Fiona has been teaching Pilates for three years, after changing careers in midlife.

“I didn’t discover Pilates until my late 40s,” she says. “It did such amazing things for me – my muscle tone, my posture, my awareness of my body – that I decided I wanted to teach other people how to discover the same benefits.”

Having come to Pilates at a relatively advanced age herself, Fiona has patience and empathy with people who are new to the discipline. She has a particular affinity for those who discover fitness later in life and who have not yet made it a lifelong habit. “Pilates is ideal for older people who are looking for a well-rounded form of exercise in addition to some type of cardiovascular training such as walking,” she says. “Strength, flexibility, balance, posture, body awareness – Pilates has it all.”

Fiona holds a certificate in fitness training and exercise science from UCSD and is an ACE-certified personal trainer. Her Pilates mat certification is from SynergySystems, and she has apparatus certifications through Retrofit Pilates in Santa Monica and The Pilates Coach.

A native of Scotland, Fiona came to the U.S. in 1981 as a postgraduate student and worked as a freelance writer and editor for several years after completing her master’s degree. She has lived in Encinitas since 1990.