Emma grew up in Los Alamitos, California and started dancing at a young age. During her training as a ballerina, she experienced a serious ankle injury that led her to physical therapy and Pilates. At age 17, she then moved to Milwaukee to train in Milwaukee Ballet’s pre professional program, while finishing her high school online. The year after, she was grateful to join Milwaukee Ballet 2 as a professional dancer. While in Milwaukee, she received her Pilates certification through Club Pilates and started teaching at Flying Squirrel Pilates. She has since moved to Pensacola to be a corps de ballet artist with Ballet Pensacola. Emma also attends Los Angeles Pacific University working to obtain her bachelors degree in health science, with the goal of becoming a nurse in the future. She has big dreams of opening a senior home one day, with emphasis on healthy movement and a sense of community and connection. 

Emma likes to focus her class around conscious movement, because she believes there is true power in it. She is inspired constantly by different Pilates teachers and trainers in her life and she loves to combine all that she has learned and continues to learn to her classes. She encourages her class to be fully present throughout class, releasing their to-do lists and stress for the day, and granting themselves the gift of that healing hour that will send them off feeling rejuvenated. Emma believes in exercising to better oneself; to be stronger, to be more confident, and to be more balanced, throughout the whole body. Her main principle in life is gratitude; waking up everyday and saying thank you for this day and for this body, alive and well. Emma brings an energetic and grateful spirit to her class and wishes that her clients leave feeling better in every sense than when they arrived! Emma is super excited to be joining Pure Pilates and spread her love for movement. 

Lisa was introduced to the Pilates method in 2016, taking her first class at Pure Pilates.  She values the mind body connection that Pilates offers.  One of her favorite quotes of Joseph Pilates is “Pilates is the complete coordination of the mind, body and spirit.”  

She has a background in Respiratory Therapy and shares this knowledge with her clients about the importance of breath during their Pilates practice. 

Lisa is a Pensacola native but moved away from the area as a Navy wife for 20 years. She and her husband have relocated back to where it all began. 

When she’s not teaching clients she enjoys perfecting her golf swing and playing a round of golf with her son. Other hobbies include power walking, weight training, cooking and spending time with family. 

Lisa is a Balanced Body Certified Pilates instructor. 

Trish Durkin has a background in education and taught middle school for eleven years. She holds a B.S. in Middle Grades Education and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Georgia Southern University.
Trish has always felt a calling to teach and believes in the importance of being a lifelong learner. She has always enjoyed group fitness and became certified in Barre in 2014. She also holds the group fitness certification through The Athletics and Fitness Association of America. In 2021 she added Pumped Up Strength certification. Trish loves the mind body connection that Pilates offers and is certified through Balanced Body. She is excited to share her passion for both teaching and fitness at Pure Pilates.