ABOUT US
MADIE FÉRÈRE
OWNER
“WHAT YOU THINK, FEEL, SAY, DO AND CONSUMER REFLECT WHO YOU ARE AND IMPACT THE UNIVERSE. TREAT YOURSELF RIGHT.”
My Path to Health
The paths that have led me to become a Pilates teacher and Nutrition Counselor are atypical because I did not start out in the fields of sports or health. They however reflect both my personal commitment to optimum health and my deep-seated desire to help others. My choice to be vegetarian in my adolescence, and then vegan, is the natural evolution of a lifelong philosophy to make better whatever comes my way and do no harm.
A BIT ABOUT ME
FROM WHERE I STARTED TO WHERE I AM NOW
I have a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in Latin American Studies with a focus on Women and Cultural Anthropology. I pursued my education in Reproductive Health, Gender Studies, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation to work as a Reproductive Health Educator, a High School teacher, a Counselor for battered women and children, a Sexual and Gender Harassment Advisor, a Human Rights Advisor and Investigator, and finally as a Workplace, Small Claims, and Family Mediator. By then the mother of two beautiful little girls, my husband’s work took us to India, Thailand, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Colombia. Those phenomenal experiences left the indelible prints in our hearts and spirits.
Being constantly on the move, faced with new realities and needing to regularly reassess our priorities, our family was molded to retain the essential: feeling enriched and fortunate by each new lesson, embracing diversity as the only gateway to self-actualization, understanding that we were a small part of a greater whole, living mindfully in the present and giving our best for as long as it lasted. During my continuous search for better ways to live and impart that knowledge to my family, I studied Naturopathy in India with Dr. Salila Tewari and Dr. Sunandini Sharma, and Acupressure with Dr. M.C. Varma. This consciousness raising training has taught me, among other things, what it takes to be and stay healthy by eating well.
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The second pillar of AWAKENING is physical fitness, which is part and parcel of a healthy lifestyle. The solution to healing must be approached from all these fronts, mind & body. I trained as a Dynastretch Guru and as a Pilates Instructor, in Mat and Reformer with Eduardo Prieto, the top teacher, trainer and promoter of Pilates in Latin America, and founder of PILATES PRO. In Bogota, I also studied Mat and Standing Pilates with Maria-Clara Ramirez Roa, Physiotherapist and BALANCED BODY Master Pilates Teacher, Founder of THE PHYSICAL MIND INSTITUTE. I am a graduate of Stott Merrithew Pilates Training Headquarters of Toronto Canada. As such I am a Stott Pilates Certified Instructor in Mat Work, Reformer, Cadillac, Stability Chair, Ladder Barrel, Spine Corrector and Arc Barrel as well as a Stott Certified Specialist in Post Rehabilitation Conditioning.
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As a Certified Personal Trainer with the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SPORTS MEDICINE, I take advantage of my wide range of options to create effective all-around training programs.