Chantal Donnelly
Chantal was born in a small town in Ontario, Canada. She had an obnoxiously idyllic childhood for which she is thankful EVERY single day. She moved to the United States with her family when she was 15-years old and finished high school in San Francisco. She later attended Occidental College in Los Angeles where she graduated cum laude (and Phi Beta Kappa) with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a minor in Kinesiology.
In 1993, sometime during all that schooling, she managed to get her massage license. It was while working on her massage clients that she realized she got a little too excited when people had injuries and she decided to go to PT
school. She got her Master's in Physical Therapy from Mount Saint Mary's College in Los Angeles, graduating in 2000.
After graduating, Chantal worked at ATP Specific Training in South Pasadena for seven years. She became a Pilates Certified Instructor (from BASI) in 2002. And, because she likes the idea of being called “professor”, she held a part-time faculty position at Mount St. Mary’s College, teaching soft tissue mobilization and Pilates for Rehabilitation to physical therapy students.
Chantal has also been involved in clinical research projects at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. She has participated in studies looking at the effects of Pilates exercise on Urinary Stress Incontinence as well as the topic of Diastasis Recti. Recent publications include: Diastasis Recti Abdominis: A Survey of Women’s Health Specialists for Current Physical Therapy Clinical Practice for Postpartum Women – published in the Journal of Women’s Health Physical Therapy Vol 36(3) September/December 2012.
In 2002, Chantal founded Body Insight Inc. and then went on to produce two exercise and rehabilitation DVDs – Strong Knees and Pain Free at Work.
She has been featured as a wellness expert in Women’s Day Magazine, Women’s World Magazine, Alternative Medicine Magazine, Oxygen and The Morning Call.
In 2019, Chantal became certified as a Resilience Toolkit Facilitator (www.theResilienceToolkit.com). This new knowledge allows her to teach patience how to minimize pain and health problems by settling their own nervous systems.
Chantal currently practices physical therapy and stress management at her private clinic in Pasadena, California. She combines traditional, hands-on therapy techniques (such as soft tissue techniques and joint mobilization), exercise, and nervous system regulation (aka: tools for stress management) to help her patients through the recovery of various physical dysfunctions.
Chantal lives in South Pasadena, California with her husband, Ed, and their teenage son. She is the shortest in the family and that is OK with her. She is fluent in French, can swear in Arabic, and loves, loves, loves to travel.
