Ep 32: The Absolutely fabulous women of Primal Movement WORKS

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tpp-ep-32Join me in this fantastic interview with the talented, funny, and successful band of mighty misfits, the founders of Absolute Center in Lafayette, CA: Claudia Moose, Katie Santos, and Louise Johns.

In this episode you’re going to get a lot of laughs (that’s I think par for the course with us), get a ton of great insight into how to make business partnerships not only work, but thrive and discover more about the origins of Primal Movement Works and their upcoming teacher training.

You may have heard Claudia on our last podcast “Live from the PMA”. If you did, then you know that you’re in for a treat. If not, let’s not waste any more time…

Below you’ll find two of our cool new podcast elements: Heroes and Pro tips. We hope you love these new additions and they bring a little more value to your teaching.

 

Heroes

First on our list is one of Claudia’s favorite books:

And if you haven’t checked out what osteopath and acupuncturist Phillip Beach is doing, we highly recommend you investigate his book:

Not only does the Primal Movement Works training program draw from Beach’s work, his archetypal postures and erectorcises are making a huge impact in the Pilates community as we look beyond fixed structure and predetermined movement to something that’s more resilient and truly human.

Our final “hero” is a little self-serving but also deeply in the service of moving our professional industry into the digital health arena. If you’re a regular listener you heard me interview Pilates Metrics founder, Joseph Quinn in Episode 29.

Pilates Metrics is an outstanding and powerful new cloud-based ipad app that is ultimately helping Pilates become more credible and viable as a proven tool for injury prevention and rehabilitation. What it does for you is help you plan, program, track and assess digitally, which provides more concrete data and more motivation for you and the student to stay the course, adapt, build and progress through the Pilates work.

The app itself is incredibly malleable allowing you to choose from 9 or 10 exercise libraries to work from. The libraries provide a technical and philosophical platform from which you teach. Some of them are based solely on a school’s training curriculum like Polestar and Fletcher Pilates. Others, like the one Skillful Teaching created, is based on a teaching philosophy.

The heart and soul of the Skillful Teaching library is a WHOLE PERSON TEACHING approach.

 

Pro Tip

Given all of that, our pro-tip for this episode is Keep it Simple and Let it go. Let go of form and explore what movement potential exists in the body as it is. See if you can find ways to open the body up to it’s own current potential rather than being so focused on what movement should look like. One way I’ve found to do this, working with the spirals of the feet in foot work is to deliberately work off center and to move through the varying angles and positions of the foot as the load of the springs oscillates and progresses. Watch how your student adapts, where they’re compensating in the knees, pelvis, low back and shoulders.

The caveat is that you work on a relatively light spring (1R, 1B to 2R) and the body you’re working with doesn’t have any acute foot, ankle, knee or hip issues. Keep your students safe, of course, but let them see how their bodies can move out of alignment. I think what you’ll find is that they have way more potential than you thought.

I’d love to know how that goes.

 

Links and Resources

Upcoming Primal Movement WORKS Training:

  • Primal Foundations
    • January 28th & 29th
    • Register HERE

Connect With Us

Reach us Individually

 

  • Chantill – chantill@skillfulteaching.com
    • Phone – (707) 738-7951
  • Debora – dkolwey@gmail.com

Thinking Pilates Podcast - Connect with Us

Ep 30: Geeking out w/ Anna Hartman – Wow! What?! That’s AWESOME!

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Welcome to our 30th podcast! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to give you a peek into one of the most curious and beautiful brains I’ve ever…met? gotten to know? had the pleasure of learning from? All of the above I suppose.

Anna Hartman is kind of magical. She’s all heart and soul, but has a brain to match. An athletic trainer by education and practice 16 + years, Anna is a seeker and brings to the table a spectacular combination of thoughtfulness and excitement for understanding the body.

She’s is not only a Polestar trained Pilates teacher, she’s also a certified yoga teacher, and works deeply with fascial-oriented training, dry needling, and is currently studying visceral manipulation at the Barral Institute.

I’ve rarely met someone more integrative in their approach and as kind, humble, and ready to share everything she knows on the spot.

Trust me when I say you’re going to leave this podcast lifted up and ready to go!

Learn more about her teaching, training, and work here @ MovementREV. You can also visit her FB page here.

Ep: 29 – Digital Health Meet Joseph Quinn & Pilates Metrics

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Big data and digital health meet Pilates.

Pilates meet big data and digital health.

Who’s responsible for this titillating and powerful introduction? Enter Joseph and Karine Quinn, owners of Real People Pilates in Berkeley, CA and founders of the new app for Pilates teachers by Pilates teachers – Pilates Metrics, launching NOW!

Join me and my dear friend and colleague Joseph Quinn for a revealing, funny, and personal conversation as we talk about the future of Pilates, how we got our start under the same mentor, and just exactly how much you should tip when you eat out with kids.

Learn about how he — with the help of so many other wonderful Pilates teachers, enthusiasts, and professionals — is about to rocket us into the digital health arena and PROVE the validity of Pilates as a preventative health tool.

Laugh, laugh some more, get fired up and inspired, and laugh some more!

Pilates Metrics is going to change how we do what we do, and I’m betting that even if you’re not the “techy” type you won’t be able to say no to the long term power this app is sure to lead to.

You can also learn more about the Skillful Teaching unique Exercise Library that we created especially for Pilates Metrics. If you like what we’re about, you’re going to love the way we think about and teach Pilates. Get the details of our library HERE.

Ep 28: No Fucking Around – James Crader is the real deal

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In all honesty, James Crader is one of the most exceptional teachers I’ve ever met (as can be seen by the fact that I’ve also written an article about him). I’m definitely nursing a teacher crush — no reason to deny it — that is based on more than our love of profanity (this podcast was originally called “No Fucking Around: James Crader is the real deal!”, which I still prefer) and not taking ourselves too seriously.

James is the kind of teacher who makes you want to be a better person and that, I think, says it all.

He is the owner of Evolved Body Studio in Gold River, CA and a champion of his students no matter if they’re professional athletes, which they are, or quadriplegic, which they are.

James’s teaching is rooted in his depth of knowledge, experience, and fundamental perspective as a myofascial release massage therapist. He brings intuition, kindness, skill, and critical thinking to bear on his work as well as a commitment to helping each of his students propel themselves to new levels of success, big or small.

Spend an hour with us and dive into topics like how perception shapes everything in our teaching, positive emotions shape perception, shifting your cueing to support self-discover in your students, and so much more. We chat about working with spinal cord injuries, being comfortable with our wrong moves and getting “no” for an answer — that beautiful field of opportunity that opens up when we don’t get things just right.

Learn more about James here: http://www.evolvedbodystudio.com/
Follow him on Instagram at: @project_move_u
Read articles by James here: www.pilatesintel.com

P.S. Our original podcast title “No Fucking Around: James Crader is the real deal”, although the absolute most honest and appropriate title, was changed for no other reason than it was decided on without the overt consent of this podcast’s sometimes co-host Debora Kolwey. And although she did not object to the title in the least the new one felt to me (Chantill) a more accurate reflection of the podcast’s original intent and our shared vision.

Read more about the very engaging and thoughtful conversation that took place on the ST blog and Facebook around using the F word in your work, here).

Ep. 27: When change hits the fan…discerning in the big picture.

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If you ever struggle with UNCERTAINTY, or ever find yourself feeling UNCOMFORTABLE with NOT KNOWING — this is your podcast!

I feel like I could say this EVERY time we do a show, but this one was really awesome! It’s the third in a continued conversation about how to be present and aware in our teaching (moment-by-moment) and our teaching careers so that we can truly discern; discern our short- and long-term direction, where we are going, who we are, who we aren’t, what we want to teach, where and with whom we want to teach, and ultimately what kind of human being we want to be.

We have two wonderful guests for this episode, Skillful Teaching lead mentor, Trinity Minty, and Discover Happy Pilates studio owner,  Amanda Rhine of Decorah, IA. Both ladies give us a rich perspective on what it’s like to face change in teaching, in our studio environments, and in our LIVES.

Wow, wow, wow! A very relevant and almost philosophical conversation (I know, this tends to be our MO) that I think will MOVE you for sure!

Always digging deep…So if you’re ready to get a little dirty, but come out on the other side squeaky clean with clarity, LET’S GO!

 

Ep. 26: From mimicry to original thought…How does it happen?

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The path to taking your seat as a teacher.
The evolution of the teacher within.
How do you become the teacher you are, not the one you were trained to be?

This is one our BEST PODCASTS to date! We have two wonderful teachers join the conversation and offer their perspective on when they really felt like they took ownership of their teaching, what inspired them, how they did it and why.

Our conversation looks at what it means to discern for yourself, make your own choices about all the myriad aspects of teaching especially those that are moment-to-moment: what we say, how we say it, our priorities and goals, and how all of this more or less starts to chisel away at the unique teacher we are to become.

This is a continuation of episode 25 and will bridge over in to episode 27 when we look at the same idea of creating ourselves as teachers but from a larger, macro view: who are we as teachers, as people? When and how do we begin to discover and express our vision for teaching and being of service…the things that create sustainability and fulfillment for the long run.

Listen and stay tuned!

Ep. 25: Missed Opportunities in Teaching – How to recognize and utilize pivotal opportunities for potent teaching

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It happens to the best of us. We get in our own way. In this episode Chantill and Debora explore how we can get caught in our own agendas or lack of confidence and miss valuable opportunities to bring power and precision to our teaching.

Whether you’re a new teacher focused on mastering complex choreography or an experienced teacher focused on working the minutia of a single body part it is possible, and sometimes very likely, that you miss opportunities to dig deep with your students, distracted by your plan.

In this podcast:

  • What kinds of opportunities should we be looking for and how those opportunities sometimes depend on where we are in our teaching path, how much experience we have.
  • How to identify an opportunity and let it lead the way without being wishy washy.
  • How to utilize an opportunity AND still maintain flow and forward motion in a class or session (rather than getting mired down in the micro view, which is very easy to do). We talk about this as creativity within a consistent framework.
    • How does the “framework” differ – what are your priorities – if you are a brand new teacher versus a more experienced teacher?
  • How “seeing” opportunities is linked to self-confidence, trusting what you see, and following a hypothesis to see if you’re on track.

You’re going to take away a ton of great stuff from this one AND it is a preview of Ep. 26 where we interview several teachers about how to develop discernment in their teaching. Discernment is, after all, one way we are able to identify those juicy opportunities to turn our teaching into something more than just rote instruction.

Ep. 24: All About Eve Gentry

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This is, what I’m sure will be, the first of several conversations with Debora Kolwey — our Thinking Pilates Podcast co-host — about one of her teachers and mentors, Eve Gentry.

Our chat takes place right after Debora was a speaker on a panel at the PMA conference on Eve and her work. It’s a very rich look at what Eve’s legacy is, what it means to one teacher and what it potentially means to entire community of teachers.

Learn more about Eve’s work, her unique personal gifts and see what teaching movement could look like when taken from Eve’s dynamic and powerful perspective.

Ep 23: Special Edition #2 – What it Really Means to Teach From Within

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This is the second special edition episode where you get to hear an honest and revealing conversation with teachers who’ve just completed 30 days of dedicated self-practice.

These episodes are SO worth listening to.

Gain insight and inspiration from other teachers who are putting in diligent and dedicated work to understand their motivation to practice and deepen the richness of their experience in movement.