We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shannon Henne. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shannon below.

Hi Shannon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My career started in spinal cord rehabilitation at Shepherd Center in ATL. When I left inpatient rehab for the private sector, I landed at a studio that was owned by a Physical Therapist and they integrated Pilates. Once I became trained in the practice of Pilates and started treating patients with this Pilates & Physical Therapy combo approach, I was blown away by how quickly patients got better and became stronger than before. In addition, I was able to transition them to a Pilates program where they continued coming to the studio and continued getting stronger. It’s rare in Physical Therapy to get to follow your patients post-discharge, so this is a big win for this model. About a year into working for this studio, I knew this model screamed success! I went on to open my studio in ATL where we accepted health insurance for PT services and cash for Pilates services. This studio, Restore Pilates & Physical Therapy, continued successfully for 4 years, despite my family moving abroad for 2 years. Another confirmation that this model was thriving!

When we returned to the states, we settled in Florida. I closed the ATL studio and honestly wasn’t planning to open another one. About two years of working for another studio, I missed the Pilates-based Physical Therapy (PT) concept and truthfully missed running my own business. My model today is a little different – all our services are cash-based, no longer accepting insurance for services. This allows us to see every PT patient one-on-one providing them the best possible treatment, another rarity in today’s PT landscape. Our model is designed to offer a continuum of care where we are able to meet the clients where they are, whether it be Physical Therapy or our most advanced Pilates class. And when/if our clients gets injured, they have a PT at their fingertips! We have just expanded our model again to include an infrared room where we teach Mat Pilates fusion classes incorporating the classical Pilates props and hand weights. These classes are musically-driven, fun and challenging and offer a form of weight training and cardio many clients are not otherwise getting. COREmotion is a fully equipped Pilates studio that has become the one-stop-shop for reformer classes, private & duet Pilates sessions, hot Pilates fusion classes and Pilates-based Physical Therapy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

An ankle surgery gone wrong in high school left me with very limited range of motion. I learned from a career fair that a Physical Therapist could have helped me overcome this deficit and decided at that time I wanted to help people with similar problems. I chased that dream in college, earning my BS in Biology and MS in Physical Therapy in 2001 from the University of North Georgia. I started my career in a hospital doing inpatient rehab, acute care and eventually spinal cord rehab for the first 7 years of my career. I left the hospital for the private sector where I worked for a Pilates-based PT studio, became Pilates trained and began integrating this practice into my traditional PT approach. The outcomes I was producing with this model were astounding. The full-body approach you find with this collaboration of Pilates and PT restores balance and strength to the body while educating the patient along the way (mind-body connection). Helping people get better and feel better is my number one goal, and I feel this model allows me to accomplish this across various injuries, diagnoses, fitness levels, ages and genders. Pilates is for EVERYONE!

With 24 years of practice, I am most proud of the community that has been created through our studio. We are focused on health and well-being, where everyone feels at home and knows we are here to help them become the strongest, best version of themselves!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

About 5 years into owning my existing studio, I knew it was time to grow! An opportunity presented itself where COREmotion would merge with another fitness studio in town, adding additional services and clients, and I would gain a business partner. After months of planning, the deal fell apart. I was devastated and felt defeated, like a failure. I chose to put the idea of growing on the back burner and focus on doing what we do best which is Pilates & Physical Therapy. I grew as a business owner and person during this time and reminded myself often that this journey is a marathon, not a sprint. As luck would have it, a previous Pilates instructor rejoined our team and sparked my excitement for growth, once again. We decided adding an infrared room for hot Pilates fusion classes was the perfect addition to accomplish our goals. She is the Pilates Director at the studio today and has helped me bounce back and COREmotion grow to new heights, including opening a 2nd studio Summer 2025!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being a Physical Therapist and knowing its imprint on the business as a whole is certainly helpful in creating and maintaining our reputation. When it comes to Pilates, we have always focused on the importance of form with our clients. This mantra is a constant in our teaching method across all our instructors at COREmotion and throughout every session whether its a private, duet or class. We really try to drive home the importance of utilizing proper form to grow stronger and to become more aware of each client’s individual body and needs. We yearn for consistency in teaching so clients feel they can move around to different instructors and still get a meaningful and effective workout. I think when clients hear the same cues from different instructors, it creates a cohesiveness that feels good to clients. And feeling content is half the battle to becoming strong!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.coremotionjax.com
• Instagram: coremotionjax
• Facebook: COREmotion Pilates & Physical Therapy
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits

Kelly Martucci