Who
Desiree Sanchez
Title
Owner of Functional Strength Pilates
Where
10047 Park Meadows Dr. Lone Tree
functionalstrengthpilates.com
Advice
Pilates was designed to create 'spontaneous zest and pleasure’. Find yours!
Desiree Sanchez knows a thing or two about movement. An avid dancer with a degree in Dance & Contemplative Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, the transition into Pilates was a natural one. At the age of 19, a serious car accident left her with soft tissue injuries, and her regular activities came to a halt. After seeking healing from multiple therapies, a friend suggested she try Pilates.
“I went from feeling pretty disabled and unable to hold any weight above my shoulders to being able to do high-flying trapeze.’ She says, “I felt like myself again, but stronger than I'd ever been and I was hooked!”
That was 20 years ago. She’s moved from practitioner to instructor and has seen the Pilates industry evolve considerably over the years.
Joseph Pilates founded the movement in the 1920’s to rehabilitate soldiers returning from war. Dancers eventually found it helped heal injuries and as a restorative practice for the strain dance places on the body. Initially, the practice was primarily dancers, and most who taught Pilates were either directly trained by Joseph Pilates himself or had been taught by someone who did.
“It used to be that you had to 'know someone' to be able to participate in Pilates, but these days Pilates classes are everywhere," Desiree says.
Functional Strength Pilates’ teaches the classical school of Pilates, which grew out of the period when dancers dominated the practice. It is also the focus of her training program for new instructors..
Desiree spends about a third her year teaching Pilates in France, Switzerland and Spain. To expand her own depth of knowledge, she studies with classical Pilates instructors in Europe, and has begun working with a group of Ido Portal's students.
“It has been an incredibly great experience to be a 'beginner' student again and explore intense, complex movement.”
When Desiree isn’t in the studio, she is hiking or otherwise enjoying the great outdoors.