Meet Cher Aslor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cher Aslor.

Cher, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My moment studies began as a young girl studying ballet, jazz, and modern dance, and I danced my whole life. After studying as a dance major and the Spanish minor at CU Boulder, I moved to Los Angels in 1995 to accept a dance scholarship and danced as a professional dancer in LA for ten years. I did my first Pilates session in 2004, and I was hooked on how good it made my body feel, and it’s attention to anatomy and precise controlled movements. I started a teacher training right away. My father was sick with bone cancer, and although putting up a good fight was close to the end, so I moved back to Denver to be close to family during his last months. I always thought I’d move back to LA but Pilates was just catching fire in Denver, and I saw an opportunity. There were only a few studios back then, and even though I didn’t know anything about starting a business, I wanted to create something that was mine. So, I created pH7 Pilates.

I started small. Pilates equipment is expensive, so I bought two reformers on my credit card and rented a small office space in Glendale. I offered free sessions to the right people, worked hard. I hired another teacher when my schedule was full, paid off my credit cards, bought more equipment. I moved into a bigger space, and so on… fast forward ten years later to moving into my dream space in 2015 – a beautiful 2nd story 1800 sq ft studio in Congress Park. I later opened another location in Highlands/Wheatridge offering two fully-equipped studios and had 12 amazing teachers teaching for me. In February of 2018, I sold pH7 to my long-time client, friend, and entrepreneur Jennifer Mason and I now get to run the Pilates Teacher Training through pH7, focus on my retreat offerings in Nicaragua and Mexico (and soon Bali!). I now spend the winter ski season in beautiful Telluride, CO where I teach in the community and for the Peaks Resort. I feel so lucky to have pH7 as my home in Denver and that I get to continue to teach at and mentor instructors.

The thing I’m most proud of during my 15 years of owning the studios is developing my comprehensive Pilates Teacher Training. Teaching teachers is my heart – I love learning more about the body and how to communicate better through teaching others to teach. It’s my intention to create a safe, experimental and fun space to learn. To encourage them to go deep into their Pilates practice, find confidence and a voice, as well as discover what kind of teacher they want to become. There’s a lot of material that comes with teaching Pilates. I am also certified in Forrest Yoga and Vinyasa yoga so I enjoy bringing some yoga philosophy, techniques and mindfulness into the training.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to owning a business isn’t always smooth. Owning a yoga or Pilates studio is really a labor of love and I applaud those out there doing it. It can be stressful covering classes for instructors that get sick or stuck in traffic. But I’ve been so blessed to have totally fantastic and talented women teach for the studio. As Denver grows, so does the price tag on renting space, that’s been a challenge in the past.

I’ve always felt like I have two people inside me -one wanting to put down roots and open more studios and enjoy all that Colorado has to offer, but there’s the gypsy traveler in me that has to fly and I really feed off traveling, spending time away where I can guest teach, create retreats, surf and be at the ocean. So, there’s always that little struggle there of balancing it all.

Tell us about your business. What do you do, what do you specialize in?
After owning a business for 15 years, I’m expanding into more freedom to continue my Pilates teacher training, and create more Surf+Yoga Retreats which is a HUGE passion. I get to merge my love for travel, food, and surfing. My partner Mat Ryan is a Sommelier and an excellent surf instructor, so we have teamed up to create The Good Life Retreat. We take groups down to Nicaragua and Mexico, (and coming soon Bali!) We do daily yoga and meditation, add a wine education class and a wine pairing dinner, plus each participant gets a one on one surf lesson. To see the absolute joy folks get when they stand up on a surfboard is pretty awesome – Surfing is a great metaphor for life. You need patience with yourself, you are interacting with a moving changing force. Many people are overcoming fear, so it’s empowering and it makes you feel alive. Then, we add things like massage, a sailing trip or snorkeling trip. We nourish people with healthy meals. To us, this is The Good Life.

What makes a session with me unique is I do my best to give my students tools to create a home practice by teaching and then videotaping exercises that are tailored for them so they have it to do daily. I’ll do a postural assessment and document their progress along the way. We movement session and then end with 30 minutes or so of CranioSacral therapy (CST). CST is a light hands-on therapy that guides the nervous system into homeostasis- the opposite of “flight or fight”. Imagine what an hour of really good meditation feels like, or a long juicy restful nap. This is what I feel after a CST session. I myself found CST when I was looking for relief from my own chronic nerve pain and I knew I had to study it and offer it in some way to my clients. It’s great for all kinds of chronic stress conditions, so great for all injuries from low back pain to head injuries to neurological issues. For more info on CST, you can check out my website www.cheraslor.com.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
That’s a big question! I’ve had many.

Reaching the 10-year mark of owning my studios was a pretty proud moment. Many small businesses don’t even last past a year.

I was really proud when I sold my studios (my” baby”, my life’s work, really) to someone who really cared about it and understood it and kept our amazing staff. That I created something worth passing on.

A lot of the moments I feel really proud of are the little a-ha moments that I see in my students when they get something and FEEL better, and I realize that all my training and experience of teaching almost 20 years comes together to help people. For example – as I write this, I’m in Indonesia traveling and along the way, I recently met a guy from Sweden who was a surfer and had injured his back and because of that, hadn’t surfed in days. We did two two hour sessions, I did my thing and taught him about his posture, gave him several exercises that included a lot of core strengthening and active stretches to do daily and made a video so he could see his own form and listen to my voice. Then, I gave him an hour Cranial Sacral session. He was so stoaked after the sessions and was pain-free and back to surfing just a few days later, I was so proud of him and grateful for the experience.

Pricing:

• 90 Min session in your home including Pilates/Yoga private + 30 min. CranioSacral $140
• 500 Hr Comprehensive 7 Month Pilates Teacher Training Course $1595 (includes manual and books)
• 55 min Private Pilates / Yoga $70 @ pH7 Denver (Telluride Studio Rates vary studio to studio)
• The Good Life Yoga Retreats 7 days (includes meals, one excursion, transport to and from the airport) Starting at $1495

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cheraslor.com and ph7pilates.com
• Phone: 720-985-8696
• Email: cher@cheraslor.com / ph7pilates@gmail.com
• Instagram: cheraslor
• Facebook: Cher Aslor

Image Credit:
Kelly Shroads Photography

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.