La Doula Vita

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A STOTT certified instructor, I teach a fun, challenging and mindful work out that will leave you stronger, happier and ready to take on the world.

As a former ballerina, my approach is rooted in biomechanics, and my sessions are designed to restore the body’s natural alignment, enhance the mind-body connection, and foster a sense of empowerment through movement.

09/10/2026

Single leg bridge. Five toes down. Zero toe gripping.

Tiny detail. Big fan.

A single leg bridge is already asking a lot from the body. One leg is supporting you while the glutes, hamstrings, hips, and core are all working to keep the pelvis lifted and steady.

When things get hard, the toes often want to grip the floor to create a little extra stability. It works… but it’s a little like calling in the wrong person for the job.

Think of moving a couch. You want the people who can handle the heavy lifting carrying the weight, while everyone else helps steer, balance, and keep things organized. You don’t want the strongest people standing around while someone tries to drag the couch across the room with their fingertips.

Same idea here. When the foot can stay grounded without gripping, the glutes, hamstrings, hips, and core have to manage more of the work of keeping you supported and steady. And when we consistently ask those bigger muscle groups to handle the load, we give them the opportunity to get stronger.

It’s a very hard exercise made a little harder by taking away one of the body’s favorite shortcuts.

Tiny detail. Big difference.

09/04/2026

I love a Reformer and the Cadillac, but I think this is my favorite piece of Pilates equipment 🌲🤸🏻‍♀️🤍

08/28/2026

Ongoing side quest: breathing into the side ribs.

Sometimes the simplest things are surprisingly tricky. Luckily, I have hands to help out with that.

You might be wondering, why is this a thing?

The rib cage isn’t just a static container around the lungs. The ribs are meant to move with breathing, widening and expanding to create more space as we inhale.

A lot of us are used to making a bigger inhale by pushing the belly forward, lifting and flaring the front ribs, and/or breathing up into the shoulders. In Pilates, we often work on finding more expansion through the sides and back of the rib cage instead. That lets us take a full breath without letting the front ribs flare and while maintaining some tone through the abdominals.

That inhale also sets us up for a more coordinated exhale. As the ribs move back inward, the abdominals can contribute to that movement rather than everything simply switching on and off with each breath.

And that’s really why breath gets so much attention in Pilates. How the rib cage moves when we breathe affects more than just the breath itself. It influences alignment, abdominal support, pelvic-floor coordination, and how much extra effort the rest of the body has to use.

The tricky part is that “breathe into your side ribs” can be pretty abstract, and “take a deep breath” doesn’t necessarily make any of that happen. Feeling my hands against the ribs gives the nervous system an actual target: move this area into this pressure.

08/22/2026

Malea Elan and I put our heads and hearts together this summer and created a postpartum support group. 💗

It’s been quite a while since I’ve hosted a group. I’m really excited to hold this kind of space again, and am especially excited to do it with Malea.

We’ll be starting our 12-week Postpartum Support Group in September. All the details are here. Please reach out to either of us with questions or if you want to join us. And of course feel free to share with anyone you know who might be looking for this type of connected space.

08/13/2026

A big part of my work is paying attention to how your bones are aligned, which muscles are engaging, how and when they are engaging, and how that is affecting your entire body. I’m also noticing where you’re finding support, where you might be compensating to try to make an exercise “work”, what feels easy, what doesn’t, and what changes when we approach a movement a little differently.

Sometimes that means adjusting the exercise. Sometimes it means changing the cue. And sometimes it’s simply a hand in the right place that helps you feel what we’ve been working on.

The goal is to help you move well, to find the alignment and support that make an exercise work for your body, and to help you understand how you’re moving so that you can really get something out of the work.

08/10/2026

A little glimpse of The Crew 💗

So happy to share the studio with the strong Pilates with Aly, who also teaches Pilates, and gentle waxer extraordinaire ℒ𝒶𝓃𝒾. We each run our own thing, and every once in a while our schedules overlap long enough to get all three of us in the same place at the same time!

It’s fun to work alongside people who care deeply about what they do. Our work is a little different, but there’s a lot of overlap in what matters to us: taking good care of people, doing thoughtful work, and creating a space that feels good to be in.

Here we are! 💗

08/06/2026

Breathing…we do it all day long without thinking about it, then we get to Pilates or yoga and suddenly it becomes a whole thing. 💗🫁

Breath is movement from the inside, and there are so many ways to breathe: three-dimensional breathing, belly breathing, long and slow, short and quick to name a few. Each one changes the pressure and movement through your body, which affects how your core engages and how your entire torso responds: breathing affects our muscles, bones and even organs. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. So yes…it’s a whole thing.

Butttt…that doesn’t mean there’s one perfect way to breathe. Sometimes I cue a specific breath because we’re looking to get certain muscles to work in a certain way. But I think the real benefit is learning to feel what your breath does in your own body. What changes? Where do you hold? What gives you more support, space or ease? The more you understand your own patterns, the more choices you have, not just in the studio, but out in the real world too.

This is the work I love. 💗

08/03/2026

2 years in this sweet space 💗 time flies when you’re having fun! Smile says it all! 🫶🏻🙏💖

07/31/2026

Another go round the ☀️ Lucky me 💗🦁🌲🌄🌅✨💗

07/22/2026

A short story for ya 😉

At the edge of the expanding universe sat Grandmother Spider, ancient weaver of the cosmos. Seeing a young girl rushing through life on Earth, drowning in daily distractions and chaotic noise, she drew a shimmering thread from her body and cast it across the starlit void.

“Slow down,” she whispered along the fiber. “The stillness is where the pattern is revealed.”

The thread traveled through nebulae and skipped across comets until it gently tapped against the girl’s windowpane. When she reached out and touched it, the frantic noise of her world seemed to mute, replaced by a deep, resonant hum. She did not climb the thread with her hands; she climbed it with her attention. As she embraced the stillness, her consciousness slid along the glowing line, pulled deep into the cosmic vacuum.

Her first stop was the Nebula of Lost Echoes. Here, the thread vibrated with all the noise she had carried for so long. It grew taut and sharp.

“Do not fight the noise,” Grandmother Spider’s voice echoed. “Let it pass through you like solar wind.”

The girl breathed out, became perfectly still, and the noise dissolved into silent stardust.

Next, she crossed the Abyss of the Unwritten, an expanse of absolute darkness where the thread seemed to vanish. Panic flared. She called for Grandmother Spider, but only silence answered.

The girl anchored herself in the quiet of her own chest. As her inner world became still, the darkness illuminated, revealing billions of dormant, unspun threads, possible lives waiting for her touch.

At last, she reached the Cosmic Loom. Grandmother Spider sat at its center, her hands moving steadily among the threads connecting every soul, star, and moment in time.

The girl waited to be pulled the rest of the way. Instead, Grandmother Spider placed a loose thread before her.

“When you run, the web blurs,” she whispered.

The girl reached for the thread and began to weave

Back home, she sat quietly on her porch. One by one, her neighbors stopped rushing and sat beside her. In the shared silence, the invisible threads between them began to glow

Across the universe, Grandmother Spider continued weaving

Thanks Daphne Zahara Driscoll 💖

Address

Los Angeles, CA
90291

Telephone

+19368281618

Website

http://www.LaDoulaVita.com/

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