The body knows what to do.

Feed the baby. Change the diaper. Start another load of laundry. Try to sleep, wake up and do it all over again.

The brain, however, can take a little longer to catch up.

Motherhood comes with a lot of things no one can fully prepare for: the sleepless nights, the lack of alone time and the realization that silence is either a gift or a reason to start searching for your child. 

And somewhere between keeping a tiny human alive and attempting to remember the last time you enjoyed a hot shower, it can be easy to lose track of yourself.

Carmen Sanders certainly did.

“I had just given birth, and I felt really disconnected,” the 38-year-old mother of two said. “It was like my heartbeat and brain were in two different bodies. I felt like my head was 30 feet away from me and I was just looking for anything to help me reconnect. I ended up in a mat Pilates class and immediately felt so much better. I knew it was something I wanted to teach.” 

Thus, the seven-year journey of teaching Pilates, a full-body workout focused on mind-body connection, began at a San Diego studio in 2019. 

“San Diego was like the mecca of Pilates,” Sanders said. “But once we couldn’t afford the ocean anymore, we traded it for the mountains.” 

In 2022, Sanders, her husband, their children and the family dog, Lucy, packed up their lives and left beach days behind for a view of Pikes Peak. 

With no family or friends in Colorado Springs, she began doing what any newcomer trying to turn a city into a home might do. She got involved with her children’s school, made friends with soccer team moms and slowly learned her way around, all with the dream of building her own Pilates studio in the back of her mind. 

“I didn’t want to come to a new town and build a business without knowing anything,” she said. “So I got to know our favorite neighborhoods and I was really surprised when I fell in love with downtown. I’ve lived all over the country, but everything downtown is just so special, personal and unique.”

Every Saturday at 9 a.m., Sanders began teaching a mat Pilates class at Good Intentions, a small business on North Tejon Street. And eventually, the community she had been searching for started finding its way into those weekly lessons.

“I came for the Pilates, but I truly stayed for the people,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘I can’t let this thing I’ve worked so hard on and am so passionate about go. So if the studio I’m dreaming of doesn’t exist, I got to make it exist.’”

In the past five months, that dream found a home at 117 E. Boulder St., a downtown storefront that had been occupied by the same tenant, Henley’s Key Service Inc., for the past 72 years. 

So Sanders and her husband got to work, building many parts of the studio — from its front desk to its benches — by hand.

Then, on July 23, a soft opening welcomed the founding members of Pilates House Studio. 

The first people to sign up: the mothers Sanders met along the way, the familiar faces from her Saturday classes and the community she spent the last four years building.

Four days later, the studio opened to the public, offering a $15 class for first-timers and memberships starting at $99 a month for five 50-minute classes.

“The environment at Pilates House Studio is incredibly welcoming, bright and encouraging,” member Toni DeMott said. “Coming from a running injury, I needed an environment that felt safe but challenging and Carmen has created exactly that. She ensures the workouts are adaptable for any fitness level or recovery journey, making it a space where you feel genuinely supported every week.” 

What began as one woman looking to reconnect with herself has grown into a small business filled with the community she built and a space Sanders hopes “feels like home to everyone who walks through the door,” she said. 

“It’s important to me that just as my members are happy to be here, my instructors are happy to teach,” she said. “That’s why it’s called Pilates House Studio. I have these instructors that are so special to me. I want to treat them well and have them feel like this is their home. In return, they make our clients feel that way too.”

DETAILS

What: Pilates House Studio

When: 6 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: 117 1/2. E Boulder St., pilateshousestudio.com