Just a couple months ago, I shared how I got started practicing Pilates. It was a movement practice that I started and stopped many times before it turned into a start, and a never stop. I’ve had a daily Pilates practice for many years that I’ve lost count of the number of days, weeks, months, and years. Some days, it’s a 1 hour long practice, some 30 minutes, occasionally even less than 30 minutes. Regardless, I practice Pilates everyday. Now granted, I know I’m a lucky gal to have my very own Pilates studio down a hallway of my house, but even before then, I would roll out a mat, and practice. Or I’d practice some standing Pilates exercises, even using a wall at times. Knowing the mat order, and/or standing Pilates exercises means you take Pilates wherever you go, even while you’re traveling. There’s been many hotel towels I’ve used as my mat. Pilates on a beach towel – been there, done that! I swear some exercises are easier on sand.
This month, I’d like to share with you how my career as a Pilates teacher began. After being a student for about 7 years at a Pilates studio a few towns over from where I lived, a teacher training program was offered, and this time, the format of that year’s teacher training program worked into my regular day job schedule, and life, in general.
The training in 2012 was the mat portion only. Not only did I practice teaching at the studio, but I also taught out of my home, as well as at my student’s homes. Yep, I was a traveling teacher that year! Part of a teacher training program is that you must get your own Pilates practice in. How can you teach movement when it’s not embodied? Come to think of it, I think that is the year that my daily Pilates practice began.
In 2013 the teacher training for the apparatuses was offered. The requirement was that you could only get accepted into that training only after successfully passing the mat training. Honestly, when I first started the training program, I thought I’d only teach mat. It was only through teaching mat to folks, and those same folks asking me when I was going to teach them on the apparatus they saw at the studio, that I took a closer look at my calendar to see how I would manage that training.
I’m so thankful I did that first comprehensive training program to get the whole picture of Pilates. So, a HUGE THANK YOU to my Pilates studio, my Pilates teachers, and most especially, my students during those 2 training years. I wouldn’t be here today without those students. I was able to teach private sessions, and group classes both on the mat and the apparatuses.
My next major comprehensive teacher training were 2 separate programs I completed in 2022. One in-person through a teacher who comes from Romana Kryzanowska’s lineage, and one virtual through a teacher who comes from Jay Grimes’ lineage. How does this compare to the first training program, you ask? The best way I can describe this is by giving an analogy. If you consider my first comprehensive training program as getting my bachelor’s degree, then the next 2 comprehensive training programs were getting my graduate degree TIMES TWO! The 2 programs I completed in 2022 were similar, yet different. All of this comes through my teaching these days, whether it’s private sessions, semi-private sessions (duets), and group classes on the mat.
In between those comprehensive training programs, over the years, I’ve taken a number of specialized courses here and there offered by other Pilates studios and teachers because I really am a student at heart. To this very day, I approach my teaching with a lot of curiosity, and a deep desire to help others feel better in their daily lives. If you’re interested in working with me, and don’t know how to start, or wondering if Pilates is right for you, then contact me for a 1:1 phone consult, and let’s discuss.