Pre-Pilates and Beyond – by Christina Maria Gadar

Issue #312 – Wednesday, September 23, 2020 Pre-Pilates and Beyond by Christina Maria Gadar   “I give people homework, like exercises to do in bed before you even put your feet on the floor in the morning. We don’t pop ‘em into a class and command them to do a […]

Pilates at School A Dream Has Come True! by Eva Obenaus

Issue #309 – Wednesday, August 26, 2020 Pilates at School A Dream Has Come True! by Eva Obenaus I was a teacher of physical education and history at a Commercial High School in Austria from 1978 until 2017. In 2004, I started my Pilates education with Juliana Afram in Hamburg, […]

Position, Posture and Alignment – by Carol Robbins

Issue #308 – Wednesday, August 19, 2020 Position, Posture and Alignment by Carol Robbins Semantics is the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning. When we have a discussion with another person, it’s important that the words you use have a meaning that is agreed upon by both people or confusion […]

Motivation – A Critical Factor for Success by Adam McAtee

Issue #302 – Wednesday May 27, 2020 Motivation – A Critical Factor for Success by Adam McAtee   The work of Pilates is vast; as time progresses, it may have a significant impact on one’s physical and mental fitness. However, one could argue that we only receive as much benefit […]

Joe’s Breaststroke by Reiner Grootenhuis

Issue #301 – Wednesday May 20, 2020 Joe’s Breaststroke by Reiner Grootenhuis There are certain exercises in our Pilates system which seem to be difficult when you do them for the first time … and they often stay difficult even when you keep on practicing them. For many of us, […]

Coming into the Zone with Pilates – by Suzanne Martin

Issue #300 Wednesday May 5, 2020 Coming into the Zone with Pilates by Suzanne Martin Breathing is a major principle in our Pilates tradition. Mr. Pilates continually emphasizes breathing in Return to Life. I believe we can all agree that all movement starts with a breath as movement emanates from […]

Shifting Stances – by Penelope Shure

Wednesday, April 1, 2020 Shifting Stances by Penelope Shure Pilates stance was the first position I learned in the first Pilates session I ever took, 20 years ago. Footwork on the reformer, heels together, toes apart but not too far apart like ballet first position as I automatically went into. […]

Engage Deeper into your Teaching – by Clare Dunphy Hemani

March 12, 2020 Engage Deeper into your Teaching by Clare Dunphy-Hemani I think most Pilates teachers today share the belief that our lineage has value because the connection back to Joe, either directly or through one of his students (our elders), helps keep the tradition alive.  It wasn’t that long […]

“Embodied” Pilates by Allie Greene

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 “Embodied” Pilates  by Allie Greene Embodiment is being internally aware as a body rather than an outside observation of the body. It is a subjectively felt sense of ourselves. It is the “being” rather than the “doing”. It is within the process of embodiment where we can […]

To Be or Not To Be a Teacher – by Kaisa Marran

Issue #289 – Wednesday, February 5, 2020 To Be or Not To Be a Teacher by Kaisa Marran Pilates teachers rock, they change people’s lives! Joseph Pilates may not have been a great teacher, but he was a genius, no doubt. He had an obsession where nothing stopped him working […]

Benjamin the Brave – by Christina Maria Gadar

January 22, 2020 Benjamin the Brave  by Christina Maria Gadar Throughout my Pilates apprenticeship and the many years of continuing education that followed my Pilates certification, I learned to believe that Pilates was not appropriate for children. On the first day of my Pilates apprenticeship, I jotted down “No children […]

Airplane on the Cadillac – by Reiner Grootenhuis

November 6, 2019 Airplane on the Cadillac by Reiner Grootenhuis Setup: Attach traditional leg springs at a height of 80 – 85 cm / 31.5 – 33.5 inches. The higher the spring attachment, the easier raising the body into the diagonal becomes. Supine position with the head pointing toward the […]

The Curvy Road – A Path Created by Scoliosis by Karena Thek

The Curvy Road – A Path Created by Scoliosis  By Karena Thek (Note from the guy who likes to butt in where he can:  the irritating ‘he’ in intro paragraph is none other than your humble Brett) “I think you should write about your life, your personal background,” he said. […]

Interview with Kristi Cooper of Pilates Anytime

Oct 16, 2019 Interview with Kristi Cooper of Pilates Anytime B: Hi Kristi how are you doing? K: Hi Brett I’m great today B Great so tell us about your start in Pilates, please. K: I moved to Del Mar, Southern California, as a 13 year old girl. I was […]

The Amazing Chest Expansion – by Clare Dunphy-Hemani

October 9, 2019 The Amazing Chest Expansion by Clare Dunphy-Hemani I guess if I had to pick one universally effective, versatile Pilates exercise (which in my opinion, should be taught in every session and for nearly every person), it would be Chest Expansion. It includes all the essentials of total […]

Footwork is Everywhere – by Reiner Grootenhuis

September 25, 2019 Footwork is Everywhere by Reiner Grootenhuis   For most of us Pilates enthusiasts, “Footwork” is a series of exercises we do on the Reformer or in a similar, but not quite the same, way on the Wunda Chair or the Electric Chair – even if some might […]

Mind or Body? by Eddie Adi Ron

Mind or Body? by Eddie Adi Ron September 19, 2019 Pilates is an effective platform for strengthening the body and the mind. Naturally, we base our teaching and our evaluation of students mostly on physical skills. But today, more than ever, I feel that mental, emotional, and cognitive skills are […]

Cueing Stabilization – by Teri Lee Steele

Cueing Stabilization by Teri Lee Steele September 11, 2019 Recently, I overheard an instructor at a teacher’s conference ask, “How do you know if you are becoming a good teacher?” To which she answered, “Look at your students. Are they doing what you are asking of them?” This brought many […]

Forget That Cue! – by Mara Sievers

Forget That Cue! – Three Wrong Cues for the Shoulder Girdle by Mara Sievers August 21, 2019 Guiding your student with your words is a combination of skill and art. Sometimes we overuse cues or apply certain cues to a movement where it’s not appropriate. You might or might not […]

Why Use Directed Imagery? by Julia Wyncoll

Why Use Directed Imagery? by Julia Wyncoll August 14, 2019 I recently had a fellow Pilates teacher tell me, “Some of my clients don’t like images, so we don’t use them.” Well, I’m here today to challenge this idea, because it’s my belief that we are all using images all […]

A New Twist On Snake/Twist – by ‘Swami’ Doug Bentz

A New Twist On Snake/Twist’ On Snake/Twist! by Swami Doug Bentz June 20, 2019   Seeing as it is nearly summer and everything is blossoming and glowing with a sense of new life, why not bring some “newness” into your Pilates practice and to your clients? My intent with this […]

Bringing it Back to Gravity by Adam McAtee

June 12, 2019 Bringing it Back to Gravity by Adam McAtee For one reason or another, we live in a time where countless individuals in developed countries struggle to adequately complete a full-range squat and are potentially living with a dysfunctional gait. These limitations may not only inhibit their daily […]

What I Know, What I Give, and What I Think

Credit to Pilates Anytime May 29, 2019 What I Know, What I Give, and What I Think by Ruth Alpert “You can only teach what you know,” my beloved teacher, colleague and friend Michele Larsson used to say. What I know: How to work with bodies that have special needs, […]

It Does Matter – by Sabrina Ellen Svard

Issue #264 & #265- Wednesday, May 8 – 15, 2019 IT DOES MATTER! By Sabrina Svard I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. How did I get so weak so fast? None of this made any sense. I tried everything. I moved forward on the box. I moved backward on […]

Humble Cueing – by Eme Cole

Issue #261 – Wednesday, April 24, 2019 Humble Cueing By Eme Cole   Recently, I was taking a group mat class and about halfway through the class, the instructor proclaimed “People, I am very good at cueing, so if you’re not doing the exercise properly, it’s because you’re not listening!” […]