Powering up with Pilates

A Wayzata woman was an easy convert to Pilates when she found that it relieved her back pain. She shares her experience.

By Sheila Mulrooney Eldred
The Star Tribune

Pamela Hasselbring, 50, owner and Pilates educator, Pilates MN, Wayzata

A ZIG-ZAG ALONG THE WAY: I have been a Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleader, skier, water skier, swimmer … always active outside. One of my callings was to work in fitness. But when I was in college, there wasn’t any kind of a fitness degree. I majored in fashion merchandising — something completely other than what I wanted to do.

A TEACHER AT HEART: I taught fitness for my Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the University of Missouri in the basement. I knew I wanted to find something in health and did not find it there so never graduated. My parents weren’t real happy with that decision. [Instead] I opened a small gym in a soccer dome. Since then, I’ve taught every class under the moon.

DANCING THROUGH PAIN: I fell out of a tree trying to get a dead branch out when I was 24. I fell 15 feet and broke my back. I was in a brace all summer. My ex-husband worked with the Timberwolves’ front office, and I started dancing for the Timberwolves when we moved here, when I was about 27. But my back started flaring up when I was dancing and I wasn’t sure I could keep going, but I did. I had chronic back pain until I got into Pilates.

ZIP IT UP: In 2002, I found Polestar Pilates. I learned to elongate and stabilize and stretch in the right places. I was an instructor at the St. Louis Park Northwest Athletic Club, and I started Pilates classes there. Three years ago, [my husband and I] opened Pilates MN in Wayzata. The time was right: There weren’t enough Pilates studios in the Twin Cities, particularly in the western suburbs, and I already had a base of 30 people who had been taking classes out of my home.

HOOKED: I do Pilates three times a week, and I have a StairMaster and spinning bike at home. Pilates is a method of exercise that once people start doing it and understanding it, they can’t leave it. They know they won’t feel as good if they do.

TRIED AND TRUE TEAM: Some husbands and wives would kill each other running a business together. We are just the opposite. We complement each other and I couldn’t do this without Brent. And, he became addicted to the Pilates work! We pride ourselves on knowing the problems and issues of the people who come into our studio