This week marks two milestones that are deeply connected for me.

Kinesia Pilates celebrates 22 years of serving our community, and June 30 marks the birthday of the teacher who certified me, Romana Kryzanowska. Having worked alongside Joe Pilates for decades, she carried his complete exercise system and philosophy directly into the next generation.

Those two anniversaries remind me that while a studio may have an opening date, its story begins much earlier.

When I opened Kinesia Pilates in 2004, I wasn't just opening another Pilates studio. I was creating the kind of place where I love to spend all of my time, and one that I hoped others would feel at home in too. A place where movement could become a path back to feeling grounded, strong, resilient, and truly at home in your own body.

For twenty-two years, our promise has been simple: preserve an extraordinary method while helping every client build a healthier relationship with their body.

That vision was shaped long before I signed a lease.

As a young dancer, I discovered that creative movement could transform feelings of anxiety into feelings of connection. Later, as a new mother looking for meaningful work, I discovered Romana's Pilates. It felt like coming home.

I am a second-generation Pilates teacher, certified by Romana in 1999.

Romana devoted her life to preserving Joe Pilates' method. She often reminded us that Pilates wasn't simply a collection of exercises. It was a complete system, carefully developed to restore strength, balance, vitality, and joy through the coordination of body, mind, and spirit.

**Romana Kryzanowska**

She had a remarkable presence. She was passionate, demanding, funny, and endlessly inspiring. If you were sloppy, she'd tell you what to work on. If you found a deeper level of control, she'd smile and teach you something new.

One lesson she repeated has stayed with me ever since:

"If you change it, then give it your own name."

This wasn't about resisting progress. It was about respecting the integrity of Joe Pilates' extraordinary system. With more than 500 exercises across the mat and apparatus, the method is both comprehensive and adaptable. Like great choreography that is handed from one generation of dancers to the next, the original work is powerful and deserves to be understood and preserved.

That philosophy continues to shape everything we do at Kinesia.

Our teachers complete advanced Romana's Pilates Instructor Training because this method is learned from master teacher to apprentice, body to body. We study the exercises, but we also learn how to observe, adapt, and teach the person standing in front of us.

No two clients move the same way.

No two bodies tell the same story.

The method remains authentic.

The teaching is always personal.

Over the past twenty-two years, our studio has continued to evolve. We've expanded our team, added MELT Method instruction, welcomed Jack Anderson - our first teacher to complete his Romana's Pilates apprenticeship through Kinesia - and we continue learning alongside our clients.

What hasn't changed is the original vision.

I still believe Pilates is more than a workout.

The teachers at Kinesia Pilates help you become stronger through compassionate cueing, build resilience instead of exhaustion, and feel connected to yourself instead of critical of yourself.

Every lesson is an opportunity to help you stand a little taller, breathe a little easier, and leave feeling more capable than when you arrived.

That is the legacy Romana entrusted to her teachers and the promise I made to her when she certified me.

It's also the promise I made to my community when I opened the doors twenty-two years ago.

To every client who has trusted us, every teacher who has shared this work, and every person who has walked through our doors looking for a healthier relationship with their body, thank you.

Happy Birthday, Romana.

And here's to the next chapter of helping more people feel at home in their bodies.