A former urban planner, Jessica Newshel was a new mom looking for a more flexible job when she found her calling about a decade ago. The sports-and-fitness enthusiast had returned to Pilates to rebuild her core strength after having her son. “I had an aha moment on a mat in class,” recounts Newshel. “I found the instructors knowledgeable, caring and sensitive to different bodies and needs. I thought, This could be something that I do next.”
A six-month intensive training program, 400 apprenticeship hours, and many Equinox and Reebok Sports Club NY clients later, Newshel relocated to Westport, established her business here and now teaches classes out of her home studio.
“Pilates is a mind–body exercise; that is the one way it is similar to yoga. The focus is on core strength, which is so fundamental to exercise and feeling good in your body,” she says. “Having a strong core helps support the spine, so you stand up taller, have less back pain and just generally move better. I structure my workouts so my clients leave feeling better about themselves, not exhausted and needing to take a nap.”
Newshel’s clients—from fit thirty-somethings to pregnant women to eighty-year-olds—tell her that Pilates changes the way they move outside the studio, whether on the tennis court, hiking or lifting a suitcase.
New client special: $120 for two fifty-five-minute sessions. Book a private or duet at pilatesgirl.com.
PILATES PLUSES
Ready to give Pilates a try? Lots of good reasons to do it.
- TOTAL BODY WORKOUT
- RESISTANCE TRAINING
- NO IMPACT = STRONGER CORE
- BETTER POSTURE
- BETTER BALANCE
- INCREASED FLEXIBILITY
- REDUCED BACK PAIN
- INJURY PROTECTION/REHABILITATION