BodyTonic Pilates Gymnasium

Since 1999, BodyTonic has maintained a safe, unpretentious and energizing environment where people can feel empowered, challenge their bodies and enjoy the benefits of increased agility and strength. The following posts reflect our thoughts on Pilates, yoga, wellness, and community.

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In this workshop, Roberta Wein P.T., C.P.I., will lead Pilates instructors, apprentices, and clients of all levels in an exploration of spinal pathologies and orthopedic considerations for the Pilates practitioner. Structural and anatomical considerations will be defined and explained, including:

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Men's only Class 8pm Thursdays with Eva

Joe Pilates said "In 10 sessions, you will feel the difference. In 20, you will see the difference. And in 30, you'll have a whole new body."

Joseph Pilates was a boxer; he originally created his method for men to increase agility, stability, strength and stretch. Pilates can help men develop the deep muscular stability needed to protect the lower back, creating longevity for the spinal column and a core strength that fuels the body through other forms of physical activity. Whether you want to improve your tennis game, running time, or just feel better at home playing with your family, Pilates gets the job done!

http://www.body-tonic.com/schedule/#qtip

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*New* $15 Tower Classes!

Celebrate 15 Years of BodyTonic With $15 Classes!

From now until Nov 9th, BT is offering a 3-Class Pack for $45 for New and Existing Clients! 

Click here for our Fall Class Schedule.

Click here to purchase this offer and reserve a class.

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WORKSHOP 10/18: Should I Flex or Extend My Spine? Special Orthopedic Considerations from Head to Toe.

In this workshop, Roberta Wein P.T., C.P.I., will lead Pilates instructors, apprentices, and clients of all levels in an exploration of spinal pathologies and orthopedic considerations for the Pilates practitioner. Structural and anatomical considerations will be defined and explained, including:

Overview of pertinent Anatomy

Scoliosis

Spinal Stenosis

Asymmetries

Disc Herniations

Hip Instability

Knee Derangements

Specific degenerative disorders will be brought to an increased awareness, with an increased educational approach. Contraindications for the practitioner will be discussed: Do I flex or extend? How do I support?

Through lecture and discussion, learn how to share your expertise and communicate with both clients and ancillary medical practitioners! If you are willing to demonstrate, please dress in your Pilates attire.

Saturday 10/18 1p-4p BodyTonic Pilates Gymnasium $120 Call 718.622.6222 to register or reserve your spot online now!

  Roberta Wein P.T., C.P.I. has been a physical therapist since 1981, and began combining Pilates with physical therapy, as a practitioner in 1993. She is grateful to have had the pleasure of being certified and trained by Romana Kryzanowska, and be a 2nd generation Pilates instructor. Having been a dancer prior to these professions, she has a particular interest and expertise in dance and sports medicine. Until recently, she has been the owner of her practices: JRW physical therapy, and P.T. and Pilates. She has taken Pilates practitioners, and physical therapists under her wing for certification, with much emphasis on injuries and injury prevention. She is currently the director of Pilates Physical Therapy at HealthSOS.

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NEW! Get a grip on your Pilates practice with non-slip socks! Lupo Slipper Socks, one size fits all $15. Colors include: Hot Pink; Bright Blue, Heather Grey; and Black. Also don't forget about our fabulous Toe Sox! S, M, and L

Bella (Mary Jane style) $15 Half-Toe $15 Full-Toe $15 Full Toe Knee High Scrunch $16 Ask to see about additional colors/sizes Get a pair today to try in our new fall classes or a semi-private!

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Jennifer Reflects on the Plum Island Pilates Conference

We are a part of a larger Pilates Community.

Last Sunday, Candice and I hit the road, taking a roughly 5 hour trip to Plum Island, Massachusetts for a Pilates Intensive on the beach! Summer = fun, going places, horizons expanding. Pilates is growing, evolving and thriving as evidenced in this buzzing community filled with such life and vigor!

Germany, Canada, Boston, NY, Vermont were all represented at this gathering hosted and organized by the Pilates powerhouse, (and my teacher training buddy in '95!) Clare Dunphy Hemani and outfitted by Gratz Industries. I had the great pleasure of co-teaching a Tricks of the Trade Workshop alongside, Clare and led my own workshop, "Get Your Pilates Business Moving!"

Along with the paella, ocean breezes and spontaneous moments of salsa, there was the method, the legacy, the budding businesses and the strengthening and healing power of Contrology, started by Joseph Hubertus Pilates almost a century ago. Clare and I are so blessed to have trained with Romana Krysanowska, keeper of the flame, protege of Mr. Pilates, and feel a great responsibility to play a part in carrying on Mr. Pilates' and Ms. Krysanowska's work. In three days, we just scratched the surface!

Till next summer.....

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A Goodbye & A Hello

Dear BT Clients,

We have some bittersweet news to share. As of September 1st, Benjamin Stuber will no longer be teaching at BodyTonic so that he can focus on non-Pilates projects. We have treasured his commitment and expertise over the last four years and we know you have as well. We wish him the best in all of his new adventures and look forward to his return to BT for a workshop or special event.

Come catch Benjamin's final Classics and Curveballs Class today at 1p!

We are grateful and happy to announce that Senior Instructor Brian Eshleman will be returning to BodyTonic and will be available to teach you in your regularly scheduled time slot. We feel certain that his Pilates and acupuncture knowledge will be so valuable to our studio. He will begin teaching the Open Level Class on Tuesdays at 1p next week and Candice will be taking over the Classics and Curveballs Class on Wednesdays at 1p. Click here to book a session with Brian! Click here to see our class schedule! To Your Health, BT

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2 New Prenatal Semi-Privates Begin this Week

Pilates can provide a safe workout during pregnancy, helping to keep your body strong and flexible. Beginning this week, BT is offering two new prenatal semi-private sessions:

Sunday at 12p

Wednesday at 6p

Call 718.622.6222 to join.

Because of the modifications required to safely work with the pregnant body, private and semi-private training are the best venues for prenatal clients.

We do not recommend that clients who are more than 12 weeks pregnant participate in group classes. We suggest that pregnant clients review exercise plans with their medical providers. After your delivery, join our Basics Class to help you reconnect with your core.

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Work Study Opportunity

BodyTonic is now looking for a serious pilates lover to help us out with some light cleaning in exchange for two free classes a week.  If interested please email [email protected] or give us a call at 718-622-6222

Thanks!

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2 NEW Classes Start Next Thursday!

Have you been having a hard time getting a reservation in Megan's Tuesday 7p Intermediate Class? Are you wondering how to convince your man to try Pilates?

Our Summer Class Schedule arrives next week with more NEW classes to address your needs!

Beginning next week, Eva will be adding:

Thursday 7p Intermediate Pilates Tower Class

Ready to take your practice to the next level? This class will use intermediate Pilates mat exercises and the classic Pilates Tower equipment, small weights, magic circles, and other props. 

AND

Thursday 8p Men's Pilates Tower Class

Men are welcome in any of our Tower Classes. However, this one was designed with extra challenges for upper body and abdominal strength, with a special focus on stretching out the hamstrings and lats. Joseph Pilates was a boxer; he originally created his method for men to increase agility, stability, strength and stretch. Pilates can help men develop the deep muscular stability needed to protect the lower back, creating longevity for the spinal column and a core strength that fuels the body through other forms of physical activity. Whether you want to improve your tennis game, running time, or just feel better at home playing with your family, Pilates gets the job done!

Summer is your time to hit your Pilates Tower Class stride...

  Click here to view the complete class schedule with levels and class descriptions!

  Click here to rsvp!

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Pilates is for Dads too!

Buy a gift certificate for the Dad in your life and we will give him a FREE Pilates Tower Class!

If he is a new client, our 3 for 2 intro special is a great way to start.

Not to mention, the FREE class is good for any of our Pilates Tower Classes, including the NEW Men's Class beginning on Thursdays in July at 8p. 

Click here to read about how a Detroit Lion incorporated Pilates into his off season workout routine.

{Pictured: Candice teaches an advanced BT client Candlestick.}

Drop in, purchase online, or call 718.622.6222. Offer valid through 6/15/14.

And don't forget you receive 10 BT bucks as part of our Give/Get program to use towards your own training.

Happy Father's Day from BT!

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Meet the Doulas this Sunday 1:30p-2:30p

Meet the Doulas! Come chat and ask questions about doula support, birth, breastfeeding and the postpartum period.

FREE Event 

Sunday 6/8

1:30p-2:30p

  Dos Doulas,  aka Cori and Sarah started their partnership in 2004. With hundreds of births behind them, they are proud to support women and their families through the unique experience of childbirth and transitioning into parenthood. Our practice covers birth in the hospital, home and birth centers. We work with and are recommended by NYC obstetricians, hospital midwives and homebirth midwives.

  Cori Pleune, co-founder of Dos Doulas, is a DONA Certified Birth Doula, certified Lamaze Childbirth Educator, and trained Postpartum Doula. She is certified with the American Red Cross in adult/child/infant CPR, and has completed workshops to help women breastfeed successfully. Cori attended her first birth in 1996 and has been hooked ever since. Her hobbies are knitting, reading good books and taking road trips with her family. Cori and her husband Kodjo live in Park Slope and spend all of their free time hanging with their kids Ollie and Ivy (both born at home!).

  Sarah Kaylor, co-founder of Dos Doulas,is a DONA Certified Birth Doula, trained Postpartum Doula and Hypnobirthing instructor. She has also trained as an End of Life Doula and is certified with the American Red Cross in adult/child/infant CPR, She has completed workshops to help women breastfeed successfully. Sarah birthed her son, Jacob, 24 years ago and has supported women in labor ever since. Her hobbies are Aikido, drawing, and snuggling with her two mutts. Sarah and her husband Sean live in Park Slope.

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Pilates Tower Class Every Weekday at 1p!

Beginning this Monday, we are adding NEW Pilates Tower Classes to our weekday schedule:

Monday 1p Open Level with Merav NEW

Tuesday 1p Open Level with Benjamin

Wednesday 1p Classics and Curveballs with Benjamin NEW

Thursday 1p Open Level with Jennifer

Friday 1p Advanced with Candice

You can now look forward to taking a long lunch break every day of the week at BT this summer! 

Click here to RSVP!

Click here to see the full class schedule, including evening and weekend hours.

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Classics and Curveballs Begins Next Wednesday!

Classics and Curveballs is a NEW Pilates Tower Class at BT

Wednesdays at 1p with Benjamin

In the spirt of Mr. Pilates' ceaseless innovation, Classics and Curveballs draws from archival Pilates exercises and presents them alongside creative and current evolutions.  This juxtaposition of historic and modern, ignites physical intelligence utilizing increased range, balance, challenge, coordination, responsibility, and fun. It is not for the faint of heart or the brand new student. Come with a solid foundation and be prepared to shake it up!

Click here to RSVP

  Classes are open to a maximum of 7-11 clients to ensure individual attention. 

Cost: $25 or 10 for $200.

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Next Sunday 5/19: Fundamentals of BodyTonic Teacher Training Workshop

Jump into the fundamentals of Pilates teaching in this introductory workshop, which will serve as a prerequisite for BodyTonic's 2014 Pilates Teacher Training Summer Intensive and the beginning of the application process for the program. 

Sunday 5/19 1:30p-4p with Master Teacher Jennifer DeLuca

In this workshop, basic teaching skills, including assessment of posture and alignment, cuing, and tone of voice, will be covered. You will take part in a full intermediate/advanced mat class, learn about our program, and test drive your own desire to learn the art of teaching Pilates. Bring your knowledge of Pilates mat and be prepared to move and work! If you enroll in the 2014 Teacher Training Program, your payment for this workshop will be applied to the total training program cost.

Click here to rsvp now!

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Bring on the Gratz: Chris Niles Reflects on BT's New Toys

Those of you who’ve dropped by BodyTonic lately will notice that the landscape is a little different. We’ve re-branded with Gratz, the original equipment designed by Joseph Pilates. We’ve taken out the old mat springs wall units and replaced them with Towers, which have all the functionality of Cadillacs minus the cage. The old Peak Reformers are gone, replaced by skinnier, sleeker machines.  And as if that wasn’t an embarrassment of riches, the new Reformers also convert to Cadillacs. To quote The Lego Movie; “everything is awesome.”

  “We’ve got a lot of new toys to play with,” Jennifer said at the start of her first Tower class a few days ago. Her choice of words made me think about how often I hear the word ‘play’ in Pilates.  And not just play, but ‘fun’ and ‘treat’ and ‘delicious’.  We’re a bit weird like that; at BodyTonic a treat is that yummy stretch after push through on the Tower. Or the blood-rushing thrill you feel after a backbend or handstand.  Chocolate? Meh. Give me ballet stretches on the High Barrel.

  Joseph Pilates put a lot of experience into his life’s work; the experience of boxers, dancers, wounded war veterans, circus performers even. But his two inspirations were babies and animals. He painstakingly built his exercise system to mimic the fluidity of movement that comes from unthinking joy.

  Take rolling like a ball. Again and again I’ve seen clients laugh when they do it for the first time. Why not? It’s fun. And where else in adult life do we get to behave that way?

  I’ve worked out in one way or another for most of my life.  I grew up in New Zealand, where sport was a mandatory, daily activity from almost the first day at primary school. I hit balls around in various capacities. I swam and ice skated and ran long, long distances across muddy fields. I did it because I had to, and because my father thought that sports built character. I didn’t dislike it; I didn’t think much about it at all, and I was quite good at it. But as soon as I had the opportunity to stop, after high school was over, I took it.

  Thus began my adult relationship with working out. It’s a squalid and sad tale, filled with high expectations, followed by the inevitable broken promises and  disappointments. Each new regime began (and ended) in exactly the same way.  I’m old enough to remember when Jane Fonda’s thoughts on exercise were considered life changing. Needless to say her thoughts did not change my life, mostly because I got bored with the workout almost as soon as I’d unwrapped the cassette.

  Undaunted, I moved on. I tried Jazzercise and all its faddish stepchildren. (Embarrassment prevents me from naming them.) I joined countless gyms, spent thousands on fees and wore some truly regrettable Lycra outfits.  I injured myself time and time again because I had no knowledge of what my body could and couldn’t do, and was too often urged by inexperienced teachers to push past my limits.

  I stepped outside for a bit, trying martial arts, tai chi, yoga, boxing; searching for that thing that was calling to me for a lifetime commitment. I didn’t find it. And every now and then I’d go back to a gym, stupidly hoping for a different outcome from the same behavior. No matter how much I tried, I didn’t achieve the results I wanted. And worse, it bored me to the marrow.

  Joseph Pilates wisely and instinctively understood that children and animals aren’t bored.  Physical fitness is the first prerequisite of happiness, he said. And we were born to move. Why shouldn’t it be fun?

  I’ve never been bored in Pilates, but the new equipment has opened up a whole new conversation between me and the machines. I’m reminded once more of what my body is and isn’t capable of.

  The first thing you notice is that the springs push you around more. Exercises that were easy now require more oomph. It’s only been a few weeks, but I can’t get the carriage that last inch in for Reformer tendon stretch, yet it was snap on the Peak machine.  Swakkati has become laughably hard. Or was I crying? I can’t be sure.

  On the other hand, reaching through to take off springs in stomach massage is inexplicably easier. And because the Gratz Reformer carriage is narrower, I’m able to put my foot down for Balance Control to Arabesque, which I couldn’t do on the old machines.

I’m doing all this exploration without judgment—a gift that I received from Jennifer and Candice who have kindly and patiently watched possibly the least qualified person embark on teacher training, and have always a valid explanation for why I can’t do even some of the most basic exercises.

  Pilates is endless fascinating and increasingly subtle. In some ways the new machines feel like starting over, but I prefer to think of is as getting re-aquainted with an old friend, albeit one who wants you to step up your game. As Benjamin said recently, quoting Samuel Beckett. “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

  Where else could failing be so much fun?

 -Chris Niles, BodyTonic Apprentice

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NEW Wednesday 7pm Class Begins TONIGHT

Beginning TONIGHT, BodyTonic is adding a NEW Wednesday 7pm Class to our schedule. Come on join Diana for a great workout on our new Tower equipment!

$14 through February!!!!

Sign up online or drop in.