Today we’d like to introduce you to Eve Salazar.
Eve, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Pilates Changed My Life and Now It IS My Life.
I’m a small-town Indiana girl but ended up finishing my undergraduate degree in southern Utah. I followed a boyfriend (whom I eventually married and had a child with) to San Francisco/The Bay Area. My daughter was born in 2005 and her birth was really the catalyst that brought me into my profession. Motherhood and its effects on my body was the instigating factor in learning Pilates. Childbirth had wrecked me. I had experienced major abdominal wall and pelvic floor trauma, had a “bad knee” and I was in constant pain. I could not walk up a flight of stairs without being in agony. I just knew there had to be an answer that wasn’t surgery! So, I began studying Pilates with Ada Wells of ProBalance Physical Therapy in Alameda, CA (she’s still one of my mentors to this day) and within nine months of practicing Pilates daily: Pilates completely changed my body!
In the summer of 2006, we relocated to Los Angeles and I began to study Pilates as a profession in addition to a practice, but my marriage ended shortly after we arrived. Here I was, at the onset of my Pilates career: a 24-year-old single mother with a baby, but no money, no friends, and no family nearby to help, and no job! It’s all about who you know, right? So, when you don’t know anyone, things take time. It would be a slow build, career-wise. I arrived in Los Angeles on the precipice of the Writer’s Strike (2006/2007) so people weren’t spending their money with urgency and it was a sleepy year or two in this town because no one was really working and “The Industry” really drives so much here. Follow that immediately, by a massive recession that hit in 2008. There were times I simply did not eat. There was a year I went without a car.
This is why I view Pilates as more than simply my profession, it’s my way of life. No matter how successful (or not) I am at the business of my business, my practice sustains me. It is my practice even more than it is my profession! My study of movement and Pilates constantly brings me into greater awareness and better health. Pilates got me completely out of pain, and it gave me a new life: teaching in a profession I adore, which I have been doing now for fourteen years.
I began dating my now-husband in 2009 and we were married in 2014. HIs partnership has provided me with the stability and encouragement I needed to really go solo with my practice and that changed everything. In 2013 I created my own company: Athletic Arts Pilates, LLC. In 2016 I opened my own studio Barrel & Spring Studio inside a local Equestrian center (The Paddock Riding Club) with the support from Kristina Harrison Dressage who is a dressage trainer and Olympic-level athlete. She and I often partner with each other in working with her elite-level equestrian clients. I am very grateful for her patronage and partnership. The studio is located on the grounds of the equestrian center and it’s really idyllic and beautiful. It’s right off the five freeway and across the river from Griffith Park but it feels like you’re in the middle of the countryside.
For the past several years, I’ve incorporated The Oov (a new and revolutionary tool in the physical and therapeutic industries) into my work. (See photo.) It’s a unique tool that gives the body very specific feedback and can be used alongside Pilates equipment or on its own to teach your body how to stabilize and mobilize. It’s unlike anything else out there! It’s revolutionary and very, very new and exciting! This is what sets me apart from all the other Pilates teachers out there in Los Angeles and it saves a lot of time in training. Time = money. I teach nearly every lesson and do movement assessments on The Oov. The Oov gives instant feedback–there’s no “do you feel that” verbalizing required. It’s a neurological short-cut: if a student cannot stabilize their body, they’ll know it immediately. The best part is that it’s created to support the spine and is safe for students who have disc issues. It feels good to be on and helps the spine decompress and alleviates the effects of gravity on the spinal column. I believe very soon we’ll see Oovs in every practitioner’s office and therapy center. Both Pilates and The Oov are crucial for elite athletes to prevent injury and increase core strength.
Personal challenges in those early years aside: the promise I made to myself as a teacher and to my clients was that I would never let a year go by without continuing my education. I am devoted to constantly learning. I hold multiple certificates and licenses and am a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher (NCPT qualification). Licenses/certificates from: The Pilates Method Alliance, Pilates Sports Center, BASI Pilates, Fletcher Pilates, Oov Education, to name a few. Currently, I’m also studying yoga with Evelyn “Ducky” Punch. Yoga and Pilates are really different branches on the same tree.
When COVID-19/coronavirus hit, its impact on small businesses like mine was instant and ferocious. I immediately went virtual and within a week, I was teaching online although had to pour a lot more time and resources into marketing and maintaining my business in this new way. I still have my studio space and plan to create a mixture of in-person and virtual learning when we have the all-clear to re-open safely. Until then, I’m happily teaching my private lessons, duets, and group classes online via Zoom. It was a pretty instant transition for many of my clients. Luckily, I have a very supportive and loyal client base and they supported my studio’s transition to going virtual. One exciting aspect of teaching online is the potential to reach a far greater audience. Any movement teacher hesitating to segue into this realm is missing the boat: this is where our industry is going. I started seeing students from other parts of the country and the world in my classes! I recently had a student join me online from Barcelona, Spain!
I have learned a lot about living in Los Angeles in the process. I’ve taught Pilates in The Valley, Hollywood, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Atwater Village, and I simply love LA. I love the uniqueness of this town and how life in Los Angeles really fulfills and supports living a healthy lifestyle. There is so much we have available at our fingertips. Being a transplant from The Midwest I am constantly grateful to live in such a beautiful place where living my healthiest life is so easily facilitated. We take it for granted, don’t we? I like to encourage my students to get outside and experience our beautiful city more often! Living a healthy lifestyle is something I’m coaching my students toward. It’s about taking Pilates into your life! We are a very active family because I believe in practicing what I teach. My daughter is a volleyballer, my husband is a cyclist and swimmer, and I love hiking, paddle-boarding, and dancing. Ultimately, it’s about moving well because then you live well. That’s my studio mantra: Move Well to Live Well.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road! Completely the opposite. My biggest obstacle was being thrust into poverty as a single mother due to divorce and living in a new town with no family support. I continue to work to build a place in my profession from scratch.
It’s challenging in the fitness industry to build anything because for many years you will work as an independent contractor (code for indentured servitude!) with no benefits, no paid sick leave, no insurance, and employers that take up to or more than 50% of “the cut”. That type of working situation did not make becoming a Pilates professional and staying a Pilates professional an easy experience.
Mothers, in particular really struggle in this industry because often you’re only being paid enough to pay for childcare so it becomes very frustrating. I was a very distracted teacher my first few years in the business because I was constantly worried about making rent, eating, and just the basics. It’s hard to excel in any field if you’re up all night with a baby and you’re sweating the big stuff, let alone the small stuff. The mothers I saw that had it the easiest were studio owners. I saw that right away that the only true power in the fitness industry is to play the game your own way and work for yourself so that was what I was working for from the beginning. The road to ownership is not easy and it still isn’t easy to maintain.
I still work hard and continue to develop my work to serve my local community and bring something unique, with depth. I value every client that comes my way because I know how hard it is to earn every single dollar and set an example for my daughter. Luckily now, I’m married to a man who also works hard and understands that being the spouse of an entrepreneur is not exactly predictable: there are still hills and valleys and no guarantees!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Barrel & Spring Studio – what should we know?
I believe in creating ease in movement and I believe that tension is the enemy of stability which sets me apart from the beat-it-grind-it type of fitness we see so much in Los Angeles. I mean, what is the point of flipping gigantic tires? Can someone explain that to me? Yes, we want strength but I care more about the relationship of your strength to your mobility and the functionality of your joint structures in relationship to those two: and that’s just one example. I mean, unless you’re a firefighter or a mechanic, I’m not sure what flipping tires is for? At some point, flipping tires cease to have purpose if you’re doing it just to do it and then you need a more intelligent method to keep your mind connected. Plus, all that tire flipping probably will irritate your shoulder at some point and then you’ll come see me. I’m still waiting for caber-tossing to make a come-back. There’s always a fad. Fads create injuries which is why Pilates has been around and will be around for forever. It’s a more intelligent movement system and it makes you think. Add in the Oov and there’s a lot to keep both mind and body integrated.
I’m really known for my mind-body integration work combining The Oov, Pilates, and foundational Yoga and my passion for teaching individuals how to take Pilates into their daily lives. I belief in the power in creating better movement habits in the service of physical longevity. I am known for giving “homework” because the work only works when you work it!
I work with elite athletes (including youth) most commonly equestrians due to my location, pre & post-partum moms, and I work with men and women of all ages on decreasing back pain, join pain, and arthritis maintenance. I use the Oov alongside Pilates to create awareness around postural alignment and decompression in order to facilitate and increase movement potential and get people back to their sports and lives.
Ultimately, I am most proud of helping people understand their bodies better and realizing that they have control over how healthy they are and running my own small business having come to this town with no money and no connections and building something that I’m really very proud of.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
First of all: I would not be successful without my loyal client base: many of my clients have been with me since my early years and have stayed loyal through all my evolutions and growth. That’s extremely inspiring to me: their loyalty inspires me to always be better and have something new to offer them. I want to honor them every time I teach them by always having something to offer. When someone will drive an hour through Los Angeles traffic to sweat, grow, laugh, and “hurt so good” to come see me then I want to give them the best that I can! Now, we’re all logging on from our computers but that takes effort, too! It’s so easy to just give up and sit on the couch. I feel very honored when I am claimed as someone’s teacher and I always have mentors, myself. Growth inspires growth. I also love meeting new people and introducing The Pilates Method.
But if I had to point to something within me: Levity, resiliency, and motion…with purpose! I love to laugh and to make movement fun and accessible! I want people to work hard and focus but also enjoy themselves and I look for moments of levity. When we enjoy movement we’re more likely to do it! I consider myself very resilient and versatile I think resiliency is something we are very much called upon to acquire and nurture, especially in these trying times! I’ve personally experienced a lot of struggle so I know that I can make a silk purse out of sow’s ear. Find that light at the end of the tunnel and chase that! We must stay in motion–but motion that has purpose — otherwise what is the point!? I absolutely loathe that Hollywood saying “you’ve got to swim the shark”. I hate that. That’s nefarious. What we need to have purpose behind our motion. It’s not a shark, it’s a dolphin: bringing light, levity, motion, and resilience, meaning, and camaraderie to every moment. Motion with purpose. That’s me. We need to know WHY we’re doing something as much as WHAT we’re doing!
Contact Info:
- Address: Studio Address:
On grounds of Paddock Riding Club
3919 Rigali Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(Gate code required for entry.) - Website: www.barrelandspring.com
- Phone: 818-427-2751
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @barrelandspringstudio
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/barrelandspringstudio
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/bspringstudio
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/barrel-and-spring-pilates-studio-los-angeles?osq=Barrel+and+Spring+Studio
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZT55JavVElDWmDocXJLAyw
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