El
Certified Instructor
Laurel (AKA El), CPT GCFP, has been supporting individuals and groups for whole systems health and longevity with the Pilates Methodology with the NY Pilates Guild since 2001 and the Feldenkrais Method of neuroplasticity, and motor re-education in Berkeley, California since 2006.
Diagnosed with scoliosis at age three, her grandfather put her in ballet. She continued classical technique with San Francisco Ballet Company in San Francisco, CA and then to Pacific Northwest Ballet Company school. Similar to Pilates core training, ballet helped her develop a healthy spine and flexible resilient body even with Scoliosis.
At University of Oklahoma, while completing a degree in Dance Pedagogy the dean of her Fine Arts program required her to attend Pilates classes at the University as a Method to support her spine and prevent injury.
Once returning to Seattle she began a 1000 hour certification In Seattle and New York City with Romana Kryzanowska the successor to Joseph Pilates (2000). She began teaching Pilates full time upon relocating to Los Angeles, California 2001.
In 2001 while heading a three month master training in Auckland,N.Z. El was introduced to the Feldenkrais Method of Neuromotor re-education, after sustaining a chronic structural injury while living and teaching in New Zealand. The lessons restored her to a perfect functioning body after only two treatments.
El was certified as a Feldenkrais® teacher and Practitioner of Functional Integration(R), with the Feldenkrais Guild of North America, at Berkeley, California in 2006.
El finds her most joy in helping others expose their own unknown strengths to themselves with The Pilates Method. She continues teaching internationally and holds a private practice, (Physika) derived from the Feldenkrais(R) Method in Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula.
When not teaching you may find her walking trails, rock hopping, attending Opera, sharing ideas with her Pilates colleagues and traveling to warm places internationally with her teen.