The goal of Pilates is to produce a lean, lithe physique, proper body alignment and balance. The movements create strength without bulk, while increasing flexibility.

 

Whether you are seeking an increased fitness level, improved sports performance, a way to rehabilitate an injury, relief from chronic pain, or simply a great type of exercise to educate, realign and balance your body, Pilates is for you! 

What is Pilates?

Pilates (Pul-ah-tees) is a system of movement and exercise created and developed in the 1930’s by German-born athlete and physical therapy pioneer, Joseph H. Pilates. Utilizing specially designed equipment and a Yoga-inspired series of dynamic Mat exercises, his innovative method combines intense mental conditioning with physical training teaching you to work from the “inside out.”

 

Pilates strengthens and stretches, frees one from poor postural habits, helps heal back and neck problems, and alleviates tension and fatigue. Doctors, physical therapists, dancers and athletes have long revered Pilates as a healing and educational physical training system.

How does it work?

All Pilates exercises are initiated from your “powerhouse”, i.e., a central core of strength created by using your low, deep abdominals and deep layers of gluteal (buttocks) muscles. Where traditional fitness machines and exercises fail, Pilates creates an incredible core of abdominal strength and low back stability. Pilates exercises activate and utilize your entire body, rather than isolated muscle groups, thereby creating synergistic strength and a balanced, flexible body.

What equipment is used?

Joseph Pilates created several unique pieces of equipment, each designed to support and challenge the body in learning and mastering the exercises of Pilates Method. The “Cadillac,” “Reformer,” “Barrel,” and “Wunda Chair” are devises equipped with springs and straps which provide resistance. Unlike other fitness methods, this external resistance is decreased, as your body grows stronger, thus allowing your own deep muscles to take over the movements.

Because we can’t “see” ourselves, it is difficult to change habitual movement patterns, especially if we continue to work out with the same familiar types of exercises and equipment. Only with proper training can you begin to change patterns of movement, which have created the body you currently have.

 

 

Fees: Personal Instruction *
$80.00 per one-hour session $700.00 for a series of 10 sessions	$375.00 for a series of 5 sessions $135 for a one-hour home session
* Certain restrictions apply.

Fees: Group Instruction **
Duets	$55 per one-hour session   |   $300 for a series of 6 sessions | $450 for a series of 10 sessions
Trios	$45 per one-hour session   |   $160 for a series of 4 sessions
** Group rates reflect the cost per person.      Group sessions require pre-scheduling and advance payment with no refunds on cancellations or no shows.

 

About your trainer

Dorothy Stewart has been teaching dance and fitness since 1974. At first focusing on a dance career, she majored in theater arts and taught ballet at San Jose State University. Her fitness career began when, diagnosed with scoliosis at age 19, she gave up dancing rather than undergo spinal surgery. In 1992, she and her husband relocated to Dallas, and here she discovered and began training in the Pilates Method. She has studied with several Master Pilates Teachers (students of Joseph Pilates) nationwide, learning the techniques of the Pilates Studio, New York and the Physicalmind Method of Santa Fe. Certified to teach Pilates since 1995, she has also conducted advanced teacher training workshops for local and national studios and the Cooper Institute for Aerobic Research.