Welcome to Hope Notes!

Hope Notes | Live Oak Pilates & Wellness, Austin, TX

In deciding to write a blog, I have, after much thought and soul searching, landed on a topic that I feel very enthusiastic and inspired by,  “Hope.”

Why “Hope” you might ask, as the overarching theme for a Live Oak Pilates & Wellness studio blog? I am writing about “hope” because I believe “hope” is the spark that ignites our minds, bodies, and hearts to possibility and transformation. It is “hope” that directs us to Google search, “Pilates,” in order to find out if Pilates might be just the thing we’ve been in need of to help get in shape, heal a body with aches and pains, or to take our game to a higher level.

It was, in fact, “hope” that blazed a path for Jim and I to envision creating our own positive studio for wellness and Pilates….

We learned in mid-October of 2016 that The Hills Fitness Center where we both worked would be closing in 3 weeks. We have three school-aged children, and suffice it to say, finding out that our place of employment would be ceasing to exist in 3 weeks was a real shock to our household!

After we had fully processed what was happening and what it meant to us professionally and economically (Yikes!,) it was “hope” that propelled us to act and move forward. We bought Pilates equipment, found a space to lease, dove into the software we needed to learn, and opened our beautiful studio, Live Oak Pilates & Wellness on November 15th of 2016, only 4 weeks after we had learned that The Hills would be closing it’s doors.

Without the spark of “hope,” great ideas and actions often go unrealized. However, with “hope,” our thoughts, words, and actions wring of inspiration. With “hope,” we passionately direct ourselves towards our highest calling and more fully lead lives of beautiful purpose and meaning.

You don’t have to see the entire staircase to take the first step. Take the first step in faith.
— Martin Luther King, Jr
Kerstin MartinComment