Pilates
Mary Bowen, Part Two
It has been more than five decades since 81-year-old Pilates elder Mary Bowen began working with Joseph Pilates, and she has continued to develop and grow her own distinctive and charismatic style ever since.
Pilates Equipment Teaching Techniques
Pilates, like any fitness discipline, can be challenging to teach—especially for new instructors. After all, there are many aspects of teaching that take time and experience to improve, including motivating students, sequencing exercises and getting clients to follow verbal cues.
Equipment: Which Items Are Favorites?
What piece of Pilates equipment is your favorite, and why? For this issue, we asked instructors to share their equipment preferences, along with teaching tips and equipment mistakes to avoid.
Multitasking on the Chair
Spreading the Word About Pilates and MELT
Karin Singleton has worked in the fitness industry since 1994, and she loves helping people feel and live better. She owns Fitness Personified Ltd., a studio in Raleigh, North Carolina, and also works at Rex Wellness Center (part of UNC Health Care). A mind-body specialist, she teaches and trains using Pilates and the M.E.L.T. Method® (Myofascial Energetic Length Technique, or MELT) and is experienced in traditional strength, cardio and core training methodologies.
From Fitness Entrepreneur to Master Instructor Trainer
“Movement saved my life,” says PJ O’Clair, owner of ClubXcel/Northeast Pilates in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. O’Clair started her fitness career teaching jazz dance at 16 years old.
Lineage Links: Mary Bowen, Part 1
First-generation master teacher Mary Bowen is a Pilates treasure. At 81, she still shares her distinctive blend of Pilates and Jungian psychoanalysis with students as a full-time practitioner, calling her combined approach Pilates Plus Psyche.
Uniting the Industry: Transformation Stories
Can the group Pilates experience provide substantial benefits to clients? Nothing speaks louder than results! For this issue, we asked Pilates instructors and their clients to talk about the transformations they’ve experienced from group Pilates classes.
Pilates Equipment Maintenance Tips
What is your maintenance and service plan for caring for your valuable Pilates equipment? As part of our ongoing commitment to serving the Pilates community, IDEA Pilates Today asks you to share your secrets to studio success.
How to Handle the Hypermobile Client
Many Pilates clients fight to increase their flexibility. Some struggle to touch their toes, for instance, while others work hard to stretch their shoulders and some are barely able to sit cross-legged. But how do you handle the ones who are as pliable as Play-Doh and fight just to hold themselves in place?
A Pilates Approach to Posture and Alignment
Assessing clients’ posture or alignment can sometimes be overwhelming for both novice and experienced Pilates instructors. Even with all our knowledge of anatomy, kinesiology, movement and injuries, it can be hard to know where to start.
The 3-Core BodyMapping Perspective
Over my 40 years of teaching, I have come to deeply appreciate the innate intelligence of the body. I have learned to listen to its messages. Out of this appreciation and listening I have developed the 3-Core BodyMapping Perspective
Modifying Pilates for Clients With Osteoporosis
Find out who is at risk for fracture and which exercises they should avoid.
Teaching Pilates Mat Work, Part 2
In the first installment, printed in August, we looked at how Pilates mat workout is practice for life movement and introduced a four-step system to follow when teaching an exercise. In this installment we explore sequencing guidelines and how to apply all four steps in a Pilates exercise.
Lolita San Miguel’s Living Legacy
“Boundless energy,” “intense creativity” and “an enduring devotion to Pilates” are all phrases that Pilates professionals use in describing Lolita San Miguel. A first-generation master teacher, the 76-year-old San Miguel has taught and inspired Pilates teachers and students for more than 50 years.
Introducing Pilates to the Overweight Client
Pilates instructors working with an overweight clientele are passionate about their work. As with any special population, there needs to be a deep sense of compassion and understanding, great patience and a willingness to shift one’s approach to meet a client’s needs. Instructors must walk their talk by staying grounded and being present and attentive during their work; they must also create an energetic connection to clients that assures them they are safe.
From a Dream to a Multinational Brand
Angel Garcia, co-founder and co-owner of Akro and Akro Studio, Toledo, Spain, knew when he began his physiotherapy career that he wanted to combine physical therapy services with exercise training. Garcia’s studio achieved licensed teaching center status from STOTT PILATES® in 2005, and Garcia quickly became a leading instructor trainer in the Spanish-speaking world. Today, Akro is a four-story, 1,000-square-meter [10,674-square-foot] facility that has served more than 6,000 clients. Akro Studio has trained 2,387 new instructors since its inception.
How Do You Address Misconceptions About Pilates?
Dispelling Myths With Great Instruction
“‘Pilates is mostly for women.’ Because of this myth, we work hard to make sure our men’s class is outstanding. We designed it to enhance running, cycling and surfing, and all of our men comment on how the class has positively impacted their sport. It’s fantastic to see strong men get blown away by the subtle posture corrections and use of the core muscles. By the end of a session, they are sweating and high-fiving us for a great workout.
Pilates Touchdown
My teenage son is a high-school football player who suffered a season-ending concussion last fall. Once his doctors had cleared him to exercise, he began attending my Pilates reformer classes and incorporated some mat work at home.
Conscious Movement in Relationship to Gravity
Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle, director of the Pilates Center of Austin, is a pioneering voice for Pilates. From her start in yoga in the early 1970s, she plunged into Pilates during the 1990s, studying with first-generation Pilates elders and developing a reputation as a “teacher of teachers.”
How Do You Maintain Mind-Body Awareness in Group Classes?
Can students fully understand and experience the mind-body nature of Pilates amid the distractions and diversity of a group class setting? We asked instructors to tell us what they think and to describe how they strive to create and maintain mind-body awareness during group classes.