Teresa founded Atlas Pilates in 2009. She teaches weekdays and manages every aspect of the business to ensure that Clients have the best possible experience.
She was trained to teach Pilates in a comprehensive program with Lori Coleman-Brown and Dorothee VandeWalle in Seattle, and she was tested by Joseph Pilates protegée Romana Kryzanowska and certified by Pilates Inc. in 1996.
Teresa took-to-heart the simple yet powerful direction from Romana Kryzanowska to “move the body.” And for over twenty years of continuously teaching alongside Lori Coleman-Brown, and her colleagues, she’s developed effective techniques and strategies for getting positive results. Every day she keeps bodies in motion, teaching clients and other teachers how to use Pilates to develop and maintain normal healthy bodies. Her teaching can be precise and demanding, but always with respect to the individual and aimed at helping them reach their goals.
Teresa has worked and studied with many of the world’s best “Classical” Pilates instructors, including “Pilates Elders” who were taught by Joseph and Clara Pilates. Throughout her Pilates career she’s been fortunate to work alongside great physical therapists and has a lot of experience post-rehabilitation reconditioning of PT patients.
Pregnancy and post-partum fitness issues have interested Teresa since she had her own child. She’s guided several Pilates clients through pregnancy and childbirth and has developed several effective personalized Pilates fitness programs to help new mothers get back into great shape.
Since 1994, Teresa has studied and taught martial arts at Seven Star Women’s Kung Fu, and currently holds the rank of Black Belt in the Hawaiian street-fighting art of Kajukenbo. She also spends some time every week training in a local boxing gym. Teresa’s martial arts training helps her remain calm under pressure, move from her core, direct energy (chi), and mentor others.
Teresa has a BFA in Dance from Ohio University, where she was introduced to the study of anatomy and kinesiology (the science of human movement). A professional modern dancer, Teresa has performed with The Pat Graney Company and The Big Red Dance Company in Seattle. Throughout her childhood, she studied at the Academy of Dance Arts in Middletown, Ohio. Decades of lifting other dancers has made her very conscious of alignment and posture, and has helped her to develop efficient and effective means of communicating precise corrections.