Pilates Testimonials from Total Body Wellness Clients

At Total Body Wellness our goal is to provide Albuquerque residents with a healthy exercise program through Pilates. The study of Pilates is a lifestyle choice and a journey we undertake with you in search of balance, harmony and wellness.

What can Pilates do for you? Here's what other Albuquerque residents have to say...

...I am stronger than ever before and my overall fitness is much better."

"My time with Jeanette has proven to be not only personally gratifying but she has transformed my neglected and rundown body."

"I actually see the possibility of spending the rest of my life walking taller and feeling stronger"

"(Jeanette's) ability to see the strength and potential inside of a student, no matter what their fitness level, is truly inspiring."

"...I am stronger than ever before and my overall fitness is much better."

For me, discovering Pilates was a life altering experience and meeting Jeanette has made the experience all that much sweeter. My aches and pains have all but diminished and I am stronger than ever before and my overall fitness is much better. I am, however, realistic enough to know Pilates does not just happen. It takes hard work and discipline just like many good things in life. In fact, I could not even finish my first beginning mat class. But what hit me that day was the sixty something woman and the seventy something man who not only made it through Jeanette's class but actually excelled. His kind words of how great the class made him feel and his testimony to his no longer aching back made me realize there was more to this Pilates stuff then maybe even I realized.

I began attending class regularly, seduced by how good I began feeling and how Jeanette not only encouraged us but pushed us to be better which made us stronger and taller! It has been two full years since my first mat class. Being an avid runner before with a growing list of minor injuries and age becoming a factor, I could not have stumbled onto a better form of fitness.

With Jeanette's encouragement and excellent teaching skills I have gone on to the reformer, the chair, and the Cadillac. I have become addicted to how good I feel, how strong my core has become and how I have seen others grow and strengthen under her caring tutelage. I have had many other instructors and have learned different things from each of them but it's Jeanette who has had the biggest impact on my training. Her ability to vocalize and demonstrate enables you to picture the way Pilates is suppose to be done. Her ability to get you to do things you thought were impossible is even more astonishing! She can watch your body and knows it's ready to move on even when your mind doubts it. I truly believe that is her true gift.

It's hard to argue with her incredible list of credentials, but what I truly admire is her continued evolvement with Pilates. She is always learning knew ways to teach and attends workshops and conferences on the latest trends, equipment, and educational tools to help us get better. We all need people in our lives that make us better for knowing them. Jeanette is one of those people.

Samantha Randall, 43
Albuquerque NM

return to top

"My time with Jeanette has proven to be not only personally gratifying but she has transformed my neglected and rundown body."

There are many things that truly can and do affect our lives. Simply, my year and a half with Jeanette Harris has been one of them.

My story begins 28 years ago. Like most boys, I started playing sports and fell in love with soccer at an early age. Twenty five years later, my body had said enough. The constant beating of years of playing soccer and above all college soccer, 4 knee surgeries (two of which where ACL replacements), the separation of both shoulders (multiple times) and endless other nagging injuries produced a body that had been ravaged by physical abuse.

Through it all, I had endured years of lower back pain and constant tightness in my lower back. I even at times had a sort of reverberation that ran up my spine and some numbness. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have been given Jeanette Harris's name. I knew that she specialized in Pilates and Yoga and from some research I had completed I decided to give Jeannette and Pilates a try. My time with Jeanette has proven to be not only personally gratifying but she has transformed my neglected and rundown body. I have diligently worked out with her three days a week and have watched my health and physique change before my eyes. Little did I know that my time and relationship with Jeanette would be even more intertwined.

As fate would have it, the reverberation and numbness that I thought was a symptom of my bad back was in fact the first stages of relapsing remitting MS. After being diagnosed with MS, my research and consultation with my doctors revealed that the best exercise for the disease was in fact Pilates and Yoga. Call it fate or call it what you will, not only had Jeanette transformed my body but she had also become apart of my team along with my doctors, medication and family in assuring that I keep MS at bay and stay as healthy as possible.

I owe her many times over for her assistance. She is a consummate professional and I am proud to have her as my trainer and much more as my friend.

David Peters, 35
Albuquerque NM

return to top

"I actually see the possibility of spending the rest of my life walking taller and feeling stronger"

After many years of extremely poor posture and scoliosis I found myself completely stooped over and unable to hold myself erect for more than a few minutes without feeling extreme pain and weakness in my back, neck and shoulders.

I began working with Jeanette a little over 9 months ago and what a change I have seen. I am able to hold myself erect for much longer periods of time and now it often feels uncomfortable to stoop over. My overall strength has improved and much more exciting is that I actually see the possibility of spending the rest of my life walking taller and feeling stronger. We have also noticed increased strength and flexibility. We are “not there yet but improvement is evident. At my age, that's good news.

I find Jeanette consistently professional, competent and pleasant. She keeps me informed both of my progress and areas on which I need to expend more effort. I sometimes pepper her with questions but she welcomes them all. The seemingly endless variety of exercises that can be achieved through changing parts and settings on the Pilates “machinery” prevents the sessions from becoming “more routine.”

This small woman of 45 years old has remarkable strength and endurance. She is her own best advertisement for her services of therapeutic exercise training and coaching.

S.V.W., 80
Albuquerque NM

return to top

"(Jeanette's) ability to see the strength and potential inside of a student, no matter what their fitness level, is truly inspiring."

Although I had been active most of my life, six years in the corporate world, working 12- and 14-hour days in a high-stress job, left me feeling totally disconnected from my body and my life. I suffered from chronic fatigue, plantar fasciitis, neck problems and weight gain – this was definitely not the path I intended to go down when I set out.

I moved to Albuquerque in 2004 and my goal was to regroup; meeting Jeanette Harris was serendipitous. I began to work with Jeanette in September 2004, taking private Pilates equipment lessons. Her ability to see the strength and potential inside of a student, no matter what their fitness level, is truly inspiring.

As a teacher, she guided me to test my limits, break out of my comfort zone and truly believe that I could do anything. As a mentor, she emphasized focusing on accomplishments and potential rather than limitations. With Jeanette, there are no failures; her philosophy is to work to maximize your individual potential and when measuring success in those terms doing your personal best on any given day is all that is needed to achieve amazing results.

In three months, the problems with my neck and feet were a memory and my energy levels were on the rise. In six months, I felt not only the strong core connection in my body that is central to Pilates, but also a strong core connection within myself as Jeanette's lessons taught me to find focus, peace and inspiration in a true mind-body connection.

Thanks Jeanette!

Jordan Sylvester, 33
Albuquerque NM

return to top