Pilates Intel Online Newsletter for the Pilates Teaching Community

“It is the mind which shapes the body”. Friedrich von Schiller I had the pleasure of being invited to teach in Germany some years back. On my last day at work in New York City before departing, I asked a German Pilates instructor on my team how to translate a word I […]

It has been said that a business is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Although you may vividly remember the struggles of building and sustaining a successful business, your buyer may only see what appears to be some used equipment and a simplistic business model. It […]

Karena Thek is the author of OsteoPilates, Increase Bone Density, Reduce Fracture Risk, Look and Feel Great! (2003, Career Press) Is Pilates safe for osteoporosis?  It can be.  If taught with appropriate modifications, Pilates is safe for those with low bone density. In fact, not only is Pilates safe, but […]

We live in a lop-sided world.  The way we carry our bags, our books and our babies creates muscle imbalances and a dominant side of the body.  Add to that, one-sided sports like tennis, golf or baseball and we have intensified these misalignments and created asymmetrical patterns that affect all […]

I want to start by sharing a lovely compliment I received from a Facebook post by Joanne Elphinston. “We are so pleased to meet Brett, an insightful Pilates teacher based in Stockholm. One of his aims for Pilates Intel is to question and challenge the teaching and practice of Pilates […]

A short while back I had the good fortune of visiting the workshop of Fredrik and Elisabet Prag in their rural home outside of Stockholm.  Fredrik and Elisabet are both Pilates instructors, passionate about the classical technique.  They are also craftspersons; they design and build Pilates apparatus.  The purpose of my visit was to […]

As far back as I can remember, I hated the idea of selling. Having to convince someone to buy something? No thanks. It seemed so unpleasant. It didn’t look like a particularly noble profession, and it definitely wasn’t anything I wanted to do. Growing up, anything that involved a sales […]

Hi to Pilates Intel readers! Brett has kindly asked me to share a little about myself, and some of my experiences working with Pilates teachers. I’d be delighted – I really enjoy working with Pilates teachers, who I have found to be dedicatedly working to improve people’s lives from a […]

Right around now is the time I like the least in my business. In fact, I dread it… Good guess, but no, it’s not the tax season (even though that’s a whole other chapter). No, right now, I am about 5 weeks away from my next retreat and one week […]

Here are two guys that I can guess many of you are aware of, they being Michael Fritzke and Ton Voogt. For those of you who don’t know them, they are both classically trained in the Pilates method and creators of the TRIADBALLTM. They spend an estimated 75% of their […]

Not long ago I had the great pleasure of meeting the intelligent and enthusiastic Jennifer Kries via a Skype date.  Despite it not being in-person, it was one of those rare pleasures where one experiences a true meeting of the minds, but we’ll go into greater detail about that a […]

The scapular region can be a particularly challenging area to work with. It must be simultaneously stable and mobile, a tricky balance to strike when so many people have very little sense of connection to this area. A very specific biomechanical misunderstanding about function in this area has led to […]

It’s funny how things can be so much the exact same AND completely different all at the same time. I’ve totally tasted the Kool Aide now, and while I can’t say that my mantra is Trust The Method, I am getting a completely different workout. It takes less to do […]

“If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30 you are old; if it is completely flexible at 60, you are young” – Joseph Pilates. The point Joe was making is clear, the flexibility of your spine determines your age more than the number of birthdays you’ve had. Keeping your spine […]

1)  Move the spine towards neutral 2)  Add length to the spine 3)  Add strengthening techniques.   At it’s core, it’s really that simple.   Getting Started You cannot continue to train muscles in the same-old posture if you want to create change. You know that’s true for postures like […]

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, […]

Remembering Julian Littleford – by Lolita San Miguel Dance, New York City, Pilates, Carola Trier.  This quartet of common experience was the medium that first joined Julian and me. Both of us had been professional dancers in New York City, Julian having been a principal dancer with the famous Martha […]

What role does the mind play when you exercise? Heard the phrase, “get out of your head, and get into your body?” Thought about how to actually do that and why you would even want to? I heard that phrase many times, but never really gave it serious thought. That is, until […]

The Keeper of the Flame – by Jennifer Kries     Powerhouse.  Force of nature.  Magician.  Mischievous Flirt.  Star.  Healer.  The Keeper of the Flame. Romana was all of these things, and more. Romana was bigger than any space she occupied. Her being could not be contained by any four […]

  If you look up ‘work/life balance’ you get a stream of hits including the words, ‘beat burnout’,          ‘reclaim control’, ‘family’ and ‘income equality’ in the header. It would seem this is a subject that has been looked into, you might even say researched and a lot. If you consider that […]

So today I would like to take up breathing, a subject as we all know that is central the Pilates technique.  Joseph Pilates himself wrote extensively about posterior lateral breathing, taking the air into the lower back part of the lungs, with the idea to widen the chest area in […]

“A Movement of Movement” is a beautiful new documentary by Mark Pedri about Pilates, both the man and his method. Interviews with Pilates teachers and students, archival footage of Joseph Pilates, and gorgeous scenes of people doing Pilates are combined with images of things like cats, war, a kite surfer, […]

My dreams were not formed the weekend that lasted from Thursday 5th September to the night of Sunday 8th September, but rather, my dreams were reinforced and reignited! Flying up to Sydney from Melbourne as a Pilates instructor (or as I prefer, Pilates Teacher) I experienced both excitement and anticipation the same time. […]

You may remember we published an upbeat article about Michael King in July, highlighting his positive approach and the depth of his experience in the field. Towards the end of the article Michael said, “I have the deepest respect for Classical Pilates and know it and teach it when I can but […]

Now here is a lady that is not new to Pilates Intel, in fact she was one of the first persons that allowed me to have an article about her way back when we started up.  And that person is Eme Cole, author and owner of Pilates Plus studio in Chicago.  […]

Recently, I was watching television with my son and an infomercial came on and said something like this: It’s not how you sit, it’s the cushion you sit on that causes back pain. Oh dear – even my 15 year old son knew that wasn’t true.  It’s not how we […]

Just like many other Pilates Teachers, I come from a professional dance background. I had been teaching ballet to students, professionals, adults and children for a long time before I started my Pilates journey.  It was in 2003 that I took the BASI(r) Pilates Teacher Training Course with Rael Isacowitz, […]

This years Zest Convention in London September 21/22 brings again International Presenters from different schools of Pilates in a weekend of Pilates and Dance Sessions and workshop’s, with the purpose to inspire instructors to develop their methods of teaching. Michael King the organiser of the event explains, “ I think […]

          Some of you may remember that I spent some time in Paris this summer. And while there I had the opportunity to have a session at Pilates Prive, owned and operated by Erin Mohr.  I was taught by the boss herself, and not only did […]

I am always surprised when I visit a new studio that is fully equipped with the latest Pilates apparatus but does not have any Spine Correctors.  I am also rather shocked when I have been invited to teach a Spine Corrector class, only to discover that I am teaching on […]

Hello everybody, I am freshly back from my jaunt to Paris and my visit with the Mr Robert Wernick. There have been many new subscribers in the last few weeks, (very welcome, by the way, and thank you for subscribing), and in case you missed the fine article by Bob, […]

What is Pilates?  What does it mean to you?. These are two questions people sometimes ask me. An accurate short answer would be that it´s my job and my second career, but at a deeper level, it is a life changer. The truth is that it is a combination of […]