The Vertical Workshop’s Blog

This Thanksgiving, I say my great thanks to Pilates.  How fortunate I am to spend my life teaching Pilates!  It’s remarkable, really.

How fortunate I am that I pursue my passion everyday.  You’re lucky, too!

What we do is truly challenging.  More than most people know.  But we know it.  Still, we are truly fortunate. 

We spend our lives doing something so very luxurious.  Training other people in this incredible method.  And most of us teach people who are financially fortunate.  It’s a true luxury. 

Pursuing your passion is a gift.  Most of the people around you don’t pursue their passions.  And I won’t speak for you, but I will speak for myself:  Pilates is my great passion.  I never take it for granted and I do treasure every hour that I teach.  I even treasure the administrative work.

Not everyone knows his/her passion.  Not everyone knows how to seek it out.  Perhaps Pilates is not your passion, but maybe it will lead you to whatever is.

If Pilates is your passion, then I implore you to remind yourself on a daily basis how special it is.  You are probably working in a high-rent district, with very wealthy clients.  You probably don’t have to work very many hours a week.  Your hourly wage that you sometimes complain about is far higher than the minimum-wage; it’s far higher than the hourly temp-wage you used to work for.  Take a moment today to remember why you became a Pilates teacher.  Take a moment to be thankful that you were able to pursue it.  Even if this is not your be-all-end-all job…it’s a pretty great one!Thank you for reading my blog!  Let me know if there is something specific about Pilates that you would like me to write about…and I will!  I’ll post a new blog in a couple of days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Practicing what we preach is essential as a teacher.  Whether we teach Pilates or any other discipline, we must practice what we teach.  Of course, life is busy.  We all get incredibly busy, but to be great teachers, we have to practice what we teach.

It’s no surprise that this second blog is about responsibility.  The responsibilities of a teacher are vast.  We not only must instruct, but teach.  We must not only teach our clients, but live what it is that we teach. 

But how when there’s so much to juggle and life is so busy?  How?

           Start by practicing Pilates 3 times a week.  (Yes…I just wrote “3”.  Not 1, but 3.)  If we encourage our clients to do so, then we must, too.  Why?  Because it works. 

If we teach or practice Pilates, a workout that balances Stability, Strength, Stretch and Stamina, then perhaps we can attempt to bring that balance and those 4 points in to all parts of our lives.

Yes, you have a busy schedule.  Yes, you have children.  Yes, you have errands to run.  It can be done.  Your clients do it.  You can do it, too.

Schedule your Pilates sessions in to your week.  Schedule your own workouts around your clients.  Yes, it’s a well-known fact that I go a little beyond what I would expect another to do.  Every day that I teach Pilates, I do Pilates.  I don’t expect or encourage anyone else to do that.  That’s my practice, but doesn’t have to be yours, but I do encourage you to work yourself out 3 times a week, your full 55 minute session.  As a teacher, when you do your full workouts 3 times a week – 55 minutes each – then you will keep rediscovering what you thought you already knew…and that’s exciting!

Maybe I’m just simple-minded, but I prefer to think of myself as dedicated:  I find new and interesting things in each exercise every time I do it…and apparently I do it every day!  If I only taught the exercises and never or rarely practiced them, I wouldn’t make the discoveries that I make on a daily basis!  These discoveries I pass on to my clients and my apprentices.

Pilates is a physical workout.  It’s not an intellectual endeavor to be theorized.  It is to be physically practiced and physically discovered over and over again.

This is harsh, but you know it’s true:  When we get bored, it’s because we’re boring ourselves.  So…if you find yourself getting bored, then hop on the apparatus and give yourself a session.  Follow that up with a phone call to your favorite teacher and schedule yourself to take a session! 

And enjoy!  Enjoy what you teach!  Teaching is a large part of your life  If it’s not in weight of importance, then it is in hours…make something of it for yourself on a very personal level.  Practice what you teach!  It’s fun!

     This is my very first blog!  I hope you will return to read on about Pilates, Health and Fitness for some time to come.  I will add a new blog once a week.  It will always relate to our business.  I hope you find it informative!  If you have any questions about what I write or about Pilates in general, contact me here!

     A lovely coincidence, my first blog coincides with the 2007 PMA Conference! 

     What a wonderful community we work in!  And it truly is becoming a community.  There is less and less in-fighting, more and more working together.  The PMA Conference is a wonderful place to see this all come together.

If you’ve never gone before, then I encourage you to be part of the 2008 conference.  It’s in Phoenix in 2008.  If you’re a Pilates instructor, it’s important to go!  And Pilates enthusiasts, too! 

     What’s so special about it?  The Pilates Method Alliance Conference as well as all the other conferences (Body Mind Spirit Expo and Pilates Style to name two) encourage us all to learn from each other.  Share our knowledge.  Respect our differences. 

     Years ago, I was part of Pilates community that worked very hard to exclude anyone who was different.  We coveted The Method, we coveted the history, we coveted knowledge.  That’s terribly sad.  So sad.  How can we be true instructors, let alone teachers, and covet knowledge?  Exclude?  It’s shameful! 

     The truth is that I didn’t know anything else then, but I do now.  And now that I do…I work to make up for the past, create a better present and open up more for the future.  It is mine and truly our responsibility to share…to help…to create a community of help.

     “A Community of Help”.  It’s my greatest desire and I think my biggest passion these days.  Those of us in the service industry of Pilates work to make sure we’re giving our clients what they need, not what they don’t need.  We have to put our minds and hearts in to considering what will help them in Pilates and that particular day…for that particular person.  Then we also have to make sure we give ourselves what we need.  Take time to consider what you truly need in yourself and in life.  Only when you know your own needs can you then give purely to another.

     If we wish to help another; give help, then we must be able to ask for help, too.  Yes…ask for help.  In small ways and sometimes in big ways, we must be able to ask for help.  That doesn’t mean that you are weak, lacking in ability, stupid…no…it only means that you are human and part of something bigger than yourself.

     You ask for help…you give help…you create a community in your studio where that is the value system.  You give information freely.  You do not covet.  You teach from your heart.  You try not to resent or react. 

     Now, don’t get me wrong, we’re all human!  We sometimes don’t have the energy to give that day.  We sometimes fear competition.  We sometimes fear giving it all away.  That’s normal.  That’s ok.  But it’s not ok to take action that works in to those fears!  You must take action that works against those fears!

     Give more freely!  Create “A Community of Help” in your studio.

     Join the PMA if you haven’t already.  Be part of this Pilates community.  Make it your Pilates community.  It’s incredible! 

     Talk with people who do not work within your style of Pilates.  See them for their value.  You don’t have to like or agree with what they teach, but you still may learn something;  you still may find them likeable people.  Get to know your community.  Open yourself up!

     What an incredible gift of a life we have in Pilates!  What a beautiful luxury!  Take the greatest advantage of this luxury and create “A Community of Help”!