Administration
- Tom McCook, Co-owner & Director, Instructor
- Karen deMoor, Co-owner & Business Manager
- Nicole Diaz, Administrative Assistant
Instructors
- Owen Grady
- Katherine Lindeburg
- Amy Moore
- Ommi Pipit - Suksun
- Jessica Reis
- Jeffrey Ross
- Michiyo Salisbury
- Susi Strigl
- Tali Vaknin (on Maternity Leave)
Physical Therapists
Massage Therapist
Special
Tom McCook
Co-owner & Director
ACE, NCPT, Balanced Body Educator and Mentor, Franklin Method Level 3 Educator, Certified Somatic Coach
Tom McCook, Founder and Director of Center of Balance in Mountain View, CA, is an internationally-recognized Pilates Educator and movement specialist. Beginning in 1984, Tom designs programs for health and life performance for a range of clients, from Silicon Valley executives and Olympic athletes, to active seniors and people looking for solutions to their imbalances and injuries.
Tom’s mission is to improve people’s lives through movement! He teaches a practical and accessible way to understand your own body and then apply it to your movement practice. These skills go beyond exercise to cultivate health, body wisdom, and being responsive and resilient in life.
Tom's unique teaching approach synthesizes over 35 years of fitness training, Pilates, body therapy, Somatic Coaching, the Franklin Method, Anatomy in Motion and meditation. His fascination with movement began at an early age playing sports and growing up in a large athletic family with 11 siblings. His long and successful history working with athletes include the Stanford women's swim team and four Olympic Gold medal swimmers.
Tom has been leading teacher trainings in the Pilates Method since 2001. He is on the faculty of Balanced Body for Pilates, CoreAlign and the Bodhi Suspension System. Tom is also a sought-after international presenter and mentor.
Tom lives on the coast outside of San Francisco with his wife and business partner, Karen deMoor.
Tom's Link Tree: All the ways to access Tom's work!
Hear more about Tom's life story, inspirations and philosophy on the Mindful Movement's podcast
To contact Tom, email tom@centerofbalance.com
Karen deMoor
Co-owner & Business Manager
Together with Tom, Karen owns and manages Center of Balance. She oversees the business, planning and financial matters of the studio. Karen's background is in non-profit management and fundraising, communications, and international political advocacy. Her work has been mainly involved in global environmental and human rights issues. She was the Development Director of Pesticide Action Network and National Press Director for Oxfam America, an international social justice and disaster-relief agency. She holds a BA in political science from Tufts University in Boston. Karen has been practicing Pilates and Yoga since 1997, and completed PhysicalMind Institute's Initiation 101 Pilates Mat training with Tom in 2001, and Balanced Body's CoreAlign 1 & 2 in 2010.
To contact Karen, email karen@centerofbalance.com
Nicole Diaz
Administrative Assistant
Nicole Diaz joined our Center of Balance team in 2021 to help us navigate our important administrative tasks and the workflow of our hybrid studio. She had been a client of Center of Balance for several years prior to joining our staff, and strongly believes in what we do in bringing a balance of health, body and mind to anyone who chooses to participate. She comes from a background in customer support and nonprofit work, having been part of the Shutterfly phone/email customer support team for almost 10 years. Nicole is a mother of 4, and grandma of 4. She loves walking and Pilates for her health, and views eating real food and exercise as her health insurance. She once walked a full marathon in Hawaii, and also went skydiving from 36,000 feet and loved it! Finally, she believes in helping those in need, no matter how little you have.
Nicole can be reached at info@centerofbalance.com
Owen Grady
Instructor
Owen has been teaching Pilates and Yoga full-time in the Bay Area since 2002. He is a certified Physical Mind Institute Apparatus, Mat and Standing Pilates instructor. He began his studies and teaching of Pilates with nationally-recognized Pilates Master teacher Tom McCook, founder of Center of Balance in Mountain View, CA. He credits Tom's mentorship & coaching as key factors in his rapid development and success in teaching movement full time. In 2005, Owen began studies with Eric Franklin, founder of the Franklin Method, combining vivid imagery and experiential anatomy to help people navigate their bodies with greater ease and facility. Owen is a Level 2 Franklin Method Movement Educator. He is also certified by Pino Carbone of Body Code Systems in Bodykey instruction and completed the CoreAlign teacher training in 2010. Owen's Yoga teaching is founded on a combination of his personal practice of Iyengar and Ashtanga Yoga and more recently influenced by the Core driven styles of Ana Forrest and Jill Miller, with whom Owen recently completed his Level 2 Yoga Tune Up® certification. Yoga Tune Up®, developed and created by Jill Miller, is a "whole body" regenerative fitness system integrating elements of Yoga, calisthenics and body therapy.
Katherine Lindeburg
Instructor
Katherine has been a life-long mover and athlete. In 2012, she pivoted from a career in environmental science to teach multiple movement modalities, including yoga and Pilates. She received her Pilates certification through Balanced Body (BB) and also completed BB’s CoreAlign teacher training with Tom McCook at Center of Balance. Katherine believes everybody deserves access to compassionate and joyful training in order to attain efficient, enjoyable movement. With clients, she playfully weaves together strength, mobility, and balance exercises within a matrix of mindfulness and empowerment. Katherine has worked with a large range of clientele, including people with chronic or acute physical limitations or disabilities, children, seniors, pregnant women, and athletes and dancers; and with UCSF and Stanford, she has helped advance research on yoga for pelvic floor dysfunction. Katherine is a Belmont native and has been a competitive soccer player and road cyclist. Her current athletic endeavors include aerial arts, swimming, hiking, and tango.
Amy Moore
Instructor
Trained by Tom McCook and certified with PhysicalMind Institute and Balanced Body University, Amy has celebrated over 18 years at Center of Balance where she continues to bring her warm, friendly teaching style and positive energy. Her skill is rooted in Functional Anatomy and traditional Pilates, influenced also by the work of Karen Clippinger and Eric Franklin. Amy is certified in all levels of CoreAlign, the Nemerov Method, and Elvis the Pelvis. She also implements FMS (Functional Movement Screen) and the associated corrective exercise protocol to progress clients toward their goals. Having experienced first-hand the benefits of alignment and functional movement, Amy collaborates with clients of all levels and life stages to reinforce optimal movement patterns and strengthen the body for daily activity.
Ommi Pipit-Suksun
Instructor
Originally from Thailand, Ommi is a Pilates instructor and dance educator. After graduating from the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London, where she received a full scholarship, Ommi continued with the San Francisco Ballet and then as Principal Dancer with Ballet San Jose. Pilates has always been an important part of Ommi’s dance career, especially when she was recovering from her knee injury. In 2013, she was certified in Mat Pilates and continued with her Comprehensive Pilates training program through Balanced Body with Tom McCook at Center of Balance. She received her MFA in Dance from Hollins University in 2020. Throughout her dance career, Ommi has been fascinated with the concept of mind and body connection. She loves sharing her passion of movement practice with others, and particularly enjoys learning and growing as an instructor. Ommi bridges her experience in dance with Pilates to help clients build strength and develop greater body-awareness.
Jessica Reis
Instructor
Jessica completed her comprehensive Pilates teacher training at Center of Balance with Tom McCook and Balanced Body. She was first introduced to Pilates in college where she graduated with a BFA in dance. After three years of performing and teaching professionally in New York, Jessica, along with her husband and cat, made the move to California. It was during this time that Jessica became really passionate about her Pilates practice. She started noticing the positive impact it was having on her dancing which is ultimately what inspired her to become a Pilates teacher. In addition to teaching Pilates, Jessica currently performs and teaches dance in the Bay Area. She has experienced first-hand how much Pilates can improve a person’s quality of movement, and is excited to support and inspire her clients at Center of Balance in reaching their goals.
Jeffrey Ross
Instructor
Michiyo Salisbury
Instructor
Originally from Japan, Michiyo is a Balanced Body certified Pilates instructor and CoreAlign trainer through Tom McCook and Center of Balance. She is also a Level 2 Franklin Method educator. Her passion has always been in dance and movement, and she has been teaching Fusion Bellydance nationally and internationally since 2015. Michiyo decided to pursue her Pilates training to recover from injury and to take her dance to the next level. Since her first visit as a student at Center of Balance, Michiyo has never stopped her practice and has mentored with Tom McCook and other studio instructors. This inspired her interest and understanding of functional movement, resulting in Michiyo pursuing her Franklin Method educator and Pelvic Fascial Trainer certification.
Michiyo is excited to pass on her experience and knowledge to people who want to move and feel better!
Susi Strigl
Instructor
Susi completed her comprehensive Pilates education at Center of Balance through Balanced Body with Tom McCook. She is from Vienna, Austria, where she studied medicine, later dentistry and finally specialized in Orthodontics. After the birth of her first baby and working on patients in her clinic, she found Pilates to be helpful in recovery, releasing tension and realigning her body. Moving to California with her three kids and husband, Susi decided to start teaching what she loves to do, Pilates! Her goal is to help clients discover the many benefits of Pilates and learn how to move and feel better in their bodies.
Tali Vaknin
Instructor (On maternity leave)
Tali has been teaching Pilates professionally since 2005, certified after her studies in Israel by the Pilates Method Alliance. In 2016, Tali received her Diploma of Osteopathy by the Israeli Institute for Applied Osteopathy. During that time she also studied medical massage therapy, and received her diploma from the Zinman College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the Wingate Institute of Israel. Tali's approach to Pilates has been heavily influenced by a deep understanding of anatomy and bio-mechanics. This allows her to focus her Pilates sessions on clients with specific rehabilitation or post injury needs. Although not a licensed osteopath in California, she is fully licensed by the state of Israel and incorporates osteopathic philosophy and techniques into her Pilates instructing style. Tali loves instructing and challenging clients of all levels, beginners to advanced. Tali strongly believes that the human body needs to move in a functional way in order to stay in good health. She focuses attention on making sure movements are being done correctly for maximizing their impact on the body and mind.
In Memory of Brody
For many years, Brody was our unofficial greeter and could sometimes be found beneath the front desk conserving his energy. Gentle and sweet, he specialized in human affection and may have licked your toes in exchange for a pat on the head. Brody passed away October 2008 and has been dearly missed. We adopted him from Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue, an organization in need of loving homes for rescued Labs - particularly in this tough economic climate and home foreclosure crisis, pets are now much more vulnerable to abandonment.
