Meet Vanessa!

Have you met Vanessa? She is one of our new apprentices at the studio!

Vanessa holds a BS in Communications from Radford University, and a Master of Social Work degree from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Although Vanessa’s career has taken her in many different directions over the years, her love for the arts has not faltered. She believes that pilates is a beautiful balance between carefully choreographed exercises, the mind and the body. Vanessa is pursuing her pilates teaching certification through The Pilates Center, headquartered in Boulder, Co. She is excited to begin her pilates journey with the Iron Butterfly team, and hopes that her clients can see her dedication to teaching, and helping others achieve their own exercise goals at whatever stage in life they may be.

To help you get to know Vanessa a little better, we’ve asked her a few fun questions!

When did you first realize you wanted to teach Pilates?

I realized I wanted to teach pilates fairly quickly after I started taking pilates classes on a continuous basis.  As a social worker, I am already in the business of helping people, but I wanted to help people on a different level.  Discovering pilates was a life changer for me for many different reasons, and I hope that my clients can see my enthusiasm when I teach.  

How has Pilates helped you personally?

Pilates has helped me both from a mental and physical perspective. Physically, my alignment has improved after struggling with knee issues from a young age, and also my upper body strength has significantly increased.  Mentally, pilates helps me de-stress, and I have also noticed that my sleeping habits have improved.  Pilates also helped me get back into a regular exercise routine after many years of searching for one that I enjoyed.

How do you balance holiday parties and staying healthy?

I am a firm believer in balance in life and that is consistent with what I eat.  I think restricting certain foods or beverages only leads to cravings or feeling badly about oneself if you “cheat.” So during the holidays, I stay true to that statement.  I am like everyone else and love to indulge, but I just make sure that I balance it with an exercise regime that I enjoy.

What is your favorite part, favorite tradition, of the holiday season?

I love Thanksgiving!  For many years now, my family and friends in Charlotte, have gotten together for Friendsgiving. It doesn’t get any better than family, friends, food, drinks, lots of laughs and football!

If the holidays could bring you 3 wishes, what would they be?

If I tell you my 3 wishes, they won’t come true right?!

What is your favorite winter workout?

My favorite winter workout is, of course, PILATES! What is so great about pilates, is that even if you can’t get into the studio, you can do an entire session at home with little or no equipment. However, I do think it is important to mix it up your exercise routine so you don’t get bored.

If you could give you clients one piece of advice on staying healthy during the holiday season, what would it be?

As hard as it is to fit in exercise over the holidays, with family and friend obligations, trying to maintain your current exercise regime is important, or at least a modified version.  Recently, I have discovered that finding a buddy helps keep me motivated.  Not only will you feel better during the holiday season, but it won’t be so hard to get back into the swing of things at the start of the new year.