To aim for a goal is
admirable, but to reach it your chances of success are much higher if you look
to someone who has reached that goal, and then do as they do.
If staying youthful and
limber is one of your ambitions, you will do well to take advice from Sue
Dalton, who owns and operates Premier Pilates of Santa Ynez.
In an upper level studio in
Santa Ynez’s Bollinger Building, Dalton is helping people come to life and stay
that way.
Local women may already know
Dalton from taking ballet lessons at her School of Ballet in Lompoc, where she
taught for 28 years. While still teaching ballet, long before it was a fitness
trend, Dalton began learning Pilates from Janine Bohn in Hollywood.
“We got to be friends, and I
bought my first performer,” Dalton recalls. “She came and lived with me for
three months while I learned”.
She then began teaching mat
Pilates at the studio in Lompoc. After she sold the studio, Dalton began
training in Pilates at the Bay Area at Peak Performance Movement Education
Center in San Francisco.
Dalton has now been studying
and teaching Pilates for 24 years.
Pilates was developed by
Joseph Pilates, who was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, in 1880 and suffered
from rickets, asthma and rheumatic fever as a child. He developed his own cure
by spending time in the woods watching the movement of animals.
By age 14 he was not only
well, but he was used as a model for anatomical charts.
It was during World War I,
where he was chosen by the British Army to train fellow German citizens, that
he began creating his unique training method.
Using a hospital bed, he
dismantled its springs, using the overhead pulleys to create exercises that
developed the core muscles of the body, the intrinsic muscles of the abdomen.
Pilates originally named his
method “contrology” because it focuses on using your mind and breath to control
core postural muscles that the body uses to balance and support the spine.
Later he met the woman who
would become his wife, Clara, on a ship to America, and they started a studio
in New York City and taught into the 1960s.
Famous dancers Martha Graham
and George Balanchine were fans and spread the awareness to other dancers.
“No one could remember ‘contrology,’
but they could remember him, so it began being known as ‘Pilates,’” Dalton
says.
Marta Nichols, the newest
instructor at Premier Pilates, is also Pilates certified and completed her
apprentice hours with Dalton.
Nichols began taking ballet
classes from Dalton at age 14 and has now made keeping others fit a part of her
life, also.
The Premiere Pilates studio
also features the state-of-the-art power plate device, and Dalton is almost
uncontainable over this newest tool in the studio.
“I have one woman in her 50s
who has not only stabilized her bone density, but has increased it,” Dalton
says.
It can also be used to help
people suffering from multiple sclerosis as well as to accelerate weight loss,
reduce fat and cellulite, reduce pain and increase bone density.
The Pilates method was used
by Russian astronauts to reverse the negative effects of zero gravity and
reportedly allowed the cosmonauts to stay in space longer than the American
astronauts.
It was later developed into
a fitness tool by Olympic Coach Gus Van Der Meer.
Using a power plate for 10
minutes is equivalent to a one-hour gym workout, Dalton says. The power plate,
a whole body vibration machine, creates rapid and intense muscle contractions
30 to 50 times per second.
“Some people come for
Pilates only, some for Pilates and power plate, and some power plate only,”
says Dalton.
She has clients fill out an
objective form when they come to the studio.
“Every body is different,”
she explains. “We personalize the program to the client to help them meet their
goals. Some people want to look better, some feel better. Making your body come
into balance makes people happy. My clients feel so much better, look better,
and function better. Most of my clients have grown half an inch to an inch.”
But fitness is much more
than looking good, and Dalton knows that feeling good about yourself is
priceless.
“I’ve seen it do so many
things for so many people,” she says. “It gives them confidence. I had one
client with no self-esteem, and I saw her change into a remarkable woman.”
Marc Trubitz, who suffers
from DISH arthritis, a form of degenerative arthritis, says that when he began
with Dalton he could not move his thoracic spine, which is pretty much the
center part of the spine.
“You get in balance, and you
know it,” he says. “It’s terrific; it’s ecstasy.”
An equestrian, Trubitz said
he can also ride much better now, which is one of his favorite pastimes. He
does a combination of Pilates and power plate.
Dalton said more than 10
million people practice Pilates today and that it can change your life. She
said the core strength that Pilates exercises gives people carries over into
their feeling of well-being, from the inside out.
“I tried yoga, but all the
incense and stuff just wasn’t for me,” said Joanie Swift, who has been Dalton’s
client since 2004. Swift loves what Pilates has done for her body, but she also
cherishes the tranquility it provides.
“It’s my hour where I can
come in and not think about anything else because I am concentrating,” she
says. “And Sue makes sure I am making every movement properly.”
Premiere Pilates offers
individual session and group mat classes. An introduction series is recommended
with three private, one-hour, one-on-one sessions to learn the Pilates principles
and to get a feeling for it.
Premier Pilates is located
at 1090 Edison St., Suite 202 and offers group mat Pilates classes, private
Pilates classes and power plate sessions. The studio may be reached at (805)
688-9030.
When asked if she has plans for
retirement, with her 28 years of teaching ballet combined with 24 years of
Pilates, Dalton looks surprised when she answers.
“This is the best job in the
world, to watch people blossom and feel good. What more could I want to do!”
Reach Wendy Thompson at
wendy@syvjournal.com.