04/30/2025
Part 1
Movement Lab has been in existence officially since 2018. We first started in the corner of a dance studio in downtown Columbia. From there we existed in the corner of CAB movement at the Columbia Arts Building.. then my living room, and then a corner of another dance studio. See a theme. I received a grant to start a Mindful Movement program at McDowell Elementary, teaching yoga during the day. That was an amazing sweet opportunity at the end of the schools existence.
But then Covid hit, and the LAB went from just Megan teaching Pilates in the corner, to online offering multiple modalities, giving friends the platform to keep teaching through the pandemic. Our faithful clients signed in with us multiple days a week. Eventually signing in with me across the country as I taught from my RV traveling to the West coast and back with my family. We leaned into the yoga, added Feldenkrais, and ofcourse kept the Pilates mat strong.
After returning from my RV living, I had a pretty terrible family event happen. I started to reach out of some clients houses, and children’s classes in toy stores..
but despite my hard situation.. I was encouraged to keep moving forward and trust that I could handle growing the business was back into a commercial space. So we shared the second floor above Southern Exposure, in what may be the most beautiful studio that has ever existed. I finished my training, Melissa got trained in Pilates.. and we slowly transitioned from mostly yoga to mostly Pilates.. added Tai Chi, Lori joined us with Restorative Yoga, and continued to provide more and more classical Pilates….
What happened next? You’ll have to wait for the next post!
The LAB has always been what I do, but has never been meant to be all my own. From the conception it was an idea of collective.. but everyone needs a leader. So even in the hard times we pressed on. I have watched Pilates change and transform so many lives, and I have met some of my dearest friends and mentors through this space..
To be cont…
