Alexander GarcÍa and Jennifer García Nelson are certified Pilates instructors and Alexander has personally certified hundreds of instructors in the Pilates method since 1996. However, at Engage we are reaching beyond pilates.  The history of engage is Pilates-based and we make effective use of Pilates equipment, but in many respects, “Pilates” has evolved into a fad, is often taught poorly and consequently can lack depth, effectiveness or even be dangerous. At Engage, we surpass the rote Pilates routines established over a century ago. We are committed to improving the individual’s quality of life, permanently. The methods we teach encompass highly sound biomechanical principles and take each individual on a journey with their own personal anatomy to find complete body awareness and total efficiency of use. We place varied and constant demands on our bodies. As a result, kinetic principles need to be current, sophisticated and sound. Engage responds to that need offering a broad-spectrum system of specialized exercise techniques, massage and stretching each highlighting the individual’s own physical uniqueness. At the same time, we center our instruction on commonly overlooked fundamental movement patterns.

The design and structure of the human body has been mis-managed by almost every kind of athletic training and physical fitness program. Without fail, this leads to injuries: chronic back pain, neck and shoulder pain, blown out knees, progressively deteriorating physical issues, and a difficult aging process in general. Quality of life is often compromised for the remainder of the individual’s life. Real anatomical understanding and awareness of the body’s function following its form are elusive for most of the population. Training or exercise is normally geared towards the end result ignoring the structural fundamentals required to achieve optimal results most efficiently. We need to know answers to questions like: Why do I have chronic back pain and neck tension? When I ride my mountain bike why do I have a shooting pain in my shoulder? Why does the outside of my knee hurt when I play soccer? My Doctor prescribed orthodics, but my legs still hurt…why? Is the time I spend practicing my chosen sport being used most effectively?

It is odd that since human body design is universal and mostly unchanged that few of us actually know the majority of our own body parts or what their functions are. Living with our body and making demands of it 24-hours a day, every day, it would seem reasonable to assume mastering the use of our own detailed structure would benefit us greatly. What if we could truly avoid injury, heal existing injuries, and re-sculpt our bodies within their intended design? What if we could become more relaxed, more supple, more powerful, pain-free, and have more stamina all at the same time?

At engage, we teach you how to literally connect your brain to the proper and intended use of your own body parts. It’s an education in your own design. Strength and flexibility become tools instead of goals. Manage rheumatoid arthritis and prevent it taking control of your joints. Drive your golf ball 20 yards farther…not with a new club, but with better use of your own equipment…your body. Chronic unexplainable back pain need not be the norm. If your child wants to compete seriously in a sport... let us teach them how to stay safe and strong while they pursue their goals to their fullest potential. From your head to your toes, from your sit to your run, your body will change. With engage you will be in the finest shape, using your knowledge to go one step farther applying what you’ve learned to master your favorite activities: walking, biking, skiing, snow-boarding, running, dance, golf, tennis, fencing, boxing, team sports, martial arts…anything.

Being “in shape” is now re-defined. Posture is no longer your grandmother telling you to “sit up straight.” Aligning our parts architecturally and strengthening around that structure is key. With this strategy and our commitment to excellent instruction we, at engage, deliver a formula for physical beauty, priceless pain-free aging, and overall body consciousness.

What is Pilates?

Pilates was designed by a nurse, (physical therapist at the time), Joseph Pilates, in the First World War. It was rehab and kinesiology at its finest for the time. Joseph Pilates firmly believed in exercise for health. He designed a system of springs attached to beds in infirmaries to allow patients to remain active and rehabilitate while they were confined to bed.

80 years have past since Pilates opened his New York City studio. His techniques were a savior for professional dancers at the time, to attempt to regain their careers post injury.
70 years later, the Pilates techniques gained a new audience in an era more aware of the necessity for exercise. Marketed aggressively as the “newest thing” we hear terms like “the core” now throughout the physical fitness industry. Now we see, The Pilates Method, Authentic Pilates, Traditional Pilates, and Classical Pilates as instructors scramble to capitalize on an old idea. Yogilates, Spin-Pilates, Ball Pilates, Towel Pilates are all just varied versions of an established set of exercises. The truth is Joseph Pilates was an inventor and his ideas were sound. But 80 years have produced a great deal more knowledge of anatomical form and function and its time to embrace a new awareness of the human body and its full potential.

Pilates apparatus aids us in teaching two essential things. First, when the body is too weak, stiff or injured to complete a full range of motion, the machines help facilitate movement creating the beginning stages of deep strength and healthy flexibility. Then, when the body is more healthy and active, the machines offer varied challenges to literally re-structure muscle groups around the properly aligned skeleton. Profound and effective strength is achieved, excess flexibility is managed and immobile parts are put into proper motion.