ABOUT OUR TEAM

Alejandra is a savant in the fields of kinesiology, neurology, and various bodywork modalities including Pilates. Before coming to Maui, she has researched extensively in Chile, Mexico, and Cuba and developed programs for adults and kids with neurological conditions including spinal cord injury. With her many years of researches and experiences, she developed an unique technique Neurokinetic Pilates (NKP), which utilizes the ability of the brain and nervous system to change and create new connections in the body. Using NKP, she has been working with people from all types of backgrounds including spinal cord injury patients and Olympics and Paralympics athletes. She is the master teacher at the studio Body Wellness Hawaii and all instructors are trained by her.

1998: Talca, Chile.
Took training courses on Neurology Rehabilitation specialty on spinal cord injuries at the Catholic University of Maule.

2001: Talca, Chile.
Developed the first Spinal Cord Injury Program at the Catholic University of Maule.

2003: Talca, Chile.

• Graduated as a kinesiologist from the Catholic University of Maule.
• Studied Pilates in Santiago, Chile.

2003: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Took training courses on Neurology Rehabilitation and worked as a Physical Therapist treating patients with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries, neuromuscular disorders, spinal cord injuries, and sciatic conditions.

2004: Havana, Cuba
Studied Multifactorial Neurology Rehabilitation at the CIREN, the International Neurology Rehabilitation Center.

Kazuko was born and raised in Niigata, Japan at the base of a ski mountain. It was there where she became a competitive athlete in skiing. Throughout her professional career, she competed in a number of international competitions including the Nagano Olympics in 1998.

Throughout her career as a professional athlete, she experienced different types of training and bodywork in depth. During her intensive trainings, she discovered how powerful a body could be depending on how one educated the body and gave the freedom to move.

Her experiences and understanding of the body led her to search for ways to bring balance and the optimum condition to the body, which was a journey that brought her to the United States to deepen her studies. In the United States, she became a full-certified Pilates instructor at Metropolitan Pilates Seattle under Dorothee Vandewalle in 2006 and a certified practitioner of Yamuna Body Rolling in 2008.

Working as a personal assistant to an Olympic athlete, Julia Mancuso, Kazuko met Alejandra when searching a way to bring the optimum condition to Julia’s body. She believed that Alejandra’s way of working with the body through the nervous system was effective to bring out high performance and had Julia work with Alejandra. After working with Alejandra, Julia achieved great results in Winter Olympics in 2010, and Alejandra and Kazuko together founded Body Wellness Hawaii in 2012 to make Neurokinetic Pilates more available to people.

Since Kazuko started working with Alejandra, she integrated the Neurokinetic Pilates (NKP) concepts into her release technique and aptly called it Neurokinetic Release (NKR). NKR supports the progression of changes that clients are going through in NKP sessions by releasing tensions in body and connecting the body through muscular chains in a healthy and optimum way.

• Compete professional Alpine Ski Race for Japan
• ’99 ’97 ’95 ’93 Alpine Ski World Championships
• ’91 – ’99 FIS Alpine World Cup
• ’98 Nagano Winter Olympics in Giant Slalom & Slalom
• 2000 Certified as Adaptive Ski Program of PSIA
• 2006 Full Certified Pilates Instructor in Seattle , USA
• 2008 Certified Practitioner for Yamuna Body Rolling
• 2010 Julia Mancuso got Silver and Bronze Medal at Winter Olympics after personal assistant for 3 years.
• 2012 Opened Body Wellness Hawaii with Alejandra Monsalve
• Developed Neurokinetic Release Integrating Neurokinetic Pilates with Alejandra Monsalve.