Pace’s own Yoga and Pilates professor, Lauri Nemetz, taught the weekly Pilates session, on Thurs. April 10 at 9 p.m.

Nemetz has been a professor at Pace for over eight years, teaching both Yoga and Pilates in the Aerobics room of Goldstein Fitness Center and now hosts more classes in the Body and Mind room, located in the basement of Hillside. The class usually hosts an average of 15 students, but due to the unusually low attendance, Nemetz altered the class for its two participants.

“I don’t usually put [Yoga and Pilates] together because Pilates is more intense, but I want this session to be more fun for you guys,” said Nemetz, who was able to focus on assisting the two students with their form and technique.

Sophomore psychology major and football player, Jimmy Myers, was one of the class’ two participants and attends Yoga and Pilates sessions every week. Participants range from football players like Myers to Pleasantville Campus students. Nemetz ended the modified session with a full body relaxation cycle, starting from the toes and traveling up to the facial muscles, transforming the body into a fully relaxed state within ten minutes.

Nemetz, who is an expert in the anatomy of the body and has a Master’s in dance move therapy, is also an associate teacher at Anatomy Trains, a company that focuses on improving stability, coordination, and resolve long-standing compensations in postural and movement patterns. She began teaching in the Hillside studio when the former storage room was transformed into an aerobics studio last spring.

“When I came to Hillside as a Resident Director, the room in the basement was being used for storage and some students had pushed aside boxes to do some yoga,” Residential Director and Pace graduate student Samantha Bassford said. “So during the summer of 2013, Residential Life and Dyson School of Arts and Sciences funded the project to transform the storage room into a Yoga room.” 

The beginning of the project began with painting the Body and Mind logo on the largest wall. The addition of the portable faux wood flooring was continued as summer project to add better cushioning to the floor when performing Yoga and Pilates exercises. The Body and Mind room be transferred to accommodate the modifications of the Master Plan, and classes will run as usual.

If students are not able to attend the 9 pm sessions of Yoga and Pilates on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Hillside, there are 5:15 pm sessions available to the Pace community in the Aerobics room in Goldstein Fitness Center.