Pilates can be very, very serious. As students (and instructors!) sometimes we need to lighten up, while we tighten things up.
Join Sarah for a “Your Best Booty” class on Sunday, February 19th @ 10am. While Pilates is best used as a full-body conditioning system, in this class Sarah will teach you Pilates exercises that primarily tone your booty and upper thighs. Prepare to hear the words booty, bum, backside, haunch, glutes interchangeably for 55 minutes straight. Fun and rear-conditioning guaranteed.

Kristy Powell will be teaching a Prenatal Mat class workshop on Saturday, March 10th from 10am-12pm. $50.

In our prenatal workshop you will learn:
• a repertoire of safe exercises for strengthening the whole body that are appropriate for pregnant & postpartum women
• how to minimize common pregnancy discomforts such as back pain, sciatica, neck pain, wrist pain & incontinence
• how to improve & maintain your optimal posture
• how to tone your abdominals & pelvic floor muscles
• healthy body mechanics for lifting children

Wednesday morning, 7am mat class starts this week! Get a jumpstart on your morning with new SAP instructor Torrie.

Jay B.
I have enjoyed my introduction to Pilates at SAP. Besides attractive, enthusiastic teachers and free parking downtown, I have found that they are open to questions and very supportive as I coax my saggy body thru the routines. At first, I was trying too hard and I got discouraged in the last ten minutes of each class. Now I have learned most of the fundamental versions of most exercises, so I do fewer reps than the rest of the class. I am beginning to feel that my core is stronger than when I started. The various packages of private and group lessons make a commitment of a few months affordable and their expiration date is an incentive to get my money’s worth. I am glad that I began working with this studio.

Will R.
Dear Fellow Earth Men,
Pilates will get you dates with beautiful women. Why, you ask? Because Pilates (which was started by a dude) helps you to understand the logical system of how our bodies move. Once you begin to become more aware and sensitive of how body works you will make wiser choices that display your new-found more sensual and less vulgar understanding of the body. You will use brute force less and become more confident. Women will recognize your sophisticated understanding and begin approaching you. This is because women are smarter than men and already know these things. So man up and do Pilates!

Wick C.
Here are the physical changes I noticed by practicing Pilates:
• Core: From “I didn’t know what the core is” to significant, useful strength, endurance and flexibility from pelvic floor to thoracic spine. (Imagine the possibilities!)
• Flexibility: From “Yeah, I’ll stretch first” to working on flexibility and core strength at every session.
• Upper body – from mush to noticeable definition. (Not enough to warrant emailing pictures to women I don’t know, but enough to feel good about privately.)
• Weak right shoulder (due to injury and surgical repair) – now significantly stronger and more flexible.
• Balance (on one leg): from not good to somewhat better and getting better.
• Breathing: easier, more relaxed even under stress provided I have it together enough to use the additional strength and flexibility in my diaphragm and lungs.

Here are the mental changes I noticed:
• I am now sure there is a mind – body connection
• Feeling of calm power sometimes

Reasons enjoy coming to the Studio:
• SAP teachers: Superb. Pilates is an interactive process (especially with private or semi-private lessons) between student and teacher. The SAP teachers are very well trained, observant, give excellent cues, listen to the students who have questions and offer thoughtful responses. The teachers are smart and inspiring and adapt well to the needs of different students.
• Fellow SAP students: Interesting, friendly, non-competitive–I’ve met some very cool people.
• Studio space: beautiful, an oasis for me (also convenient to one of the places I work: The Bourse)
• I always look forward to going to Pilates and always feel energized afterwards.
• I’ve not once been bored. There is a great variety of exercises and stretching for flexibility.

Other:
Through Pilates I’ve come to better understand the connection between dance and sport–for me tennis especially. I’ve also learned a bit about dance and have come to appreciate dance as an amazing – actually mind-blowing – combination of skill, strength, creativity, balance, emotion, resilience and intelligence. As a result of practicing Pilates for about three years I’ve come to realize, through experience, that movement is one of the keys to mental, physical and emotional health. Pilates is a way – and may well be the best way – to build a foundation that makes efficient, enjoyable movement possible on a daily basis.

Starting Wednesday, February 1st at 6pm, Kristy will be offering a weekly Level 2 mat class.
You must get instructor approval before enrolling.

NEW MAT CLASSES
Tuesdays @ 6pm: Fundamentals with Lesley
Wednesdays @ 7am: Level 1 with Torrie
Saturdays @ 8am: Level 1 with Katy

HIPHOPILATES STARTS MONDAY JANUARY 23rd 7pm
You must bring clean shoes to wear during class (you need to be able to smoothly glide across the floor).
Prepare to sweat and have fun.
Visit https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/adm/home.asp?studioid=10499 and click on the “classes” tab to reserve your spot.

SAP WELCOMES NEW INSTRUCTORS!
Karen Serres: Mat Instructor
Katy Leahy: Mat Instructor
Lesley Park: Mat Instructor
Torrie Hanley: Mat Instructor

Each of these instructors has their own style, so come check out their classes and add some variety to your weekly pilates practice… You can read more about them under the “Team” tab.

Mat class clients:
Orange Street will be closed between Elm & Court on Sunday, so please be aware that if you are driving, you will want to take Whitney or State into town.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5th 1:00-3:00pm
$40
Feldenkrais Wkshop: Relieving Neck & Shoulder Pain

To reserve a spot, please email:
lucile.bruce@sbcglobal.net

Life often takes a heavy toll on your upper back, neck and shoulders – sitting at your computers for hours, talking on the phone while multi-tasking, family or job stress, etc.
But did you know that it is not what you do that hurts you? Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais discovered that it is how you perform these activities that leads to neck/shoulder pain. He invented the Feldenkrais Method to provide solutions – permanent solutions that address the source of your problems and provide tangible pain relief.

Join Feldenkrais practitioner Rebecca Gardiner at Sarah Aldrich Pilates for a Sunday afternoon workshop:
* Learn your unique way of moving and why it is causing you pain.
* Learn how to move differently so you can relieve pain on your own!
* Discover how your brain’s neuroplasticity can relieve your pain.

Katy will be teaching a level 1 class on Saturdays at 8am starting January 14th.

Get a Pilates jumpstart on Saturdays and then you still have time for a whole day to get your errands done!

Sunday January 8th, 11am-3pm.

Start 2012 with subtle insight, learning how to work gently with the self
and attune one’s own intuition.

The Soul-Insight workshop will support beginners interested in discovering how Reiki works, and what Reiki can do to wake up our senses. Participants will be attuned for Reiki Level I, the first step in this traditional Japanese practice.

In this workshop we will learn:
• Easy, comforting techniques that can be used everyday
• Background on Reiki and Eastern approaches to health and balance

$60 per person
(enrollment is first come first serve with 15 students max)
Registration deadline of Dec. 31st
Please call to enroll: 203-996-4892

Spring Water will be provided, please bring your own lunch, and a pillow or rolled up yoga mat to sit on. Elm City Market (natural co-op) is around the corner from the studio if you wish to stop there on the break. Wear comfortable clothes as we will start the day with some
pilates/yoga stretches and deep breathing.

About Reiki:
Reiki is ….a gentle non-harmful use of CHI (universal life force) for the purpose of relaxation, relief from pain, to set intention, clear blocks, as a supplement to other therapies, and to promote one’s own intuition and healing. The energy involved in a Reiki treatment is said to be ‘from the Universe,’ rather than the personal energy of the practitioner, and is therefore inexhaustible. Chi has its own “healing intelligence” allowing there to be no “wrong way” or “harm” to be done to one who receives a Reiki treatment. The practitioner is trained to hold space for the person receiving the treatment and therefore focuses an intention of relaxation and healing in the environment of the treatment and directly in the body of the receiver. Reiki can be applied in a hands-on or hands-off application, sitting, standing or lying down, or from a distance. Reiki can be directed by a practitioner to others, or used for self-treatment.

About the Teacher:
Jennifer Dauphinais began her Reiki journey on a therapist’s couch in 1999 and quickly submersed herself education around energy work and healing. She obtained her Usui Reiki certification through Claire Bessinger of Clarity Reiki, and Master-Attunement through Scott Dezotell of Sun Source Healing.One method focused on the traditional facilitation of Reiki as a complimentary therapy to others, while the other focused on fine-tuning one’s inner healing potential. Through these teachers, as well as studying with Master-Teachers of Yoga, Sound Healing, and Native American Medicine, she has discovered commonalities and connections that can provide practitioners with tools for sustaining holistic balance and health. She has been teaching Reiki for five years. She is also a certified Pilates Mat instructor.