We recently connected with Caitlin Sullivan and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Caitlin , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

When I initially started my business, it was a fully equipped in-home Pilates studio where I intended to fill my books with back-to-back clients. I absolutely love teaching Pilates and watching the incremental changes in strength and posture happen in my client’s bodies, so a part of this really lit me up and felt fulfilling.

But, I couldn’t help thinking about the long hours I would be putting in day after day, week after week to keep my business running. At the time, my goal was not to expand into a full commercial space and. have employees; I wanted to keep it just me. That meant if I went on vacation, so did the business.

With this thought in my head, I noticed myself becoming more and more burnt out. I was also teaching Pilates at another studio and working remotely for my family’s elevator business. I was pushing ahead because I wanted to be successful at what I was doing, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore the fatigue, brain fog, and general overwhelm I was experiencing.

Finally around April of 2020, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was just too exhausted. The whole world was shut down so it was finally “okay” for me to take a break, too. I remember admitting to myself how tired I really was and then allowing myself to truly rest for the first time in a while.

With a clear head, I made the realization that I needed to make some big shifts in my professional life if I wanted to have a sustainable career and be a happy person.

During that time, I was also studying to become a holistic hormone health coach and my state of complete burnout made me a good guinea pig for all of the wellness principles and practices I was studying.

Not only did I experience immense healing, I also became fascinated with the female menstrual cycle and the idea of cycle syncing. It really opened my eyes to what it meant to be truly healthy as a woman. I also couldn’t deny how perfectly hormone health intertwined with the principles of Pilates.

I really wanted a way to share this invaluable knowledge that had improved my quality of life so greatly with other women.

Until then, I had never considered teaching online or how I could reach a wider audience but the idea of creating a membership site was presented to me and from there, The Spring to Life Method was born!

In the coming months I sold off most of my Pilates equipment and focused my attention on creating a virtual space to share my love of Pilates and hormone health with other women. It’s been a winding process, but I’m extremely proud of the risk I took.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

The goal of the Spring to Life Method is to teach women how to naturally support their hormone health in order to recover from burn out, eliminate PMS symptoms, support their health while on hormonal birth control, and/or transition off of hormonal birth control.

It’s about healing hormonal symptoms, but it’s also about building a deeper understanding and relationship with your body. It’s about listening when your body sends you a message and working with the flow of your hormones rather than against them.

The Method addresses hormone health across five pillars:

*Nutrition and Gut Health- the goal is to reduce inflammation and food sensitivity, balance blood sugar, and learn to eat intuitively for hormone health

*Cycle Syncing and Journaling- get familiar with the four phases of the menstrual cycle and begin tracking with the SLM journaling practice

*Movement- integrate phase-specific Pilates flows in three intensities to target muscle-toning, fat-burning, and recovery windows of the menstrual cycle

*Self-Care- go deep with self-care practices that help regulate the nervous system, reduce anxiety, and increase confidence

*Low-Tox Living- reduce exposure to toxins in your environment, cooking utensils, cleaning, and personal care products

In addition, I host monthly master classes with industry experts! The line up for the rest of 2022 includes a naturopathic doctor, Reiki healer, functional nutritional therapy practitioner, and an ER nurse- it’s gonna be good!

The Spring to Life Method is really about creating lasting change in my clients’ lives. This is not about making a quick fix; it is a commitment to health and longevity and it is named Spring to Life for a reason.

It’s hard to describe the feeling you experience when you finally step out of that heavy fog of haywire hormones- whether it’s burnout, period problems, or symptoms from hormonal birth control- you truly feel like YOURSELF again and I think that is pretty special.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In the two years that I have had Spring to Life I’ve lost count of my pivot turns! The theme has always been cycle syncing and Pilates but the message and goal has definitely evolved over time.

Part of pivoting was understanding that I bit off more than I could chew initially. I quickly realized that building a membership site was no joke, so I pulled back and focused mainly on sharing Pilates. Eventually I wove the cycle syncing back in when I had a better understanding of HOW I was going to do it.

The other part of pivoting was becoming more confident in myself and who I wanted to help. It’s not easy to get on the internet and start talking about periods! In the end, my passion won out over my shyness and I fully owned my niche!

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I’ve thought about this before and I think to change my current profession, I would have to go back even further and change my first profession, which was ballet!

To be honest though, I don’t think I would. I struggled, I hit roadblocks, and I was disappointed many times. But the truth is, the whole time I was following my passion, and there were some pretty awesome high points, too!

As a teenager, all I could think about was ballet. My career took me across the country and even internationally to Canada and Germany. I chased it as far as I could and when it was time for a change, It evolved naturally as I explored my interests.

I started teaching ballet at 14- I’ve always been fascinated by how the human body moves and works so I think I’m right where I’m meant to be!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.springtolife.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/springtolifemethod/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKg2rYex3S9XIg9fpyA0fVw
• Other: Blog – https://www.springtolife.co/blog

Image Credits
Melissa Boleslawski