[inset side=right]She started taking pilates and discovered that the exercise was having a miraculous affect on a physical condition she had struggled with since her early childhood.[/inset]Opanowski first moved to Tarrytown when she was 19, to go to college, where she studied law. “I was on a totally different path. I worked in the legal field for about ten years. I sat for the LSATS; I was very stressed out about everything,” she remembers. When she moved to California at 25 she found her true calling. She started taking pilates and discovered that the exercise was having a miraculous affect on a physical condition she had struggled with since her early childhood. “I’ve had rheumatoid arthritis in every joint in my body since I was 12 years old. When your joints start to fail the muscles have to take the brunt of what you’re doing. Pilates is much less strenuous on the joints than other exercises. It changed the way I moved, it changed my body, but that’s nothing compared to what it did for the arthritis. Say I’m walking down the sidewalk and there was a patch of ice and I slipped. Before I wouldn’t be able to catch myself. Now I can.” After six months of training, Opanowski realized that pilates was her true passion, and she has since worked side-by-side with medical professionals, many of whom, she says, encourage pilates as a rehabilitative exercise. In fact, history shows that pilates was originally invented to rehabilitate injured prisoners.
Of course, nowadays pilates is more popular in the suburbs than it is on the cellblock, and Opanowski is happy to be back in her favorite town. “I loved Tarrytown when I was going to college. And all my friends are here, so it was only natural that I would come back. When I moved in 2005 it was just hitting its stride. The new businesses were coming in, and the older ones were still here. Now it has such a younger crowd. Its interesting to see how in a five-year period the whole town really has changed and grown.” Most of all Opanowski is grateful to be doing something she genuinely loves. “I love what I do everyday. It’s not like coming to work. I have students at 6am three or four times a week. I never mind getting up.” For further information telephone (914) 372-7373