Nora St. John, L.Ac. - Pilates

Nora St. John has been teaching Pilates since 1989. She has worked with clients of all kinds from injured office workers to Olympic athletes. Her training in Pilates began with 10 years at St. Francis Memorial Hospital's Dancemedicine division where she worked primarily with clients with sports related orthopedic injuries. She has continued her training with Pilates master teachers Eve Gentry, Michele Larsson, Carola Trier, Alan Herdman and Romana Kryzanowska. Nora was a professional modern dancer for 10 years before she began teaching Pilates. She also holds a Master's degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is a certified massage therapist. Nora co-founded Body Mind Spirit, the largest educational conference for Pilates, Gyrotonic and Nia instructors in the country and is the Program Director of Pilates on Tour which offers Innovative Education for Pilates Professionals in cities across the country.
 

Naomi Leiserson - Pilates and Gyrotonic®

Julie Lushington - PIlates

Julie Lushington has been teaching Pilates since 1990. She received her training in the Dancemedicine department at St. Francis Memorial Hospital's Center for Sports Medicine where she taught for 11 years before starting at Turning Point Studios in 2001. Julie graduated from New York University with a Master's degree in Movement Education. She danced professionally in New York for 10 years and is still teaching and taking classes in Modern and Jazz dance. Julie has taught Dance Kinesiology at San Jose State University and at Mills College in Oakland, CA. Julie has two children.

Diana Herold - Pilates

Diana Herold developed the Pilates-based Dancemedicine program at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital's Center for Sports Medicine in Walnut Creek, CA. Since 1987 she has used Pilates principals and movements to rehabilitate orthopedic injuries and relieve chronic pain. She specializes in specific core understanding, releasing inhibiting patterns and restoring balance. Her work is influenced by many master teachers but especially Eve Gentry who modeled creative care designed for each person. Diana danced and taught Ballet for 20 years before beginning her Pilates career.

Marshia Beck - Pilates

Marshia is a registered somatic movement therapist and is a certified Body-Mind Centering Practitioner.  She has been practicing Pilates since 1989, coming to this work from a variety of dance and life related injuries.  She is certified through Turning Point Studios and Long Beach Dance Conditioning.  She has studied with Jean Claude-West, Marie Jose Blom-Lawrence and Joerg Chabowski among others.  She comes to us from the Dancemedicine department of St. Francis Memorial Hospital's Center for Sports Medicine where she was an instructor and supervisor at the Walut Creek program.  She received her BM from Eastman School of Music, spent many years teaching music and movement at the Raskob Center for Learning Disabilities and as consultant and director for the national American Orff-Shulwerk Association.  She had a passion for tennis and now enjoys ball room dancing with her husband Ed.  She will be entering her third year of certification of the Franklin Methode.

Certified Instructors

Susan Gray - Pilates and Gyrotonic®

Jessica Damon - Pilates

Jessica trained to be a Pilates instructor here at Turning Point Studios in 2006 and went on to earn her MFA in Dance from CU Boulder in 2009. She choreographs and performs locally. Jessica enjoys using Pilates to help her clients meet their personal goals whether these are injury rehabilitation, dance and sports-related conditioning, or general fitness. She came to Pilates with a serious back injury, having herniated a disc in a bike accident. Through the Pilates Method Jessica was able to recover full health and mobility in her spine. She is deeply committed to the benefits of this work and relishes the opportunity to share it with others.

Shannon Knorr - Pilates and Gyrotonic®

Shannon received her degree in Dance/Movement Therapy in 2000.  Through her studies she was exposed to various movement modalities from Body Mind Centering to Pilates.  She has enjoyed many forms of movement and dance and completed her degree with an emphasis in performance and cultural studies in dance.  She then completed her Pilates training in 2003 through PHysicalMind.  Still wanting more, she also completed her Gyrotonic® Level 1 training in early 2007.  Shannon truly loves working with people through movement.  She loves learning various techniques, and feels that learning will be her lifelong passion which will in turn fuel her work. She also has two small children which keep her moving and to which her own personal movement practices have become essential for her physical and emotional well being.

Kate Canova - Pilates

Kate Canova is a graduate of Turning Point Studios and has taught at Club One for several years.  Kate enjoys adventure, teaching, learning, and spending time with her family.

Simone Tai - Pilates

Simone began practicing Pilates in 2005, and has recently completed the coursework for the Pilates Instructor Training at Turning Point Studios. She has also studied Ballet and Modern Dance at Berkeley Ballet Theater, Shawl-Andersen Dance Center and Contra Costa Ballet. Simone has been practising Vipassana Meditation since 2001, and is a board member of The Saddhamma Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting Theravada Buddhism. Simone received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and also has an M.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago.

Gyrotonic Instructors

Naomi Leiserson - Gyrotonic®

Reception

Shanan Tullis