Three female expats entrepreneurs--Clare Marie Trono, France Leclerq and Mor Tal Bachar--have opened a new Pilates centre called “The Space”. The project began after the three qualified instructors identified a gap in the market, and wanted to create a high-level, professional wellness and Pilates environment in Luxembourg.

Once an appropriate location was found, it only took two months to repaint the walls, redo the floors, and build some additional rooms. The result is what the founders describe as a beautiful and peaceful setting.

Clare--the studio’s marketing and events director, and a Pilates instructor--found that overall it was quite an “easy process” of opening a business in the Grand Duchy, being three female entrepreneurs, and found that “Luxembourg supports startups”.

However, it is more challenging in other respects than in the UK, requiring more financial backing and research. It was especially hard for Clare and Mor, who do not speak French.

Clare has decided to come live in Luxembourg after spending ten years in London. She had visited the country several times and fell in love with it.

Pilates and wellness

The centre offers more than just Pilates, including treatments such as Dien Chan (reflexology for the face), Thai Yoga massage, Biosynthesis (a therapy connecting the body and mind by understanding the essence of a person), Reiki (energetic healing which restores the body’s balance) and nutrition.

The entrepreneurs say that no other studio in Luxembourg City proposes such a variety of treatments and this--along with their experience, high level of qualification, and passion--is what sets them apart from the others.

With classes for lower back care, pregnancy, post natal, seniors, adults, or children, Clare argues that Pilates is designed for everybody and can appeal to anybody, which is what “makes them so passionate about it”. Pilates can be “as hard as you want it to be”; it can suit rehabilitation clients or elite athletes.

For Clare, Pilates has brought “conscious awareness” into her life, about her posture, nutrition, and movement. She states that it has “completely changed her life”, considering she used to work as a marketing manager, sat at a desk up to 12 hours a day.

Clare tells Delano that she feels privileged to be able to do what she loves in an environment she and her colleagues have created.

In addition, she believes experiencing new things “shouldn’t be scary, but fun”, and should allow you to “enjoy yourself”. So Clare invites anyone to come and try a course even if they are unsure, to “feel the fear and do it anyway”.