ESP Wellness Center, an integrated wellness facility located in Santa Monica, California, boasts a variety of services in a beautiful one stop location. ESP’s offerings are focused on body mind, and soul, with services like Yoga, Pilates, Private Training, Boxing, Stretching and Meditation, Infrared Sauna and Biomat Therapy. This studio is the collaborative dream of Parvati Shallow and Erika Shay and has been delivering its unique fusion of fitness and wellness to the Santa Monica area for over a year. TourDeFIT.com sat down with Parvati to discuss her studio’s philosophy, how ESP Wellness came to be, and the fitness and wellness experience she prides herself on delivering to her valued clients.

Parvati on her background and the founding of ESP Wellness Center: “I’ve actually been on three seasons of the show Survivor on CBS. This experience was one of the most challenging of my life. When I came back from the last season I was in I was really struggling with what I wanted to do with my life and what direction I wanted to go in. I had lost 15 pounds and I was so exhausted and depleted that I needed to find a way to regroup my spirit and my physical capabilities. On top of that a friend of mine was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He started seeking a lot of alternative treatments such as massage, energy healing, Reiki, and Infrared Sauna treatments and this really inspired my co-founder Erica and I to create the ESP Wellness Center.

The ESP Wellness center was also inspired by our personal injuries and experiences we’ve had ourselves. We wanted to create a place that’s more nurturing with smaller class sizes and services tailored to the individual.”

Parvati on why small class sizes are so important: “I started doing Yoga in Los Angeles and I would go studios and I would be crammed in with so many people in the class. You can’t help but look around and compare yourself to everybody else so you naturally push yourself to do more than you might be ready for. I ended up tearing both of my hamstrings because my body wasn’t aligned properly and I was doing Yoga I wasn’t ready for yet. Nobody taught me any differently. That wouldn’t happen at ESP Wellness Center because our classes are small enough that we can guide each person individually.”

Parvati on the clientele at ESP Wellness Center: “We have clients with so many various needs coming into the facility. One of the special things we do is train girls for the Miss California and Miss USA Pageants. We trained Alyssa Campanella after she won Miss California and I taught her transformational breath work, meditation and visualization. Her body completely transformed under these teachings and she went on to win Miss USA. 

We also work with girls from Rehabilitation Centers who are suffering from eating disorders or substance abuse problems and we help them recover through health and wellness. We want our clients to feel like this is somewhere they belong and we want to transform their lives. Our clients from day one are still our clients today.” 

Parvati on services offered at ESP Wellness Center:  “We are the only studio in Los Angeles to have the Gratz Custom-Build Convertible Cadillac Reformers, which are the kind used by Joseph Pilates. These are specially made with Cadillac tops so we can do classes with 5 people on the reformers or 5 people on the Cadillac. You can do different exercises with both so it’s amazing to have the opportunity to teach on both machines. I teach Meditation classes and we do private lessons or small group classes. I have created a Meditation Visualization Breathwork class, which helps with anxiety, stress, depression, and insomnia. Another great class is our Rebounding Classes on mini trampolines. This is a no impact way to get your cardio in which makes it great for people with knee injuries or back problems. Six minutes on the trampoline equals running one mile. 

And if you’re looking to detox or relax, our Infrared Sauna is heaven. It’s a mood enhancer and it also works on a cellular level. Its infrared technology penetrates deep into your body and into your organs, which raises your cellular vibration. The cells that can’t withstand that die off and flush of your system through sweat so it leaves you with healthy cells. If you feel like you’re getting sick a half hour in there will knock it out, plus you can burn up to 600 calories a session.”

Parvati on why the ESP Wellness Center is a great choice for a business traveller: “I do a lot of traveling myself and what I look for in a place when I am just touching down is a place to re-center and ground myself. Life is very transient in that moment so you need to find a place where you feel balance and grounded. That is what you’ll get at ESP Wellness Center. You can refresh with a Yoga or Pilates Class, relax with a massage, or detox your body with our Infrared Sauna.”  

To book classes at the ESP Wellness Center and learn more about them visit their profile page!