Pilates      

Instructors

Our “Feels Fear but Does It Anyway” Leader, Kristin “Kiki” Lovelace:

Kristin ‘Kiki” Lovelace began her career in movement at the age of six in tap shoes and a pink tutu, and took her first yoga class at age eighteen. She considers her own daily Pilates, Forrest Yoga and Vipassana Meditation practice as her foundation for healing, growing and evolving as a human being. She has been teaching full-time since 2001, and has a particular gift for helping students work with injuries and chronic pain.

As Owner and Director of Education at Innerstellar, Kiki is a Certified Forrest Yoga Teacher, Certified Pilates Instructor and anatomy nerd. Her passion for functional alignment and the therapeutic applications of Pilates and Forrest Yoga sprouted from her 5-year apprenticeship with her mentor, master educator and healer, Pilates Instructor Tom McCook.

Kiki opened Innerstellar in 2011, and delights in the ever-emerging beauty of each of her students, staff and teachers. She has deep reverence and gratitude for her Forrest Yoga Hoop, including her dear teacher and friend Ana T. Forrest, and all of her Forrest Yoga colleagues and students. When not teaching, she is often volunteering, meditating, hiking and hanging out with her friends and loved ones in the East Bay or performing with her 1960’s go go dance troupe, The Devil-Ettes!

 

Lila Heller:

Lila Heller grew up in the mountains of Southern Oregon where she was raised on organic food from her family’s garden. She swam in the pristine waters of the river, ran, biked, practiced yoga and danced her way to adulthood. These early influences led her to pursue a study of dance and movement in college and as a career path. After graduating with a BA in Sociology/Anthropology and Dance in 2001, Lila ventured to Salvador Bahia, Brazil at the invitation of Rosangela Silvestre to study modern dance. While living in Brazil, she began her study of pilates where she trained and earned her certification at Atelier Do Corpo under the tutelage of Jacqueline Borges.

Lila has now been teaching private and group pilates in the Bay Area for over seven years. She inspires and challenges her clients to experience the most out of their bodies and lives through the philosophy of pilates breathing, centering, precision, fluid control of movement, body awareness and concentration. She became a certified personal trainer in 2007 and continues to satisfy her desire to learn more by taking ITT master level workshops in pilates. Some of her training includes: Kinetic Control with Chad Brenzikefer, Advanced Mat with Ashley Beldon, Pilates for athletes with Joerg Chabowski and Functional Training with Don Lawson as well as yoga and nutrition classes.

Lila uses a variety of techniques in order to meet the many different goals of her clients. From wanting to gain strength before and after pregnancy, experiencing a pain free body, training to run a marathon or compete in pro baseball, or horseback riding. She is a firm believer in the “less is more” philosophy. In her spare time, Lila can be found dancing, practicing yoga, traveling and playing with her four-year-old daughter (who also loves to do pilates).

 

Melanie Clifford:

For most of Melanie’s life, she has been involved in movement, and the study of movement, eventually getting a degree in Dance, with a focus in Kinesiology. Along with her college experience, she has integrated Pilates and bodywork into her style of teaching. She continues to study biomechanics by taking workshops, courses, and classes with Pilates elders and masters.

Melanie is currently on the faculty of Balanced Body as an instructor trainer, and has recently become certified as a yoga instructor.

 

Ruthie Wahlborg :

Sharing words and tools for experiencing muscle systems with focused movement, Ruthie confidently coaxes out each person's ability to swim tranquilly inside their own shapes. The supple, strong muscle is where a person learns to float, truly and metaphorically.

Changing someone's relationship to gravity in a beneficial way is one of the most electrifying aspects of Pilates, as well as it being a sure recipe for grace. Further effects of this sound method include the long, pleasing journey which can deliver a lifetime of a-has, along with lots o' fun.

Ruthie's Experience:

• Teaching Mat and Equipment Pilates steadily since 2003
• Certified Training with Ellie Herman in 2002
• In 2006 worked for Tom McCook at Center of Balance, absorbing an unparalleled amount of true movement wisdom through staff workouts and working on the floor.

Her Other Loves: bicycles, microphones, swimming pools and dance floors are real stand-outs for this gal!

 

Ryn Singley:

On my ninth birthday, my mom surprised me with what she thought would be the best gift, tuition to a ballet class. Having grown up in Texas with an older brother in a neighborhood full of boys, I looked at this gift with ultimate distain. Though I wouldn’t tell her this for many years, her initial insight proved true. I loved dancing, and the full awareness of my body in space actually made me better at climbing trees, building forts, and playing flag football (not to mention walking like a “lady” and all the silly stuff that Southern girls are supposed to do.)

As a pilates instructor, it is a complete thrill to help someone discover that connection with their own body and subsequently feel how it improves their daily lives. My passion is to blend technical expertise and contagious enthusiasm to help clients reach their goals whether they are new to exercise or are already a fitness buff or professional athlete. There are so many layers to the pilates method, that it continually gets more challenging as you practice and is appropriate for almost anyone. It is truly an exercise that will stay with you for a lifetime.

Ryn has been practicing pilates since 2005 and is certified by Ellie Herman Studios.

 

Sarah Reed:

I have worked in San Francisco in the field of Health and Healing since 2000. In my own practice, I relish in the experience of overcoming obstacles and discovering that things I thought were physically impossible may not be. It is one of my great passions to share this thrill with my students. Outside of my work as a Pilates Trainer and Massage Therapist/Bodyworker, I sing, play guitar, dance, snowboard, and am learning many of the sports that I despised as sullen teenager. I love working cooperatively and collaboratively in all facets of my life.

For my bodywork sessions, I follow the recipe: release, stabilize, strengthen, move. I have found that when it comes to moving through pain, people learn best from the lessons they experience in their body. For this reason I see Massage and Pilates as methods to open up and improve the lines of communication between a person and their body so that they have the means to heal themselves.