The Pilates Studio at YogaKula
Welcome!
Our aim is to encourage individuals to experience and cultivate awareness about the union between mind and body. In addition to the Pilates Method, our expert instructors offer a variety of exercise and movement approaches for people who want to lead healthier and more vibrant lives. You will learn how to train with self awareness – how to recognize your needs and deepen understanding about your own physicality.
The Pilates Method is accessible to anyone regardless of your current condition, age, or fitness level. It can be used as simply a more focused and profound way to exercise, a rehabilitative/therapeutic approach, a more basic, rudimentary bridge to any yoga practice, a refined training process for people involved in high level performance, or as a way to become better acquainted with your own body mechanics.
Benefits of the Pilates Method include:
• Strength and flexibility
• Improved posture
• Better balance and coordination
• Fluid movement
• Increased stamina
• Stress reduction and relaxation
• Improved concentration and focus
• Weight loss
• Vibrant health and well being
• Injury rehabilitation
• Improved performance
The studio, located at 1700 Shattuck Ave, in the renowned Gourmet Ghetto neighborhood of North Berkeley, is part of YogaKula, a Yoga and Healing Arts Center, which offers Yoga, Massage, Therapeutics, Nutrition, Tai Chi, and workshops on health and healing. Our studio features 3 Allegro Reformers, plus 1 Allegro Reformer with a Cadillac conversion, a Chair and several props for exercise variations.
We offer a variety of health and fitness techniques: Physical imbalances can lead to pain, fatigue, and immobility. Unguided and automatic exercise routines can further limit the body’s functional health. Our fitness programs completely engage your body and mind while restoring healthy movement. Below is a description of the types of techniques we use.
The Pilates Method
Based on the teachings of Joseph H. Pilates, this exercise approach addresses imbalances that can contribute to chronic pain and discomfort. By deeply engaging the mind with specificity and precision, and utilizing the breath in every exercise, this method works the body thoroughly and produces extremely efficient and dramatic results.
Joe Pilates’ main concern was the mind/body connection – “harmony between mental and physical”. He realized that our mind, the quality of our focus and awareness, creates the physical state we find ourselves in. He felt that SIMPLE exercise with precise focus and self awareness, (or, to coin a phrase from Moshe Feldenkrais, “awareness through movement”) was the elixir to chronic pain and imbalance, which in his mind, were the main causes for unnecessary, rapid aging and degeneration. Joe Pilates did not believe in pushing past pain threshold and detested mindless repetition that was prevalent in most exercise techniques of his day. He believed that if you did one repetition of something with the right quality of focus, all of yourself engaged and present in the effort, with adequate breathing, and precise attention to every last detail of the movement, it would be enough to feel good, alert, and engaged in life.
In observing people moving and functioning in daily life and in his exercise classes he realized that the most mechanically deficient and weak part of the body was the whole abdominal region from front to back. The pelvic girdle contains many of the most powerful muscles in the body, literally cradles our vital organs, provides the foundation and support for free and easy breathing, and is architecturally the ?keystone? of balance and weight distribution for the entire body. This is why Joe Pilates felt that primary attention to this crucial part of our physiology was at the root of healthy, fluid movement.
Core strength, adequate breathing, quality of focus, fluidity of movement, and precision of execution are the hallmark principles of the Pilates Method which is why so many dancers studied it, and why it is a method and not a technique. The Pilates Method is an approach to a healthier way of life, to well being, and to grace inside and out.
Click here for Pilates Teacher Bios
Click here for Pilates mat class schedule
Click here for Reformer class schedule
Welcome to Pilates at YogaKula!
Click here for:
• Online Scheduling for Reformer classes
• Online Scheduling for Mat classes
Click on any of the following to learn more about pilates at YogaKula:
• Instructions for Online Scheduling
• Fees
New students:
• Group Reformer classes are for those with experience with Reformers only. For beginners, you can have to take a few Private sessions until you are familiar with the Reformer.
• To sign up for the Pilates Intro Package – 4 private sessions and 5 group classes for $375, call 510.486.0264 or come in to the studio.
Class Policies:
• Two people minimum for a class. If less than 2 people are signed up, we will call you to let you know the class is cancelled 24 hours in advance.
• Turn off cell phones before class, and please be quiet in the hallway when spa sessions are in progress.
Purchase policies:
• To sign up for classes, payment must be made in advance.
• Packages are individually bought and not shared between different people.
• Note expiration dates on your packages. They are activated on day of first use so you can buy them in advance and you’ll still have time to use them.
Cancellation policies:
• If you cancel a class at least 24 hours in advance, we will credit your account. You can cancel online or contact desk staff.
• Cancellations less than 24 hours in advance are charged in full. No-shows are charged in full.
• If you are going to cancel a class, please do so as soon as you know, so that a space opens up for someone else to sign up. This helps out other students as well as the teacher.
Our office phone hours are: Monday to Friday 9:30-12:30 and 5:30-8; Saturday and Sunday 9-5.
Please call us during these hours, or leave a message and we will get back to you promptly.
Abby Eaton has always gravitated towards endeavors which take a certain amount of balance such as horse back riding, ice skating and skiing. When introduced to pilates in 2001 it seemed like a natural fit. The mind body connection aspect of pilates especially appealed to her. She started the pilates mat certification process with Integrated Teacher Training in the Bay Area in 2004, and the apparatus training certification process with Turning Point Studios in Walnut Creek in 2006. She has taught at a variety of fitness clubs and pilates studios in the East Bay and takes a great deal of pleasure in sharing her passion for pilates and movement.
Joanna Arhon began studying Pilates in 2003 to rehabilitate a lower back injury. As a dancer, she was immediately drawn to the Pilates method. Her enthusiasm and dedication to her own practice eventually led her to complete an instructor certification program through Balanced Body University. Joanna brings deep awareness and sensitivity to her Pilates teaching. She is very passionate about educating people about the strength and power of their own bodies. Joanna is also a certified fitness instructor at UC Berkeley where she teaches dance and Pilates mat classes.
Lala Darrah has been teaching Pilates since 2002; first in San Diego, and then in the East Bay. Lala trained and certified with ITT Pilates in Oakland and is on her way to completing her Pilates Method Alliance certification.
Lala builds a deep connection with each client, intuitively finding solutions to meet clients’ personal needs. She supplements studio work with suggested at-home programs to enhance the benefits of private sessions.
Her special skills include working with postnatal, osteoporosis, ages 60+ and sports injuries. With a background as a competitive athlete and certified yoga teacher, Lala brings her knowledge and keen observation to her clients’ aid. In addition to working with the full range of Pilates apparatuses, Lala teaches Pilates on a Ball, Pilates Circuit, Pilates Mat and Yoga classes.
Sarah Gourley After a lifetime of dance and yoga, Sarah was set on completing an extensive yoga teacher training program in Hawaii, but once she stepped into a pilates studio, her path was realigned. After completing a few sessions she was amazed by the changes in how her body looked and felt. Soon thereafter she immersed herself in pilates and obtained her certification through Pilates of Hawaii.
Her past background in yoga has provided her with a strong belief in the power of the mind-body connection, as well as its ability to heal the body’s aches and pains. Her main focus is to provide individuals with the encouragement, knowledge, and drive to transform and maintain a strong & supple body. Her classes are challenging, healing, and fun.
