Mari,  a California native, is an ex-professional dancer with over 20 years of teaching experience. She earned her BA degree in Dance from UC Irvine with honors, specializing in Performance and Teaching. It was at UCI that she was first introduced to The Pilates Method. Supplementing her dance classes with Pilates exercises made a huge impact on her dancing, improving her technique immensely, and she was hooked for life! 

Soon after graduating from UCI, she completed the Pilates Method Teacher Training Program at Studio du Corps in Costa Mesa, California under the direction of esteemed UCI Dance and Pilates professor, Diane Diefenderfer. Upon completion of this training, she was invited to start her teaching career at The Ron Fletcher Company in Los Angeles. As a result of her apprenticeship and teaching hours there, under the sought after guidance of Michael Podwal, she was awarded an honorary Ron Fletcher Company Teacher Training certification. Mari continued to expand her teaching experience by working in several Pilates and Physical Therapy studios located in the Los Angeles area including Burbank, Studio City, Topanga Canyon, Silverlake and Los Feliz. 

During this time, a colleague recommend that she try The GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM®, as she might find it even more complimentary to dance techniques than The Pilates Method. She took the advice. After only one GYROTONIC® session, she fell in love with the movement discipline and knew she was meant to study it further and teach it to others. She completed the GYROTONIC® Level 2 Teacher Training Course with Master Trainer Lisa Marie Goodwin and began teaching right away. 

Additionally, Mari is a RYT-200 hour certified Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. She teaches Yoga and Pilates physical education courses at Pomona College. 

Mari lives in Claremont with her husband, two kids, several cats and a dog. Although her performing days are mostly over, she finds an outlet for artistic expression through continuing to be student of dance. She is eternally grateful for the opportunity to help others feel strong, connected, graceful and empowered in their bodies by sharing with them her knowledge of these beautiful and beneficial movement methodologies. 

You'll find Mari in the studio offering group lessons in Pilates and GYROTONIC® Movement.

Fred has always enjoyed exercises such as Boot Camps, P90X, Insanity and also jogging and bike riding. Someone suggested for him to take a Pilates class to stretch and strengthen the muscles because of a back injury.

He quickly started taking more Pilates classes and this became his favorite form of exercise because of the intensity of the workout while being low impact (unlike many of other exercises styles). 

Fred received his Comprehensive Pilates Certification thru Pilates Sports Center which includes matwork, reformer, Cadillac, chair and ladder barrel. Fred is also certified in TRX, PSM (Pilates Suspension method) and HIIT (Tabata GX).

Fred loves to teach challenging classes to get his students out of their comfort zone by combining all types of class formats into one. Fred specializes in “Cardio Pilates” and is now teaching this format on the Pilates equipment here at Om.

You'll find Fred in the studio offering private, semi private and group lessons in Monday evenings and Saturday afternoons.

Since 2008, Daria has taught GYROTONIC® throughout the San Francisco Bay  Area and Lisbon, Portugal. She discovered the method while earning her  MFA in Dance from Mills College. At the time, she was dealing with chronic muscular tension and pain. Through GYROTONIC®, she gradually  began to unwind the many knots and blockages she had accrued from years  of overuse and imbalance. Trained as a dancer/choreographer, Daria has studied many movement and somatic practices, including: Contemporary and  Modern Dance, Ballet, Butoh, Bharatanatyam, Flamenco, Improvisation, Laban Movement Analysis, and the Feldenkrais Method. These experiences  have lent her unique tools and perspectives to draw from. As a teacher,  Daria values quality over quantity. She is highly attentive and  perceptive. Adept at spotting habitual patterning, she is particularly  attuned to the way the whole body is (or isn't) involved in a movement  sequence. Daria is also an interdisciplinary performing artist creating  work at the intersection of movement, text, and sound. Her pieces have  been presented throughout the US and Europe (www.dariakaufman.com) 

Angelic is a certified Reiki Master practitioner, Pranic Healer, Psychic and NLP Life Coach. She specializes in energy healing and bringing into balance the mind, body and spirit, guiding others to truly see and step into their potential, inner light and divine purpose. Angelic helps others to identify and achieve their personal goals by coping with the issues that are causing them distress, anxiety, and pain. She takes great joy in the progress and success of her clients, and looks forward to helping you! 

Learn more about what Angelic offers.