By Nicole Rogers

Owning your own business is a tough job. Most Pilates professionals know this because they’ve had some experience going into business for themselves. Freelancers, studio owners, and people who teach from their homes can all share stories about the joys and challenges of being your own boss.

So what happens when your partner in business is also your partner in life? With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we thought it would be a great time to look into these Pilates-studio romances. We found three couples—the Collets, the Winters and the McCullochs—willing to open up and share the ins and outs of being in the ultimate Pilates partnership.

Pilates circuit work at J.L. Body Conditioningby Lauren Charlip

We’ve noticed several Pilates group equipment circuit classes pop up lately, so we decided to rustle up the instructors who teach them for a closer look at this new trend. Some teach just one circuit hour a week and some base a large chunk of their business on group circuit work. Each has their own unique way of running things. A few themes did emerge among the instructors we spoke to: They all agree that multiple-apparatus work allows for a deeper, more well-rounded experience for the client, and that a circuit class is an affordable way to reap those benefits. They also stressed the importance of previous experience on the Pilates equipment for clients before they join a circuit class; the more machines involved, the more complicated the skill set. For more details on how different studios and instructors are adopting this format, we’ve provided five takes on Pilates equipment circuit training from around the country.

Chicago
Chicago Pilates instructor Laurel Silverman teaches out of her home and rents space at One Mind Body & Being to teach group classes. She hit upon the circuit idea when only one client showed up for her Reformer class and she realized she could move her onto other apparatus. Because that client had mostly Reformer experience, the difference in the work was readily apparent. Silverman noted her client was making new connections and that it was much easier to gauge her strengths and weaknesses. “I started thinking clients who are only able to afford Reformer classes are being done a disservice without access to other equipment,” Silverman says. She began to spice up her Reformer classes with a new apparatus exercise here and there. “Clients really took to the idea. I first started incorporating one exercise that we would circuit through, then we would talk about it and compare,” Silverman says. “It was amazing to see changes when they got back on the equipment that they’re used to.”

By Lauren Charlip

Not only is Pilates for Pink a way to raise money for a great cause, but it has given two Los Angeles studio owners—with studios mere blocks away from each other—a reason to come together and put a new spin on the program.      

Maria Leone and Shari Berkowitz both own studios with teacher-training programs, a rare occurence in any neighborhood. Leone owns Bodyline, a PhysicalMind Institute certification studio, and Berkowitz owns The Vertical Workshop, and directs Power Pilates’ West Coast teacher-training program. Together they’re putting on programming for Pilates teachers that will raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation through Pilates for Pink this Sunday, October 18.

Each will be teaching a professionals-only mat class at Bodyline (which will also sponsor its own Pilates for Pink class for clients). Leone, ruminating on how she’d make her third year as a Pilates for Pink host different, came up with the idea of having a guest teacher.

By Nicole Rogers

Serendipity has played a role at every turn for Debbie Orlando and Ronda Arndorfer. Both women live in Wisconsin, but met through contacts at The Pilates Center in Boulder. Orlando is a graduate of the Masters Program there and is currently a certified teacher for the Masters Program. Arndorfer is currently enrolled in the Masters Program. While training in Boulder, people kept saying to Arndorfer, “You live in Wisconsin and you don’t know Debbie Orlando? You have to meet her!” They met shortly thereafter, and that was the beginning of Pilates on The Lake, a studio that is fast becoming a Midwestern magnet for Pilates teachers in training, as well as a serious but friendly place for locals to get fit—all in a peaceful, lakeside setting.

The graceful Gyrotonic exercises are often compared to yoga and tai chi. Image courtesy of Kinespirit. By Nicole Rogers

For Pilates instructors looking to branch out into another movement method—or add variety to their studio offerings—the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM® has become a popular choice. If you have yet to try it or are curious about learning more, read on.

Gyrotonic is a method of movement and an exercise system developed starting in the 1980s by Juliu Horvath. As with so many types of movement work, Gyrotonic was invented as a way to heal its founder’s own injuries. As a dancer, Horvath herniated three discs and suffered knee, shoulder and ankle injuries. He tried to rehab himself using Hatha yoga, which he felt injured him further. It was at this point that Horvath invented Gyrotonic intuitively by following what he refers to as “internal movement.” His pain diminished, and he lives a healthy, relatively pain-free life today.

“Continuing Ed” is our regular look at workshops, programs and other methods of exercise and bodywork that can enhance your skills as a Pilates teacher.

Image courtesy Timothy Gordon

By Nicole Rogers

The Alexander Technique is a method for reeducating the mind and body to eliminate unnecessary tension. It focuses on changing unhealthy movement habits in everyday life, creating a more relaxed, enjoyable and energetic experience.

The Alexander Technique is popular with musicians and performers. F.M. Alexander (1869-1955), the creator of the technique, was an Australian Shakespearian actor who suffered from chronic hoarseness. Through intense self-observation and experimentation, he conquered his hoarseness and developed what he called the primary control. According to the American Society for the Alexander Technique, “He named this relationship the primary control because he perceived it as primary in controlling posture, breath and movement.”

People with chronic pain, back problems, arthritis, asthma, repetitive strain and carpal tunnel syndrome have found particular success with the Alexander Technique. The medical community has widely endorsed the method, as well as respected scientists such as Dutch ethologist Nikolaus Tinbergen, who noted Alexander’s discoveries in his 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine acceptance speech. Clinical studies have even proven some of the Alexander Technique’s benefits. Suffice it to say, this is a form of body education that is well established and respected and will be around for a long time.

THE PILATES PERSPECTIVE ON THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE
Heather Snyder, a nationally certified Alexander Technique teacher and Pilates instructor and founder of The Graceful Body, a studio in New York, agreed to answer a few questions about the Alexander Technique and how it affects her as a Pilates instructor. She is a graduate of the Manhattan Center for the Alexander Technique, and she received her Pilates certification from Romana Kryzanowska.

A Functional Integration session. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor, courtesy The Feldenkrais Guild“Continuing Ed” is our regular look at workshops, programs and other methods of bodywork that can enhance your skills as a Pilates teacher.

 

 

 

 

By Nicole Rogers
The Olympic gold medal-winning Italian fencing team recently revealed Feldenkrais as their “secret weapon,” and many others rave about the benefits—pain and stress relief, enhancement of artistic and athletic performance, improved posture and balance. But it may be easier to experience Feldenkrais than to explain it.

The method was invented by a man named Moshe Pinhas Feldenkrais, with a long and impressive resume including degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, a D.Sc. in physics from the Sorbonne, work on a Van de Graaf generator used for atomic fission experiments, and extensive knowledge of Judo and Jujitsu. Before his death in 1984, Feldenkrais taught small groups of practitioners to continue teaching the method we know today as Feldenkrais. Now there are approximately 6,000 practitioners around the world.

The Feldenkrais Method is an educational system designed to improve awareness through movement. The Feldenkrais Institute of New York puts it this way: “An integration of biology, neuroscience and psychology, the Method explores the biological and cultural aspects of movement and posture, and how habitual ways of moving, feeling, and acting can constrain us to a small portion of our potential.” In other words, as humans we ordinarily learn to move well enough to function, but our abilities to function with greater ease and skill remain to be developed. The Feldenkrais Method teaches—through movement—how we can improve our capabilities to function in our daily lives.

There are two ways in which Feldenkrais is taught:
Awareness Through Movement – group classes
Functional Integration – a hands-on, one-on-one session with a practitioner

THE PILATES PERSPECTIVE ON FELDENKRAIS
O-Sel Nyima is a Pilates instructor and Feldenkrais practitioner in Brooklyn, NY. She invited me to her home to explain more about Feldenkrais and how it enhances her Pilates instruction.

By Nicole Rogers

Hospital for Special Surgery in New YorkAs the U.S. population grows older, and as the medical community gains a greater understanding of the benefits of Pilates, more Pilates professionals may have the opportunity to work in clinical settings with special populations. I sat down with one such instructor, Steven Fetherhuff, and asked him to share his experiences as one of two Pilates instructors at the prestigious Hospital for Special Surgery’s Integrative Care Center in New York.

Q: How did you initially find out about the Pilates program at the Integrative Care Center?
A: A colleague of mine, Sarah Faller, approached me about it. I used to work with Sarah at Alycea Ungaro’s studio. She’s the Pilates coordinator for the Integrative Health Care Center, and when she told me about it I was like, “That’s exactly what I want to do!”