My Pilates Story
I became a Pilates Teacher in the late '90's, sort of by necessity at first. I had just accepted a Principal Ballet position for San Diego Ballet, but my foot was in a boot and I was trying to recover from foot surgery...
I had been taught that Pilates was the answer to any ballet injury, and so I began by reached out to a fellow dancer who had an entire studio in Del Mar, CA. Upon meeting this tall, elegant man with an English accent, he told me, he would teach me...to teach. It didn't take me too long to do the math. Instead of paying to take Pilates sessions with him, I could actually supplement my poor dancer salary. I just needed to wake up at 4am.
Teaching others wasn't new for me, I had taught all ages of ballet to little girls and boys since I was sixteen. But the equipment, the bodies (so many customers could not touch their toes), the work was new and it was very, very, interesting.
I learned about hip replacements. This was valuable, since many of my twentysomething colleagues had already gone through double hip replacements. I learned about nerve pain in the neck, and other pains in the neck but that's more metaphorical. I learned about alignment and later even learned how our emotional body really did manifest into our physical body.
I worked there for several years, knowing I was adding life to my ballet career, but I couldn't have imagined that I was adding to a lifelong passion.
Pilates was just becoming more known. So I decided to pursue an official teacher training program. Two hours up the coast I drove several days a week and always on weekends when we were not in rehearsals. I sat and observed other teachers, I practiced new theory, and I colored, Anatomy. I studied Anatomy like I was going to be a surgeon. Sure, I had a foundation but I also had a full time job as a ballet dancer, so like most I was learning on the side. Within a few months I was referred to a lovely, local, "gym" that had invested in a Pilates Reformer and Cadillac without knowing what to do with either...
Welcome to the world of Self Employment! I became a business, had Staples print my business cards, and got a license from the City. I was a Pilates Instructor in La Jolla, CA. My fee was $50 per hour.
Fast forward bullet section:
Became Certified
Developed a Clientele
Met Pablo :-) while teaching in the park
Took a leap and opened my own studio
Kept dancing
This image is from our Kore Pilates studio in La Jolla, CA where we had an ocean view!
By the time we opened our studio I had been teaching Pilates for 5 years and my focus was not so much on the Pilates work, but on learning the ropes of running a business. Here I learned negotiations, accounting, customer service, web development, taxes, marketing and on, and on, and on...
I also learned that I needed help. I looked for other teachers in the area, but in the end, decided to gather my past knowledge and create a program that would be up to my very high standards.
There really is quite a lot of history here...the years of working with clients who became friends, my students who brought my own teaching around the world, our retreat adventures, our facility expansion and eventual sale, becoming a travelling teacher, helping grow other's businesses, and creating a family. When I look back at that decision to become a teacher, I could have never dreamed the life gifts I would experience.
Becoming a Pilates teacher has allowed me to help others, bring smiles, relieve pain, it has allowed me to be a business and work for others. Teaching has brought me all over the world. Introduced me to beautiful people, inspired me to learn more and offer more. Teaching has sustained me since the days I moved to CA, first as a ballet dancer and now again as a family of five. But there is still one aspect of teaching I find that moves me most, and that is teaching others...to teach.
