Twenty five years ago, Topanga realtor Anne Christine Von Wetter made an existential decision. “I wanted to try something different, so I drove to Woodland Hills and started doing Pilates,” she says, describing the moment she met Pilates instructor Jocelyn Berry, and fell in love with the practice. Working out only twice a week, she became so toned and fit that a friend visiting from France asked her, “What are you doing?”
When the Carlsons first opened Pine Tree Circle, Ann Christine invited Jocelyn to bring Pilates into the Canyon. The day the Carlsons started leasing in 2000, Jocelyn signed up and opened Pilates in Topanga, next to Topanga Acupuncture Bodywork Chiropractic above the Waterlily Café.
Pilates is a mind-body method of fitness training famous for strengthening core stabilizer muscles to provide central body support while integrating the larger mover muscles into the core. It’s a way to work out without injuring the joints. It integrates breathing, and stretches while it strengthens, improves flexibility, posture, and alignment, and relieves stress. The practice was designed and founded by Joseph Pilates to provide resistance while supporting the body through a system of springs, ropes, pulleys, and moveable parts.
Joseph Pilates was a sickly child in Germany in the late 1800s. Determined to overcome this, he studied calisthenics, yoga, and physiotherapy. He became a gymnast, a professional boxer and a self-defense trainer at police academies and at Scotland Yard. During WWI, interned with other German citizens in England, he took the bedsprings off the beds, attached them to the walls for spring resistance and continued training himself and other inmates in fitness exercises.
During the 1918 flu epidemic, these inmates had so strengthened their immune systems through fitness that none of them became ill, which drew more attention to Pilates’ program. When he moved to New York City, he opened a fitness studio there and met Martha Graham, who added dance movements to his repertoire and referred dancers for both strength training and rehabilitation. Since then, physical therapists, dance medicine experts and sports medicine specialists have all looked carefully at Pilates exercises and added their refinements and improvements to help develop this continually evolving work. Currently even the Lakers added Pilates to their training.
Pilates in Topanga is a private space for clients to receive personalized, focused attention on their body’s unique needs without the distractions of crowded gyms. Its well-trained instructors work like personal trainers on Pilates equipment and teach one or two clients at a time in semi-private sessions. Specific exercises, intensity, and pacing, can all be modified to serve a range of needs—from deconditioned clients to advanced athletes. It is a great resource for young athletes who are learning how to integrate their bodies to succeed at their sports, and also a tool for anyone rehabilitating a range of conditions post physical therapy or seeking support for ongoing chiropractic care. For more information on Integration Studios Inc contact Jocely Berry at [email protected] or 818 606-9356
By Jocelyn Berry
Community Corner: Pilates in Topanga
