap it up.
I knew I'd probably end upgoing back to school anyways at
the end of my dance career.
So why not just do that now,bite the bullet, get it done and
start my career a little sooner, and I made it.
We're good.
But that transition wasdefinitely difficult.
Being in the ballet industry isa very strange place and maybe
(06:11):
changes your expectations forhow real life works to some
degree.
Can you say more about that?
Yeah, I mean, in a balletcompany it's all based on how
hard you're working, makingyourself seen.
Show people that you're workinghard all the time.
Show people that you are eagerand wanting to do the best.
It's a little bit like you haveto be obsessed in order to be
(06:33):
successful and the bar is alwaysgoing up.
Susannah Steers (06:37):
There's no end point.
When you get there, then youhave to do the next one, and
then the next one.
Fiona Drewbrook (06:41):
Absolutely.
It's never ending, never ending.
There's always going to besomebody working harder than you
, and that is what's in yourhead all the time.
You have to work harder thanthat imaginary person who is
apparently working harder thanyou, so it's just never enough.
So, transitioning back toschool, I was definitely very
obsessive about being the bestand I needed really good grades.
(07:03):
I needed to show like I kind ofcarried that over but then also
really struggled withtransitioning to sitting all day
in a classroom and then goinghome and sitting to study and
that was so hard and I wasn'tlike my movement education up to
that point was dance and Ididn't really need to do a whole
lot outside of that because Iwas dancing a lot.
(07:25):
It was a very physical.
Susannah Steers (07:26):
Six or seven hours a day.
.
.
Fiona Drewbrook (07:28):
Exactly.
You didn't want to be doingmore than that.
But transitioning to school,that was really hard because I
was like, well, ballet classesare really expensive.
I'm on a student budget, I alsodon't have time to go downtown
to take these drop-in classesall the time, and so that was
hard.
I kind of had to figure outsome different ways of moving
and different sports to kind ofjump into to keep active, and I
(07:50):
wanted to explore some othersports as well.
But just keeping moving was alittle bit of a challenge
because I didn't have a goodeducation in the gym or anything
.
I was not confident in the gymwhatsoever, which is also
something that's kind ofimportant to me now as a physio,
because a lot of people don't.
They don't teach that inschools.
No, no, they don't.
We're going to teach you thisthe rules of I don't know
(08:10):
football, instead of how toactually move your body well,
yeah, how to live in your bodyand how to move it well.
Susannah Steers (08:16):
What does moving well mean to you?
Now, post-ballet, you're inyour career.
What does it mean to you inyour life, maybe in your work or
in your own body?
Fiona Drewbrook (08:25):
Yeah, I feel like there's different answers
for each of those.
So in, let's say, in my work, Iwant people to be able to move
in a way that is meaningful tothem and to be able to do that
pain-free.
So if that means they want togo train for a marathon, great.
We want to work towardsbuilding up the tolerance of
their body to be able to takethose loads and keep that
(08:49):
endurance through that entiretime so that they can do that
pain-free or relativelypain-free.
I feel like a marathon wouldalways be painful in my brain
Susannah Steers (08:58):
On some level.
Fiona Drewbrook (08:59):
But yeah then to me I have various sports I've
collected now, just being ableto A) move your body in like an
optimal way.
I feel like I should use somesports as an example, like
figuring out when I'm skiing.
I like to focus a little bit ontechniques and like movement
efficiency so that I - anddisclaimer, I'm not, I'm no
(09:21):
great skier, I'm pretty average- but to figure out the
movements and like to analyzethe technique of skiing so that
you can try and keep speed andthat confidence with the speed,
while also moving downhill asfast as I can.
Susannah Steers (09:34):
Because it's fun.
Fiona Drewbrook (09:36):
Because it's fun, it is so fun.
Yeah.
And that's really whereeverything comes back to.
I just want to do it becauseit's fun.
Susannah Steers (09:48):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's funny you're sayingthis about your skiing technique
.
I'm in the pool regularly andfor me it's kind of meditative
in that I can really feel when Iget the strokes right, when I'm
supporting my body well, yourbody kind of lifts and you're
just gliding, as opposed to thetimes when I'm a little less
organized and you know, maybe myback's tight or whatever, and
then nothing is quite as wellcoordinated and so I'm spending
my time kind of feeling intothose places while I'm swimming.
(10:10):
People say they get boredswimming and I think, "really
Fiona Drewbrook (10:13):
Totally, and that's totally what it is with
skiing too, because there's somuch waiting of the skis and
then there's almost a period ofweightlessness in between turns,
which is so, oh, it feels sogood.
But you're right, some daysthere's just days where your
body just isn't moving superwell or the snow is super weird,
of course, so things changedepending on the day, but when
(10:35):
you can get it, oh, it feels sogood.
Susannah Steers (10:37):
Well, I feel like maybe something in your
dance training informs theprocess that you're describing
right now.
I mean spending so much timeworking on the smallest little
activity of the foot, or howyou're lengthening your leg or
recruiting that one specificthing.
That changes everything, atleast in terms of your own
(10:57):
activity.
I don't know, maybe that helpsyou working with patients too,
but it does kind of create alens through which you
experience movement.
Fiona Drewbrook (11:06):
Absolutely, absolutely it does, and
regularly when I'm skiing,mountain biking, dancing,
whatever, I come back toactually cues that you've given
through that anatomy andmovement court.
There's a lot of imagery thatyou used in how you Educated Us
too, which I really appreciated.
I'm very much a visual learnerand I tend to use random imagery
(11:27):
too with clients, whether thatworks or not sometimes.
I tend to use random imagerytoo with clients, whether that
works or not sometimes.
Sometimes they're like Fiona,what are you talking about?
That's so abstract.
Yeah, that is, but it reallyhelps.
Thinking of like the littlefish hooks and a slight string
tugging up your spine and littlecues like that where I'm like,
oh yeah, if I just engage mylittle fish hook, things
suddenly become a lot easierwhen you do that movement or it
(11:47):
just gives a little bit morestability through your core,
where of course, that's thecenter of all your movement,
your limbs attached to your core.
So having that nice and stablewhen you're moving then allows
you to use your muscles a littlebit more efficiently through
your extremities as well.
So, yeah, I think, right fromchildhood really and through
teen years really was when Iobviously started taking ballet
more seriously, but through thatmovement training when I was
(12:10):
younger definitely translatesinto everything I do now, and
really my whole life is a vault.
Susannah Steers (12:19):
Well, I mean, it's getting to be summer season
, spring season now, so probablyyou're transitioning out of
skiing and into another passionfor you, which is mountain
biking, and into another passionfor you, which is mountain
biking.
Yes, I remember running intoyou up at the End of the Line
Coffee shop in North Vancouver.
I was coming out of the trailsafter my little morning walk and
there you were hanging out withyour pals in the - I think
(12:42):
you'd just done the firstmountain, you'd just done Mount
Seymour, so you were on the wayto do the Triple Crown, that's
what it's called right?
Fiona Drewbrook (12:50):
Yes, the triple crown.
Exactly.
Susannah Steers (12:51):
Now.
As I understand it from some ofmy mountain biking friends,
that is no small feat.
Fiona Drewbrook (13:01):
It's a big day, for sure.
I did it with such a greatgroup of friends too.
I made a couple people join forjust certain segments too.
But yes, it's a big ride.
I should have double checkedall the elevation and everything
, but it's a big day.
Susannah Steers (13:10):
And it's all in one day.
Three mountains in one day,right?
Fiona Drewbrook (13:12):
Three mountains in one day.
You start in Deep Cove, you goto the dock and you dip your
tires into the water in DeepCove.
Got to do that the start andend! And then you ride up
Seymour, ride down.
There's various trails that youcan ride.
Fortunately our friend had donethe route before actually, so
we kind of followed his lead anddid the trails he recommended.
But yeah, ride some trails downSeymour and then ride up Fromme
(13:35):
, ride some trails down Fromme,big big traverse, and then up
Cypress all the way, and then wecome down one more big trail
there, finish in Horseshoe Bay,dip your tires in right at the
end.
Susannah Steers (13:46):
Wow, wow, I think I would die.
Fiona Drewbrook (13:49):
You would not.
You'd be great.
It's fun.
You eat a lot of sugar throughthe day Just to keep you going.
Susannah Steers (13:55):
Keep the energy up!
Well, how did you get there?
Because, okay, I mean, I knowballet can be really exciting
when you're in it, right, andyou're in those moments.
But a lot of people are notgoing to put ballet and hardcore
mountain biking and skiing inthe same package.
So what do you think?
What is it about those sportsparticularly that drew you in?
(14:18):
Was it intensity?
Fiona Drewbrook (14:20):
It is.
I think it is.
It's intensity, and I think,too, there's this perception
around ballet that it's like youknow what little girls do with
their tattoos and it's reallysoft and pretty, which is you
have to make it look soft andpretty, but inside, when you are
on stage and you've got fourblisters and you're bleeding
into your pointe shoes and youstill have to put your whole
(14:41):
body weight on your shoes andthen jump on pointe, it's really
intense.
You learn to deal with pain andwork through it and look pretty
while doing it and you areworking your muscles so hard all
the time.
It is so intense and to havedone that like your whole life,
since childhood too, like it'sreally a high level sport.
(15:01):
And I think there's thisperception around ballet that
it's maybe not quite as hardcoreas it is, but it is honestly so
hardcore, seriously.
Yeah, it really is.
Yeah, you've lived through ittoo.
You know what it is.
So I think it actually kind oftranslates.
Well, I don't think peoplerealize how intense of a sport
it is that mountain biking iskind of similar and skiing is
(15:21):
kind of similar and now poledancing also kind of similar.
There's a lot of pain and skinpain, very different forms of
pain, but it's still painful andyou just do it.
I think my obsession withmaking the movement as beautiful
as I can and as flowy andkeeping momentum through
movement all those kinds ofprinciples translates well to
(15:41):
each of those sports.
With ballet, you want things tobe flowing around the stage and
you want to be using momentumin an appropriate way.
It's the same thing withmountain biking.
When you're going down a trail,you want to be end goal, going
as fast as you can make it.
So you're trying to figure outhow you can angle the bike and
maneuver your body on the biketo maintain that momentum as you
go around corners or evengaining speed around corners.
(16:04):
And again, I'm a very mediocremountain biker at the end of the
day.
But that's that obsession andlike movement analysis, that I
really really love.
I get really excited about, yeah.
It's fun when you can do it atthat intensity.
It comes back to those feelings- or maybe I'm projecting -
but it comes back to thosefeelings, you know, when you're
(16:26):
fully "in it on stage and you'redoing all the things and you're
a hundred percent invested inwhat.
You're fully in it on stage andyou're doing all the things and
you're 100% invested in whatyou're doing.
And it sounds to me like maybethat's part of your experience
when you're riding your bike.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Just makes me forget all myother issues in life, so turns
your brain off, focused entirelyon what you were doing.
(16:46):
Plus, you have to with sportslike mountain biking, where you
have to be, where your brain hasto be engaged, or something
might go wrong.
Susannah Steers (16:54):
You don't want to lose the plot when you're
hurtling down the hill and onthe rocks.
Fiona Drewbrook (16:58):
Not at all, which I think is also meditative
and just brings your attentionto that.
You have to engage your brain.
It's kind of like a yogapractice of sorts, where you
have to be focusing on themovement and it's that presence
that I really like and thengetting to enjoy it with friends
.
Susannah Steers (17:17):
Which is even better! Okay, so now I want to
talk about pole dancing, becauseI have been watching all your
fantastic pole dancing stuff andI realized you did your first
competition recently and I waslike, oh man, I would love to
have been there to see that.
Fiona Drewbrook (17:32):
I wish I'd invited you! I felt so bad in
retrospect.
I I was so nervous! though.
I mean, this is another one ofthose things that people don't
often recognize how muchstrength, flexibility, fluid
control pole dancing requires.
I've done a little bit of poledancing and it's hard.
(17:52):
What drew you to it, and doesit compliment some of the other
things that you're doing?
Absolutely so.
I had a friend who startedbefore me, a girl who I did
undergrad with, and I saw videosshe was doing and I was like,
oh, this is interesting.
I'd done one pole dance class,I think, when I was on tour with
the ballet company.
That was kind of like apromotional thing, I think, for
the studio.
(18:13):
I didn't really enjoy it thatmuch.
I have always struggled withupper body strength so I didn't
pick that part up very easily atall.
But I saw what my friend wasdoing and I was like, oh,
actually, this is basically kindof a combination of ballet and
rock climbing it's bouldering onone piece of metal.
I was like, okay, ballet androck climbing, like it's
bouldering on one piece of metal, okay, this is kind of cool.
(18:33):
When I finished school as well,when I finished for
physiotherapy, I wanted to findanother movement practice, like
dance that, because I reallymiss dancing and I didn't dance
for I guess six or seven years.
When I was in school.
I kind of quit cold turkey andI think it was healthy for me to
kind of have that separationjust from healing, from some
(18:54):
body dysmorphia and other kindof things that are natural with
the industry as well.
But I really missed it, likethe movement and that analysis
and the femininity of movementas well, the delicateness and
attention to detail.
I wasn't really getting throughmountain biking and skiing,
which were really my only sportsat that point.
(19:15):
So getting back into a dancespace, I was really excited by
one, where going back to aballet class at that point in my
career is a little bitdepressing when you haven't been
doing it for so long and youreach a level where you actually
have to be dancing that six orseven hours a day.
You have to be in it all thetime in order to maintain that
level.
I couldn't just put pair ofpointe shoes back on and be able
(19:37):
to do five pirouettes again.
So getting into an adjacentdance form where there's a lot
of transfer of that movementskill but also is completely new
and I'm learning somethingdifferent and I don't have to be
hard on myself for not being ata certain level where my brain
expects me to be at.
We're always too hard onourselves.
Susannah Steers (19:59):
No kidding.
Fiona Drewbrook (20:00):
So I could create that kind of safe space
for myself to explore a newmovement and learn a new skill
without and still enjoy thatmovement transfer of dance,
without having thatperfectionism to quite a new
degree, because I was completelynew and I had no upper body
strength.
Susannah Steers (20:17):
Well, it sure looks like you've got some upper
body strength now, seeing youhanging upside down and I just
wow, look at that girl.
Fiona Drewbrook (20:26):
It is a constant work in progress those
the little arm noodles are.
They're trying hard.
It really is so fun though,especially coming out from
ballet too.
It's a very different industryin pole dance, where truly it
was really healing actually forme, in terms of body dysmorphia,
in seeing how, truly like atits core, every single body is
(20:49):
celebrated every single body isso genuinely celebrated.
It's not just like oh yeah, you,you can do this like you're
accepting.
It's like seeing thatrepresentation of different
bodies some of the mostbeautiful pole dancers on
instagram like have morevoluptuous bodies and are
different races and differentand gender celebration and it's
(21:11):
just such a diverse populationthat seeing that truly, truly
celebrated was really eyeopeningto me and really healing.
To be like, oh yeah, likeeverybody's body is beautiful,
every shape is incredible, likeshould be celebrated, you can
have more of like a belly pouchand that is so feminine and like
.
I love that.
Every single body has somethingabout it where I'm like that is
hot, yes, beautiful, and youcan still move it and celebrate
(21:37):
that body.
You don't have to changeanything about it.
It's not about fitness andburning calories and being
skinny.
Your body can be whatever it isin that state right now and you
can move it in a beautiful wayand everyone will love it and
support you for it.
Yeah, that was that, was that,and that's so much about the
industry where I am so on board,I love it.
Susannah Steers (21:56):
Oh, I get it.
It sounds fantastic.
It's certainly what I see whenI look online.
And I guess that brings me tosome of the things you've talked
about with me in terms of yourtreatment philosophy and how it
kind of centers around strongcommunication and empathy and
body positivity and all of thosethings.
Could you talk a little bitmore about that and maybe how
(22:19):
that approach might make adifference in someone's recovery
when you're working with them?
Fiona Drewbrook (22:24):
Totally.
Just kind of a side note on that.
I think there was a study atsome point where the best
outcomes from a physio andclient relationship are just
when they trust you.
That is like the number oneindicator of whether they will
have a good journey and recoverwell from their injury is if you
trust them and have a goodrelationship.
So really that needs to be thecenter of any relationship with
(22:47):
a client that I have, and it'stotally okay.
Of course there's differentpersonalities.
It's okay.
If that isn't really clicking,that's totally fine.
We can refer to another one ofmy colleagues or someone else.
Finding someone that fits foryou is really number one.
So in that too I also want tomake sure that that patient
feels seen and has all of theirneeds met through the lens of
(23:07):
whatever they're going throughand what they need at that time,
which is different foreverybody, and everyone's coming
from different backgroundswhere they might have trauma in
different areas of their life.
Different things might be kindof triggering to them.
They're going through differentstruggles, varying levels of
stress, activity.
I think really just recognizingthat everyone is genuinely
everyone's trying their best,nobody's like oh, I know this is
(23:30):
good for me, but I'm not goingto do it.
It's like, oh I know this isgood for me and I should, but
maybe there's some barriers thatI'm facing that aren't really
letting me get there, whetherthat's like a mental thing, if
that's just feeling notcomfortable in that space or
maybe not comfortable in theirbody, and if I can make a
difference in supporting thattransition or helping support
(23:51):
them to perform these movements,that might help them be able to
practice these movements moreefficiently or make it more
accessible to them and justdiminish those barriers.
That is kind of my number one inhelping somebody recover.
Of course and not everyone hasthose barriers Some people are
already super active and theyjust want to get back.
So well then, sometimes dialingthings back to and educating
people, maybe this is too muchfor your body right now.
(24:13):
We actually need rest, and thisis there's different forms
where we can get rest.
We can load other areas of yourbody to maybe fill in some gaps
in the meantime so that whenit's had time to rest and we're
going through that rehab process, when you eventually return to
that sport you'll be evenstronger than you were when we
(24:34):
started.
So it really depends on theperson and what they need but I
think at its core, keepingreally patient-centered is top
priority for me in my practice,for sure.
Susannah Steers (24:39):
It seems to me that education is a really big
part of your practice.
I think that's something thatwe share, right, because once
somebody knows it, then it'stheirs.
It's not something they'recoming to somebody else for
information about.
They have the information andthen they can make the choices
they need to make in theirprocess.
Definitely, what are some ofthe most common things that you
(25:00):
find yourself educating yourpatients about?
Fiona Drewbrook (25:04):
I love incorporating anatomy into
education so that people areunderstanding what is going on
in their body, like what ishurting, what's causing this
issue.
And then I'd say probably mostinjuries come from a load
intolerance.
So a lot of people it's justtoo much, too soon.
So you went and ran a marathonand your body wasn't quite
(25:26):
adapted enough to it.
Maybe we needed a little bit ofa longer training period
leading up to it and the bodytakes a lot of time to adapt to
those loads when we areincreasing super fast.
But other injuries too, like ifyou're sitting at your desk all
day and you're in one position.
Our body really likes movement.
So if we have too much loadkind of in one position, our
body's going to get grouchy.
(25:47):
We need to kind of changeposition regularly and it's not
necessarily about holding onegood posture.
Somebody on Instagram told youthis is how you're supposed to
sit, or have your shouldersshoved back behind your ears or
something in some strangeposition.
Hold this one rigid positionall day.
It's the movement.
Yeah, it's still dependent onthe patient and kind of what
(26:07):
injury or what they're goingthrough, but number one is just
movement through the day.
I think is most important.
Yeah, keeping regular movement,changing position often.
Susannah Steers (26:16):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Those are things I talk to myclients about all the time too.
You got to keep moving.
Fiona Drewbrook (26:22):
You got to keep moving.
Probably initially learned thatfrom you.
Susannah Steers (26:29):
Well, the whole idea of autonomy I find is
really interesting because Ithink a lot of people especially
perhaps if they're not moving alot, you know, if they're not
moving intensely during thecourse of their day sometimes
they depend on other people togive them information about
their bodies and they're notreally thinking about what's
happening.
And I find when you start tosee them get some autonomy and
(26:52):
start to have some confidence inunderstanding what's going on
for them, it's a reallyinteresting shift in their
physical health, but also in awhole bunch of other ways.
I'm curious how you might helpclients become more
self-sufficient and confident inmanaging their own physical
health.
Fiona Drewbrook (27:12):
Totally, and I think this actually comes back a
little bit to a point that yousaid as well, where, like
education, like that is a reallybig priority, where I love
giving so much education so thatpeople can have agency over
their movement and their bodiesand feel like they have the
tools, where maybe in the futurethey come across a little bit
of pain and they're like, oh,actually, maybe I have these
(27:33):
skills already where I can kindof try some different movements
and see if that helps things sothat they don't have to be so.
People are busy.
If we can give people the toolswhere they can learn how to
(27:53):
self-manage their conditions aswell, I love that; which sounds
counterproductive because I'm aphysio and I rely on people
coming to see me.
But if we still like, if we cangive people that agency and
that power and confidence inthemselves to be able to manage
their bodies well, that's goingto go so much further in the
long run and really at the endof the day, there's always going
(28:15):
to be people who are injured.
So if we can help people behealthier now, load their bones,
load their muscles, build thatmuscle mass that is going to be
really important.
When they are 80 years old andthey fall and don't break a hip
because they have been doingmovement and loading their bones
, they don't have as muchosteoporosis and other
(28:37):
comorbidities and diseases thataffect their bodies later in
life.
If we can give them the toolsand the confidence to be able to
move their body well now we'rereally training for when they're
old and hopefully not breakingtheir hip when they fall.
Susannah Steers (28:47):
What is your favorite way to unwind after a
long day of helping other peoplemove better?
Fiona Drewbrook (28:52):
Probably more movement! I don't really stop
moving.
My favorite days that you haveum some pole dance classes at my
studio that are a little bitlater at night, like 9, 30, 8,
30 I guess is latest class.
So if I can finish a day, evenon my later days, and and take a
class at the end of the day,it's really lovely and some of
them are very they're verymeditative flows that we're
(29:14):
going through too.
So it's really a chance to kindof check in with your body at
the end of the day what'sfeeling a little bit sticky and
icky and what needs to just kindof wiggle those little bits out
and then pair that with musicand trying to make everything
flow.
It's really calming as well andexciting too.
Sometimes it's hard to fallasleep after because I'm like,
(29:35):
yeah, let's keep going.
Susannah Steers (29:37):
You remember what I said at the beginning
about you're being all in?
Yes.
.
.
still there.
You're practicing at GastownPhysio, right?
So people can find you there.
I'll put links in the shownotes.
Is there anywhere else peoplecan find you?
If they'll put links in theshow notes, is there anywhere
else people can find you if theywould like to learn more about
you or see some of your poledancing exploits?
Fiona Drewbrook (29:57):
For sure.
I mean, Instagram, you canalways connect to me through
Instagram and I yeah, I alsowork at VGH as well, which
hopefully we're not reconnectingthrough there.
It's an older population thatI'm I'm working with at VGH, but
, yes, I hope not to see peoplethere, ideally.
Please don't come to thehospital.
Susannah Steers (30:17):
But if you do, you'll be really glad to be in
Fiona's hands.
Fiona Drewbrook (30:20):
Here we go, we'll work together and we'll
get you back to where you needto be.
Susannah Steers (30:25):
Thank you so much for spending some time with
me, Fiona.
It's always, it just, it warmsmy heart to catch up with you.
Fiona Drewbrook (30:32):
Me too.
I always, I'm always so joyfulafter speaking with you and
having a chance to connect andtruly like.
Everything in my in my careerhas come from my early days and
learning anatomy and learninghow, oh yeah, I can kind of feel
things in my body and I havethis awareness of where my spine
is, and transferring that fromPilates as well into the ballet
(30:54):
setting and now into other formsof movement has been really
impactful in my journey throughmy career.
Susannah Steers (31:00):
Oh, that's wonderful to hear.
Fiona Drewbrook (31:02):
and also just being a mentor too.
I really appreciate you as aperson and your support over the
years, so thank you so much
Susannah Steers (31:09):
Back at you, girl, and I want an invite to
that next pole dancingcompetition!
Fiona Drewbrook (31:12):
100%.
I can't believe I didn'tmention it to you.
I don't know what I wasthinking.
Brain was out to lunch.
Susannah Steers (31:18):
Well, take care , Fiona, and I hope to see you
again very soon.
Fiona Drewbrook (31:22):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, sue.
Bye-bye, much love, bye.
Susannah Steers (31:28):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Subscribe and, if you love whatyou heard, leave a five-star
review and tell people what youenjoyed most.
Join me here again in a coupleof weeks.
For now, let's get moving.
Welcome to the Heart of Motion podcast.
I'm Susanna Steers and I'll beyour host as we explore the
heart, soul and science ofmovement as a pathway to more
active, vibrant and connectedliving.
Nothing happens until somethingmoves, so let's get started.
Hello everyone, I'm so gladyou're here.
(00:21):
I've been looking forward tothis day for a very long time.
Today, I have the pleasure ofintroducing you to one of my
favorite people.
Since I met Fiona Drewbrook in adance studio many more years
ago than I'd like to admit, I'veknown her to be the kind of
person who is all in in her life.
She works hard and she playshard, and I think that outlook
(00:45):
has taken her to some veryinteresting places.
Much of Fiona's life has beencentered around training,
movement and learning about thehuman body.
In her childhood and teen years, she dedicated herself to
ballet training, which is wherewe first met, and if you know
anything about ballet, you'llknow that that training can be
pretty intensive.
(01:05):
After high school, fiona movedto Boston and then to Toronto to
continue her ballet trainingand to dance with Ballet Jorgen,
canada.
At 21, she decided to hang upthe pointe shoes and pivot to a
career in healthcare.
She returned to Vancouver tocomplete a Bachelor of
Kinesiology and a Master's ofPhysiotherapy at UBC, and she's
now working as a physiotherapisthere in Vancouver.
(01:26):
In both her professional andpersonal pursuits, fiona is
quite literally a mover and ashaker.
I know you are going to loveher story.
Welcome to the podcast, fiona,
Fiona Drewbrook (01:40):
thank you.
Thank you so much, Sue.
I'm so excited to finally speakto you.
Susannah Steers (01:45):
It's fun to connect right?
Absolutely.
Let's maybe start with theballet, because dance is what
brought us together those manylong moons ago.
Can you tell us a little bitabout your journey in dance?
Fiona Drewbrook (02:00):
Well, first, of all, we were connected through
dance, and so Sue actuallytaught a intro to anatomy for
dancers at the studio and thatwas really what sparked my whole
life journey of where I'veended up now.
So thanks, Sue.
You're the reason I'm a physionow.
Susannah Steers (02:19):
That's so fun.
Fiona Drewbrook (02:20):
Yeah, learning I mean it was more the
essentials of anatomy, but Ijust loved the fact of learning
like everything that's in ourbody and to be able to imagine
that that is actually inside ofme.
It was wild.
It's quite groundbreaking formy little 15 year old brain.
Susannah Steers (02:39):
Yeah, I remember some interesting
moments.
I think we had a - d o youremember the anatomy jeopardy
game we played one day?
Fiona Drewbrook (02:45):
Yes, yes!
Susannah Steers (02:47):
Well, let's start there.
The anatomy was part of thatpre-professional dance training
that you had, so you know, it'spretty serious when, as a dancer
, you're learning about thatstuff.
What did your days look like?
There was a lot going on backthen.
Fiona Drewbrook (03:01):
Yeah, there was .
So there's a couple ofdifferent schools in Vancouver
where you can do half-dayprograms.
But I kind of arranged it at myschool because we fortunately
were on a semester system, so Iwent to school just in the
mornings and then at lunch Iwould go to dance and train for
the rest of the day six, sevenhours and then did the rest of
my high school by correspondence.
So it was a lot of work, it wasreally stressful, but I
(03:24):
absolutely loved it.
I wouldn't have wanted it anyother way.
Yeah, unfortunately.
I mean, at that point in mylife I really just wanted to
dance.
That was all I wanted to do.
So high school wasn't quite asbig of my priority at that point
.
But of course my mother kept mein line and was like no, you
still have to do all of this.
Susannah Steers (03:41):
But it's a lot because, as you say, I mean,
you're dancing for six or sevenhours a day.
You're dead beat at the end ofit and, oh yeah, now I've got to
do my homework before schooltomorrow morning.
Fiona Drewbrook (03:50):
Exactly, it's really just
school sleep, school dance,school sleep.
But really the dance part of itwas that was all I wanted to do
.
That was so much fun to me.
I was excited to go to danceevery day, show up early, do
your stretching and warmups andthen you go home at the end of
the night and you go and try todo some school work and try to
(04:11):
stay off YouTube watching moreballet videos.
Susannah Steers (04:15):
You moved to Boston.
You were in Toronto dancing allthe time and I guess around 21,
you decided to shift gears andyou and I both transitioned from
a dance career to kind of amovement focused health
profession.
I know that transitions fromdance to normal life can be a
bit of a thing.
What was that shift like foryou?
Fiona Drewbrook (04:37):
It was a difficult transition, for sure,
In my process of leaving mydance career too.
It was by choice, but also notby choice.
My contract wasn't renewed atthe end of my season dancing
because I was too tall for thecompany, and that was an ongoing
battle that I had through myentire I mean short dance career
(04:58):
.
Susannah Steers (04:59):
It's a real thing.
Your body isn't right and whenyou're struggling against that
all the time, I was always toomuscular.
Fiona Drewbrook (05:06):
Especially when it's something like that, where
it's out of my control, I can'tdo anything about it, I'm just
told to do it.
Okay, I guess I'll go trysomething else.
Then it's not something I canchange, there's nothing you can
do about it.
Yeah, it's really wrenchingwhen you've worked your whole
career to be here and then allof a sudden they're like well,
actually sorry, we don't haveany guys that can partner with
you, so you don't have a placehere anymore.
So that was really difficultand I definitely I just lost a
(05:29):
lot of motivation.
At that point I didn't reallyknow where my life was going.
Dance wise.
I always knew I wanted to dancefor a ballet company, but I
didn't really have that muchinterest in teaching, to be
honest, which has actuallyshifted a little bit now.
I might consider it at somepoint.
But at that point I didn't wantto choreograph, I didn't want
(05:50):
to teach, I just wanted to danceand that was it.
So at that stage I was like,well, maybe it's just time to
wrap it up.
I knew I'd probably end upgoing back to school anyways at
the end of my dance career.
So why not just do that now,bite the bullet, get it done and
start my career a little sooner, and I made it.
We're good.
But that transition wasdefinitely difficult.
Being in the ballet industry isa very strange place and maybe
(06:11):
changes your expectations forhow real life works to some
degree.
Can you say more about that?
Yeah, I mean, in a balletcompany it's all based on how
hard you're working, makingyourself seen.
Show people that you're workinghard all the time.
Show people that you are eagerand wanting to do the best.
It's a little bit like you haveto be obsessed in order to be
(06:33):
successful and the bar is alwaysgoing up.
Susannah Steers (06:37):
There's no end point.
When you get there, then youhave to do the next one, and
then the next one.
Fiona Drewbrook (06:41):
Absolutely.
It's never ending, never ending.
There's always going to besomebody working harder than you
, and that is what's in yourhead all the time.
You have to work harder thanthat imaginary person who is
apparently working harder thanyou, so it's just never enough.
So, transitioning back toschool, I was definitely very
obsessive about being the bestand I needed really good grades.
(07:03):
I needed to show like I kind ofcarried that over but then also
really struggled withtransitioning to sitting all day
in a classroom and then goinghome and sitting to study and
that was so hard and I wasn'tlike my movement education up to
that point was dance and Ididn't really need to do a whole
lot outside of that because Iwas dancing a lot.
(07:25):
It was a very physical.
Susannah Steers (07:26):
Six or seven hours a day.
.
.
Fiona Drewbrook (07:28):
Exactly.
You didn't want to be doingmore than that.
But transitioning to school,that was really hard because I
was like, well, ballet classesare really expensive.
I'm on a student budget, I alsodon't have time to go downtown
to take these drop-in classesall the time, and so that was
hard.
I kind of had to figure outsome different ways of moving
and different sports to kind ofjump into to keep active, and I
(07:50):
wanted to explore some othersports as well.
But just keeping moving was alittle bit of a challenge
because I didn't have a goodeducation in the gym or anything
.
I was not confident in the gymwhatsoever, which is also
something that's kind ofimportant to me now as a physio,
because a lot of people don't.
They don't teach that inschools.
No, no, they don't.
We're going to teach you thisthe rules of I don't know
(08:10):
football, instead of how toactually move your body well,
yeah, how to live in your bodyand how to move it well.
Susannah Steers (08:16):
What does moving well mean to you?
Now, post-ballet, you're inyour career.
What does it mean to you inyour life, maybe in your work or
in your own body?
Fiona Drewbrook (08:25):
Yeah, I feel like there's different answers
for each of those.
So in, let's say, in my work, Iwant people to be able to move
in a way that is meaningful tothem and to be able to do that
pain-free.
So if that means they want togo train for a marathon, great.
We want to work towardsbuilding up the tolerance of
their body to be able to takethose loads and keep that
(08:49):
endurance through that entiretime so that they can do that
pain-free or relativelypain-free.
I feel like a marathon wouldalways be painful in my brain
Susannah Steers (08:58):
On some level.
Fiona Drewbrook (08:59):
But yeah then to me I have various sports I've
collected now, just being ableto A) move your body in like an
optimal way.
I feel like I should use somesports as an example, like
figuring out when I'm skiing.
I like to focus a little bit ontechniques and like movement
efficiency so that I - anddisclaimer, I'm not, I'm no
(09:21):
great skier, I'm pretty average- but to figure out the
movements and like to analyzethe technique of skiing so that
you can try and keep speed andthat confidence with the speed,
while also moving downhill asfast as I can.
Susannah Steers (09:34):
Because it's fun.
Fiona Drewbrook (09:36):
Because it's fun, it is so fun.
Yeah.
And that's really whereeverything comes back to.
I just want to do it becauseit's fun.
Susannah Steers (09:48):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's funny you're sayingthis about your skiing technique
.
I'm in the pool regularly andfor me it's kind of meditative
in that I can really feel when Iget the strokes right, when I'm
supporting my body well, yourbody kind of lifts and you're
just gliding, as opposed to thetimes when I'm a little less
organized and you know, maybe myback's tight or whatever, and
then nothing is quite as wellcoordinated and so I'm spending
my time kind of feeling intothose places while I'm swimming.
(10:10):
People say they get boredswimming and I think, "really
Fiona Drewbrook (10:13):
Totally, and that's totally what it is with
skiing too, because there's somuch waiting of the skis and
then there's almost a period ofweightlessness in between turns,
which is so, oh, it feels sogood.
But you're right, some daysthere's just days where your
body just isn't moving superwell or the snow is super weird,
of course, so things changedepending on the day, but when
(10:35):
you can get it, oh, it feels sogood.
Susannah Steers (10:37):
Well, I feel like maybe something in your
dance training informs theprocess that you're describing
right now.
I mean spending so much timeworking on the smallest little
activity of the foot, or howyou're lengthening your leg or
recruiting that one specificthing.
That changes everything, atleast in terms of your own
(10:57):
activity.
I don't know, maybe that helpsyou working with patients too,
but it does kind of create alens through which you
experience movement.
Fiona Drewbrook (11:06):
Absolutely, absolutely it does, and
regularly when I'm skiing,mountain biking, dancing,
whatever, I come back toactually cues that you've given
through that anatomy andmovement court.
There's a lot of imagery thatyou used in how you Educated Us
too, which I really appreciated.
I'm very much a visual learnerand I tend to use random imagery
(11:27):
too with clients, whether thatworks or not sometimes.
I tend to use random imagerytoo with clients, whether that
works or not sometimes.
Sometimes they're like Fiona,what are you talking about?
That's so abstract.
Yeah, that is, but it reallyhelps.
Thinking of like the littlefish hooks and a slight string
tugging up your spine and littlecues like that where I'm like,
oh yeah, if I just engage mylittle fish hook, things
suddenly become a lot easierwhen you do that movement or it
(11:47):
just gives a little bit morestability through your core,
where of course, that's thecenter of all your movement,
your limbs attached to your core.
So having that nice and stablewhen you're moving then allows
you to use your muscles a littlebit more efficiently through
your extremities as well.
So, yeah, I think, right fromchildhood really and through
teen years really was when Iobviously started taking ballet
more seriously, but through thatmovement training when I was
(12:10):
younger definitely translatesinto everything I do now, and
really my whole life is a vault.
Susannah Steers (12:19):
Well, I mean, it's getting to be summer season
, spring season now, so probablyyou're transitioning out of
skiing and into another passionfor you, which is mountain
biking, and into another passionfor you, which is mountain
biking.
Yes, I remember running intoyou up at the End of the Line
Coffee shop in North Vancouver.
I was coming out of the trailsafter my little morning walk and
there you were hanging out withyour pals in the - I think
(12:42):
you'd just done the firstmountain, you'd just done Mount
Seymour, so you were on the wayto do the Triple Crown, that's
what it's called right?
Fiona Drewbrook (12:50):
Yes, the triple crown.
Exactly.
Susannah Steers (12:51):
Now.
As I understand it from some ofmy mountain biking friends,
that is no small feat.
Fiona Drewbrook (13:01):
It's a big day, for sure.
I did it with such a greatgroup of friends too.
I made a couple people join forjust certain segments too.
But yes, it's a big ride.
I should have double checkedall the elevation and everything
, but it's a big day.
Susannah Steers (13:10):
And it's all in one day.
Three mountains in one day,right?
Fiona Drewbrook (13:12):
Three mountains in one day.
You start in Deep Cove, you goto the dock and you dip your
tires into the water in DeepCove.
Got to do that the start andend! And then you ride up
Seymour, ride down.
There's various trails that youcan ride.
Fortunately our friend had donethe route before actually, so
we kind of followed his lead anddid the trails he recommended.
But yeah, ride some trails downSeymour and then ride up Fromme
(13:35):
, ride some trails down Fromme,big big traverse, and then up
Cypress all the way, and then wecome down one more big trail
there, finish in Horseshoe Bay,dip your tires in right at the
end.
Susannah Steers (13:46):
Wow, wow, I think I would die.
Fiona Drewbrook (13:49):
You would not.
You'd be great.
It's fun.
You eat a lot of sugar throughthe day Just to keep you going.
Susannah Steers (13:55):
Keep the energy up!
Well, how did you get there?
Because, okay, I mean, I knowballet can be really exciting
when you're in it, right, andyou're in those moments.
But a lot of people are notgoing to put ballet and hardcore
mountain biking and skiing inthe same package.
So what do you think?
What is it about those sportsparticularly that drew you in?
(14:18):
Was it intensity?
Fiona Drewbrook (14:20):
It is.
I think it is.
It's intensity, and I think,too, there's this perception
around ballet that it's like youknow what little girls do with
their tattoos and it's reallysoft and pretty, which is you
have to make it look soft andpretty, but inside, when you are
on stage and you've got fourblisters and you're bleeding
into your pointe shoes and youstill have to put your whole
(14:41):
body weight on your shoes andthen jump on pointe, it's really
intense.
You learn to deal with pain andwork through it and look pretty
while doing it and you areworking your muscles so hard all
the time.
It is so intense and to havedone that like your whole life,
since childhood too, like it'sreally a high level sport.
(15:01):
And I think there's thisperception around ballet that
it's maybe not quite as hardcoreas it is, but it is honestly so
hardcore, seriously.
Yeah, it really is.
Yeah, you've lived through ittoo.
You know what it is.
So I think it actually kind oftranslates.
Well, I don't think peoplerealize how intense of a sport
it is that mountain biking iskind of similar and skiing is
(15:21):
kind of similar and now poledancing also kind of similar.
There's a lot of pain and skinpain, very different forms of
pain, but it's still painful andyou just do it.
I think my obsession withmaking the movement as beautiful
as I can and as flowy andkeeping momentum through
movement all those kinds ofprinciples translates well to
(15:41):
each of those sports.
With ballet, you want things tobe flowing around the stage and
you want to be using momentumin an appropriate way.
It's the same thing withmountain biking.
When you're going down a trail,you want to be end goal, going
as fast as you can make it.
So you're trying to figure outhow you can angle the bike and
maneuver your body on the biketo maintain that momentum as you
go around corners or evengaining speed around corners.
(16:04):
And again, I'm a very mediocremountain biker at the end of the
day.
But that's that obsession andlike movement analysis, that I
really really love.
I get really excited about, yeah.
It's fun when you can do it atthat intensity.
It comes back to those feelings- or maybe I'm projecting -
but it comes back to thosefeelings, you know, when you're
(16:26):
fully "in it on stage and you'redoing all the things and you're
a hundred percent invested inwhat.
You're fully in it on stage andyou're doing all the things and
you're 100% invested in whatyou're doing.
And it sounds to me like maybethat's part of your experience
when you're riding your bike.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Just makes me forget all myother issues in life, so turns
your brain off, focused entirelyon what you were doing.
(16:46):
Plus, you have to with sportslike mountain biking, where you
have to be, where your brain hasto be engaged, or something
might go wrong.
Susannah Steers (16:54):
You don't want to lose the plot when you're
hurtling down the hill and onthe rocks.
Fiona Drewbrook (16:58):
Not at all, which I think is also meditative
and just brings your attentionto that.
You have to engage your brain.
It's kind of like a yogapractice of sorts, where you
have to be focusing on themovement and it's that presence
that I really like and thengetting to enjoy it with friends
.
Susannah Steers (17:17):
Which is even better! Okay, so now I want to
talk about pole dancing, becauseI have been watching all your
fantastic pole dancing stuff andI realized you did your first
competition recently and I waslike, oh man, I would love to
have been there to see that.
Fiona Drewbrook (17:32):
I wish I'd invited you! I felt so bad in
retrospect.
I I was so nervous! though.
I mean, this is another one ofthose things that people don't
often recognize how muchstrength, flexibility, fluid
control pole dancing requires.
I've done a little bit of poledancing and it's hard.
(17:52):
What drew you to it, and doesit compliment some of the other
things that you're doing?
Absolutely so.
I had a friend who startedbefore me, a girl who I did
undergrad with, and I saw videosshe was doing and I was like,
oh, this is interesting.
I'd done one pole dance class,I think, when I was on tour with
the ballet company.
That was kind of like apromotional thing, I think, for
the studio.
(18:13):
I didn't really enjoy it thatmuch.
I have always struggled withupper body strength so I didn't
pick that part up very easily atall.
But I saw what my friend wasdoing and I was like, oh,
actually, this is basically kindof a combination of ballet and
rock climbing it's bouldering onone piece of metal.
I was like, okay, ballet androck climbing, like it's
bouldering on one piece of metal, okay, this is kind of cool.
(18:33):
When I finished school as well,when I finished for
physiotherapy, I wanted to findanother movement practice, like
dance that, because I reallymiss dancing and I didn't dance
for I guess six or seven years.
When I was in school.
I kind of quit cold turkey andI think it was healthy for me to
kind of have that separationjust from healing, from some
(18:54):
body dysmorphia and other kindof things that are natural with
the industry as well.
But I really missed it, likethe movement and that analysis
and the femininity of movementas well, the delicateness and
attention to detail.
I wasn't really getting throughmountain biking and skiing,
which were really my only sportsat that point.
(19:15):
So getting back into a dancespace, I was really excited by
one, where going back to aballet class at that point in my
career is a little bitdepressing when you haven't been
doing it for so long and youreach a level where you actually
have to be dancing that six orseven hours a day.
You have to be in it all thetime in order to maintain that
level.
I couldn't just put pair ofpointe shoes back on and be able
(19:37):
to do five pirouettes again.
So getting into an adjacentdance form where there's a lot
of transfer of that movementskill but also is completely new
and I'm learning somethingdifferent and I don't have to be
hard on myself for not being ata certain level where my brain
expects me to be at.
We're always too hard onourselves.
Susannah Steers (19:59):
No kidding.
Fiona Drewbrook (20:00):
So I could create that kind of safe space
for myself to explore a newmovement and learn a new skill
without and still enjoy thatmovement transfer of dance,
without having thatperfectionism to quite a new
degree, because I was completelynew and I had no upper body
strength.
Susannah Steers (20:17):
Well, it sure looks like you've got some upper
body strength now, seeing youhanging upside down and I just
wow, look at that girl.
Fiona Drewbrook (20:26):
It is a constant work in progress those
the little arm noodles are.
They're trying hard.
It really is so fun though,especially coming out from
ballet too.
It's a very different industryin pole dance, where truly it
was really healing actually forme, in terms of body dysmorphia,
in seeing how, truly like atits core, every single body is
(20:49):
celebrated every single body isso genuinely celebrated.
It's not just like oh yeah, you,you can do this like you're
accepting.
It's like seeing thatrepresentation of different
bodies some of the mostbeautiful pole dancers on
instagram like have morevoluptuous bodies and are
different races and differentand gender celebration and it's
(21:11):
just such a diverse populationthat seeing that truly, truly
celebrated was really eyeopeningto me and really healing.
To be like, oh yeah, likeeverybody's body is beautiful,
every shape is incredible, likeshould be celebrated, you can
have more of like a belly pouchand that is so feminine and like
.
I love that.
Every single body has somethingabout it where I'm like that is
hot, yes, beautiful, and youcan still move it and celebrate
(21:37):
that body.
You don't have to changeanything about it.
It's not about fitness andburning calories and being
skinny.
Your body can be whatever it isin that state right now and you
can move it in a beautiful wayand everyone will love it and
support you for it.
Yeah, that was that, was that,and that's so much about the
industry where I am so on board,I love it.
Susannah Steers (21:56):
Oh, I get it.
It sounds fantastic.
It's certainly what I see whenI look online.
And I guess that brings me tosome of the things you've talked
about with me in terms of yourtreatment philosophy and how it
kind of centers around strongcommunication and empathy and
body positivity and all of thosethings.
Could you talk a little bitmore about that and maybe how
(22:19):
that approach might make adifference in someone's recovery
when you're working with them?
Fiona Drewbrook (22:24):
Totally.
Just kind of a side note on that.
I think there was a study atsome point where the best
outcomes from a physio andclient relationship are just
when they trust you.
That is like the number oneindicator of whether they will
have a good journey and recoverwell from their injury is if you
trust them and have a goodrelationship.
So really that needs to be thecenter of any relationship with
(22:47):
a client that I have, and it'stotally okay.
Of course there's differentpersonalities.
It's okay.
If that isn't really clicking,that's totally fine.
We can refer to another one ofmy colleagues or someone else.
Finding someone that fits foryou is really number one.
So in that too I also want tomake sure that that patient
feels seen and has all of theirneeds met through the lens of
(23:07):
whatever they're going throughand what they need at that time,
which is different foreverybody, and everyone's coming
from different backgroundswhere they might have trauma in
different areas of their life.
Different things might be kindof triggering to them.
They're going through differentstruggles, varying levels of
stress, activity.
I think really just recognizingthat everyone is genuinely
everyone's trying their best,nobody's like oh, I know this is
(23:30):
good for me, but I'm not goingto do it.
It's like, oh I know this isgood for me and I should, but
maybe there's some barriers thatI'm facing that aren't really
letting me get there, whetherthat's like a mental thing, if
that's just feeling notcomfortable in that space or
maybe not comfortable in theirbody, and if I can make a
difference in supporting thattransition or helping support
(23:51):
them to perform these movements,that might help them be able to
practice these movements moreefficiently or make it more
accessible to them and justdiminish those barriers.
That is kind of my number one inhelping somebody recover.
Of course and not everyone hasthose barriers Some people are
already super active and theyjust want to get back.
So well then, sometimes dialingthings back to and educating
people, maybe this is too muchfor your body right now.
(24:13):
We actually need rest, and thisis there's different forms
where we can get rest.
We can load other areas of yourbody to maybe fill in some gaps
in the meantime so that whenit's had time to rest and we're
going through that rehab process, when you eventually return to
that sport you'll be evenstronger than you were when we
(24:34):
started.
So it really depends on theperson and what they need but I
think at its core, keepingreally patient-centered is top
priority for me in my practice,for sure.
Susannah Steers (24:39):
It seems to me that education is a really big
part of your practice.
I think that's something thatwe share, right, because once
somebody knows it, then it'stheirs.
It's not something they'recoming to somebody else for
information about.
They have the information andthen they can make the choices
they need to make in theirprocess.
Definitely, what are some ofthe most common things that you
(25:00):
find yourself educating yourpatients about?
Fiona Drewbrook (25:04):
I love incorporating anatomy into
education so that people areunderstanding what is going on
in their body, like what ishurting, what's causing this
issue.
And then I'd say probably mostinjuries come from a load
intolerance.
So a lot of people it's justtoo much, too soon.
So you went and ran a marathonand your body wasn't quite
(25:26):
adapted enough to it.
Maybe we needed a little bit ofa longer training period
leading up to it and the bodytakes a lot of time to adapt to
those loads when we areincreasing super fast.
But other injuries too, like ifyou're sitting at your desk all
day and you're in one position.
Our body really likes movement.
So if we have too much loadkind of in one position, our
body's going to get grouchy.
(25:47):
We need to kind of changeposition regularly and it's not
necessarily about holding onegood posture.
Somebody on Instagram told youthis is how you're supposed to
sit, or have your shouldersshoved back behind your ears or
something in some strangeposition.
Hold this one rigid positionall day.
It's the movement.
Yeah, it's still dependent onthe patient and kind of what
(26:07):
injury or what they're goingthrough, but number one is just
movement through the day.
I think is most important.
Yeah, keeping regular movement,changing position often.
Susannah Steers (26:16):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Those are things I talk to myclients about all the time too.
You got to keep moving.
Fiona Drewbrook (26:22):
You got to keep moving.
Probably initially learned thatfrom you.
Susannah Steers (26:29):
Well, the whole idea of autonomy I find is
really interesting because Ithink a lot of people especially
perhaps if they're not moving alot, you know, if they're not
moving intensely during thecourse of their day sometimes
they depend on other people togive them information about
their bodies and they're notreally thinking about what's
happening.
And I find when you start tosee them get some autonomy and
(26:52):
start to have some confidence inunderstanding what's going on
for them, it's a reallyinteresting shift in their
physical health, but also in awhole bunch of other ways.
I'm curious how you might helpclients become more
self-sufficient and confident inmanaging their own physical
health.
Fiona Drewbrook (27:12):
Totally, and I think this actually comes back a
little bit to a point that yousaid as well, where, like
education, like that is a reallybig priority, where I love
giving so much education so thatpeople can have agency over
their movement and their bodiesand feel like they have the
tools, where maybe in the futurethey come across a little bit
of pain and they're like, oh,actually, maybe I have these
(27:33):
skills already where I can kindof try some different movements
and see if that helps things sothat they don't have to be so.
People are busy.
If we can give people the toolswhere they can learn how to
(27:53):
self-manage their conditions aswell, I love that; which sounds
counterproductive because I'm aphysio and I rely on people
coming to see me.
But if we still like, if we cangive people that agency and
that power and confidence inthemselves to be able to manage
their bodies well, that's goingto go so much further in the
long run and really at the endof the day, there's always going
(28:15):
to be people who are injured.
So if we can help people behealthier now, load their bones,
load their muscles, build thatmuscle mass that is going to be
really important.
When they are 80 years old andthey fall and don't break a hip
because they have been doingmovement and loading their bones
, they don't have as muchosteoporosis and other
(28:37):
comorbidities and diseases thataffect their bodies later in
life.
If we can give them the toolsand the confidence to be able to
move their body well now we'rereally training for when they're
old and hopefully not breakingtheir hip when they fall.
Susannah Steers (28:47):
What is your favorite way to unwind after a
long day of helping other peoplemove better?
Fiona Drewbrook (28:52):
Probably more movement! I don't really stop
moving.
My favorite days that you haveum some pole dance classes at my
studio that are a little bitlater at night, like 9, 30, 8,
30 I guess is latest class.
So if I can finish a day, evenon my later days, and and take a
class at the end of the day,it's really lovely and some of
them are very they're verymeditative flows that we're
(29:14):
going through too.
So it's really a chance to kindof check in with your body at
the end of the day what'sfeeling a little bit sticky and
icky and what needs to just kindof wiggle those little bits out
and then pair that with musicand trying to make everything
flow.
It's really calming as well andexciting too.
Sometimes it's hard to fallasleep after because I'm like,
(29:35):
yeah, let's keep going.
Susannah Steers (29:37):
You remember what I said at the beginning
about you're being all in?
Yes.
.
.
still there.
You're practicing at GastownPhysio, right?
So people can find you there.
I'll put links in the shownotes.
Is there anywhere else peoplecan find you?
If they'll put links in theshow notes, is there anywhere
else people can find you if theywould like to learn more about
you or see some of your poledancing exploits?
Fiona Drewbrook (29:57):
For sure.
I mean, Instagram, you canalways connect to me through
Instagram and I yeah, I alsowork at VGH as well, which
hopefully we're not reconnectingthrough there.
It's an older population thatI'm I'm working with at VGH, but
, yes, I hope not to see peoplethere, ideally.
Please don't come to thehospital.
Susannah Steers (30:17):
But if you do, you'll be really glad to be in
Fiona's hands.
Fiona Drewbrook (30:20):
Here we go, we'll work together and we'll
get you back to where you needto be.
Susannah Steers (30:25):
Thank you so much for spending some time with
me, Fiona.
It's always, it just, it warmsmy heart to catch up with you.
Fiona Drewbrook (30:32):
Me too.
I always, I'm always so joyfulafter speaking with you and
having a chance to connect andtruly like.
Everything in my in my careerhas come from my early days and
learning anatomy and learninghow, oh yeah, I can kind of feel
things in my body and I havethis awareness of where my spine
is, and transferring that fromPilates as well into the ballet
(30:54):
setting and now into other formsof movement has been really
impactful in my journey throughmy career.
Susannah Steers (31:00):
Oh, that's wonderful to hear.
Fiona Drewbrook (31:02):
and also just being a mentor too.
I really appreciate you as aperson and your support over the
years, so thank you so much
Susannah Steers (31:09):
Back at you, girl, and I want an invite to
that next pole dancingcompetition!
Fiona Drewbrook (31:12):
100%.
I can't believe I didn'tmention it to you.
I don't know what I wasthinking.
Brain was out to lunch.
Susannah Steers (31:18):
Well, take care , Fiona, and I hope to see you
again very soon.
Fiona Drewbrook (31:22):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, sue.
Bye-bye, much love, bye.
Susannah Steers (31:28):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Subscribe and, if you love whatyou heard, leave a five-star
review and tell people what youenjoyed most.
Join me here again in a coupleof weeks.
For now, let's get moving.
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