2020 has been a challenging year for many of us with the global Covid pandemic and for Pilates teachers we have had to pivot very quickly from in person sessions to teaching our clients online and keeping up our personal practice while we work from home.
Thanks to Instagram Live, I was able to participate in Fletcher Floorwork classes being run by a teacher I have followed for many years; Risa Mathews of Boditree Pilates & Healing in Canada. I was able to take the elements I was learning and incorporate them in to my own classes and the feedback from my clients was so positive. I have said for a long time that I would love to immerse myself in Risa’s studio for a year and soak up all the wisdom she has to share- I see a number of Pilates teachers attending classes run by their peers but I liken that to attending university and learning from your peers, I believe you should learn from the experts so when the lockdowns continued on for longer than anticipated, I booked into Risa's studio classes and subsequently booked some private sessions, giving back to myself so I could continue to give; in my home life as a mother, in my personal life to a wonderful man who has been based overseas and unable to travel due to Covid border restrictions and in my work life as a Pilates teacher. It made absolute sense to me to sign up immediately when Boditree advertised that it was offering virtual teacher training; I had one apparatus yet to be trained in and so decided that completing my teacher training in Cadillac, online, was going to align with my values of being a mother first; not wanting to leave my son, as well as being able to stay close to home and not partake in inter regional travel, to continue my training, whilst my country manages it’s Covid response.
Having had a strong foundational training in Stott Pilates with Pilates Mind Body and Be Pilates New Zealand, I felt confident in my ability to manage my body during virtual sessions and thanks to the generosity of a fellow Pilates teacher, I was able to hire studio time so I had access to a Cadillac. I have now completed my training with Risa and am able to link the Classical work with so much more understanding in the Pilates system, originally designed by Joseph Pilates. I desire depth in my life; the relationships I have and this is reflected in the Pilates I teach. Pilates is not a bunch of exercises, selected at will, but a sequence of exercises, with apparatus to support, designed to develop the body and mind, uniformly, with Strength, Stretch and Control at it’s heart.
Ange x
