Heike Yates, Senior Pilates Instructor

Heike has over twenty years of experience as Instructor Trainer/Program Director, National Fitness Presenter, Personal Trainer and Pilates coach. Her coaching style is based on a strong mind body connection. As she carefully gets to know each client and their individual needs, Heike explores alternative methods to reach each client's specific goals. Her approach will keep your sessions fun, interesting and, most importantly, effective.

Heike trains a wide range of clients with varied abilities and ages, for instance, athletes, golfers, runners, and triathletes. In addition, she works with those who have therapeutic needs, such as cancer survivors, post operational joint rehabilitation, scoliosis, stenosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis. She will help find out what your mind and body require to cohesively work together and assist in improving functional movement that is efficient and pain free.  

Heike believes in cross-training and she applies her methodical approach using a combination of exercises disciplines, including Pilates. Her clients hail from all walks of life, abilities, and ages from the professional athlete to some with therapeutic needs. She is known for her articulate eye in her work with clients.

Pilates/Fitness Certifications and Training

Heike is the creator/author of the “Pilates with Resist-A-Ball” video and training manual. She is a Circle of Excellence Master Trainer for RAB (Resist-A-Ball) and received the RAB Elite Master Trainer Award and the RAB Special Recognition Award for her remarkable contribution to the C.O.R.E. Educational Program in 2002/2003.

“It’s not what you do but how you do it!"

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Kari Boyd Gardiner - GYROTONIC® and Pilates Instructor

While working on an organic farm in the Hudson Valley, NY, Kari was diagnosed with Lyme disease.  The exhaustion from her Lyme disease forced Kari to end her six year organic farming career and to return to college.  Kari graduated from Bard College with a BA in Art in 2003.  While at Bard, she also studied modern dance and found Pilates.  The feeling that her Pilates study had boosted her healing from Lyme disease, imparting both a new and deepened core as well as greater overall fitness, inspired Kari to become a Pilates instructor.  Kari was originally certified in Mat Pilates in 2003, and certified to teach on all the Pilates apparatus in 2004 through the original Power Pilates studio in New York, NY.

Observing the effects of the Gyrotonic Expansion System on her Aunt living with Parkison’s Disease prompted Kari to begin her own study of the Gyrotonic method.  In 2007, Kari completed her Gyrotonic Foundation Certification with Magali Messac at Gyrotonic Seattle. In addition, Kari completed her Gyrokinesis Foundation Course with Mia Munroe in 2010 and is a current Gyrokinesis apprentice. From September, 2004 until moving to the Washington D.C. area in 2012, Kari owned the first Pilates and Gyrotonic Studio, called Mountain Lake Holistic Movement Studio, on Orcas Island in Washington State.

Michelle Silva, Certified Pilates Instructor

Michelle is a New York Certified Pilates Instructor. She found what is considered the "Authentic Pilates Method" in 1999, and in 2001 entered the certification program under the tutelage of Romana Kryzanowska, the world-renowned protégé of Joseph Pilates, and Romana's daughter Sari Mejia Santo through their original International New York based Pilates Certification Program. Her certification process required a minimum of 800 hours of apprenticeship and a pre-requisite of 75 hours of personal sessions with "Authentic Pilates" instructors. Michelle continues her education and certification through "Romana's Pilates".

Stephanie Yezek - Certified BASI Pilates Instructor

After her introduction to classical Pilates in college, Stephanie Yezek finally found the right fit with the BASI method. She received her BASI mat certification in 2005 at East Coast Pilates and Yoga Center in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ under the tutelage of Kristy Cooper, and she has completed her BASI comprehensive training at Simply Fit DC with Karla Adams. She teaches young and old alike throughout Maryland and DC. In addition, Stephanie has made the Washington Metropolitan area the home of her professional dance career. After graduating from Bucknell University in 2003 with a BA in English and a minor in dance, Stephanie returned to the area and trained and performed with Dakshina, Jane Frankin Dance Company, AirDance Bernasconi, Gesel Mason Performance Projects and BosmaDance. She had the opportunity to work with David Dorfman in his underground project at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in October 2008. Stephanie received her MA in English Literature and Language from Oxford University in 2006 and continues to explore the milieu between dance and language as a contributing writer for Dancer Magazine. While abroad, she worked with Argentine choreographer, Florencia Lopez-Boo and helped found Oxford's contemporary dance ensemble, Freefall, performing and presenting choreography with both. Her own choreography has been presented by Oxford University, Cambridge University, Bucknell University, BosmaDance, Dance Place and the John F. Kennedy Center.