Orcas Movement Studio helps strengthen from the inside out

Kari Gardiner and Anne Marie Schultz both believe in the power of healing through movement.

As co-owners of the Orcas Movement Studio, they work with students every day to gain strength and balance with Pilates and the Gyrotonic® exercise method.

“I love having the honor of being able to work with people and their bodies and help them to use their bodies in a new way,” said Schultz.

Added Gardiner, “I teach because I really believe in the methods – they’ve helped me. I enjoy teaching students how to move. And a lot of people come in because they are hurting. To teach them how to move without pain is empowering. Each person is like a puzzle.”

Pilates is a physical fitness program developed in the early 20th century by German-born Joseph Pilates. The system focuses on the core muscles that help keep the body balanced and provide support for the spine. It uses both mat work and exercises on apparatus.

The Gyrotonic® Expansion System was developed by injured professional ballet dancer Juliu Horvath during the 1980s. The exercises are performed on apparatus that allows for circular movement, thus enabling a person to strengthen and stretch muscles and joints through their complete range of motion.

In the fall of 2004, Gardiner opened the business under a different name, Mountain Lake Pilates, in the space that is now the cardio room in Orcas Spa and Athletics. In early 2005, Schultz took one of Gardiner’s classes and was so taken with the program that she decided to pursue a Pilates teaching certification. By the winter of 2007, she came on as a partner in the business under its new name: Orcas Movement Studio. It has been in its current location – a few doors down from Radio Shack – since 2008.

Orcas Movement Studio offers both group and private sessions Monday through Saturday; call 376-7767 for more information. They teach more than 100 students each week, whose ages range from eight to 91. Orcas Movement Studio is the only certified Pilates studio on the island.

“For me, the studio should be a safe place for anyone to experience their body,” said Gardiner.

“It’s about working from the inside out,” said Schultz. “It’s not about the way you look but the way you feel.”

Schultz, who is a newlywed, moved to Orcas 11 years ago from Oregon, where she was very active.

“I was a three-sport athlete in high school, I hiked, I danced, and did yoga. I was thinking of going into massage, but then I took Pilates from Kari and it clicked. It felt natural for my body.”

Gardiner grew up on Orcas and returned in 2004 with her husband. She has two children – and one on the way.

“I raised two babies in this studio,” she says.

Gardiner studied dance and art in college and played lacrosse when she was younger, and after working in organic farming for six years, she returned to college, where she took her first Pilates class.

“I fell in love with it. And the rest is history,” she said.

Contact Islands Sounder Web site editor, Editor Colleen Armstrong at editor@islandssounder.com or (360) 376-4500.

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