How labarre studios saved my life!

I feel its time to share my story.

I know what you’re thinking … did I really read this correctly?  The answer is, “yes you did! 
I have been thinking about sharing my story for quite some time and with our 5-year anniversary coming up on July 14th, 2022, I feel now is the time to be real. 
When I opened labarre studios in July 2017 my energy and enthusiasm was at an all high.  During this time my dad was managing a terminal illness which ended up taking his life months before we opened.  I lost my dad, and he didn’t get to see my dream come to fruition.  This event absolutely broke my heart both figuratively and literally. 

Lisa's parents, Jim Brown, Sr and Janice Brown

Jim and Lisa, 2004

The excess stress settled in my heart and it started to beat out of rhythm in a very dangerous combination of Atrial Fib and Atrial Flutter.  This condition is well known as “broken heart syndrome”.  The only thing that regulated my heart was exercise, so when I was doing barre, this rhythm corrected. 
 
Once I was diagnosed, the surgeons moved quickly to perform corrective surgery on my heart.  As I was being prepared for surgery, I was quietly wearing heart rate monitors daily, while teaching classes to record my heart rhythm.  No one noticed, and I didn’t make any mention of it. 
 
Fast forward to the financial and emotional devastation of Covid-19 when my husband, Rob Alberino, lost his job as the Vice President of the San Francisco 49ers along with 33 million other Americans. Like many others, our world had crashed.  Labarre Studios was in a forced shut-down and we were in limbo of what was next to come.

​The urgency of this situation had me so hyper focused on our family and labarre that I ignored signs of an infection and was simply treating the symptoms while ignoring the signs.  I was also being a good citizen by staying away from overly crowded hospitals that were dealing with the covid global pandemic with record numbers of deaths daily. 
 
Here’s where I give a big “shout out” to our Acupuncturist, Angelica Acton, who pointed out to me not once but twice that she was seeing signs of kidney infection through her exams and treatments.  I made an appointment right away but couldn’t get into a doctor for a few weeks.  Unfortunately, this spread to sepsis and septic shock.  I landed in ICU in the infectious disease wing with all the Covid patients and wasn’t allowed any visitors.  Ironically, or not, the nurse that checked me in was a labarre studios member and she promised me that she would stay with me and assured me that I was in good hands.  My, how the tables had turned …. 

Angelica Acton, Juniper Acupuncture

Lisa is all smiles as she greets guests

I don’t know what I would have done without labarre studios during these difficult times.  Taking classes and seeing our community brought me so much joy I will be forever grateful.  Interestingly enough I am not the only person who can say “labarre has saved my life” as I have seen and heard this over and over again from our community over the past 5-years.  I have heard the following phrase multiple times, “if I didn’t have labarre studios in my life, I may not be here today.” 
 
We have had staff and members who have lost siblings, husbands, children, nephews, friends, aunts, grandparents, parents and more.  We have had members who have experienced mental health challenges, lost their careers, experienced illnesses, death and divorce who and have clung to labarre studios during the toughest of times.  We have boarded up our building during the instability of this world due to events like George Floyd’s murder and the epidemic of gun violence we experience all too often. 

Today we can shout that we are still standing as a business, and we are even stronger and better from the inside out.  Again, both figuratively and literally!
 
I even had a mental health therapist cancel her membership due to a conflict of interest because she recommends labarre studios to her patients to help them in their own personal healing.
 
So when someone says to me, “why do you put so much effort and time into your studio? Wouldn’t you be better off to sell it or move on from it now that you live in Kansas City?”  My answer is simple, “because labarre studios saves lives.”  We cannot be everything to everyone, but to someone we can be everything. 
 
We would love to hear how labarre studios is helping you or has made a difference in your life ... maybe even saved your life!  Lets not keep secrets any longer and see if together we can help others!
 
Xo ~ Lisa