by Christina Cioci
Active Wellness Holistic Fitness is a studio with heart. Co-owners Christina Yaworowski and Drew Lewis believe in living a healthy lifestyle. Yaworowski met Lewis at a crucial time in her life when she decided to stop her current sedentary lifestyle and become entirely committed to living a long, healthy life. She and Lewis began a romantic relationship and inspired one another to exercise regularly and eat healthy. After Yaworowski’s own transformation she decided she wanted to help other women do the same.
“I finished my Liberal Studies undergraduate degree and then I began by getting certified as a personal trainer,” she said. “I then did an internship with a private studio and started my career at a local franchised gym.”
Two years following she earned many additional fitness certifications and helped many women but still felt resistance from some. That is when she decided to pursue wellness coaching. “Wellness Coaching is an emerging field that really puts the client in the driver’s seat by letting them find their own answers,” Yaworowski explained. “In turn the client begins to feel back in control of their lives and there wellness.”
When Lewis and Yaworowski were dating, he was taking pre-med courses. Lewis felt there was something missing in his mission to help people. He had signed up for a nutrition class that he says changed his life. He decided that he wanted to help others in a different way than being a doctor. He and Christina started a plan of action to guide others in a healthy lifestyle through exercise. At the time both Yaworowski and Lewis worked at a gym but they decided to take a small business course in hopes to someday start one of their own. Yaworowski said they got a “divine push” a month after the course was completed because the gym they worked at closed down.
“Coaching is a process in which we indentify and tap into our clients’ genuine intrinsic motivation,” Lewis said. “Then work with them to set small tangible realistic goals.”
Lewis shares a story of a client that had a treadmill in her home but was not motivated to use it. He suggested committing to 1 minute at a time on the treadmill. Naturally she laughed at him but she listened and soon 1 minute became 5, 10 and then 30!
“We found that as people triumph in small wins, they build momentum that catapults them towards the direction of achieving their goals,” he said.
Another positive and important aspect of Active Wellness is being “green”. “Our vision from the beginning of the business was to be as green as possible,” said Lewis. “We have a minimalist style of training which uses only a few simple apparatuses.”
This is good for clients to re-create the exercises in their everyday life and especially at home when they cannot come to a class. “The servers for our main website are run on wind power (Hostgatorgreen.com),” he said.
This is something that most sites can do but not all will, so Active Wellness gets major brownie points! They also have a commitment to their surrounding communities, charities, and organizations.
Active Wellness Holistic Fitness specializes in one on one training and coaching. During these private sessions Yaworowski and Lewis set goals with their clients that are realistic and achievable. They perform training sessions that include yoga, strength training, agility, balance training, flexibility, Pilates and kickboxing. Each individual session is designed with the specific client in mind addressing their physical needs. They also offer Inspiration Boot camp with 4, 12, 24 or 36 week programs. This is usually about 15-20 person classes where they do a variety of methods including yoga, endurance training, weight training and kickboxing (variations in class everyday). They also offer programs that help clients run their first 5K or travel on fitness retreats.
When Yaworowski and Lewis were asked what they wanted for their clients their answer was simple: “Our main objective is to empower, build confidence and teach how to exercise safely and effectively”. They teach how to set realistic goals and achieve optimum results whether they are physical, mental or spiritual. Active Wellness recently celebrated their two year anniversary last Saturday. “This was a very important benchmark for us,” Yaworowski said.
For a new client going to a fitness studio is sometimes scary. But when one comes in to Active Wellness they are treated with care and importance. Each client meets with either Lewis or Yaworowski to get body measurements and to do a short fitness test to see the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. They also talk with each client at this initial meeting to write down short and long term goals. No matter what your weight or fitness level, they have a plan that fits. They are encouraging, fun and know what they are teaching.
Active Wellness Holistic Fitness is located in the Westville area of New Haven, CT. Visit their web site or call for more information on specials they often run.
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Posted by: Corporate Entertainment | November 05, 2011 at 11:40 AM
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