Flourish

I’ve been taking Pilates for 15 years, from a variety of instructors, and Rachel, owner of Flourish, is the best. She is able to take all of her training and years of experience and utilize them to educate & challenge beginners and longtime students alike. Every body arrives with its own strengths and weaknesses, requiring a personalized approach, which can prove challenging in the group setting. Rachel is able educate you, raising your body awareness, so you can do can continue to grow and flourish. Join us!

Rachel is a fantastic pilates instructor, and I highly recommend going to her at Flourish for anyone who wants to gain strength, connect with his or her body, and have a good time. Rachel combines her vast knowledge of pilates, dance, biomechanics, yoga, and so on, with a with a really great teaching style. She’s approachable, great when you have questions, and knows many different ways of describing a position or movement so that everyone can understand it.
Rachel can teach any level of pilates. If you go there and you know nothing about pilates and take a beginning class, you’ll learn a lot, and you’ll feel the positive changes in your body after a week or two. I started taking pilates from Rachel two summers ago during a beginning mat class. Because I didn’t grow up doing dance (or yoga or pilates), I thought doing pilates would be intimidating and that I would get lost — but it was perfect. I learned a lot, and so did the others in the class. But Flourish isn’t just great for beginners; there are people at all different levels who go to Rachel’s classes, and she knows just how hard to push people so that we all really get something out of it. For every movement or position, Rachel knows modifications for people with injuries or sensitivities, or for people who want more of a challenge. Not only does she know these things, but she offers information and materials right in the moment, during class, so that everyone feels comfortable whether or not they need a modification or want a more difficult exercise. In this way, Rachel accommodates multiple levels of strength, practice, and even rehabilitation in her classes.
Even with the very different levels of people within one class, Rachel is really good at helping everyone get the most they can out of each exercise/​movement. She remembers who has what injuries, and is great at coaching people so that each person meets his or her individual needs.
Recently, Rachel and Dani, another wonderful trainer, held a highly-​attended Winter Tune-​Up class. Instead of one hour, we met for an hour and a half, and we went through the principles, breathing, and a lot of exercises, according to which questions and issues everyone had. It was a great help to get to review these things and practice them with two trainers present (that was good for such a large class, normally the classes are smaller and you still get one-​on-​one attention when just one trainer is there).
Last but not least, there are both mat and Reformer options for pilates at Flourish. I’ve never taken a Reformer class, so I can’t speak to that experience directly, but from what I’ve seen, the classes are always full. There are also yoga, TRX, and bodywork classes, which I hear are wonderful (I can’t speak to these directly either).

Rachel is a caring, dedicated Pilates instructor. I have worked with her a number of times over the past few years and am continually impressed with how she personalizes her trainings to suit all of her clients’ needs. She is able to combine her knowledge of dance, yoga, the Alexander technique, TRX, Stott Pilates, etc., to make unique and challenging sessions.
She has been teaching pilates for a number of years, and I am sooo excited that she finally has her own studio in South Minneapolis! Attention all South Mpls-​ers: come to Flourish; you will nurture and strengthen your core.

Two months of pilates class with Rachel Bouchard (the owner of Flourish) has done more for my body than 8 years of yoga and cardio combined. Rachel’s thoughtful, personalized approach to training has made an incredible difference in the way my body feels, moves and looks. I could not possibly recommend this studio and its offerings more.

Rachel is by far the best pilates instructor I have ever worked with! She combines a personal approach with advanced Stott Pilates and TRX training. She has helped me grow so much as a person and as an athlete! Furthermore, the studio offers a wonderful mix of people, younger and older — but classes are NEVER easy. You will be sore!