Pilates Intel Online Newsletter for the Pilates Teaching Community

Take a Deep Breath – James Crader When a new client walks into my studio, after taking an eval and having them walk around for me to observe movement patterns, the next order of business is to watch them breathe. I’m looking to see how their body processes the endeavor. […]

Scolio-Pilates – the Review   by Rebekah Le Magny Karena Thek Lineback, a former dancer and a sufferer of scoliosis, discovered Pilates while still a student. She has authored three books, The Pilates Golf Athlete, Osteo-Pilates and Scolio-Pilates, and is currently working on a new project, Neuro-Pilates. Karena travels the […]

Pilates and the Pelvic Floor – by Marie Wittman, PhD What is a “pelvic floor”? I don’t have a pelvic floor, do I? (Male client) Should I be doing Kegels to strengthen my pelvic floor? Is Pilates good for the pelvic floor? I just have to worry about my pelvic […]

Cueing Efficient Movement – by Brent Anderson PhD, PT, OCS, PMA®-CPT The topic of cueing movement and coaching has been of deep interest to me for years.  Many years ago, coming from a fitness and sport background, we thought of all movement coming from the muscles.  So, we taught movement by […]

The Pilates Journey – by John Garey I believe there is a reason we all discover Pilates. Pilates is not something most of us just happened to start to practice. In my experience, people start a Pilates program because of a very specific goal or challenge that forms the basis […]

Fred’s Vectors – by Brett Miller COME AND CHECK OUT FRED’S VECTORS – THE GALLERY Surprise! Surprise! Occasionally I like to waste some time browsing on Facebook. I can guess that like many of you, in my feed (that is an ugly word, feed, but indeed, that is the word […]

Why Don’t They Like Pilates? I once had a woman leave my studio in tears. It was her first Pilates session ever. She was a fit woman in her late 30s with two young kids and a regular gym workout routine. She was scheduled with one of my instructors who […]

What do I mean by props? Examples: Balls Weights Resistant Bands Yoga Block   My question is… What is the real purpose of a prop? Were props designed to make a movement more challenging or complex? Or, were they supposed to add variety to a Pilates session? Or maybe they […]

Let’s play a game. I give you a list of words and you figure out the common thread. Russian Splits, Teaser, Snake, Star, Front Support, High Bridge, Control Balance Yes, all of these are Pilates exercises (you got that, I am sure) and all of them demonstrate muscular balance and […]

Take a moment to sit relaxed on a mat with your legs straight out in front of you. Picture your favorite color and imagine that color filling your toes. Follow that color as it travels through your feet, your ankles up your shins, knees, hips, through your pelvis, abdomen and […]

I was a Myofascial Release Therapist long before I ever taught my first Teaser. A few years ago I was working with a client who came to me with balance issues due to traumatic brain injury. In John F. Barnes’ approach to Myofascial Release there’s a technique we use for […]

This past month I taught a Pilates Mat Class at Athleta in their new Albany, NY store.  It was fun to teach out of the studio and for a Sunday morning we had quite the turn out. I was very pleased to meet some new Pilates Junkies in the community […]

From the heart and guts No words can describe my first encounter at the hospital in Copenhagen, with the young wounded men returning from Afghanistan. Time stood still, as I listened to the soldiers telling their personal stories and showing us their injuries with sincerity I have not come across […]

Old Dog – New Trick: Pilates equipment – A Brief Historical Overview by Kevin Bowen Apr 13, 2015 As we all know throughout the years Pilates equipment has evolved and changed – some in the profession feel that this is for the best and others feel that the original design […]

A Pilates studio can be such a special place! A place of learning, healing, and growing. A place of personal connections and triumphs. A place that changes lives and a place where both clients and teachers are able to thrive! But a studio like this only exists when a positive […]

My partner, John who is a retired Military Officer, asked me a question a year or so ago that spurred a discussion on the difference between Classical and Contemporary Pilates.  John, being from the military world and me, being from the Pilates world — I was left to do my […]

On September 20th, 2014 the Authentic Pilates Union organized its second annual Pilates Gives Back Day. As you may remember reading in an earlier Pilates Intel article, we were merely facilitating a global effort within our Pilates community. It was Pilates teachers and enthusiasts who opened their studios to their […]

I came to Pilates in (what I thought was) the “usual way”. The year was 1995. The place was Drago’s Gym in New York City. Pilates was still beneath the radar in the US so most people had never even heard the word “Pilates”. Fast forward 20 years, and we […]

Today I present the fourth and very last article on the series on the requirement for any person who says they teach Pilates to read Joe Pilates’ ‘Return to Life’.  In the last article we heard from Stott, and my acceptance of their invitation to ask further questions, as their […]

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 […]

Today we continue with the investigation of the phenomenon of people pursuing a career in Pilates while having no motivation to read ‘Return to Life’, the signature work of the very man whose name they use daily and whose technique they say they teach. My method was to reach out […]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to the owner of a fashionable clothing line. She shared her frustration with me about finding a Pilates studio to take classes at while traveling. When she searched local results (in California, so we are not talking about some backwoods town in […]

Today we continue with the investigation of the phenomenon of people pursuing a career in Pilates while having no motivation to read ‘Return to Life’, the signature work of the very man whose name they use daily and whose technique they say they teach.  My method was to reach out […]

A while back I got to talking a bit with a young lady enrolled in a Pilates training program. In the conversation, she mentioned “This brand of training took all the dangerous parts of Pilates’ technique out and thus made it better”. Stunned by the bluntness of what I considered […]

These are the words looking up at me from a soldier’s t-shirt. “What did you do to deserve your legs today?”  I can’t help but silently try to answer that question. Did I use my legs to simply get here?  Or did I actually use them?  Did I actually do […]

I am talking to Lolita San Miguel on a warm Florida day for her, and a dark Swedish evening for me.  She is happy eating macadamia nuts while she talks to me and apologizes for that….but she has very good manners and I tell her it is okay.  The purpose […]

  (The second of an article series) For the sake of our Pilates for Athletes discussion I thought it would be interesting to teach two young athletes who’d never experienced Pilates and then interview them before and after their first Pilates session. C.S. is a 6’9” freshmen basketball player (center […]

  Reiner and the pilates-contrology-forum by Brett Miller With over 5300 participants, the pilates-contrology-forum on Facebook is the largest and most popular forum in the Pilates Industry.  With only certified Pilates teachers admitted to the group, the forum provides a place of connection, continual learning and a sounding board for […]

  Having two careers is something I’ve always done.  Sometimes I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be able to come home from one job and have nothing else to do.  It started off 15 years ago with me being an aspiring Dancer and Accountant. Then I […]

  I was inspired to develop Rhythm Pilates after presenting at the Asian Fitness Education Expo, Hong Kong in 2008. The presenters that incorporated music to their classes were more fun and wildly popular.   There is an undeniable excitement and energy when uplifting music is incorporated to a Pilates […]

Here you stand (or sit perhaps), a well-educated Pilates instructor. You attended a respected teacher-training program. You observed and practiced under the guidance of one or more highly regarded Pilates mentors. And now you are a talented teacher, passionately working with clients every day and teaching them what you know. […]

 Well, for the record, Pull Straps and T (also called Arms Pulling Straps) have been high on my list of most loathed exercises for the majority of my Pilates career. Slowly over the last couple of years we have become better friends and I suspect one day I may even […]

Let us talk about arms-pulling-straps, a very well-known exercise on preformed on the Reformer, using the long box.  Arms-pulling-straps can easily be mistaken for an arm and shoulder exercise, but in fact it is an activity for the whole body.   It is important to remember that while the arms are […]