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Ep 16: Bridging The Disconnect – Working With Scoliosis & Osteoporosis

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This interview was one of the BEST I’ve done! I loved Lindy Royer from the moment we met (sounds like the beginning of a love story 😉 at the Balanced Body Faculty training many years ago. She’s got spunk. She’s smart, thoughtful, and no-nonsense. She sees her students as whole and gets straight to the nitty gritty. Talking to her about scoliosis and osteoporosis was one of the best things I could have done, both for myself, and for you.

Not only do we dive into some of the specifics of working with this population, we get down and dirty with what our primary responsibility is as teachers to ALL of our students and how this applies particularly to anyone who has been “diagnosed” with a something or other.

Definitely don’t miss this!

And if you’re into it, I bet you’d love to dig into the Unraveling Scoliosis & Osteoporosis Online Workshop that is available now for 6 PMA CEC’s! Check it out:

Ep 15: The First Conversation With Master Teacher Debora Kolwey

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Listen to an inspiring, intelligent, informative conversation that will spark your desire to be better at what you do and reassure you that you are not alone. Meet master teacher Debora Kolwey of The Pilates Center in Boulder, Co. She’s thoughtful, intelligent, and been in the biz for a freakin’ long time! She has something to say. Check it out.

Ep 14: SPECIAL EPISODE! The Origins of Pilates Part 2 – Don't miss this!

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Ep 13: SPECIAL EPISODE! The Origins of Pilates Part 1 – Don’t miss this!

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The Thinking Pilates Podcast is about providing you with awesome content about Pilates, the method itself and how to teach it, what it’s like to be a teacher and how we can EXCELL at teaching as a craft. That’s why from now on I’m giving you access to TONS of the most awesome interviews, workshops, and education I’ve put together in the past year. AND the podcast will continue to include awesome conversations with industry leaders and explorations of cutting edge topics on teaching with my co-host Debora Kolwey and other guest co-hosts.

Today, what you’re listening to is the first part of the Pilates Origins workshop that I created and hosted in August of 2014 where the Skillful Teaching mentoring group studies, discusses and dives deep into Joe’s original texts “Return to Life” and “Your Health.”

We also take a look at transitions in the advanced work.

If you’re interested in watching the video version of this workshop, you can get it free HERE:

Part 1

Part 2 

Ep 11: Developing Confidence Without Knowing All The Answers

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In this episode of The Thinking Pilates Podcast Chantill and Debora explore creating space within teaching, space to be without all the answers and navigate the myriad challenges of teaching by developing a strong self-practice. Hear about how to cultivate self-reliance, ownership, personal responsibility, a dedication to develop yourself as a human being, to be more comfortable with uncertainty, and to be compassionate with oneself all through SELF-CARE & SELF-PRACTICE. This is the third in a trio of podcasts on this topic…and it just keeps getting more awesome!

Ep 10: Stacey Mulvey: A Teacher’s Journey to Transformation, Change & Embodying The Practice

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In this episode Chantill interviews recent TT graduate Stacey Mulvey who shares with us her journey to becoming a Pilates teacher that was not only surprising but life changing.

Listen to Stacey’s story and find yourself, your struggles, fears, and successes in her experience – one that so many of us have shared. Learn more about how she embraced and embodied the method through physical practice, faced her fears, and learned to fake it to become it – to become a thoughtful, dedicated, and powerful teacher.

Ep 9: Becoming a Teacher – Breakdowns, Breakthroughs, and Support Along The Way

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In the next two episodes, Debora and I talk about the teacher training journey, where we can get held up, waylaid, thrown for a loop, lose our minds, and where and how we can support ourselves along the way.

If you are in the midst of your TT or newly out of training, I think you are really going to enjoy this show. We explore some cool ideas about how to “bring into the light” the challenges you may face, preparing, enlisting help and support, and what it means to stay committed to the path of being a teacher.

We are also looking for three types of teachers who would be interested in adding to this conversation:

  1. Those who are are just out of TT
  2. Those who are 1-5 years out of their TT
  3. And those teachers who are 5 years or more out of their TT

We are very interested in what you would say about the process of becoming a teacher, how it took shape during your TT and after, who shaped you, and what you learned about yourself. In essence, how has becoming a teacher changed you?

If you are interested in getting on the line with us and sharing your insights and your story, email me, Chantill, at thinkingpilatespodcast.com

Enjoy!

 

P.S. Episode 10 we interview a wonderful new teacher who shares how becoming a teacher has literally changed her life. You’ll want to check that out too!

 

 

Ep 8: The Power of Consistency – Creativity, Successful Learning & Safety

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In this episode, The Power of Consistency – Creativity, Successful Learning & Safety, we welcome another special guest, Melissa Kakavas, educational director at Evolve Movement in Raleigh, NC. We continue the very rich and super cool topic of using the original Pilates orders as a framework for fostering creativity, successful development of us as teachers as well as our students, and how they either allow us to keep our students safe or not… You won’t want to miss this!

Also, below you’ll see a comment from a teacher, educator, and high-level athletic trainer, Anna Hartman. She shares her thoughts on working with the orders. Please feel free to leave your comments and feedback as well!

 

Thoughts from our listeners:

 

Hi Chantill,

This is a great discussion. So many great points.

In my own practice, which is as a certified athletic trainer working on rehabilitation or preventative care with professional athletes I definitely value the importance of a plan. When I teach to PT and ATC students and colleagues this is something that I always stress. To have a plan and understand the reasoning or benefit behind both each exercise or technique and the plan as a whole and how it relates or is woven into your evaluation and observations of what the client needs and wants.

There are times in my practice that I have been overwhelmed with life or paperwork or administration and have lost the guidance of a plan or I had learned a new technique and been so excited to use my clients as an opportunity to practice and see how it works that the idea of a plan goes out the window. When I reflect on these moments I see how lost, sometimes needy and disengaged my athletes were, vs. when I worked from an exact plan that was consistent session to session they were focused and empowered to apply what they learned in other movement practices or with a home exercise program.  For myself, I definitely feel more present and give my best self to the client when I have a plan. Without a plan, I am more disorganized and always have a million things on my mind which means I am there but often somewhere else all together.

Having a plan allows for a constant evaluation of the athlete and allows for a creativity to take place of how do I help assist in creating a better movement experience for them. As Chantill and Debora mentioned, allows for less detail and more feeling. This can happen within the session in the moment, at the end as Debora spoke to, or for the next session. Usually I have the plan written out and I put small notes on it in the moment to make modifications for the next time or what I did in the moment to facilitate the movement experience that allowed for them to work through the skill.

I do not have a lot of experience with Joe’s traditional plan from Return to Life, though I am so intrigued by it and other traditional plans that are out there in the different industries. I love to utilize these plans and try to figure out why they work so well, which may be different for each person working through them. Which is what makes the body and the human experience within it so unique. I first experienced this, at the PMA in one of Michele Larsson’s mat classes. The classical sequence did not fit the movement science / programming guidelines I had learned in my Pilates education, but yet what I experienced felt good in my body, and let’s face it has been successful for many people before me. So that got my mind thinking.

I do not think there is a perfect way to do anything, but I am a huge believer that a movement practitioner should always have a reason for each exercise or movement they prescribe, to seek to understand the why behind it to the best of their ability which helps to create a plan or follow a traditional one and guide the client to the most optimal movement experience. My “why” for exercises or plans I use today may be different then the “why” 11 years ago, but I have always made sure I had a reason for it, which is where the creativity, intuition, and passion is found.

See you soon!!

Anna Hartman MS, ATC, CSCS, PMA-CPT
Certified Athletic Trainer
Polestar Pilates Rehabilitation Mentor
Founder, Movement REV

Ep 7: Following Orders – To Hinder or Inspire?

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In this episode we continue talking about how the heart of the Pilates philosophy informs the way we teach specifically when and why we might choose to follow “traditional” or “original” orders or not. If you have a strong opinion about this topic, which most people do, you will get a lot out of our conversation.

Is there inherent value in following a framework, having a clear and predetermined system to guide your choices? Does this hinder or inspire GREATER CREATIVITY? Or does it squelch it?

I think you’ll be surprised at what we uncover. Or maybe you won’t, but it’s JUICY and INSPIRING, so…

What are you waiting for?

Ep 6: Insights From The Inner Teacher – Do You Have One and Where Does it Lead You?

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Special Guest: Studio Owner, Melissa Francis

We all struggle. We all lose faith in what we do. We all search for purpose, a point of view, a philosophy.

Chantill Lopez continues the discussion about the Pilates philosophy with Balanced Body faculty and studio owner Melissa Francis of Intelligent Exercise LLC in Ann Arbor Michigan. Hear what Melissa has to say about how she teaches from and lives from a trust in the method and it’s purpose as well as how following A PHILOSOPHY has informed some of her biggest decisions.