News

Gift of Health
Holistic wellness center gives employees a ‘breather’ during busy holiday season

By Susan SteinMueller
Staff Writer
Observer & Eccentric
December 19, 2002

Above, Kelly Hale, owner of Functional Fitness in Birmingham, helps Candice Cerney of Royal Oak with a Pilates position. Below, Leslie Benser Luciani, owner of La Belle Provence in Birmingham, pours wine for one of her employees.

After standing on her feet all day, Pascale Forrester, sales associate at LaBelle Provence in Birmingham, couldn’t believe she felt so relaxed.

“Usually I’m very stressed but I feel very relaxed right now, “said Forrester of Grosse Pointe, speaking last Tuesday evening from Functional Fitness in Birmingham. She had just participated in a program of body rolling and stretching in a soothing atmosphere that included low lights, soft music, fragrant candles and a bubbling countertop water fountain.

Even more unusual during the busy holiday retail season, Forrester credited her relaxed state to her employer. That’s because Leslie Benser Luciani, owner of the Birmingham, home accessories and interior design store, had arranged the evening as a holiday gift for her 12 employees.

“It was one of the nicest gifts, because who wants to go to someone’s home and sit and drink?” said sales associate Michelle Henning of Bloomfield Hills, as she enjoyed wine and gourmet food from Papa Joe’s after the session.

“Last year we went to the spa, and they loved it, but we didn’t get to spend the time together,” said Luciani, who participated in the evening too. “They need a party that is relaxing, not a cocktail party where you stand on your feet again.” She added of her employees: “They are like my family.”

“A USER’S MANUAL”

Functional Fitness, on the corner of Adams and Ruffner in Birmingham, is owned by Kelly Hale. The center specializes in movement education and alternative health and fitness programs. Hale, who has a master’s degree in occupational therapy, said the hallmark of the business is knowledge: Not only is her staff educated in health and fitness, but they impart knowledge to those they teach.

“Knowledge is power,” she said. “I like to think we give each client the tools to empower themselves.”

As she began the session, she told the class, “I feel like my purpose is to give you a user’s manual for your body. The most amazing thing you have, your body, comes with no instructions…We’ll see this big time in January. People go out and start exercising with the best of intentions and end up hurting themselves because they don’t know how to do it properly.”

The session was a sample of two different classes she offers: a body rolling class and a Pilates mat class. Pilates is a conditioning program that improves muscle control, flexibility, coordination, strength and tone. Assisted by instructor Sally Savoie, Hale started by asking participants to close their eyes and identify tension.

Then she led them through movements to position the body and help them breathe properly.

Next, rolling fitness ball exercises worked muscles as well as releasing stress in tight muscles.

You can give yourself a massage every day with a body roll.” She said.

Another exercise involved standing and stepping on small rubber “foot savers”, given to each participant. “You can soak the feet all you want, but if you don’t stretch and work the muscles, you are going to have trouble,” she said.

The session ended with participants lying on their back on foam rollers. “We hope this inspired you to seek greater health and well-being in the new year,” she told the participants, who were reluctant to get up from their mats.

START NOW

Hale said she was excited to be asked to teach the holiday class.

“First, why not start the health process now instead of after the holiday?” she said. “The second thing is having a mother that worked in retail; my heart just went out to them.”

Hale said her goal is to help people do what they love to do through fitness.

“To me, that’s functional fitness, whether what we love is playing with our grandchildren or going out in the garden.”

The center also offers massage, cranial-sacral and rolfing therapy; yoga, Nia and Feldenkreis.

One-on-one and group sessions are offered. A naturopathic physician is also on staff.

To contact Functional Fitness, call 248-988-8098.

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©2008 Functional Fitness — Inspired Wellness
1185 South Adams · Birmingham, MI 48009 · 248-988-8098