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®

Amber McCall - Pilates

Amber graduated from UC Irvine with an MFA in Dance. She has been teaching Pilates since 2001 and received her initial training through A Body of Work, Sonoma. She has a strong dance and teaching background and assisted with teaching injury prevention classes for dancers at UC Irvine. She is currently teaching dance at St. Mary's College in Moraga.
.

Patricia Tomlinson - Pilates

Patricia graduated from Turning Point Studios Pilates instructor training program in 2004. Trish was a professional dancer and dance teacher for many years most recently performing with Diablo Ballet. Her first experience with Pilates was in New York when she was a young ballet student.

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.

Student Teachers

Gyrotonic Instructors

Staff

Jennie Brooks

Jennie joined Turning Point Studios in 2006.  She is currently getting her Masters degree in Holistic Health and Nutrition from JFK University.  Her background includes years of dance and a passion for health.  Her bright smile and cheerful voice will greet you whenever you come to our studio as will our studio Yorkie, Sullivan!