About Agile Monkey Pilates Santa Cruz Studio

The newly renovated studio is both serene and revitalizing, reflecting the beautiful area in which we live. With bamboo floors, lots of natural light, the full range of Balanced Body Pilates equipment, and quality instructors, it is truly a wonderful place to work out, re-focus on health and, of course, find your inner monkey!

About the Instructors

Lisa Graham, Owner

Lisa is a certified Pilates instructor and educator, certified massage therapist and published author. Lisa was first introduced to Pilates at UCLA and received her formal training from Ellie Herman, at EHS Pilates in San Francisco. Pilates was the perfect way for Lisa to combine her training in dance with her passion for Kinesiology. Always eager to learn more, she has continued her education by working with remarkable instructors such as Lizz Roman, Nora St John, Lolita San Miguel, Brent Anderson, Elizabeth Larkham and many more.

As an educator for Balanced Body University and the EHS Pilates Institute, Lisa has trained instructors locally, across the United States and internationally. Her students have gone on to great success and now teach all over the US as well as in Greece, Ireland, Italy, France, China and Korea.

Lisa’s book credits include co-authoring Ellie Herman’s Pilates Mat and Ellie Herman’s Pilates Cadillac, as well as collaborating with Ellie on the three other books in that series. She has also worked with Nora St. John on the instructor training materials for Balanced Body University.

Lisa opened Agile Monkey in its current location in September of 2007 and is thrilled to be part of the Santa Cruz health and wellness community.To read more about Lisa’s approach to working with clients, please see below.

Amy Bruckmeier, Certified Pilates Instructor

Amy Bruckmeier completed her Pilates certification in 2004 through the EHS Pilates Institute in San Francisco, where she first worked with Lisa Graham. Since then she has also trained in Muscle/Joint Rehabilitation as well as Pre/Post Natal exercise protocols. She has had success using Pilates to rehabilitate clients with lumbar disc degeneration, chronic back pain, rotator cuff injury and postural imbalances as well as created effective Pilates programs for prenatal and postpartum clients. Amy's client base is varied; currently her oldest client is 78 and at least a third of her clients are men. She is proud that this varied clientele maintains a growing interest and trust in the Pilates method.

Amy has a background in competitive gymnastics and maintains an active lifestyle. She has a disciplined and enthusiastic approach to exercise that inspires all of her clients and colleagues. In fact, Amy gave birth to her first child in June 2005 and did Pilates almost everyday up to delivery! She credits her quick recovery after the birth to her prenatal and postpartum Pilates programs.

Amy teaches group classes and private clients on Tuesdays, and is thrilled to be a part of the Agile Monkey community. To read more about Amy, please go to http://www.amybpilates.com.

Arwen Brooke, Certified Pilates Instructor

Arwen discovered Pilates by accident—she went into her first mat class thinking she was attending a yoga class! It was love at first exercise though, and she began attending every Pilates class she could find until she finally decided she’d like to share her love of the Pilates method with others and become an instructor. She completed her certification through the Physical Mind Institute in 2004 and continues to expand her education and skill through specialized training at Center of Balance, and now at Agile Monkey. She loves Pilates for its whole-body approach and its focus on wellness for the body AND mind. Her teaching style is one of empowerment, encouraging students to learn their way into better fitness & an overall better life experience.

Arwen enjoys motivating and encouraging confidence in her clients by helping them to develop efficient, healthy movement patterns for everyday living. She uses her sports and rehabilitation-based movement studies background to inform her teaching style as well.

Arwen works with private clients on Mondays and Wednesdays at Agile Monkey. To read more about Arwen, please visit her website at http://www.pilatesyourbody.com.

The Agile Monkey Approach to Working with Clients...

Private sessions are always focused on the individual needs of the client and tend to include work on the mat and equipment. Workouts can be fast paced and vigorous or slow and gentle based on the needs and mood of the client.

Understanding that everyone has imbalances, instructors use their knowledge of Pilates and rehabilitation techniques to help each client work more effectively and efficiently in their own body, regardless of their current fitness level. By helping clients understand their postural tendencies and correcting their imbalances, Lisa and the Agile Monkey Pilates instructors have had great success significantly improving their clients physical condition and reducing the likelihood of future injury.

In order to facilitate understanding and improvement of the work, instructors can design individualized home routines for clients. Not everyone has the will and interest to work out at home, but at Agile Monkey, it is a goal to educate clients about their bodies and empower them to learn how to fix themselves.

Introducing Our Student Trainers

We currently have four wonderful, talented and enthusiastic student trainers working at Agile Monkey in Santa Cruz (Avra, Jewelie, Lily and Christine) as part of their Balanced Body University Pilates Instructor training course requirements. They have completed a good portion of their training and need to practice their skills. As such, they are offering inexpensive private sessions on the mat and equipment.

So if you have ever wanted to try a private session but were prohibited by the price, this is a great opportunity. One private session is only $25, and 5 sessions is only $100!

Call 831-458-4125 to schedule a session and start feeling better today!