Nicole Adams has spent 20 years working in the aerospace industry, but, she said, it has “never truly been my passion.”

But with the opening of Intimate Pilates, her new studio on First Avenue in downtown Kent, Adams is changing that.

“I think this is my passion,” she said. “If I’m going to do it, now is the time to make that life change.”

And do it she is. This weekend, Kent residents have an opportunity to check out her new studio free of charge with an open house that runs from 3-5 p.m. Saturday.

Adams said she began doing pilates, a resistance-based exercise that focus on the body’s core or trunk, after a doctor recommended she try it to help with a herniated disc in her neck. At the time, about 10 years ago, Adams was living in California, where pilates studios are much more prevalent, she said.

The daughter of a body builder, Adams said she has always been into fitness, but was never a big fan of going to the gym and the one-on-one nature of pilates instruction really appealed to her, as did the exercises.

After trying it out, Adams began to take classes at the Pilates Institute of California with the goal of becoming an instructor.

The exercises appealed to her, she said, because of the connection between the mind and body that pilates emphasizes. It helped take her mind off of everything else in her life.

“You have to concentrate so much to do the exercise,” she said, adding that she also loves the results of the workouts.

But then, in 2008, her day job transferred her to the Seattle area and she and her husband bought a house in South King County, but Adams soon discovered there didn’t seem to be any place for her to continue exercising.

“I moved to Kent and couldn’t find any pilates studios around here,” she said.

So Adams again began to be trained to be an instructor, eventually being certified on mat exercises, the reformer machine and on postural analysis.

One day, driving on First Avenue, Adams saw the storefront and thought “what a perfect place to have a pilates studio.”

“I just felt it might be exactly what Kent needs,” she said. “For me, this is the perfect location to open up a studio.”

Adams’ 900-square-foot studio boasts five pilates machines and she has brought in a viniyoga instructor as well as a massage therapist, who works out of a back room.

Adams said the viniyoga’s emphasis on breath goes “hand in hand” with pilates, which also focuses on breath awareness.

Adams said she chose her studio’s name to try and emphasize the personal, one-on-one nature of the exercise and instruction she offers. Adams said she purposefully set it up to be a one-at-a-time instruction so she could focus on the customer.

“I set it up that way because I want people to really get a private session,” she said.

She also said the name applied to the atmosphere she was trying to create, adding that many gyms are “sterile” while she wanted to create a more “spa-vibe.”

“It’s really about atmosphere,” she said.

Learn more

Intimate Pilates is located at 212 First Ave. S. For more information visit http://www.intimatepilates.com/ or call 253-709-1446. Intimate Pilates is hosting an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday. There will be light refreshments and raffles.