The Pilates Studio at YogaKula
Welcome!
Our goal is to encourage our clients to experience and cultivate self-awareness through the union of mind and body. By using the Pilates Method, you will learn to move in a way that embraces this connection and deepens your understanding of your own physicality.
The Pilates Method is accessible to anyone, regardless of your current condition, age, or fitness level.
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
Our Pilates studio features three Allegro Reformers, one Allegro Reformer with a Cadillac conversion, a Chair and other props for exercise variations.
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 movement, this method thoroughly works the body and produces efficient and dramatic results.
Joe Pilates’s main concern was the mind/body connection – “harmony between mental and physical.” He believed that our mind, the quality of our focus and awareness, creates the physical state we find ourselves in. He felt that SIMPLE exercise performed with precision and self-awareness, (or, to borrow a phrase from Moshe Feldenkrais, “awareness through movement”) was the anecdote to chronic pain and imbalance, which in his mind, were the main causes for rapid aging and degeneration. Joe Pilates did not believe in pushing past the ‘pain-threshold’ and detested the 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.
While observing people as they moved through their daily lives, as well as 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 some of the most powerful muscles in the body -they literally cradle our vital organs, provide foundation and support for free and easy breathing, are intrinsic to our overall balance, and contribute to our body’s weight distribution. This is why Joe Pilates felt that focusing our attention on this crucial part of our anatomy 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 have 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 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 Private Reformer session
• Online Scheduling for Mat classes
Click on any of the following to learn more about Pilates at YogaKula:
• Instructions for Online Scheduling
• Fees
New Pilates Students:
• Group Reformer classes are recommended for those with Reformer experience. For new students, to help you get acquainted with the equipment, we offer a Pilates Intro Package – 3 Private Reformer Sessions for $99 (regularly, $225). Please visit the studio, or call 510.486.0264, to purchase. We also offer Intro to Pilates Group Reformer classes as part of our regular schedule.
Class Policies:
• 24 hour cancellation policy; you will be charged the class fee for a late cancel.
• 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.
• Class passes are non-transferable.
• Note expiration dates on your class passes; activated the day of first use.
Cancellation policies:
• If you cancel a class at least 24 hours in advance, you will not be charged. You may cancel online by logging into your account.
• No-shows and cancellations less than 24 hours in advance are charged in full.
• If you need to cancel a class, please do so as soon as possible—this courtesy enables other students to sign-up for classes.
Our office phone hours are: Monday through Friday, 9:30am-1:00pm and 5:30-8:00pm; Saturday and Sunday, 9:00am-1pm.
Please call us during these hours, or leave a message and we will get back to you promptly.
Willow Blish was first introduced to Pilates in Vermont in 1998 and received certification through the Physical Mind Institute in January of 1999. Upon moving to New York City, she continued her Pilates training at Power Pilates under the tutelage of Bob Liekens and Susan Moran-Perich, among others, receiving certification in August of 2002. She holds the trademark to Pilates Balance®, a group exercise class combining Pilates, calisthenics and balance, all using the large physio ball. Other fitness certifications include personal training through
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 Clinton 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.
Elizabeth Du Val danced professionally for over 15 years, using Pilates to fine tune her dancing. She started teaching mat classes while still dancing in ’91, and has taught people of all ages, manner of injuries, and ambitions in a variety of places. Recently, she spent several years teaching group reformer classes at Reforming NY, a busy Pilates complex in Manhattan, and has also taught in places such as Asphalt Green, multiple Y’s, Berkeley Ballet Theatre and elsewhere. She is grateful to have been given the opportunity to teach at Yoga Kula for the last several summers and is thrilled to be returning on a more permanent basis.
While she has a foundation in classical Pilates, she also has a mat certification in Physical Mind, and a reformer certification in the Stott style. She was trained to teach on the chair and cadillac by Ellie Herman.
Her class focuses on slow controlled movement, allignment and precision in order to maximize each exercise.
