About me: (nutshell version, you can thank me later) I’ve been an artist, comic, actress, dancer (not the long lithe willowy ballerina type- think more the shorter athletic gymnastic jazz type) and of all things (don’t laugh, I’m old) mime. I am still a hairdresser, was a mortgage loan officer, and for eight years I was a nurse in an urgent care unit. I have tried it all and not knowing about do-overs, I didn’t want any regrets.
Always had my head in anatomy and physiology books and my body in dance and fitness classes. Since I was the most well-known ‘unknown’ in Vegas for several years, I realized I had to find a way to make a living (see all of the above). I took my knowledge of movement and following the Jane Fonda craze got Ace/Idea and AFFA certified and taught in local gyms and private studios everywhere.
The same ole somethin somethin = ennui in my book ..and around the late 90’s I had bought my first Jennifer Kries video.
Having become bored brainless with the pedestrian choreography that the general population found intriguing, not to mention the bouncy boob-jobbed, botoxed boy-short wearing women and no-neck biceps-kissing Neanderthals who are constantly checking themselves out in the mirror, I started bringing in some of the Pilates moves I was learning and my classes became interesting to me again. The work is different and it’s hard. I like the mental and physical challenge. I’m taking women into the weight room and giving them exercises that don’t make them into hulks, with 2 lb hand weights (seriously????), people made fun until they saw their bodies change.
I remember celebrating 1999 and getting down with my bad self listening to Prince, thinking I want to start the year 2000 with a real skill set, and quit making it up as I go along. Pilates was the cool new kid on the block, and I wanted to be the first one to bring the secret to the stars and the hot new fitness buzz to my current hometown. And honestly it seemed like Pilates teachers were taken more seriously than gym rats and personal trainers, aligning themselves with wellness professionals, plus the look (amazing bodies and the clothes were cooler).
I took apparatus lessons from a local private studio and flippin’ loved the springs, loved the fact that no one else had this kind of apparatus, and look at at all the cool death defying things you can do on a carriage that has only 1 spring, or how ridiculously hard it is to do pikes/pull ups on this crazy kind of chair with a pedal. OMG! A move called ‘magician’ on something called a ‘trap table’. I was in LOVE! My Chinese astrological sign is Fire Monkey and finally it felt like I had arrived. I didn’t learn any Matwork..didn’t even really know it existed with the exception of my JK videos and actually thought that it was the poor stepchild to this cool crazy gymnastic stuff with springs.
My teacher said she was opening a studio and would I get a Matwork certification so I could teach for her. I was thrilled, honored, and wanted the cool title of ‘Pilates Teacher’. I’m in the elite club I thought!
I got Matwork certification immediately, running her studio and still mystified by how to set up the machines and springs which have all those different colors. Enter Pilates conferences….and my mind is blown by all the different schools and styles and apparatus differences- my version of sparkly shiny things. I buy every book and take classes from those she suggested, but the ones that attracted me most were the athletic, crazy hard, ‘look what I can d’o ones. I completed her teacher training course, I was certified and I still hadn’t even HEARD of classical Pilates, hadn’t seen a classical reformer or chair, and only knew from different colored springs.
I was now THE teacher in the studio that was given the hard bodies – the animals, the ones who want it the craziest. I pulled out all the tricks I knew, taught circuits (we called ’em circus), groups and was really different from the quiet whispering babying classes and privates that she taught. But I wasn’t earning any kind of money yet, I had to pass the PMA to get a pay raise and so I did.
Fast forward a few years and I got brave and went out on my own. “If you build it they WILL come”, my husband said, and they did. As I look back on my early years as a Pilates teacher, and I use the term loosely as I’m appalled by the thought that I believed what I was teaching was great stuff, I have re-educated myself many times over and am just now finding a real pride in my work. I feel a connection to my esteemed teachers and I now understand the order and how to choose the proper exercise to get the result the client needs.
In such a roundabout way, ride the horse in the direction it’s going, grasshopper…I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl but in the next life, I suggest to try before you buy. Take a more direct route, use the internet and research before spending the big education dollars.
There’s so much more info out there now about Pilates. As a teacher, I stay a constant student. As a business owner, it’s a baptism by fire and a learn by doing process, have boundaries and don’t be afraid to use them.
Studio S Pilates is a learning ground of the highest order and a playground with the coolest toys ever.
Sunni is owner of Studio S Pilates, which has recently hosted a few big named Classical teachers, such as Siri Dharma Galliano, Jennifer Kries and Andrea Maida, and has some more workshops and goodies in the works for the coming year.
Website: www.temeculapilates.co
Email: studio_s@icloud.com