By Elizabeth Cloutman
 Photo by Joe Hu, Town Crier |
Callanetics Studio of Los Altos offers techniques to sculpt and strengthen your body through small, subtle movements
People resolve to become fitter, but resolutions often fall by the wayside because fitness seekers are uncertain where to begin. They may be concerned about learning proper techniques or worry about aggravating pre-existing medical conditions, such as a bad back or sports injuries caused by jogging or high-impact aerobics.
Pat Brabant, owner of Callanetics Studio of Los Altos, believes Callanetics offers a safe and effective road to fitness, as well as increased flexibility and improved posture.
Brabant limits class size to 10 people, so that each client receives individual attention during the 60-minute sessions. She or Yelena Bronstein, the studio’s second instructor, circulates around the room the entire hour, helping clients learn the small, specific, no-impact movements of the Callanetics techniques. The atmosphere is quiet and intimate, she said: “You won’t find the high-paced environment of a health club here.”
Classes are coed and suitable for all ages, from early teens to older adults at any level of fitness, Brabant said. “There are modifications for every single person,” she explained. “Every person is treated like a total individual. We are more like a small personal training group.”
Callanetics exercises are based on ballet and yoga, using a core principle called the spiral twist - exercising the muscles in three dimensions. Clients learn precise positioning, very small muscle movements to combine body-building with stretching. “You tighten and tone deep within the muscles,” Brabant explained.
Callanetics is perhaps best known for its effectiveness in improving body tone, Brabant said. “It became known for its effectiveness in getting rid of the ’saddlebags’ common to women.”
Perhaps more important to those who suffer back problems, Brabant noted, Callanetics is also beneficial in improving posture and structural deficiencies such as scoliosis (a curvature of the spinal column) and lordosis (a curving in of the spine) because it strengthens the muscles supporting the spine and pelvis.
Callan Pinckney, the woman who developed Callanetics over a 10-year period, beginning in the mid-1970s, had both scoliosis and a hip malformation. Seeking pain relief, she developed the technique, using the movements and stretches she had learned through her years of training in classical ballet and yoga.
In 1996 Pinckney updated Callanetics by incorporating the work of Christian Larsen, a Swiss physician who specialized in motor coordination. Larsen developed Spiral Dynamics International, which uses a spiral twist to work muscles in three dimensions, focusing on the deep layers that support the skeletal frame, Brabant said.
As a teen, Brabant had metal rods inserted into her spine to treat her scoliosis. It was her own chronic pain that led her to the Callanetics studio in Sunnyvale in the 1990s. “I dropped three jeans sizes and noticed a marked decrease in my back pain,” she said. “I felt so much better about myself.”
In 1997 Brabant purchased the business, and this April she moved it to Los Altos. She plans to add an aerobic component to the program this summer. “It will be 30 minutes of aerobics and 30 minutes of movement.”
Callanetics Studio of Los Altos is offering one free class to all new students. Classes are arranged in four-week sessions. Drop-ins are welcome, but they must notify the studio in advance, since class size is limited.
The studio is located at 960 N. San Antonio Road, Suite 291. For more information, class schedules or registration, logon to www.callanetics3d.com or call 947-3300.
