A Google User
April 29, 2018 09:39
Lena is an exceptional instructor. I was lucky to find her and her studio, and I'll definitely be going back whenever I am in SF.
I've been doing pilates for about 10 years, working with two private instructors on the East coast; I start as a way to complement some much more intense exercise I do and to deal with a number of nagging soft-tissues injuries that have built up over the years. I was in SF for a week of meetings and wanted to keep up my routine. I stumbled across San Francisco Pilates on the Internet and reached out basically because it was the closest studio to where I was staying. Boy, was I lucky. Lena got right back to me and was super helpful in finding time on short notice between all sorts of other commitment. I went in twice in one week.
The studio itself is small but light-filled, well equipped, and peaceful. It has a sanctuary-like feel to it.
I'm not expert enough to say exactly what style of pilates Lena embodies, but whatever it is, it is really good. She is very communicative, observant, and intelligent. She paid really close attention to what was going on in my body and explained it in interesting, insightful ways. I'd say about 2/3 of the movements we did were familiar to me but she introduced interesting and very specific variations to address specific weakness in my form. Another 1/3 of the movements were all new to me and terrific. She is not afraid to up the intensity of the movements but was also very dialed into what is going on in my body to back off when necessary.
Each time, I left feeling great -- strong, limber, healthy, and blessed.