Pilates Update

This is going to be boring for most people, so feel free to skip over and just look at the pictures :)

When I originally certified in Pilates Mat I went through an online certification course. It worked out really well for what I needed at the time. I was able to work at GW without a problem. But when I decided that I wanted to work at a pilates studio, I knew that I needed to get a better certification. After a lot of research, and paying a pretty dime, I signed up for the BASI pilates Mat certification. It was an interesting experience and took a lot of time and effort to perfect the practice. About 5 months later I finished my hours, took the test and received my Pilates Mat Certification through BASI. I almost regretted not doing the full comprehensive certification (with the machines). But BASI only offers certification classes on weekends, which includes 6 Sundays. (For religious reasons I prefer not to work on Sundays) So I decided to wait and see if there were any other options out there. Also, my experience with BASI was that they are the best around for technique, but not the most reliable when it comes to actually teaching the classes when they say they are going to teach them.

A couple months later I ran into a local pilates studio in Arlington called Thrive Pilates and Yoga. They offered me a job teaching mat right away. I also learned that they had their own certification course for the machines that didn't require any classes on Sundays (all on Saturdays). So I signed up for it, spent ALL of my free time this last summer completing the hours required (and I basically dropped off the planet to my friends and the blogging world). I would literally go to work and then go to the studio for 4 hours everyday. (I got into great shape though!)

Anyway, after finishing months of training, I now teach reformer classes at Thrive, as well as mat classes (4 hours of teaching every Saturday). I also bought a reformer (those things are not cheap...) and I teach private lessons out of my home. I love it. I am glad I did it. I am glad that I got a job teaching and found a way to not certify on Sundays.

Although, part of me really wishes there was a way that I could have worked things out with BASI. Like I said, they have the best technique around. So I thought that while I was on vacation in California that I would stop by the BASI pilates headquarters. I signed up beforehand for a class, and as the usual BASI way the instructor didn't show up. (What the heck!) It is such a big studio and there are a lot of people there, so they offered to let me work out on the machines without the instructor for free. I took them up on their generous offer (although I know that many of them were thinking that I wasn't working out the BASI way and probably thought I was doing everything wrong) I felt stupid, and wished the instructor had actually shown up so I could have perfected my technique which was the whole reason why I came... but anyway....

The highlight of the hour was when Lisa came in to do her pilates workout. Lisa is famous in the pilates world. She is in just about every book I own, not to mention she is on the cover of Pilates style this month. I introduced myself and asked if I could get a picture with her. She said yes but asked if she could go and touch up her make-up first (too funny).

Lisa on the cover of one of my Pilates books:

Lisa and I

The studio in Costa Mesa CA. They show this studio on all their online software, so it was neat to see it in person.

So thats that. I am not done with my pilates education. There is always more to learn and perfect. But despite it all, I do love pilates. In fact, I played softball with Lincoln and his co-workers while we were in Palm Springs this past weekend... and all those 4th grade memories came back... I am not much of a sporty person, so I am glad that I found pilates. Something that I love to do that will help keep me in shape. It has been a great hobby.