MEET OUR STAFF
Erin Myers
OWNER, DIRECTOR, INSTRUCTOR, TEACHER TRAINER
Erin Myers is an international presenter on scoliosis and founder of Spiral Spine, a company designed to enrich the lives of people with scoliosis. She owns the Spiral Spine Pilates studio in Brentwood, TN, which allows her to actively pursue her passion of helping those with scoliosis through the practice of Pilates.
Erin’s teaching philosophy is simple: enriching people’s lives through anatomically correct movement. Her unrelenting mission to find the root cause of movement dysfunction, combined with a light-hearted and accessible teaching style, draws in devoted clients of all ages.
Spiral Spine offers a growing set of scoliosis resources, including Erin’s books: Analyzing Scoliosis, The Beautiful Scoliotic Back, and My Scoli Journal, along with the downloadable workout, Hard Core Scoli. She has multiple scoliosis continuing education videos including Untwisting Scoli: Maya and three videos with Fusion Pilates EDU titled Analyzing Scoliosis, Scoliosis Spinal Fusion, and Kids with Scoliosis. Her scoliometer app, Scoliometer by Spiral Spine, allows practitioners and users to measure vertebral and rib cage rotation, helping to better manage one’s scoli.
Erin began her career as a professional dancer with the Radio City Rockettes and was trained in Pilates at the Kane School of Core Integration. She is a Balanced Body Master Instructor and is Level 2 Certified in the GYROTONIC® Method. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Managerial Entrepreneurship from Pace University in NYC (Cum Laude), along with Certifications by the American Council on Exercise and the Pilates Method Alliance.
Amy Butler
TEACHER TRAINER
Amy was introduced to Pilates in 2000 while living in Virginia, where her husband was stationed with the Navy. While juggling her work at a domestic violence shelter and her husband’s Naval deployments, she began looking for a way to relieve stress and keep her body moving and healthy. Pilates was the answer! After Amy and her husband moved back home to Tennessee, she continued her Pilates practice and in 2010 completed her comprehensive training with Balanced Body to become an instructor. With a background in psychology, she deeply appreciates how Pilates can transform bodies through meaningful, mind-body centered movement. Years of collaborative work with bodywork professionals and manual therapists, along with personal experience, has reinforced for Amy the significance of Pilates for balanced strength, injury recovery, and overall health. By sharing her love of Pilates, she strives to empower others to take charge of their health and well-being.
In addition to being the proud co-founder of Nashville Pilates Company, Amy is a PMA certified Pilates teacher and holds a BA in Psychology from Western Kentucky University.
Lisa Chader
INSTRUCTOR
Lisa Chader is an entertainment PR professional with experience in a variety of athletics – dance, gymnastics and cheerleading – as a participant, competitor, coach and judge. Several years ago, she was introduced to Erin Myers who helped her discover Pilates as a way to help relieve her chronic hip and back pain. Lisa was inspired by Erin’s passion for Pilates and her commitment to helping those with scoliosis, so much so that the two began working together to launch Spiral Spine – a series of resources designed to educate and support the scoliosis community. After two books, a workout DVD, a website, a studio launch and countless Pilates lessons, Lisa woke up one morning and decided to be a Pilates teacher (Erin wasn’t surprised)! She soon thereafter went through Spiral Spine’s comprehensive Balanced Body Pilates teacher training program with Erin.
Lisa believes that Pilates is the perfect example of “mind, body awareness,” and aims to help others from all walks of life, feel their best.
Kate Fleming
INSTRUCTOR, CLIENT CARE COORDINATOR
Kate Fleming began taking Pilates over 20 years ago to help with neck and shoulder pain. She quickly developed a passion for it because it helped her live pain free and also improved her dancing, her other lifelong passion. As time went by, Pilates helped Kate become a faster, more stable runner and helped her regain strength post-partum. After becoming a mom, she decided there was no better time to pursue Pilates as a career.
Kate is a Balanced Body comprehensively certified Pilates instructor and has a degree in human biology from U.Va. She is interested in combining her biology knowledge with Pilates to help others create strong bodies, so they can move more easily and effectively through all that life demands of them. She enjoys helping clients find the balance between strength and flexibility that Pilates offers and creating creative routines to help them achieve this.
When Kate isn’t at SSP, you’ll find her playing with her son, dancing with her husband, and baking up a storm in her kitchen. She hopes to help clients live strong and pain free lives, so they can pursue their own passions.
Aja Heinrich
INSTRUCTOR
Nashville native Aja Heinrich discovered Pilates in an attempt to lose that last bit of post pregnancy weight after having her daughter. She quickly fell in love with the unique workouts that Pilates provided and soon began practicing multiple times a week. Her passion led her to Spiral Spine Pilates where she began Balanced Body’s comprehensive teacher training program under Master Instructor Erin Myers.
Aja feels that Pilates is more than a great way to stay in shape, it’s a way of life. “Pilates truly helps anyone seeking a healthier lifestyle overall,” says Aja. “If you haven’t tried it, you don’t know what you’re missing!”
When she isn’t in the studio, you can find her spending time at Center Hill Lake or with her family and friends.
Sara Johnson
INSTRUCTOR
Allie Myszka
INSTRUCTOR
Allie Myszka is a Balanced Body comprehensively certified Pilates instructor and a professional writer. After being diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager, Allie underwent a 12-level spinal fusion surgery in 2007. Since then, she has continually pursued new knowledge to help her live a pain-free life and take ownership of her health.
Allie found Pilates and Erin Myers while working on a journalism assignment in Nashville, and has since worked alongside Erin to develop scoliosis related books and resources. Pilates has given her a path to healing and has allowed her to celebrate her body’s unique story and capabilities rather than focusing on its limitations. She hopes to help others experience that same powerful healing through movement so that they, too, can feel at home in their bodies.
Allie holds a Pilates teacher certification from the Pilates Method Alliance as well as a degree in Public Relations from the University of Georgia. When she’s not in the studio, you’ll find her exploring Music City with her husband and their dog, reorganizing her closets, or getting lost in a book.
Jennifer Stark
INSTRUCTOR
Jennifer Stark grew up dancing and marching parade routes while twirling batons, despite having scoliosis. About 10 years after her teenage diagnosis, she received a private lesson with Erin Myers as a birthday present to work on her scoliosis and immediately fell in love with Pilates. As she learned to balance her strength and flexibility, the lifelong physical pains stemming from her scoliosis melted away—as did her scoliosis, which is barely noticeable now.
Her passion for Pilates blossomed, and she began the Balanced Body comprehensive Pilates teacher training program at Spiral Spine Pilates. Pilates has gifted Jennifer with a greater understanding of movement and the human body, which she shares with others so they can become empowered and take control of their bodies, just like she did. When Jennifer isn’t teaching Pilates, you’ll find her teaching the marching arts to teenagers.
Aprill Tate
INSTRUCTOR
Aprill Tate is a licensed physical therapist and comprehensively trained Pilates instructor. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville followed by a doctorate of physical therapy degree from the University of Tennessee, Memphis.
After she sustained an injury while working as a physical therapist and recovered with the help of Pilates, Aprill quickly saw the benefits of Pilates and fell in love. Soon thereafter, she started her Balanced Body Pilates instructor training. She fuses modern Pilates principles with her physical therapy background to create fun, safe, and empowering environments for her clients.
When Aprill is not in the studio, you can find her at a local rehab center treating patients, cooking at home, or having fun with her husband and son.
Tracy Ramsay
INSTRUCTOR
Tracy Ramsay is a comprehensively certified Pilates instructor through BASI. She was introduced to Pilates at the age of 12, while training as a classical ballet dancer at The Center for Ballet Arts in Virginia, and has kept a deep love for the practice of Pilates ever since. She has earned many certifications, including her Mat Pilates certification thought the NESTA, the Foundation and Graduate with Dance Specialization Program from BASI, and a barre certification from London, and a TRX certification.
Tracy holds an undergraduate degree in Musical Theatre and Education from the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music in Washington, DC, and a master’s degree from the Guildford School of Acting in England.
When Tracy was a teenager she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, and found Pilates to be a saving grace in pain management. Her training philosophy is based on mindfulness and practicality–learning to listen to your body, as well as ‘mind over matter’ when it comes to challenging yourself to get to the next level. She has extensive experience working with clients of all ages and ability levels, and has worked with everyone from triathletes to clients struggling with serious injuries and illnesses. She believes that Pilates is truly for every BODY, and can change anyone’s life for the better.
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