My name is Nana Smith. For the past 10 years, I could not imagine that shopping for jeans can be a celebration. My joy of discovery is so great that I want all to know about it.
I had been training all my life. My passion for “workouts” started back home in Georgia – a small country on Black Sea. I had my personal trainer who taught me my first kicks and punches. I swam for several hours. I ran cross country. I skied. But upon coming to America, my life changed dramatically. My time was consumed working and struggling to provide everyday living necessities for myself. My beloved workouts went by the wayside for a while.
However, after a few years, I regained the time to allow “workouts” to re-enter my life. I did boot camps at 4:30 am. I ran along the Long Island Sound with a 20-pound backpack. I sweat like a pig – and I loved it. I totally loved it all except for two small problems: (1) I was gaining weight every day; becoming more and more muscular and larger. (2) My knees hurt so badly that sometimes I could not go up and down stairs. I felt heavy, old, huge and very often depressed.
It was time to change something in my training. I was 205 pounds with huge muscles all over my body when I started Bickram Yoga. I went in hot rooms seven days a week for one year; sometimes I took two classes in a row. Bickram softened me a bit. But the process was contrary to my natural desire for physical action. It was strange to sit still for 90 minutes in a dark room till almost fainting and repeating this process day after day. I kept telling myself, ‘this is good, you are losing weight,” but it still felt strange.
I was at the crossroads of changing my workout pattern again when I received an email from Calasanz Physical Arts. I knew about the place a bit. I knew that this is a place where celebrities trained and that the owner, Calasanz, had become a “celebrity” himself over the years. He is the creator of a unique physical development system, “Creating The Body You Want,” with more when 20 years experience training women.
I truly thought it would be way too expensive for me until I saw an advertisement stating that “we offer special rates to accommodate the rocky times of recession.” Putting things on a “to-do” list is not my nature, so I just picked up the phone right away and called. And to my surprise, Calasanz answered himself. (Celebrities usually do not answer their phones.) After a brief conversation, I went to see him.
The Calasanz dojo is anything but gym. It is a large, open, airy complex with many rooms, and fully equipped with mirrors, ballet bars, showers (the places I had trained in before had no showers whatsoever, even Bickram Yoga), lockers, and even a tea bar. There is no heavy equipment or machines. But there are a lot of different bars, punching bags, sticks, martial arts dummies and a myriad of hand weights.
The dojo is very symmetrical and has a natural warmth and very positive aura. Coming from Europe where the scale is much smaller, it was almost impossible for me to enjoy regular American gyms – too large, too hot in summer, too cold in winter and most of all, environments where I felt personally isolated. The positive aura of the dojo, plus Calasanz himself and his trainers and students makes me feel welcomed. Everybody’s attitude is very positive and they all display the great respect of the master. Calasanz himself is a charismatic, down-to-earth person. He likes to oversee the entire group. He is truly unique from all others I’ve trained with and his dojo is unique from all other gyms. He calls it a temple. And truly it feels like temple.
On my fist day, he greeted me at the door, gave me a tour and then took me upstairs for the first training. He told me, “You are in the right place; now you will receive the best guidance, and we will fix everything.” I just smiled. Calasanz’s approach is gentle on the body. I could feel my muscles stretching. I could feel them working out in a natural manner using mostly body strength and different hand and ankle weights. I took a few classes with Calasanz and then signed for the entire year … and this was the best thing I could have done for myself!
While training, I watch myself in mirrors as all others do … and day after day I see my astounding transformation. I started as a middle age woman of 185 pounds (truly needing size 14 clothes) who was bottled up in her inner self. In less than 2 months of training, I now look at myself in the mirror and I see a young, elegant, open woman. My body shrunk in the right places and developed where it should be developed. I came down to size 8. I look and feel like I am in my 30s again! I now love shopping for clothes. And I even catch admiring eyes and find men holding doors for me. I have more energy than I ever had. I not only look younger, I feel younger. I sleep less and want to do more. The result is totally magnificent!
The best part of it is that exercises are safe and natural. My pains and aches are gone. My knees, back, and overall muscles feel rejuvenated. Calasanz often says that he is body scientist and now I understand what he means. He not only understands physical anatomy, he also knows what kind of exercises suit your body type. So a person can become leaner, lighter, more graceful, more elegant and simply beautiful without hurting him or herself in an optimal time frame. And it is never boring because he rotates exercises on a daily basis – making it fun to do and assuring muscles don’t adjust to the same movement over and over again.
Programs are versatile and schedules are very flexible. He has group and private classes as well as boot camps. Calasanz is one of the best Marital Artists in the world and offers a huge selection of Martial Arts Forms to learn. We can also access his library with hundreds of DVDs featuring specific training courses and that capture Calasanz in the action. And there is more to come as he is now developing his Calasnaz Systems Yoga methodology.
The Calasanz dojo is open 7 days a week, day and night, 365 days a year. If you are seriously interested in transforming your body, getting a thinking man or woman’s workout, learning the art of self-defense or martial arts forms at large, I urge you to take a complimentary session with Calasanz. It will change your life. And in my case, experience the added benefit of enjoying shopping for jeans!
