About Us
Purely Pilates Studio is the proud Northern Nevada host site for Balanced Body Education. Our instructors are comprehensively trained and committed to continued education. Truly unique to any other fitness studios in the area our knowledgeable instructors balance both theoretical knowledge and the practical study to offer an exceptional Pilates session every time. Our Pilates sessions focus on proper form, balanced muscle use, full body challenge, and individual goals. We program each session in a way that allows everyone to move at their own pace/level, while encouraging each student to reach their personal best. Purely Pilates will leave you feeling stronger, leaner, longer and keep you moving with less pain and more ease. We aim to exceed the expectations of every client and thoroughly enjoy sharing the many benefits Pilates has to offer. Our clients have had success with weight loss, muscle gain, improved athletic performance, reducing pain and much more! We offer group, private, and semi-private Pilates instruction on the Reformer, Pilates chairs, Trapeze Table, Barrels/Arcs, Orbits and more. These Apparatus’ allow each client to experience the full benefits Pilates has to offer. We take the time to listen to your specific goals to encourage you and work within your lifestyle. Call, text or contact us to schedule your first session and you’ll love how you feel!
Our Team
Christin Frenzel • Owner, instructor & BALANCED BODY Educator
Christin is a Balanced Body Educator and Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher. Her passion for strength and movement were foreshadowed throughout her years as a gymnast and competitive cheerleader. She went on to coach competitive cheerleading in college and became an ACSM certified personal trainer in 2004. In January of 2009, Christin started the Balanced Body teachers training program as a way to cultivate excellence through knowledge in her field. Through the years she has enjoyed pursuing many different movement certifications including becoming a Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Exercise Specialist, CoreBarre Instructor, TRX training, Spiral Spine Scoliosis training and Lagree training. Her primary focus and methods revolve around injury prevention and total body strength through proper alignment. Though a stickler for form, Christin’s goal in every class is to help you “trick your muscles” and have FUN doing it. She is a firm believer that experiencing joy in the process of self care is essential to living a whole and balanced life. She enjoys many outdoor activities such as snowboarding, camping, hiking, biking, watersports and anything fitness related. She whole-heartedly believes and lives her life by Joseph Pilates’ quote “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness”.
In May of 2022 Christin became the proud new owner of Purely Pilates.
Natalie Garcia • Balanced Body Educator
“Change happens through movement, and movement heals.” -Joseph Pilates
Natalie fully embraces her life as the founder of Purely Pilates, coaching health / wellness, and living life with her amazing husband and four kids. She believes in taking chances and going after what you really want, not just what you think is possible! She is passionate about living her best life and helping others do the same. She is great at teaching how to move and eat to improve health, feel your best, and truly enjoy life. She enjoys educating on proper form, function, and helping find the right formula to reach individual goals both in and out of the studio.
Natalie’s health and fitness career spans nearly 20 years. Before falling in love with Pilates she studied massage therapy as well as teaching fitness. While in massage school Natalie became a certified Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor, and Mat Pilates Instructor. After spending several years teaching in each field Natalie determined Pilates was her greatest passion and enjoyed how Pilates was the perfect fit for her clients from all walks of life. She received her first instructor certification with Polestar Pilates and later with Pilates Method Alliance before ultimately becoming a master instructor with Balanced Body. She simply loves how personalized the practice of Pilates is and how it creates such a strong movement foundation for any lifestyle and any fitness practice.
She feels blessed to be “working” in an industry that allows her to help others create real change in their lives and bodies. In 2007, Natalie became a master instructor and faculty member with Balanced Body and began sharing the joy of teaching with others who shared her passion for health and helping others through Pilates. Working for Balanced Body as their Northern Nevada host site and helping new teachers become certified is one of Natalie’s favorite things to do. She can’t express enough the love she holds for each of her students and the joy she experiences while teaching people to restore optimal movement and overall function with Pilates and nutrition.
In addition, Natalie is a Pre/Post Natal Pilates Specialist. She has a long history of working with clients with unique goals or needs and has had great success helping to decrease or eliminate pain /dysfunction. She also continues to elevate her professional development by regularly attending professional conferences, and pursuing knowledge in Pilates and overall health and wellness.
She loves working with clients and teachers helping them discover their own personal goals and helping them achieve the incredible mind / body transformation students experience through Pilates.
Anna Yankova • Studio Manager & Instructor
Movement has been a part of Anna’s life since she was in the womb! Her mom has been a Jazzercise instructor for over 40 years and Anna has grown up around group fitness. She first discovered Pilates at the University of Nevada, Reno. It was love at first class. The mind-body connection she felt after her first experience with a reformer was unlike anything she had felt before! After 9 years of personal practice, in 2021 she began her Pilates instructor training journey right here at Purely Pilates. She believes that movement is crucial for not only physical health but also mental. She loves being able to teach people a practice that can improve their lives by getting them to a place where they can connect with their body and mind. Seeing her clients gain confidence in themselves is one of her favorite things. Her style of teaching will leave you feeling refreshed and relaxed.
Anna is a Reno native and lives here with her husband and two cats. She cares deeply about the wellbeing of her community and is excited to move with you!
Danielle Brandenburg • Instructor
Danielle is a Reno native who loves being part of the thriving, growing community Reno has become! She began her own personal Pilates journey with a mat class while attending UNR where she graduated with a degree in Nutrition. Danielle completed teacher training in 2020 and has been teaching Pilates ever since. Danielle has been a part of the Purely Pilates team since 2021 and loves teaching new and seasoned clients alike. Sign up for a class with Danielle today and experience her amazing grace and style. We can't wait for you to see what she has to offer!
Christy Atencio • Instructor
Christy is a native Reno gal who has grown up with the cities growth. Growing up in Reno provided such great opportunities for outdoor sports and recreation. Her greatest loves were skiing and golf. She eventually left for college and graduated from the University of Nebraska. In college, she made my spending money teaching various group exercise classes. It was not until Christy endured a compound spiral fracture of her tibia and fibula, that her doctor introduced her to Pilates. It was three months after surgery until she could start bearing weight on her leg and that’s when she started Pilates. After her time in Pilates to rehabilitate her leg and knee, she was hooked and wanted to teach Pilates. Christy went to Purely Pilates Studio’s training program 10 years ago and has been teaching ever since.
She loves the strength and flexibility it provides and the ability to work with individuals who want to work through the issues they are experiencing. The group setting creates an environment to make friends and learn new ideas. Pilates has enhanced her body awareness and given her another environment to teach group exercise. Practicing Pilates helped her get stronger, increase my range of motion, and keeps her happy and moving. Christy want to share Pilates with anyone else who is looking for the same. All are welcome her my classes. She looks forward to seeing you in the studio!
Jody Covington • Instructor
Jody’s Pilates journey started more than a decade ago. Always an avid skier and runner, Pilates brought a new mind-body awareness she had never experienced. As Jody studied the work at Pilates Coach and Balanced Body, she found fewer nagging running injuries, her body strengthening in new areas and corrections to imbalances that her body desperately sought – a strong contrast to what she felt after a long run. Her love for Pilates grew deeper when she suffered a stress fracture in her hip because of running. The road to recovery was sped up because of Pilates and enhanced her life in ways she had not expected. She knew she wanted others to share the enlightenment and excitement. It’s been a privilege for her to work with a diverse population of clients for more than five years. Everyday Pilates continues to bring new experiences and insight to her life.
Jody is a wife and mother of two who lives in Reno, Nevada. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and criminal justice, serving as a reporter and freelance writer for local newspapers including The Reno Gazette Journal and Nevada Appeal.
Shoshana Granat • Instructor
“Everyone should have an understanding of their unique functional anatomy,” Shoshana Granat.
Shoshana has recently relocated to Reno from Los Angeles, California. She brings 20 years of movement instruction to her clients and is thrilled to have the opportunity to integrate her passion for Pilates, dance and nutrition in this new career adventure.
She is a graduate of California State University, Northridge where she earned a BS in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Dance Education, a teaching credential in Physical Education, and a MPH in Health Education.
In addition, Shoshana has obtained certification as a Personal Training, Barre, Pilates and TRX. Her formal dance training and performance experience have helped her effectively teach a love of movement to others in a variety of settings. Shoshana works diligently to educate her students about the importance of being mindful about their functional anatomy incorporates this awareness in each of her sessions to promote safe practices and improved ergonomics. People of all ages and abilities will feel welcomed and accommodated in her classes. It is Shoshana’s goal to help everyone leave her sessions standing taller and feeling successful!
Marisa Buckley • Instructor
Marisa was born in Southern California and raised in Portland, Oregon from the age of 8. At the young age of 19 Marisa's adventurous spirit took her from the wet and rainy Northwest to travel and live as far away as Germany! She moved back to the states when she was 23 and lived in the Bay Area for a couple years before landing here in Reno. She has been in the Reno area for over 20 years now. Marisa has a dance and Yoga teaching background and has been a Pilates practitioner for over 15 years. She is also an IAHC certified IN health coach and is knowledgeable in multiple dietary theories and practical lifestyle coaching methods. She works with women who are suffering with symptoms associated with digestive issues and hormone imbalance as well as those in need of stress management support.
"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."- Rumi
Keri Manson • instructor
Keri was born and raised in Reno where she was able to enjoy an active lifestyle year round- hiking, jogging, snow skiing, water skiing, camping and group fitness classes (hello Jazzercise and step aerobics!). She attended Oregon State University and Pacific University where she continued enjoying the outdoors despite a “little bit” of rain. She has a deep appreciation for how amazing our bodies work and the empowerment that comes with independent mobility, which led her to pursue a career in physical therapy.
Her Pilates journey began in 2011 when she started attending group reformer classes and immediately felt the benefits in her core strength. posture, muscle balance, flexibility and overall mobility. Keri completed her initial Pilates instructor training in 2017. teaching for five years before adding to her Pilates education in 2023 with the Balanced Body Reformer training program here at Purely Pilates. She fell in love with the studio, the incredible instructors and the wonderful clients who make Purely Pilates such a special place. Keri truly enjoys Pilates because of the variety of movement options, the accessibility for people of all ages and levels of physical fitness and the ability to continuously challenge/improve strength. stability and flexibility.
Keri and her husband Dave, raised their two children in Sparks, NV, where they still live with their dog, Lulubelle.
laura cooper • Instructor
With an upbringing in dance and gymnastics, Laura has been sharpening her Pilates skills for 10+ years. Starting out as a recreational passion, she always knew she would eventually take the leap to becoming a Pilates instructor herself. As a lover of learning, her degrees in French & Political Science from UNR have taken her down career paths of teaching, marketing, and graphic design, eventually leading her down the path of nursing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Laura is currently a Labor & Delivery nurse here in Reno (you could say she knows a thing or two about your pelvic floor), and she loves serving her community—caring for people in some of their best and worst times. The knowledge and skills she has honed as an L&D nurse pair seamlessly with her Pilates philosophy and instruction.
Laura brings high-energy and enthusiasm to every class, creating unique flows that challenge the whole body. She is a form fanatic, protecting against injury and ensuring that her students leave every class feeling taller and more aligned. Laura believes that lives can truly change through Pilates when a deep mind-body connection is formed and that we should never stop moving. As she would say, “Movement is lubement”! While healing her own spinal injury, Laura is making her professional Pilates journey official through the Balanced Body instructor certification program, and she is thrilled to get to be a part of the Purely Pilates team!
Emma hartzelL • instructor
