About Me
Hi, I’m Melinda.
Melinda is known for her warm, intuitive, and light-hearted approach that brings out the best in every client. She is, by definition, a teacher rather than an instructor guiding each person to understand their body, own their movement practice, and cultivate long-term self-awareness. Her mission is simple yet profound: to empower everybody.
With movement re-education at the forefront of her teaching, Melinda draws on a diverse skill set and an adaptive, collaborative style. She works closely with clients and allied health professionals to achieve meaningful, lasting outcomes improving not only physical capability but overall quality of life.
Over her two-decade career, Melinda has developed an extensive understanding of rehabilitation and injury recovery. Her curiosity, research-driven mindset, and intuitive teaching have guided countless clients through challenges of all kinds.
My Background and Expertise
Melinda began teaching Remedial Studio Pilates in 2004, training at Melbourne’s renowned Intelligent Body rehabilitation studio before furthering her education with PITC.
She gained APMA Level 4 Membership (10,000+ teaching hours) in 2009 and is now a PAA Professional Pilates Practitioner, maintaining annual continuing education of over 20 hours to ensure her teaching stays at the leading edge.
Her career includes collaborations with elite professionals and athletes such as the Women’s Olympic Rowing Team (London 2012), AIS Triathlon and Swimming Teams, and Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Paul Ohmsen on post-surgical rehabilitation for shoulder and hip reconstructions.
Women’s Health Focus
Since becoming a mother in 2015 and 2017, Melinda has devoted her focus to Women’s Health, training with The Centre for Women’s Fitness in Chicago. Her lived experiences including miscarriage, IVF, complex childbirth, and pelvic floor rehabilitation have shaped her empathetic, empowering approach to women’s wellness.
Through her own recovery, Melinda learned to heal and strengthen her pelvic floor without surgical intervention. Today, she shares that knowledge with women navigating similar journeys, helping them rebuild confidence and vitality through movement.
Her teaching blends evidence-based practice, compassion, and deep personal understanding offering a space where strength, softness, and self-trust coexist.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
For over 15 years, Melinda has been guiding clients through movement re-education within the Pilates industry. Throughout this journey, she noticed something profound while many could rehabilitate their bodies, they often struggled to shift the energetic and emotional patterns that kept them tethered to their injuries or ailments.
This sparked a deep curiosity:
Where do restriction and imbalance truly come from?
Melinda came to understand that the body already holds the answers, we simply need to ask the right questions and listen with awareness.
How does it feel in your body?
Where does that feeling come from?
When was the first time you felt this?
What was happening around you at that time?
When we honour the body–mind–soul connection, these questions become pathways to healing.
Our physical symptoms are often the body’s way of expressing what we’ve ignored or suppressed.
The stories we tell ourselves about our past, our family, or our identity can shape how we move through life. But stories can be rewritten, and beliefs can be reimagined. Through movement, reflection, and awareness, we begin to change the narrative from within.
Soul Strength Principles
Honesty
True transformation begins with honesty, with the quiet conversation between mind and body that no one else can hear. By bringing awareness to your thoughts and questioning the stories they carry, you create space for authenticity to emerge.
Connection Over Correction
Perfection isn’t the goal. We honour where your body is today, not where it “should” be. Every cue, every adjustment, every breath is an invitation to connect, not to correct — to move courageously, compassionately, and without judgment.
Movement Heals
We believe that movement is medicine. Whether it’s organic and expressive or structured and precise, movement has the power to transform. By weaving breath through every sequence, Soul Strength bridges the physical and emotional, guiding transformation on every level of being.
Soul Strength Studio
Set amongst the tall trees of the Tallai Rainforest Retreat, this tranquil space is both a private home and, on occasion, an Airbnb and Pilates retreat centre.
Nestled within the property, Soul Strength Studio is a dedicated, fully equipped Pilates haven featuring a Reformer, Cadillac (Trapeze Table), Wunda Chair, and Barrels offering everything you need for a complete, embodied practice.
We offer 1:4 Semi-Private Studio Classes and 1:1 Private Sessions, designed to provide personalised attention, mindful movement, and a deeply restorative experience surrounded by nature.
Here, strength and serenity coexist — inviting you to reconnect, realign, and move with intention beneath the canopy of the rainforest.