In January 2014 I completed the world-renowned BASI ProBridge Program with Rael Isacowitz. My practice of Pilates was completely transformed after spending 2 separate long weeks at the BASI Academy. I have a new found love of the method that for me had been growing stale. I had been teaching Pilates on and off for 20 years and knew there was something powerful to the method. I first became interested in 1992 after taking a CEU workshop with Elizabeth Larkem. That 3-day workshop fired my passion for the method.
I live in a small town, and there are no instructors in my area so I traveled to Atlanta, GA. to take training with an instructor who had studied with Romana Kryzanowska. Shortly after I started with this instructor she began to partner with Balanced Body and teaching their Balanced Body Teacher Training program. After studying for 3 years with her, I became a Balanced Body Comprehensively Trained Instructor. Shortly after that I applied to become Faculty for Balanced Body and was accepted.
Within 3 years as a Faculty Trainer for Balanced Body, I became disenchanted with Pilates and found myself wondering if I had made the right choice in my training program. I felt as if something was missing and I knew there had to be more.
I noticed every time I took a Pilates Class on Pilates Anytime that my favorite teachers were BASI trained instructors. So I thought if I want to continue my career as a Pilates Instructor, I needed a change of direction. I applied to the BASI ProBrdige Teacher Training Program in Costa Mesa, California. I was in for the ride of my life working with Rael. Every day for a week during our training we would start our training in the morning with a 60 or 90 minute intense “BASI FLOW” mat class. I found myself dripping sweat, trying to keep up, reinforcing I “can do” attitude and feeling spent, invigorated, and fulfilled at the end of each class. As the training progressed through
the week, I was constantly being pushed to a new level of intensity with a purpose and intention to every movement. This was the piece of the puzzle I had been missing. Rael and the BASI “family” make you feel that we are all in this together. He wants to leave a legacy of the highest quality teachers and students to continue the work. We are truly a family and community of one! I felt as if I had come home!
Rael Isacowitz is deeply passionate and joyful about Pilates and he spreads that passion and joy to everyone he touches. He also is a great designer. He created the Avalon® Arm Chair as a complete redesign of the original armchair while staying true to the classic work and designs of Joseph Pilates. Because both the resistance and the angle of resistance with the springs attached serve as handles you can make adjustments incrementally with up to 8 different positions. It adds more of the exercise possibilities of the Trapeze Table (Cadillac) and Ladder Barrel. I learned to do traditional exercises with a new twist. For example: The back extension, (Swan) done on the reformer with long box and the ladder barrel. On the Avalon Arm chair with the spring design I can do extension, (Swan) while holding either the springs or attaching a bar to the springs. As I extend my body up and it creates a contrast that allows me to stay more deeply connected through my powerhouse as I reach upward.
Rael also developed the BASI Block System. This system categorizes the Pilates repertoire in a logical sequence and ensures the progressive structuring of classes within a flexible framework. The Block System strategy helps guide you in structuring sessions and organizing the Pilates work. This block system is what ultimately made me come to the realization that all the Pilates work is a system, not broken down by Mat 1 or Reformer 1, etc. (The way I had learned the work). I understand breaking it down into parts for the purpose of teacher training, but the idea of the Pilates work as a system had been lost to me. It is a system! Truly a eureka moment for me. Below is the order of the block system.
• Warm Up
• Foot Work
• Abdominal Work
• Hip Work
• Spinal Articulation
• Stretches
• Arm Work
• Leg Work
• Full Body Integration
• Lateral Flexion
• Lateral Rotation
• Back Extension
During the training he told us the story of how during a workshop with the late Kathy Grant, he volunteered to be the student on the Wunda Chair. Anyone who has ever seen Rael knows he is a graceful and beautiful mover. He said he thought he knew how to do Pilates then, but was really not moving with intention, and Kathy called him on it. It was an eye opening experience and he was humbled, and would either give it up or start over. Thank goodness for all of us who have studied with him that he started over. I completely related to what he said. I felt the same way in the begining of my career, and wanted to give up, but with the inspiration from Rael and BASI I took a different route. I have been inspired to a new level and commitment to teaching with passion and joy. More importantly with my own personal practice I move with intention, awareness, and joy, no longer just going through the choreography of the exercises. I simply cannot live without Pilates in my life, so I will continue to start again, and never give up.
I am reminded what Joseph Pilates said about the feeling of an internal shower in “Return to Life through Contrology”.
“As the spring freshness born of the heavy rains and vast masses of melting snows on mountains in the hinterlands cause rivers to swell and rush turbulently onward to the sea, so too will your blood flow with renewed vigor as the direct result of faithfully performing the Contrology method.”
Pilates is a lifelong journey and a process of self-discovery for me! Thank you Rael for inspiring me to start over on my own journey.