- · Studio One
- · Tracy Cunningham
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Studio One
I am Tracy Cunningham, the owner of Studio One Pilates Fitness. I have a private, fully equipped pilates studio in north central Austin. I have been trained in classical pilates. My sessions generally last 55 minutes using the traditional pilates equipment: reformer, wunda chair, high barrel, and cadillac. I welcome all levels of fitness from athletes, to seniors, and to anyone going through rehabilitation seeking an exercise program that will help you build back into a physically strong, flexible, and balanced body. We can also take your sessions outside the studio for observations, for example: while you train in a sport or while you are in session with a physical therapist. This will help enhance the design of your pilates program and give it direction for improving the performance of a sport, playing an instrument with stronger posture, or expediting your rehabilitation from an injury.
I take the time to learn your body and how it manages activity on a daily basis. The goal of each session is to progressively build up your level of fitness. It is important that you first learn the Pilates fundamentals so that you can progess up to an intensity that is physically challenging, rewarding, and enhancing to the mechanics of your body. By developing structural support and core strength, the body naturally moves better, and with greater ease and balance. The encouragement you feel from a more reliable foundation of support, you will experience more energy and the desire to have a more active life.
I enjoy and am dedicated to building awareness around the relationship of a strong spine posture and living life to it's fullest potential. I will provide direction with a safe pilates exercise program and you will learn how to maintain and live with a stronger body.
Tracy Cunningham
I teach the classical Pilates system and have since 2001. I was so inspired by pilates exercises. It gave me an awareness about how my body works, and how to grow into my fullest physical potential. I love sharing this with my clients so that they can learn how to live life to it's fullest.
I have been a fitness instructor since 1991. I was initially certified to teach aerobics by the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. I became owner of Studio One, which was an aerobics studio. I grew the business into a corporate fitness business which served the corporate community by providing fitness instruction on site to their employees. I had this company for 10 years. In 1998, I was hired as the Director of Fitness for the World of Tennis to manage the Aerobic and Personal Training Departments. With my 2001 Pilates Certification, it became my full time career.
I initially trained with and was certified by the Pilates Center of Austin with Wendy LeBland Arbuckle. I achieved an additional certification in 2006 with Power Pilates. Power Pilates is based in New York City where my certification was awarded. I have been trained to teach all levels of Pilates, on all the standard pilates equipment, and in the classical Pilates System. I am also a member of Pilates Method Alliance which is an international, not for profit organization that has focused on preserving the legacy of Joseph H. and Clara Pilates.
Pilates is the most gentle way to encourage your body back into activity by teaching the body's joints how to move and glide through movement more openly.
The Pilates training program involves over 500 exercises which are done on various types of pilates equipment and the floor. The physical training involve exercises which strengthen and align the spine through techniques that develop strength in the core structures of the body. This allows and inspires the body to move freely and efficiently. New levels of energy are experienced, balance and posture are improved, and a new level of endurance and power are able to be resourced in desired daily activities. It recharges and revitalizes the inherent qualities of a body and all it is meant to do in a comprehensive way so that a reinforcement of core structure is developed in all areas of being: physically , mentally and inspirationally.
This system was created by a german born citizen, in the early 1900's, around the time of WWI, Joseph Pilates. The concept of Pilates, blends the philosophies of both east and west by seeing the improvement of the physical strength of the body by training not only the body, but also the mind. This physical and mental improvement enhances the spirit giving a person a holistic sense of well-being.
The training uses the entire body to strengthen the most important building blocks of the body: breath, spine length, flexibility and alignment. The body as a whole moves as one, bringing efficiency and ease to every part of your moving life.
Joseph Pilates was born in Germany 1883. His father was a gymnast of Greek ancestry and mother was a naturopath. He suffered as a child from Rheumatic Fever, Rickets, and asthma. These illnesses greatly influenced his life determination to find a way to be strong and healthy. His philosophy and approach which seemed to feed his vision and provided him with direction, is demonstrated in a quote from his book "Pilates, Return to Life through Contrology" while paying merit to a Roman Motto: "Mens sana in corpore sanos", meaning: "a sane mind in a sound body". He believed in an exercise system which could achieve a "balanced body, mind and spirit". He believed that the deterioration of the body was the result of unhealthy life conditions, bad posture, and inefficient breathing.
During WWI, he was interned in 1914 off the coast of Scotland on the Isle of Man with other German inmates. It was there that he fully developed a Pilates Comprehensive System which was carried with him to New York City in 1925 when he emigrated there from Germany. It was on the boat to America that he met Clara, who became his wife and partner. Together they opened a Pilates Studio on New York City where he worked with George Balanchine and Martha Graham and their dancers. His method is about deepening the strength of core muscles of the spine for creating good alignment, core balance, and posture while connecting the body with the mind and the breath.