Rachel is a fantastic pilates instructor, and I highly recommend going to her at Flourish for…read moreanyone who wants to gain strength, connect with his or her body, and have a good time. Rachel combines her vast knowledge of pilates, dance, biomechanics, yoga, and so on, with a with a really great teaching style. She's approachable, great when you have questions, and knows many different ways of describing a position or movement so that everyone can understand it.
Rachel can teach any level of pilates. If you go there and you know nothing about pilates and take a beginning class, you'll learn a lot, and you'll feel the positive changes in your body after a week or two. I started taking pilates from Rachel two summers ago during a beginning mat class. Because I didn't grow up doing dance (or yoga or pilates), I thought doing pilates would be intimidating and that I would get lost -- but it was perfect. I learned a lot, and so did the others in the class. But Flourish isn't just great for beginners; there are people at all different levels who go to Rachel's classes, and she knows just how hard to push people so that we all really get something out of it. For every movement or position, Rachel knows modifications for people with injuries or sensitivities, or for people who want more of a challenge. Not only does she know these things, but she offers information and materials right in the moment, during class, so that everyone feels comfortable whether or not they need a modification or want a more difficult exercise. In this way, Rachel accommodates multiple levels of strength, practice, and even rehabilitation in her classes.
Even with the very different levels of people within one class, Rachel is really good at helping everyone get the most they can out of each exercise/movement. She remembers who has what injuries, and is great at coaching people so that each person meets his or her individual needs.
Recently, Rachel and Dani, another wonderful trainer, held a highly-attended Winter Tune-Up class. Instead of one hour, we met for an hour and a half, and we went through the principles, breathing, and a lot of exercises, according to which questions and issues everyone had. It was a great help to get to review these things and practice them with two trainers present (that was good for such a large class, normally the classes are smaller and you still get one-on-one attention when just one trainer is there).
Last but not least, there are both mat and Reformer options for pilates at Flourish. I've never taken a Reformer class, so I can't speak to that experience directly, but from what I've seen, the classes are always full. There are also yoga, TRX, and bodywork classes, which I hear are wonderful (I can't speak to these directly either).
