From left: Co-founders of Empower Pilates, Joanie Kuzma, 60, of Shavertown, and Sarah Murray, 33, of Dallas, pose for a photo inside their new studio at 106 S. Lehigh St., Shavertown.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Back Mountain Pilates studio plans March 8 grand opening
The studio contains six Pilates remover machines, as well as a separate room in the back specifically for mat classes.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
KINGSTON TWP. — For Pilates enthusiasts, March MATness is a time when they go back to basics, reconnecting with the original mat teachings of the exercise’s founder, Joe Pilates.
Given the month’s significance to the Pilates community, it was the perfect time for Sarah Murray and Joanie Kuzma to finally open their own studio, Empower Pilates, located in the Westmoreland Business Center at 106 S. Lehigh St., Shavertown.
Ahead of the March 8 grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony, Murray and Kuzma sat down with the Times Leader to discuss their passion for Pilates and their excitement about bringing it to the Back Mountain community.
“My hope for just everyone stepping in here is I just hope they love it as much as I do, you know?” said Murray, 33.
Kuzma, 60, agreed, adding, “I feel like when you walk in it feels like home. It’s like you’re exercising in your own home and it’s a safe space to be.”
The studio contains six Pilates reformer machines, as well as a separate room in the back specifically for mat classes. Clients can take both group and private classes and choose between solo, duet, or trio sessions.
The atmosphere is light and airy, with natural sunlight streaming in from the many windows along the front wall and gentle, acoustic music playing from a speaker atop the window sill, surrounded by various potted plants.
The co-founders did most of the renovation work themselves, from painting to assembling the equipment.
“We’ve really built it from the ground up, which is great because that’s what we’re gonna do with the people who come here,” Kuzma said. “We’re gonna build them up. We’re gonna empower them through Pilates, because when your core is strong, your whole body feels stronger.”
Kuzma and Murray have both felt stronger, both in body and mind, since starting their health journey with Pilates.
For Murray, who is also a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Pilates helped her overcome a back injury she sustained after running a marathon back in 2014.
“Pilates was really the only thing that I could do without causing myself more pain in any way, shape, or form,” she said.
The first time Murray met Kuzma, she was her instructor at a studio in Scranton. From there, their friendship grew into a shared passion for wanting to bring Pilates to their hometown.
After going through a big weight loss in 2009 and then falling in love with Pilates, Kuzma, who was also a certified PTA, trained with BASI, a world leader in Pilates teacher training and education and began teaching classes.
“You wanna provide yourself with a well-rounded background in anatomy,” she explained. “You wanna be able to perform the exercises and be able to instruct someone in how to perform the exercises.”
Murray agreed with this. “And with the machines,” she added, “I think it’s even more intense just because there’s different ways you don’t want anybody to fall off the machines. There are just different safety aspects, which the training helps with.”
While the co-founders certainly have plans to expand Empower Pilates in the future, whether that’s purchasing more equipment or hosting different events, the true measure of success for Kuzma and Murray seems to be the simple act of helping someone become a better version of themselves.
“It’s such a feeling of accomplishment for them that you just are just so overjoyed,” said Kuzma. “We hope to be a pillar in the community.”
