By Susan Authement Dunnam
“10 sessions you’ll feel a difference, 20 sessions you’ll see a difference, and 30 sessions you’ll have a whole new body.” – Joseph Pilates
In just 10 sessions, your muscles feel stronger, your body feels more aligned, and your mind feels clear and stress free. After 20 sessions, you may notice muscle definition and fit better in clothes. After 30 sessions you’ll be moving and feeling better, sitting up much taller, and the quality of your life will improve immensely. A Pilates lifestyle of practicing Pilates only twice a week will lead you in pain free direction and bring balance back to your body.
My quest for a pain free life began after being in the chiropractor’s office every three weeks for almost two years. Not even 40 yet, I asked my doctor, “When will I be cured?” and he replied “You will be a lifer.” Being a free thinker and someone who believes in creating their own reality, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I had originally discovered Pilates while living in Aspen and found immediate relief with my constant back pain due to horseback riding injuries, a major car wreck and numerous crashes while skiing and snowboarding. I had obviously been very hard on my body in my youth. However, when I moved back south, there were no local Pilates studios in my area. Without a Pilates instructor to guide me, I reluctantly stopped practicing and unfortunately my bad back reappeared. I refused to allow a false and hopeless “diagnosis” shape my destiny. So I traveled to New Orleans and started the process of getting my first Pilates mat certification so I could train myself properly. I found both relief and a newfound purpose. A love affair began with this amazing conditioning system that I call “my medicine.”
At that time no one in the Destin area offered any Pilates certifications. So, I moved in 2003 to complete my 700-hour comprehensive training with all of the Pilates equipment. In spring 2009, I returned to Destin and pursued my dream of opening a Pilates and Wellness center. It’s so hard to believe that Destin Pilates and Aerial will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary soon. Since its conception, we have hosted over 20 Pilates, Aerial and Barre certifications and had the distinct honor of becoming a Balance Body training center.
I am beyond excited to be celebrating 10 years of success this spring with Christine Fox, my new business partner and expansion for a new 30A Pilates and Wellness location. My journey has been filled with great success and great sacrifice. There have been many sleepless nights, holidays missed with my family and friends, and countless weekends and evenings working late in the studio. I am forever grateful to long term clients who saw my vision of creating a restoration center and supported me emotionally during the lean times, and put me back on track after detours of mistakes and regrets. Those clients became my trusted friends and prayer partners, who unknowingly helped me restore my soul as I helped them restore their bodies.
By remaining teachable, humble, and surrendering my heart in prayer, God met me in the middle creating my Nexus point. Over the past 10 years I was told I was too old, too heavy, that I didn’t have the knowledge or work ethic and I didn’t have the drive to sustain a fitness business. Don’t ever let other people opinions destroy your dreams. Let it fuel your fire, as it did me, and let it help you step into the faith in yourself it takes to succeed. You can either walk in fear (of success) or faith (to succeed). You cannot successfully walk in both. As I reflect, I am so thankful I chose to listen to the voice of God who wanted me to be blessed and an overcomer.
At Destin Pilates and Aerial, our instructors take the same approach with our clients from the time they walk through the doors. Many feel, as I once did, hopeless and hurting after being told to accept our “diagnosis.” Sometimes surgery, pain meds or even steroid shots may not be the best or most timely options. As we learn to listen to our bodies and understand how they are supposed to function, we learn that Pilates can be used as a method to help reform and restore bring back balance to the body. Researching new techniques, trying new pain treatments, and collaborating with health care providers could offer wider and more lasting solutions for those living in pain and immobility. Along with many of our clients and professional athletes we have trained, I am living proof of this.
Destin Pilates and Aerial desires to be a place of divine health and wellness for the body, mind and soul. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” -Proverbs 23:7. We were NOT designed to live a life in pain! We were designed to live an abundant life!
We are offering new client specials in December with more to come this January: new Beginner Reformer Classes and two new myofascial stretch systems we’ve brought to the Emerald Coast, Rossiter and Eldoa. Many clients have reported significant pain relief in just one session. Please visit Destinpilates.com for more information about our certified and experienced trainers and our innovating and exciting new classes. It would be our privilege to help you restore your body so that you can live your life to its fullest.
May God Bless you richly,
Susan Authement Dunnam
Director/Destin Pilates & Aerial Wellness Center
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