My approach & background
Approach & techniques
My wish is to help each person I work with to respect the nature of the body they have.
Creating an aligned posture and strong foundation simply makes everything we do from thereon work better, feel better, look better.
Working intelligently, blending methods, isolation to integration, creating ease, energy and flow.
Wisdom and science has shown us that we have a great deal of power over the state of our fitness and wellbeing. If we choose to consciously and consistently take the time to address our current state and redress the balance we can be rewarded with a great deal of success - and If we treat this pursuit like an adventure we can have a great deal of fun!
-see Testimonials
Qualifications include:
Exercise and Fitness - Pilates Matwork - Advanced Barre Fit - Boxercise – Kickboxercise - Older Adults - Pre & Post Natal – Anatomy & Physiology
I am a member of REPS
About Khedija Sassi
As an actor in theatre and film I have been introduced to a great array of techniques for working with the body, including breathwork, massage and practices of myofascial release - a practice only now garnering attention in the common fitness arena. Being fit and body aware was not only helpful for physical theatre but also for regular acting work where I frequently found myself hanging from the ceiling by a rope for a day, submerged in mud or climbing out of top floor windows on a rope ladder – the list of weird stuff I was asked to do was endless and I was always game. This eclectic collection of experiences have given me insight into how one can use and work with the body I would not otherwise of been fortunate to have.
I have been lucky to have had some extraordinary teachers, often completely accidentally. At 11 years old, a great influence for me was Jean Newlove. As the only child in her adult Stanislavski/Laban classes I learnt breath techniques I still use today. In my mid-teens, whilst studying theatre, I was fortunate enough to take classes with one of Martha Graham’s former dancers, where I was introduced to her fundamentals of contraction, release and spiralling, and the efficacy of Barre au Sol. Not long after, whilst doing a play, I found myself in workshops and a performance at Oval House Theatre with Gaby Agis, who has been one of my biggest inspirations in working with the body through movement.
Already acting, modelling and dancing in music videos, my godmother introduced me to the Lotte Berk method to help keep my very ‘unmodel’ shaped body fit- a method now rebranded by so many Barre style outfits across the U.S. I still use variations of this very clever and effective technique to this day. At the gym I was taking all the regular classes, starting a yoga practice and mixing it up with a boxing coach – a tough, tiny man in a beanie – and Taekwondo classes with stuntman, James Grogan. At the Lee Strasberg Institute in NYC, whilst studying with Robert Castle and Debra Wiley, I took an elective class in Advanced Jazz with Jeffrey Ferguson- always leaving his classes uplifted and raring to go. These professionals, along with others I have learnt from and worked with, not only gave me valuable information and experience but also taught me what it is to teach, to express, to communicate, transform and inspire.
Khedija Sassi
