The Studio is the physical headquarters for the internationally known The Center for Women’s Fitness. The Studio offers the unique teaching methods developed by founder Carolyne Anthony, exclusively designed for the female anatomy and physiology.
Our classes reflect this method of teaching by concentrating on the pelvis and pelvic floor and building programs from a strong and stable foundation. These techniques will serve women well as they traverse the changes that take place throughout their lives.
While we specialize in Women’s Health, our doors are open to anyone who would like to join us.
Our classes include safe and beneficial exercises for pregnancy, through postpartum and into the change of menopause and beyond. Our aim is to create ease of movement and function of the body allowing each person to adapt the technique to their own body and needs.
We offer group classes on the mat with props such as balls and resistance bands. We also have a smaller class size that will feature the Fuse Ladder and Bodhi Suspension System.
The Studio’s Teachers
Carolyne Anthony
FOUNDER
Carolyne began her professional career as a dancer in London having completed her Diploma in Dance at The Stella Mann College in 1982.She went on to dance in companies in the UK, Europe and Africa. Along with dancing, Carolyne has always had an interest in movement, she has swum competitively and was a keen runner in her younger days.
While attending company class in London in 1983, she was referred to Alan Herdman for Pilates and thus began her love affair with this amazing method. Carolyne has gone on to certify with Polestar, BASI, The PhysicalMind Institute and the Pilates Method Alliance.
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Upon her relocation to the USA in the mid 80’s Carolyne became involved in the Fitness industry and went on to certify in group exercise, personal training and aquatics. She was also a professor of Dance at The Hartford Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Artistic Director of the Enfield Civic Ballet Company.
Carolyne’s journey into women’s health began with the birth of her first daughter in 1988. Dismayed by the lack of information available for women during the childbearing years, she went on to complete her Birth Doula training as well as studying under well know Midwives such as Patty Brennan and Pat Kramer. The illustrations for her pre and postnatal teacher training manual are the product of midwife Amanda Smith in Ann Arbor MI.
Being a birth doula has informed her program design for the pre and postnatal work that she does. Her philosophy is about preparing the body for birth and repairing the body after birth with exercises that truly address the changes that are taking place in the pregnant body.
This desire to work according to the female anatomy and physiology has led Carolyne to study other modalities such as myofascial release (she is a John Barnes practitioner) Esoteric Healing and in-depth anatomy with Khita Whyatt. Together Khita and Carolyne are developing a Women’s Anatomy and Physiology book.
Learning from her own life’s experiences Carolyne has developed her Moving through Menopause™ course, Support your Floor™ (Pelvic Floor Function course) and the very successful The Center Method for Diastasis Recti Recovery™ program. Her work has taken her all over the world, training the trainers to be able to help their female clients through all stages of their lives. She currently has over 2000 teachers in 41 countries plus 34 faculty teaching her methods.
Carolyne has also developed the Women’s Health and Exercise Certification™ which is a collaboration between her and other top educators in the field. The certification offers programs in Rebekah Rotstein’s Buff Bones™, Doreen Puglisi’s Pink Ribbon Program™, Dr Suzanne Martin’s Pregnancy and Scoliosis, Anne Bishop, Mariska Breland, Kelly Hale and Khita Whyatt to name a few.
Carolyne continues to develop her own curriculum for women that incorporates all her studies in myofascial release, esoteric healing, anatomy, ballet, fitness, Pilates and lifelong moving.
She has 3 daughters and one grandson who is undoubtedly the cutest kid EVER.
Marcia Brenner
SENIOR PILATES TEACHER
Marcia Brenner discovered Pilates after a stress fracture sidelined her running, and it was love at first class. Having taught Creative Writing in academia for fifteen years, she found Pilates to be both fundamental to brain and body development, and was curious about learning it from a teaching perspective.
She completed a comprehensive training program with all mat and apparatus with Randi Whitman in early 2009, and completed her Pre/Postnatal Specialist Certificate with Carolyne Anthony in 2010.
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In 2017 Marcia became a full-time Pilates and fitness instructor. She has supported clients through almost five hundred births and postnatal recoveries—many through multiple births—and is passionate about educating clients on their ever-changing bodies and supporting them to achieve their fitness goals.
Marcia has a wealth of experience with
- diastasis recti;
- c-sections;
- hysterectomy;
- pelvic floor dysfunctions;
- partial and radical mastectomies;
- breast reconstruction and augmentation recovery;
- hyper-mobility syndromes;
- spinal stenosis;
- osteoporosis;
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- spondylitis;
- she has worked with clients with a history of miscarriage,
- and with clients undergoing chemotherapy.
She is a recommended service provider by Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Northwestern Hospital’s Women’s Health Physical Therapy Group, and many other Chicagoland area physical therapists.
Marcia’s teaching style is warm and humorous, and she is adept at using verbal, visual, aural and tactile cueing to help clients connect more deeply with their bodies. An avid commuter cyclist, she lives with her fiancé and two black cats in Albany Park, Chicago
Danielle Conradie
SENIOR PILATES TEACHER
My love for sport started when I was in school, I loved track and field, ballet, swimming, you name it and I have tried it. I started getting into the world of Pilates when I realized I always had some sort of injury, especially when I did triathlons competitively. I love the fact that it was a different kind of challenge for an already strong body and it lent itself to balancing out the body, realigning, stretching and strengthening all at the same time.
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I started my professional career as a foundation phase teacher, but when we decided to move from South Africa to the USA I had a chance to try something new. I completed my BASI certification in 2014 and soon after that I had my first child. Seeing how much change pregnancy brought to my body and how little women were educated about their own bodies, motivated me to learn more about the pre- and post-natal world. I did various courses through Carolyne Anthony, to improve my knowledge about diastasis recti, fascial lines, pelvic floor health, belly binding, pre- and post-natal care and menopause.
With all this new information to share I started my own business called Hamba Mama, with the sole purpose of educating new moms how to prepare for, and recover after giving birth, to be even stronger and more educated than they were before. Physical health improves mental health and my job is to make moms feel strong and happy!
My love for sports still plays a big role in my life and I love helping clients who are dealing with any kind of sports injury to get back to their peak performance.