Meet Odile Zelenak

Today we’d like to introduce you to Odile Zelenak.

Odile, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to move my body — cartwheels, somersaults, backbends, and splits. I loved them all. I loved the way they felt. I love the power and smoothness I felt in my skin. Loved the way it felt to have my flexible muscles and skin move over my bones as I stretched, leaped, sprung and bounded. I loved the feeling of my bones moving within the taffy-like membrane of my skin. I couldn’t articulate it at the age of 5 or 6, so instead, I just did it for hours – literally hours. My love of movement grew into gymnastics and dance classes, swimming and springboard diving, running and riding my bike. It never really mattered to me if I won, medaled, came in first, or even second for that matter. I did them because I purely I loved the feeling of movement.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. My story begins in Romania on November 19th, 1973, my birthday. Technically I was born in Transylvania, a region of Romania which prior to World War 1 belonged to Hungary. Therefore culturally my family is Hungarian. Life behind the iron curtain in the early 1970s was not what my father wanted for my sister, who was two and a half years older than me, mother and I so we emigrated to Israel during the brief time that the totalitarian regime was allowing Jews to travel to Israel. My father was a successful physical therapist and swiftly found a job in Tel Aviv working with Moshe Feldenkrais’s. I was nearly two and a half years old.

My memories of the following three years are hazy and almost dream-like but with flashes of vivid memories and feelings. We moved a lot between Romania and Israel. My parents’ marriage had fallen apart, they fought constantly and decided to separate. My father was offered a job in Northern California at the Sonoma State Hospital and left for America in 1977 to establish his career and set up life for us. Meanwhile, my sister, mother and I continued to travel back and forth between Romania and Israel. I’m still uncertain why we needed to travel so much. ‘Back home’ in Romania, my sister and I spent a majority of our time with our grandmothers. But when we traveled back to Israel, my sister and I spent a lot of time alone, fending for ourselves.

My mother was very absent and neglectful, so my sister and I relied on each other and our survival instincts. If we were hungry, we stole food or knocked on our neighbors’ doors, if we were tired we slept wherever there was space. If we were bored, we went to school or played hooky depending on our mood. It was during these three indelible years that I learned that the only “body” I could rely on was my own. I learned to trust what I felt and noticed as a lifeline for survival. In March of 1979, my dad sent for my sister and I. We left Israel and moved California. I was five and a half years old.

My father eventually opened his own physical therapy office in the little town of Kenwood, nestled in the Sonoma Valley of Northern California. Every day after school from third until sixth grade, my sister and I walked to my dad’s office after school and waited for him to take us home. His specialty was geriatric physical therapy although he saw patients of all different ages and physical disabilities. I watched as his patients hobbled, scooted, or limped in, with neck braces, knee braces, slings and wheelchairs still recovering from surgery or accidents. I was incredibly intrigued by what he was doing with his patients inside the treatment rooms and in his movement space.

I eagerly offered to help, and eventually became his “helper” bringing him ice packs, cold packs, wheeling in the ultrasound machine or watching as he demonstrated the exercises he wanted his patients to do every day to get better. This was my favorite part. The idea that movement healed what hurt or wasn’t working absolutely fascinated me. Because of my felt sense from Israel, I knew the body takes care of the person who inhabits it but to see specific exercises which heal the body and made it stronger sparked a fire in me that has been everlasting. I remember being in fourth grade and waking up early one Saturday morning to make a “routine” of exercises to help my body ”heal“ and get stronger. They were modeled after the ones I saw my dad do with his patients.

I loved doing it so much that I did it regularly after school and on weekends. I’d talk myself through them the way my dad talked it through with his patients. Fast forward to September 1999. My son was a few months old. I had been running a lot to get back into my body after pregnancy and childbirth, but I wanted to do some other exercise to compliment my running. I saw an ad in a magazine for Pilates and remembered my Yoga teacher in college doing some Pilates with us, and I really liked it. I decided I’d look into it an see if any gyms offered classes in my area. After a few phone calls (before we searched for things on the internet) I found a class and went the very next day. I got to class early, not sure what to expect. I unrolled one of the mats, lied down, and as soon as the class started, I was immediately transported to my days in my father’s PT office.

The movement room, the calm voice, the deliberate cueing. While the exercises we were doing in class were much more challenging than the ones, my dad did with his patients, the intention, the care, the precision, fluidity, strength, and mindfulness required filled me with a sense of home. I was home. My body was my home. My career teaching Pilates began that day because immediately after class I approached the teacher and asked her how I could learn to teach it too. She seemed understandably surprised because I had just shared with her at the beginning of class, that it was my first time taking a full Pilates class. Nonetheless, she dug into her bag and pulled out a pamphlet with an upcoming Pilates workshop. She handed it to me and warned, “this workshop will be amazing, with a lot of anatomies. But it’s a good start.”

I attended the 12-day workshop that spread out over four weekends and devoured the material that was over my head at first. She was right there was so much anatomy, but I knew that was precisely why I loved it. For the next decade, I completely submerged myself in anatomy, kinesiology, movement, touch, Pilates, Yoga, Gyrotonic, Bartineioff, Orthopedic Massage, and energy work. It felt so ironic that I struggled so much through high school and college because all of the deep training, intricate and involved learning requiring accessible knowledge came relatively easily to me and I was able to absorb and teach it with such clarity.

Learning and teaching this material felt like I not only knew it, but I embodied it. It’s as if my body guided my mind, not the other way around. And little did I know that the teachers that the Mat class teacher sent me to that day set me on a path to meet, study with, learn from, and be enormously influenced some of the most influential and important women in the Pilates, Gyrotonic and massage world. Madeline Black, Jean Sullivan, Debra Schubert, Juliu Horvath, Keli Fine, Anne O’Brien, Peggy Hackney, Gil Hedley, Tom Hendrickson, and Linda Ceasara and of course, my dad, Paul Zelenak. All of these incredible teachers influenced and continued to influence me every day.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When I think of the landscape of my journey thus far, I think of a National Geographic photograph or a Google Earth image. As I pan back, I can’t help but see the panoramic beauty of my life. The amazing and colorful places I’ve lived. The unique experiences I have had, weaving intricate patterns and shapes into my life. The warmth and love I feel when I think of my kids.

Despite my challenging upbringing, the pride I feel for creating and nurturing a healthy and open relationship with my kids who brighten and color my world and fill me with infinite love. The passion, joy, and soberness of real, long-lasting love with my partner who teaches me about the depth and vastness of healthy love every day. And the steadfast strength I feel at my core when I think about my career as a Pilates, Gyrotonic, and Orthopedic massage bodyworker and trainer.

However, the road to this beauty and fulfillment has been a very rough one filled with paradox and struggle. My relationship with my parents has been the most impactful and challenging. Even as I write this article, I’m challenged with the feeling of being grateful for and loving my father very deeply. I am very clear that he has been an enormous influence on my life and career path. He introduced me to the world of the body and healing movement which helped put the wind in my sails.

My father, however, battled alcoholism most of his life. Our home environment was toxic, unstable, frightening and volitel. It was in complete contrast to who he was in his physical therapy office. I know he did the best he could and loved and still loves me as I do him. Yet the alcohol always won and got the best of him. Being a daughter of an alcoholic taught me harsh yet necessary lessons of acute sensitivity, empathy, managing others’ pain, and to quickly read a room and adapt. All of these qualities have come in very handy when working with clients, especially when they are in pain, as my father was.

Yet these life lessons came at a very painful cost to me, us and our relationship. The same innate sensitivity which made him a talented physical therapist was the same sensitivity which made the world so painful to him outside of his work. No matter how close my father and I came during the hours spent at his office, we could never celebrate and enjoy our relationship because of pain, both his and mine. The other paradox which has deeply altered my life was starting a family with my then-husband and also discovering my career and passion nearly at the same time.

When my kids were little, my husband and I took on a mortgage, my career blossomed, I found my calling, and I felt extremely fulfilled as mother and as a trainer. Unfortunately, after several years of this, my marriage didn’t withstand the pressure. We divorced yet remained a very close family so we could continue to support our kids as a healthy unit. In order to have developed and strengthened my career and be the committed mother that I wanted to be.

I needed to let go of my marriage because it didn’t’ have the strength to hold me and us together. Several years after my divorce, my career continued to grow, and I felt I was ready to open my own studio in Petaluma. It was thriving Pilates, Gyrotonic and Orthopedic Massage studio. Within four months of opening my studio, I met my life partner, Lorri while I was teaching at Rancho La Puerta as a guest instructor and she was there as a guest. Once again, the trajectory of my life would change. After a long distance relationship of four years, we decided to blend our lives.

My partner, being a mother to four fantastic kids who are younger than mine, was not able to relocate. So in June of 2017, my son, who had just graduated high school, my daughter who was entering 8th grade and I packed up our lives and moved 532 miles to San Diego. Here too, the paradox arose. In order to feel fulfilled in my personal life, I needed to sell my business and move away from dear family and friends. I am so fortunate to have settled into the San Diego community with relative ease thanks to Lorri, her wonderful family, and friends.

The undercurrent of struggle, sadness, loss, and drastic change contributed to my lifelong feeling hypersensitivity and depression. It has been my movement and physical fitness practice and lifestyle which has helped me and continues to help me ease my symptoms on a daily basis. The gift of being a highly sensitive person allows me to connect more deeply and intuitively with my clients. And for this gift, I am truly grateful.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am a Pilates and Gyrotonic trainer, an orthopedic massage therapist, as well as an energy practitioner. I love Pilates because it helps my clients learn about and develop their core muscles in the most efficient and effective way, helping them feel results quickly. Gyrotonic is the perfect compliment to the Pilates practice. By design, it is a movement practice which increases circulation throughout the body because of the spiraling, twisting and stretching. It feels watery, smooth and very soothing yet invigorating. In doing so, the body replenishes it’s fluid supply, decreasing soreness and stiffness and increasing flexibility, fluidity and strength.

Often clients come to me with preexisting injuries that have pulled their bodies out of balance causing them pain. They share that no matter how much stretching and exercise they do, they still feel their pain. I find that orthopedic massage is the most useful technique in situations like this because, with my hands on massage, I help to lengthen and restore muscles natural tone and resting length, helping to balance my client’s body. Hendrickson Method Orthopedic Massage is a massage technique developed by my teacher Thomas Hendrickson, which relieves pain through gentle yet deep massage strokes which emphasize rehydration of the soft tissue while gently mobilizing joints.

Once they are balanced, then we do Pilates or Gyrotonic exercises to help maintain their alignment and balance. Because muscles hold the memory of pain, trauma, fear, etc., I find that helping my clients clear the energy that lives in those painful areas through breath work, meditation and visualization, it accelerates the healing process, helping my clients restore and relieve their body of unnecessary stress. I am passionate about what I do, and my passion is reflected in my work. I see myself as a teacher and practitioner as well as a trainer. Our bodies need our care and attention because, without them, we don’t exist.

When they are in pain, weak or out of balance, life feels so much more difficult. All three of these methods and techniques that I teach and practice restore balance in the body by mobilizing what needs more movement and flexibility or teach how to stabilize where a client might be hypermobile (excessive mobility) which creates too much wear and tear on a joint or area. I am a firm believer that knowledge is power. It’s important to me that my clients know how and why they are doing the exercises and movements. I believe that it is at the core of this philosophy that each client has power and awareness of their own body.

With this power and awareness, I feel my clients have more choices and choose healthy practices and habits, from movement and exercise to diet and other aspects of their wellness. And in a day and age when we are so driven and dictated by forces outside of bodies such as our busy schedules, computer, and phones, I feel this is extremely important. When we take a moment to listen to our body, it often has something to tell us. For example, even as you sit here, reading this, close your eyes, turn your attention inwards and listen to what your body has to tell you. Is it asking you to get up and stretch your legs, take a sip of water?

Perhaps you notice your breathing is shallow or your shoulders are tight and up to your ears. I think it’s important to listen to our body, yet many of us don’t know what that means. Or better yet, we can sense that our body is trying to tell us something, but don’t know what it’s saying or how to address it. I feel it’s my job to help clear up the communication that my clients have with their bodies, so they know what their body is saying and how to address the need. In this way, they don’t feel so separate from their bodies. Having the four modalities and approaches to teaching my clients about their bodies is what sets me apart from other Pilates trainers.

ability to teach about the body and break it down into bite size pieces, so my clients understand what’s going on is not only my strength but the integral part of what I love about my job. I love anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics to an uber-nerdy level. I study, watch, attend workshops and trainings as often as I can to constantly deepen my knowledge. From over twenty years of practice and study and my extensive knowledge that has been passed down to me by my amazing teachers, I have been able to learn not only anatomy and mechanics but also how to communicate it in an accessible way.

I love teaching exercises and movements to my clients that introduce them to “new” places and spaces in their bodies they didn’t know they had. The most fun part is getting to witness their self-discovery. “I never even knew I had a muscle back there.” Or, “I never realized my body can move this way! I feel I have so much more space and strength in my whole being!” I think what I am most proud of is the quality of knowledge, focus, and care I give to each and every client I have. Whether in an individual session or a group class, I am able to guide each client into their body and teach them how to find their strength and power. It is incredibly fulfilling work.

Currently, I’m seeing clients out of my home studio in Carmel Valley as well as teaching small group classes at The Bay Club in Carmel Valley, Center for Movement and Balance in Solana Beach, Pilates and Beyond in Encinitas, and Foundation Yoga in Encinitas. I’d love to land in one studio space so I can spend more time seeing clients and less time driving. Landing in the best space for my clients and myself is my next endeavor. In the meantime, I’m incredibly grateful and happy to be working with so many wonderful clients and studio owners in San Diego.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, there is not one thing I would have done differently. Every experience I have had in my personal and professional life, including “mistakes” and what seemed to be “missed opportunities” have lead me to this very wonderful space I find myself in in my life right now. I do, however, have a wish to go back to college and finish my undergraduate degree. I know that when I am ready, I will gift that to myself.

Pricing:

• My prices range from $85 to $115 for a private session depending on location
• My prices range from $45 to $70 for a duet session depending on location

Contact Info:

• Website: odilemovement.com
• Phone: (415) 246-8520
• Email: odilezelenak@gmail.com
• Instagram: original_ojz
• Facebook: Odile Zelenak

Image Credit:
Balanced Body catalog

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