Martien Janssen

Walt Disney: If you can dream it, you can do it! 

It has finally happened! My dream is coming true!

It’s been 7 years since I started my amazing Pilates adventure. Ever since I tried it for the first time my passion and inquisitiveness for this unique method grew . It didn’t take me long to realize; “This is how I want to fill my days!” That was dream number one, I got to make that dream a reality 2 years ago. Of course, you never just have one dream, so dream number 2 grew quite soon after that. I wanted to teach groupclasses with apparatus. After teaching Pilates mat- classes for a year (mind you, a fitnessmat) I wanted to offer people more and so the apparatus came into play. A mat and a Tower. If you can offer people that, you don’t ever want to go back.

Third dream

Until recently I rented two spaces to be able to teach at different locations. It was nice, but moving things in between classes took up a lot of my time, even though both places were only 10 kilometers apart. I also didn’t have acces to the same facilities in both locations which made things hard sometimes. And that’s how we end up at my third dream, the BIG dream! My own location where I could store everything and increase the amount of classes I could teach.
Then in July I found a place. I instantly knew “This is it!” It’s in Meeuwen (in Belgium)so my current Pilates students don’t have to travel any further to get to me, and there are parkingspaces. After a few nervewecking weeks everything was ready and we could start furnishing the new Pilates BodyCenter!

The Pilates BodyCenter

Everything under one roof

My boyfriend and I share the same dream/vision of being able to provide people with a high quality trainingprogram. We also wanted to offer something to reduce stress. All under one roof. Of course we needed someone else to help us with that. I was very happy we found some female and one male instructor so quickly. We now offer: Pilates and functional training in groups, or individually, Body & Mind and @The Barre.

There’s still a lot to do

We planned the openingweekend for 13 and 14 September. So there was a lot of work to do. Luckily we had a lot of people that were willing to help; parents, friends, aquintences. Without them opening them would not have been possible. I’ve said it a lot in the past few weeks, but I want to do it again this way: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!
And then the openingweekend was upon us. I was so nervous! On Friday we had a reception which I prepared a speech for. On Saturday and Sunday we would open. A lot of things were going through my mind: will my speech be good enough? Will people come by? Will people sign up for the new classes? ….sleepless nights, tossing and turning, a lot of tension and anxiety….but it was all worth it! It turned out to be an unexpected success! We got a lot of positive feedback, new members and positive energy.

A dream come true

Our openingweekend provided me with enough confidence to be happy to start the first week on Monday. It was nice and easy in our new business, private classes, group classes….I love it! Even though the previous weeks have been tiring (because teaching isn’t all you do, of course), it’s hard for me to put in words how lucky I feel right now. To be able to turn your passion into your profession is one of the best things that can happen to someone. It’s really a dream come true….AMAZING!
I find this quote to be very fitting:

Marjolein van Sonsbeek

I love Pilates! It brought my health back. I have been practising Pilates for more than 17 years now and have been a certified Peak Pilates trainer for the past 11 years.
I have never felt so fit, vibrant, energetic, supple and strong in my whole life. And I have no more pain. I do a Pilates workout 5 times per week on mat and apparatus. Every week I attend the classes (private and group) from my mentor and my trainer, Javier Velazquez. He is the best Pilates trainer in the world. Yes, I am very blessed that this extremely talented and experienced teacher is my trainer. Although I am Peak Pilates educated, I adore his very pure, original Joe sessions.
I have an open mind and I give a platform to Pilates trainers from all backgrounds, because we all do a great job! I do this for free in my spare time (which I hardly have).
I run a busy, fully equipped Pilates Studio Pilates Studio van Sonsbeek in the Netherlands in the middle of the historic center of the town Zoetermeer. I love my work, my lovely clients and my beautiful studio. So much fun and positive energy. I teach 6 days a week an average of 30 sessions; privates, duo’s, trio’s and groups.
You would do me a great favor if you like my page on Facebook! Thank you very much!
I am the owner of the Magazines Pilatesglossy Nederlands and Pilatesglossy International. Please join us on Pilatesglossy and on PilatesWordWide.