June News (2011)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

The sun has arrived at last! It seems that nature has decided to repay our lack of ultraviolet rays with interest; please wear your sunblock while working or playing outside! With the clouds parted, it becomes possible to see just how verdant the Dayton area has become this spring. Grass, trees, flowers and weeds are bursting into view.

I’m happy to say that May was also a time of growth for Practice. On behalf of everyone in our community, I’d like to wish a warm welcome to our new clients:

Benedict Davis

Julie Beyer

Karen Button

Lindsey Clark

Liz Connelly

Michelle Daniel

Renee Hopson

Sally McIntyre

Janet McKinley

Colleen Ohl

Kristen Schlegel

Terry Wheaton

Thank you to everyone who participated in our May promotion for half-off on group classes. I hope you enjoyed adding a second (or sometimes third!) workout to your week with Practice. We will run the promotion again later in the summer.

Finally please check out our new Yoga-Pilates Fusion class with Joy, starting on June 9th!

Best wishes,

Patrick Przyborowski

Practice

Class Changes

• NEW Yoga-Pilates Fusion Class on Thursdays at 530p, starting June 9th! Joy Karl, our only instructor certified in yoga and Pilates, will begin teaching a wonderful integration of Hatha Yoga and Pilates Matwork. Add more strength to your stretch and vice versa! The class is open to all levels, and pricing will be the same as for all our yoga and Pilates matwork classes.
• The Hatha Yoga class on Friday at 9am is moving to Thursday mornings at 9a, starting June 24th.

New Practice Tees are in!

They look great and fit very well! Women’s v-neck tees come in black or pink and have “awareness” in reverse on the front, reminding you to check in with your body and mind whenever you catch your reflection in a mirror or window. Men’s crew neck tees come in black and remind the wearer to “focus” during workouts and beyond. Both men’s and women’s tees are $16.

Special note from Patrick to all our male clients : Men, I have extensively polled the female clients of our studio and 100% agree that they would prefer to see you in a new focus tee over a knappy, sweat (or grass) stained, threadbare shirt that you wore proudly in the 1980′s. I’m just sayin’.

Joseph Pilates Film Footage from 1932

Here is a Youtube link to footage of Joseph Pilates as a young man in 1932, demonstrating matwork exercises outdoors. Take a look!

Joseph Pilates in 1932

Research: Activity Changes in Workplace Contributes to American Waistlines

From the NY Times’ “Well” column, check out this fascinating article on declining physical activity in the workplace, and its contribution to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.

Inactivity research at workplace

May News (2011)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

OK, I’ll be the first one to admit, I like a rainy day. My favorite big city is Seattle. But as I look out the picture window in the studio at another day of gray and wetness, I have to say, and I hope you’ll agree, I’m ready for the May flowers!

It’s been wonderful to see increased activity and new faces here at the studio. On behalf of everyone in our burgeoning Practice Community, I’d like to wish a warm welcome to: Darrel Bickley, Louise Campbell, Winnie Cleavenger, Janet Flieschauer, Timi Gump, Susan Kettering, Will Mansfield, Mark Karl, Colleen Ohl, Carmen Osenbaugh, and Kim Van Osdel.

To our new friends as well as our loyal members, I want to direct your attention to our May promotion, which is a wonderful way double or triple the value you receive from the studio.

Wishing you fewer showers and more flowers (soon),

Patrick Przyborowski

Practice

Group Class Promotion! Kitty came up with a great idea to reward our regular clients who are ramping up their activity for Spring, or for new clients who want a cost effective way to hit the ground running with more than one class each week: For the month of May, if you come in at least once a week for a private, duet, trio or quartet appointment, you can add any group class at 50% off. This includes Group Reformer, TRX, Jumpboard, Pilates Matwork, and Yoga. Here’s the fine print:

• If you have a house account with us, you can buy any group class for 50% off the lowest rate.
• If you hold a package specifically for one type of appointment, say Pilates Privates, you can buy one or more classes at at a 50% discount off the tier for which your purchased your private packages. If you aren’t sure which type of package you hold, ask one of us to check it for you.
• There is no limit to the number of classes you can attend at the 50% discount each week, but all purchased classes must be completed within the month of May.
• Unused classes can be converted to a house credit for future purchases.

Class Changes

The Hatha Yoga class on Friday at 9am is cancelled on May 27th, while Joy is visiting family for the holiday weekend. For Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, the evening Matwork class with Patrick is cancelled , but Patrick will be taking clients in the morning and early afternoon for private/duet/trio/quartet appointments. If you would like to squeeze in a work out on your holiday, and don’t mind sharing the hour with dedicated and like-minded practitioners, please email Patrick at pprzyborowski@gmail.com.

Research: Inactivity Studies Shed Light on Caloric Expenditure, Muscle Activity, and More

From the NY Times, check out this fascinating article on studies being done at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota: Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?

The Sugar Debate

Two well-written articles came out over the last couple weeks on the pros and cons of sugar, which I think are worth a look.

The first article is by Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories and appeared April 13th in the NY Times: Is Sugar Toxic?

The second article is a rebuttal to Taubes’ article, written by David Katz, MD, in the Huffington Post on April 18th: Sugar Isn’t Evil: A Rebuttal

Meadowlark Update

Per the Meadowlark website, May 17th, give or take a day, will be the opening date for the restaurant at it’s new location in Lamlighter Square. Check their webpage for a full description (or for new announcements!). Meadowlark Website

Retail Alert

We’re receiving our new Practice tees this week for both men and women. Look for them on our retail shelf starting Friday!

Proud Uncle Moment

My Niece, Emma Smith, competed in a local “Idol” competition in her hometown, Columbus, IN, making it to the top 5, and netted a picture and mention in the Columbus Republic:

SIng it, girl!

Columbus Idol Live competition raises funds to benefit kids with special needs

Emma will be a freshman this Fall at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, studying Music and Music Business.

April News (2011)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

Two fridays ago, Practice was fortunate enough to be included briefly in the Dayton Daily News (DDN) in an article about the benefits of Pilates. DDN reporter Robin McMacken is doing a year long series on health and wellness for the Life section each week and was kind enough to contact me about a new article related to spring cleaning for your body and soul, which should appear on April 8th. Please look for us!

In essence, spring cleaning achieves two goal simultaneously. First, it’s an opportunity to free ourselves of ”clutter” that no longer works us. On the surface, clutter can be the clothes in your closet that you don’t wear, or the magazines on your shelf that you know you won’t read. It can also be the extra weight from the holidays and winter that sneaked up on you. But looking a little deeper, we can start to see that clutter can be habits of our mind or ways of being in the world that have outlived their usefulness. Here’s one cognitive script that I have to throw out every spring: “When I was in my twenties, I could eat an entire pumpkin pie.”

Second, spring cleaning also creates the much needed space for us to bring those things into our lives that are helpful. Sometimes the space itself is just what we need, clearing out the junk and cobwebs in our garages, our bodies, and our minds can be hugely therapeutic. But this space can also act as a launchpad for a healthier lifestyle, new friendships, or a passion pursued. In this sense, spring cleaning can help us spring forward.

Best wishes to you in your clean up this month!

Patrick Przyborowski

Practice

Class Changes

No class changes for April. Yay!!

Instructors Complete Injuries Course

Congrats to Kitty, Joy and Patrick who completed their four day course on injuries and special populations with Stott Pilates. All of the Practice instructors have now completed the course. We’re better prepared than ever to help clients who may be finishing up with rehab following an injury and are looking for a vital next step, or perhaps have a chronic condition like arthritis and need instruction on how to exercise safely and effectively.

Meadowlark coming soon!

No, we don’t have it from the horses mouth, but we walk over to window peek regularly to check on progress and the sign on the door now says they will open in Lamplighter Square (at the old Madison’s location) in April for sure. Cross your fingers!

Community News: Patrick to speak at Junior League of Dayton meeting

Patrick will be giving a 30 minute presentation to Junior League members on ”The Art of Balancing Work and Life,” Tuesday, April 12th.

Practice Calendar 4-2011

March News (2011)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

In the coming weeks you will see some new art on the long wall underneath the TRX bar. The four new images (coming soon!) symbolize core principles of practice that are germinating in our organization: awareness, focus, self-discipline, and creativity. Look around the studio, and you will begin to notice their influence in everything from the physical environment to the teaching styles of our instructors and the quality of the instruction we offer to you. Look within, and you may be delighted to find these principles taking root or even blooming in your mind and body.

There are so many things I can say about these principles, and I will – in the coming months look for links to articles in our blog in which I ask and look for answers to questions such as, “What is practice, anyway?”, “Does practice really make perfect?”, and “Why does practice work for some and not others?”  I believe that our core principles are intimately related to these questions, and I look forward to dialoguing with you about them in person and via the web.

Best wishes,

Patrick Przyborowski

Jump Class Returns!

Back by popular demand, our 30 minute Jumpboard Interval Training class will start again on Wednesdays from 530 to 6p, beginning March 2nd.

Energize yourself with a cutting-edge reformer workout packed with heart-pumping moves that build strength and burn calories. We will integrate jumpboard sequences with dumbbells and other props to create  for a full body workout in 30 minutes. The maximum number of students per class is 4. Classes can be reserved up to one week in advance, online or by phone. Please join us!

Class changes

• The Group Reformer & Equipment class on Fridays at 7am is cancelled for the Spring.
• The TRX/Mat Combo class on Fri. March 18th will be at 10am instead of 11am.

Instructors to attend in-depth course on injuries

Instructors Joy and Kitty will be taking a 4 day course on working with injuries and special populations March 17th-20th. The course, offered by the STOTT Pilates licensed training facility in Dublin Ohio, focuses on helping clients in post-rehab settings, and programming safe and effective workouts for clients who may have chronic conditions like lower back pain or arthritis.

STOTT Pilates Injuries and Special Populations Course

Community News: Randa Slim is published in the Huffington Post

Congratulations to Randa Slim, who’s prescient article, “The Making of a New Narrative in the Middle East” was recently published in the Huffington Post:

The Making of a New Narrative in the Middle East

Pilates: So easy even a walrus can do it!

Thank you to Cindy Beck, who sent in this Youtube clip. Be sure to watch all the way through; the ab crunches are the best!

Walrus workout

December News (2010)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

The holiday season is upon us! And my advice: enjoy. Too often, the holidays are experienced as guilty pleasure. Try this instead: For those days you have parties and family gatherings, mark them on your calendar as “free,” meaning guilt-free or care-free. And then moderate food and drink for the days you don’t have events. When you look at the page, you should see that the party days are the exception, rather than the rule. And if you actually have 16+ free days marked on your calendar for December, well….give me a call. I want to party with you, champ.

But before you light out for your holiday mixer, pick a day in early January and write “stop” in your calendar, which means that the holiday season ends then and there.  Next month I’ll share some strategies for re-envisioning the New Year’s resolution!

Happy Holidays,

Patrick Przyborowski

Practice

Give the Gift of Practice

We have gift certificates available for any dollar value or package. For friends or family who have never been to Practice but are looking to make a positive change for themselves in 2011, may we suggest the New Journey Package? Only $99, it offers the new student three Pilates or yoga privates plus one matwork or yoga group class, and is a wonderful way to prepare for participation in small or large group sessions with other experienced practitioners.

Please email Patrick at pprzyborowski@gmail.com with the amount and name of the gift recipients. I’m happy to prepare them for pick up here at the studio or I can mail them to you.

Free New Year’s Matwork Class!

Get the New Year started right (or work off the grogginess from New Year’s Eve) with a free matwork class, Saturday, 1.1.11, at 10a with Patrick.

2Baby Update from Kerry:

Kerry has been bowled over by the kindness, care and support she has received from the Practice community and she asked me to share this recent photo of Henry & Quinn with you.  Kerry says that they are doing very well, and that she  has ”never been so sleep deprived and so happy.”

Retail Alert

We still have a few of the half zip pullovers that are perfect as a second layer for Pilates and yoga. We also have a full stock of the Pilates long pants that our female instructors wear. Perfect for winter, they look great, hold up very well, and at $48, are less than half the price of comparable product at Lulu Lemon!

Practice Calendar 12-2010 portrait

Welcome Groupies!

By Patrick Przyborowski

November News (2010)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

The month of Thanksgiving, with its cooler weather and shorter days, also represents the beginning of the long spiral downward into holiday eating and the discontinuation of early morning exercise.

To combat this tendency, members of our Practice Strength support group made a pledge in October to finish strong, by eating well and keeping up with their practices so that they start 2011 on a better foot than they did in 2010. A wonderful goal! Even if we throw care to the wind on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years Eve, that still leaves us 59 opportunities to eat well and keep our bodies moving. This may rob us of an easy pick for our New Years resolution, but that’s still very good news!

Best wishes for a healthy and happy Thanksgiving,

Patrick Przyborowski

Class Changes

Here are our class revisions for November:

• Joy’s yoga classes are canceled for Thursday, November 4th and Friday, November 26th.
• The Jumpboard Interval Class on Wednesdays at 530p is discontinued for the fall season.

FREE YOGA CLASS! In honor of the election day, Joy will be offering a free mixed level Hatha Yoga class, on Tuesday, November 2nd at 7p. Go place your vote, then stretch out with Joy’s yoga before heading home to watch the results!

Community News

Get your Vote on: Tuesday, November 2nd is mid-term election Day. Please be sure to include some time in your schedule for Tuesday to place your vote.

Nancy Knickerbocker ran like the wind in Columbus two weeks ago. Brent Johnson, Joan Wire, and Patrick kicked it hard at the Bourbon Chase last weekend. And many Practice friends danced the night away at Masquerage, including Brent Johnson, Tim Farquhar, Juetta West, Jack Omer, and Michael Arthur.

Happy Birthday Practice! I’m happy to say our second anniversary is on November 17^th. Thank you for continuing to support us; we couldn’t do it without you!

Coming up on November 21^st, our very own Juetta West, a Ben-gal alumnus will be performing with 180 pat and present Ben-gals during the half-time celebration of the Cincinnati Bengals-Buffalo Bills game in Cincy. The game starts at 1p; come join us! See http://www.bengals.com/schedule/season-schedule.html for tickets.

Don’t be shy! If you have news you would like to share with the Practice community, please reply to Patrick at pprzyborowski@gmail.com; we’d love to include you.

Social Opps

The Turkey Trot in Miamisburg is a blast and one of the best ways to enjoy a guilt free turkey dinner. See http://orrrc.org/ for details and registration. This year the 5 mile race is limited to the first 7,000 runners, so be sure to sign up soon.

If you haven’t seen the Human Race Theatre’s production of The 39 Steps yet, you should! It is a wonderful comedy with 4 actor’s playing over a hundred roles. We were there last Thursday and enoyed ourselves immensely. This show is in the Loft Theatre, right next door to the Victoria Theater, and runs until  November 7^th. See http://www.humanracetheatre.org/ for details and tickets.

If you have an event in Dayton that you are organizing or are planning to attend and would love to see some other Practitioners there, please email Patrick with the deets!

Practice Calendar 11-2010

October News (2010)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Practice Friends,

Welcome to autumn! Thanks so much for your feedback about last month’s updates. People enjoyed both the Practice community news and social opportunities, and I plan to include them whenever there is news to report. We do have some class changes and more for October:

• Class changes:

• Joy’s Level 2 Hatha Yoga on Thursdays will now start at 7p.
• The Hatha Yoga Level 1 class on Tuesdays at 7p has been moved to Thursdays at 6p.
• The Thursday 11a TRX/Mat combo class has been discontinued for the fall. Please join us for the TRX class on Fridays at 11a instead!
• Kitty Snow will be taking over the Wednesday Group Reformer Class at 7p.

• Retail: We have a great looking half zip pullover as well as more of our long pants for the fall and winter; expect them on the shelves in approximately two weeks!

Practice Community News:

• A very special shout out goes to Skip Snow, Dayton’s rock star senior amateur golfer, who racked up three big wins (and another near-win) over the last month: Runner Up in the Senior Porter Cup in western New York; Winner in the Super Senior Division of the Senior Azalea Amateur Golf Tournament in Charleston, SC; Winner of his 20^th Dayton Country Club Championship; winning team (Miami Valley) of the Ohio Intrastate Championship at Firestone CC in Akron. NEWSFLASH: The new Golfweek Magazine Senior Amateur rankings are out, and they have ranked Skip No. 2 in the nation for the Super Senior Division (ages 65+). Congrats, Skip (and thank you for the update, Kitty)!
• Nancy Knickerbocker achieved a personal record of 2:59:46 in The Nation’s Triathlon in Washington, DC, on September 12^th, breaking the 3 hour mark for an Olympic distance triathlon for the first time since she began training in 2003! For an encore, Nancy will be running the Columbus Half Marathon in 2 weeks. Congrats and good luck, Nancy!
• The Bourbon Chase: Brent Johnson, Joan Wire and Patrick will be part of a 12-person team from Dayton participating The Bourbon Chase, a 200 mile relay race around bourbon and horse country in Kentucky, that starts on Friday, October 22^nd and ends on Saturday afternoon, October 23^rd. Wish us luck!

Social Opportunities:

• 2 fantastic plays at the Human Race Theatre Company: I have the good fortune to be on the Artistic Committee for the Human Race Theatre Company, Dayton’s only professional theater. We spend the fall and winter each year reading scripts and narrowing selections for the following season (a bit of trivia: I have a master’s degree in playwriting). I love the quality of the work that HRTC produces, and I’m especially thrilled with the choices that the committee made for this 2010-2011 season. If you’ve never had the opportunity to check out one of the real gems of our city, you now have two chances in October:
  • August: Osage County – ‘The saga of the Weston family of Oklahoma and its many issues – and, boy, do they have issues – won five Tony Awards and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and The Human Race and Wright State University Theatre are combining to make Dayton one of the first regional sites to present Tracy Letts’ masterpiece.” The show opened to wonderful reviews September 29^th and runs through the end of this week, October 10^th. This show is bring presented at Wright State University’s Festival Playhouse in the Creative Arts Center. See www.humanracetheatre.org for further info including show times and how to order tickets.
  • The 39 Steps – From the Human Race Theatre web site: “Combine the styles of two of the greatest British exports – Alfred Hitchcock and Monty Python – and set four performers loose to play more than 150 characters, and you’ve got one of the funniest shows to hit the stage this millennium.” The 39 Steps opens Oct. 21^st and runs through Nov. 7 and is performed downtown at the Loft. I’ll be there with Deb Thursday, October 28^th. If you get tickets for the same night, maybe we can meet up for dinner before the show. Again, see www.humanracetheatre.org for ticket info and directions to the Loft.
  • Masquerage 2010, October 16th: One of the best events of the entire year, Masquerage is a fantastic night of costumes, dancing and entertainment. See http://www.masquerage.org/ for details.

Best wishes,

Patrick

Practice Calendar 10-2010-rev

Welcome Groupies!

By Patrick Przyborowski

Congratulations to you on your purchase of the 3 Yoga or Pilates Matwork class package through groupon.com. We’re thrilled that you will be joining the Practice Community. To help make your first trip to the studio easy and fun, I’d like to share some information with you:

Our monthly class calendar can be found in the top left corner of this blog page. Look for a button that says “Monthly Class Schedule and Rates.” Click on this and you can then download pdfs of the most recent class calendar and the 2010 rate card that lists all of the types of packages we offer at the studio. Check out the Pilates Matwork and yoga classes that are offered Mon, Tues, Thurs, Friday and Saturday. For your first class, you can call the studio to check on availability for the class you would like to take. Once you have redeemed your groupon at the studio and are entered in our system as a client with a paid package, you will be able to sign up for classes online via our internet scheduler.

For your first class, please remember to:

• Bring your groupon with you to redeem at our front counter; come in a little early so that you can fill out some necessary paperwork (I’ve added the client intake and informed consent forms as attachments below for your convenience; feel free to print, fill out, and bring with you).
• Bring socks with you (yes, comfortable pants and shirt are also required).
• Smile, you just made a great decision in joining our merry band of exercisers!

You can attend our Pilates matwork and yoga classes on a walk in basis, though our class size limit is 15 practitioners, so it’s a great idea to sign up in advance via our internet scheduler, Mindbody Online.  For step by step instructions on how to use the scheduler, go  click on the “Visit Practice Website” button to the lef t of this post, then click on “Getting Started” on the homepage which will walk you through the scheduling process. (Note: You will want to make sure that you have already contacted the studio once to make sure we have your groupon voucher number and name entered in our system before you can use the scheduler.) If you are not tech savvy, don’t worry, you can always call into the studio or email me directly with inquiries at pprzyborowski@gmail.com.

On behalf of the staff and the everyone in our community, welcome to Practice!

Best wishes,

Patrick Przyborowski

practice client intake form – rev 8-2010

Practice Informed Consent – rev 8-2010

August News (2010)

By Patrick Przyborowski

Dear Friends,

I’ve been happy to hear from our clients on vacations in Michigan, the Carolinas, Florida, West Coast and more that everyone is enjoying their summer vacations immensely and that’s great news! With the return of kids to school in the next few weeks our activity level will increase here at the studio so I’m passing a reminder to make sure that you’ve got your appointment and class times locked in for the fall.

Two weeks ago we had the staff of Up & Running over for a round-robin workout with our staff, a meeting of the body-minds for sure! I’m enclosing a photo of the group to share. As you will see, even after the workout, we are a happy bunch! As a really neat alternative to staff meeting, consider bringing them into Practice for a workout, followed by lunch from your favorite local restaurant:

• We offer a 60-90 minute session for up to 16 people at once.
• Your staff divides into groups of up to four people who will rotate through 4 separate stations, working with a different instructor on each of the following apparatus: Pilates Reformer, Pilates Stability Chair, Pilates Matwork, and TRX Suspension Trainer. We then offer a cool down session of yoga.
• We arrange lunch on your behalf from a local vendor.
• Contact me at the studio for pricing and scheduling.

For those of you who are burning up your treads on the hot summer asphalt, consider a pair of fall running shoes at Up & Running in Washington Square Plaza: www.upandrunningindayton.com

Here’s more updates for August at Practice:

• Groupon.com promotion – Groupon.com is a website where you can sign up to receive a deal a day from businesses in the Dayton area. The deal each day is for services or products at least 50% off. For new clients to Practice, Groupon.com will be offering a 3 Mat/Yoga class package for $21 this Thursday, August 5th. If you have a friend or family member who is interested in Pilates or Yoga and might like an inexpensive way of seeing if Pilates or Yoga is a good fit for them, the Groupon.com promotion is a great way to start. You can also buy the package for your family member or friend as a gift. The limit is one person, but you can buy more than one to give to multiple friends.
• In anticipation of increased traffic in our matwork and yoga classes, we are adding two extra classes in August: Pilates Matwork class on Thursdays at 6p and Hatha Yoga Level 2 on Thursdays at 715p (see attached class calendar for course description).
• We have one class cancellation, Joy Karl’s Friday Hatha Yoga class on August 20th. Yoga resumes on Tuesday, August 24th
• SALE: Our capri pants are 20% off! We have two models, Bella, and Alo, sale priced at $30 and $40 respectively.
• Congrats to Joy Karl, who passed her Apprentice Level 2 Exams last week!! Joy, Kitty and Leslie are now in the homestretch, studying for their STOTT PILATES® Certification exams this winter.

Best wishes,

Patrick

Practice Calendar 8-2010