Instructors
Nicole Lucas Wallen
Avid athlete, studio owner, and lead instructor Nicole Wallen is professionally certified in the Peak Pilates method and teaches the original, classical style of Joseph Pilates. Desperate to alleviate the pain associated with an old back injury, Nicole started taking Pilates Apparatus classes in 1999. Witnessing firsthand the life changing method and benefits of Pilates, Nicole opened Mt. Pleasant Pilates, and dedicated herself to helping others through her instruction.
Nicole infuses modern accents where necessary to accommodate students with special back, neck, hip or knee injuries, as well as to challenge avid athletes. She learned modern accents to the classical repertoire, by studying under talented instructors in NYC, San Francisco, Seattle and Austin, TX as well as attending numerous professional conferences and workshops across the country. Logging thousands of hours teaching, observing, and working to improve her own personal practice, Nicole remains loyal her mission to teach a vigorous class, that will push you to be your best.
In conjunction to classical Pilates instruction that emphasizes body awareness, core strength, increased flexibility, and ease of movement, Nicole Wallen is Charleston's only certified Prenatal & Postnatal Pilates Specialist. She has completed a highly regarded, rigorous & comprehensive training program, requiring apprentice teaching, training in anatomy, rehabilitation and a deep understanding of all stages of pregnancy. Nicole has safely guided dozens of women through their first and subsequent pregnancies.
Nicole also holds a BA in Business from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from The Citadel with a focus on both International Business and Entrepreneurship. In addition to her numerous academic and Pilates certifications, Nicole is responsible for launching the Charleston chapter of Pink Ribbon Pilates, a program specific to the needs of recovering cancer survivors, to the Charleston area.
Stacy Gervon
A previous owner and proprietor of a Pilates-based studio and wellness center in Baltimore, MD, Stacy recently relocated to Charleston, SC. Practicing Pilates 10+ years and teaching 7+ years, she has discovered her philosophy of this movement system. She believes that the fundamentals of Pilates provide a functional way to maintain a strong core and a healthy back as well as proper posture, length and alignment. Her intention is to teach you the functionality of Pilates and provide you the opportunity to develop and enhance your body awareness in class, so you're able to incorporate it into your daily life. Stacy will help you Create a Better Balanced Body...
Beth Thomas
Beth is certified in Pilates Mat and Reformer through the Pilates Certification Center in Raleigh, NC. She loves the lengthening aspect of Pilates that does not bulk up the muscles, but rather strengthens and creates a leaner body. As a yoga teacher, she can appreciate how the core strength of Pilates training can support her yoga practice in inversions, arm balances, and overall flexibility. Her classes have a classical background with modern insights to develop core strength and body awareness.
Meredith Williams
Meredith Williams is certified in the Stott method of Pilates and teaches a faster paced, very athletic pilates class. Meredith has a dance background and spent 13 years in the Charlotte City Ballet and Rock Hill Balet. Meredith also taught at The Firm in Columbia, SC for 4 years. She loves the classical pilates method yet appreciates the modern slant that her Stott training has provided. Meredith has a passion for teaching and brings energy, hard work and sweat to her sessions. In addition to her pilates certification, Meredith holds a BA in Psychology & Media Arts from the University of South Carolina.
Courtney Hutton
Although fairly new to the instructor scene, Courtney has beenpracticing Pilates for over 8 years. She is certified through Power
Pilates and is currently expanding her education through Balanced
Body. Courtney is a classical instructor and reveres the purpose-built
exercise method designed by Joe. Pilates can transform any body from
the inside out and it is Courtney's goal to provide students with a
super fun and technically challenging class that will leave you
feeling longer, stronger and more energized than when you started.
History Of Pilates
Well, maybe not the whole world, but certainly much of this country, parts of Canada, Europe, and Pan-Asia are experiencing the explosion in demand for Pilates, a method of exercise and physical movement designed to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body. With systematic practice of specific exercises coupled with focused breathing patterns, Pilates has proven itself invaluable not only as a fitness endeavor itself, but also as an important adjunct to professional sports training and physical rehabilitation of all kinds. Widely embraced among dancers for years, the exercises--"elephant," "swan," the language--"pull navel to spine, and breeaaaathe," and the look--bright-eyed, refreshed, buoyant-without-necessarily-sweating, is popping up in fitness classes, physical therapy offices, corporate retreats, luxury spas and wellness centers across the country. Another fad? A cult for the over-privileged? Think again. With the aging of our population and the increasing trend toward mindful, moderate health practices, Pilates is more likely to find itself with a wait list at the YMCA, and in your local public schools--shaping the fitness ideals of our next generation.
Practiced faithfully, Pilates yields numerous benefits. Increased lung capacity and circulation through deep, healthy breathing is a primary focus. Strength and flexibility, particularly of the abdomen and back muscles, coordination-both muscular and mental, are key components in an effective Pilate’s program. Posture, balance, and core strength are all heartily increased. Bone density and joint health improve, and many experience positive body awareness for the first time. Pilates teaches balance and control of the body, and that capacity spills over into other areas of one's life.
Around 1914, Joseph Pilates was a performer and a boxer living in England and, at the outbreak of WWI, was placed under forced internment along with other German nationals in Lancaster, England. There he taught fellow camp members the concepts and exercises developed over 20 years of self-study and apprenticeship in yoga, Zen, and ancient Greek and Roman physical regimens. It was at this time that he began devising the system of original exercises known today as "matwork", or exercises done on the floor. He called this regimen "Contrology." A few years later, he was transferred to another camp, where he became a nurse/caretaker to the many internees struck with wartime disease and physical injury. Here, he began devising equipment to rehabilitate his "patients," taking springs from the beds and rigging them to create spring resistance and "movement" for the bedridden.
In a way, Pilate’s equipment today is not much different than that of yesteryear. Spring tension, straps to hold feet or hands, supports for back, neck and shoulder are as important now as they were then. Because of the remarkable nature of the equipment to both challenge and support the body as it learns to move more efficiently, the inimitably designed pieces truly act as a complement to the challenging "matwork" exercises.
While Joe was the outspoken force behind his method, his wife Clara, a trained nurse, quietly incorporated his concepts and exercises in ways that benefited more seriously ill or injured clients. Her approachable style and special techniques spawned a dedicated lineage of teachers whose work flows through and uniquely colors the landscape of the Pilates method today.