Our Story
"The body is a sacred garment: it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honour, and with joy and with fear as well. But always, though, with blessing." – Martha Graham
Exercise is often a paradox. Despite knowing it is vital to our health, we struggle to make it a priority. We join gyms, make new years resolutions, and recommit time and again only to feel disappointed when we do not follow through.
While studying dance during my final year in college I discovered Pilates, an exercise system I successfully adopted as a lifestyle. Within 6 months of regular Pilates training people started asking me if I had been dancing my whole life, merely by the changes in my posture and flexibility.
What is known today as “Pilates,” was called “Contrology” by its founder Joseph Pilates. In his book Return to Life, Pilates described Contrology as “the complete coordination of body, mind and spirit.” By uniformly developing our muscles, Contrology “corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit.”
In 1995, I began training with Romana Kryzanowska in New York City. Romana met “Uncle Joe” in 1941 when she was a young dancer with an ankle injury and continued to work with him for the remainder of his life. When Joseph Pilates’ wife Clara died, Romana took over the studio. As a student of Romana’s and certified by her, I am considered a “second generation” Pilates instructor, a label I take seriously.
My mission with Monterey Bay Contrology is to provide a fully equipped, classical studio where students practice Joseph Pilates’ original method of Contrology. I hope to recreate the community atmosphere I experienced at Drago’s Gymnasium where Romana taught her students exercise as a way of life.
Monterey Bay Contrology does not promise weight loss or a new body. By performing the exercises regularly, we promise, in Joe’s words, “suppleness, natural grace, and skill that will be unmistakably reflected in the way you walk, in the way you play, and in the way you work.”
Monterey Bay Contrology welcomes individuals of all fitness levels, ages, and abilities. Bring us your aches and pains as well as your goals and let us tailor your workout to allow freedom of movement through the discipline of exercise.
