Pilates by Patty Whitman

I can’t recommend Patty highly enough. Her expertise ranges from Pilates-​based rehabilitation therapies to bodywork and dance, and this variety of experience helps her to work with her clients in a holistic and personalized way. Patty is highly perceptive and is wonderful at designing customized rehab routines that reflect the state of a client’s body at a specific moment. She is dynamic and creative and is an all around wonderful human being. I have personally worked with her as a patient for two years and made remarkable progress due in no small part to Patty’s help and guidance. You won’t regret your decision to work with her!

I’ve done private lessons with a few different Pilates teachers, and Patty is by far the best. Patty is a former dancer, teacher of anatomy, and massage therapist (for 30 years). Probably due to her background in movement, bodywork, and teaching, she is able to see patterns and coach me in ways that really work for me.
In the past, I injured my shoulder with a different Pilates teacher and had no fun (this other teacher had been pretty negative) with another Pilates instructor. With Patty, I’ve never been injured and it’s always been fun.
Patty works at her Pilates office in Noe Valley 4 – 5 days a week. She used to teach Pilates to rehab patients at St. Francis Hospital, in the department of Sports and Dance Medicine. I think she works one day a week in a Pilates studio in Palo Alto.
Patty’s primary interest is in functional movement of Pilates. Her areas of specialty include children with Asperger’s, rehabilitation, and post-​natal moms.
A couple of things I really like about Patty are her ability to identify patterns that her clients need to work on and her tendency to «go with the energy» (which, in this case, means to make the work-​outs enjoyable, push her clients, and tune into what exercises her clients like and need).