Testimonials

Lesa McLaughlin - April 2006

One day in 1993 I was on my way to take a dance class at Dance Place. I had just turned left on to 8th street when someone ran the stop sign at 8th and Lawrence, turned left, and hit my car head on.

In the seconds before impact I remembered thinking this is going to be really bad. My memory of all that, of course, was entirely in slow motion. The next thing I remember was the owner of 3407 8th street banging on my car window as I lifted my head from the steering wheel. "Are you OK?," he was asking. An ambulance and a fire truck had already made it to the scene. I was left with a bulging disk between C3 and C4, a dislocated jaw and a shoulder injury from my seat belt.

After medical attention and some recovery, I spent the next year searching for a process that would help me get beyond the pain and allow me to dance the way I was dancing prior to the accident. Finally, a dance colleague suggested Pilates. At the time there was no one in the DC area (who I could find) teaching Pilates so I traveled to New York. My initial experience in New York was so powerful that I enrolled in a Pilates intensive training program and discovered that teaching Pilates was something I wanted to do. It was truly a profound experience. Not only was I eventually able to get beyond the pain, I found a whole new level of strength and centeredness in my dancing. The Pilates Method helped me to discover a new level of clarity in my dancing.

The work carried me through my dance career, until my last performance in 2002 completeing a 20 year dance career. I completed my Pilates Certification in 1995. In 1998, with business partner Kerry DeVivo, I opened Excel Movement Studios in DC, and in 2001 we opened Excel in Annapolis and developed a Teacher Training Program. The method of exercise Joseph Pilates developed has been an inspiration. I have experienced personally the depth and power of the work. Every day I look forward to to my continued practice as well as the privilege to teach. I have to say the most satisfying aspect of my Pilates experience is that I am given daily the opportunity to see the meaningful impact it also has on others. It is purely coincidental and a bit ironic that the car accident which led me to Pilates took place just outside our studio in DC. I don't know if it was "meant to be," but I sure am happy to be here.

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