Welcome to 5 Top Pilates Blogs Answer 1 Burning Question
Numero Trois!
This will be the final post of the series. Over the last 2 weeks I asked 5 Top Pilates Blogs
- What is 1 Unsung Benefit of the Pilates Method?
- What is 1 key piece of information that escapes the average Pilates consumer?
Q3
Now the sky’s the limit and I want to know what hopes and dreams these bloggers hold for for the future of our beloved Pilates Method. If we can imagine for ourselves the best possible Pilates universe, what would it look like?
The first part of any success story is to harness the power of creative visualization. See yourself living the dream you wish to create. Control your mind and use your imagination to find success in any realm of life. (See how I worked in that whole control angle?)
Q3: What is your one wish for the future of the Pilates industry?
#1. Marguerite Ogle, pilates.about.com
1st post 2006
“My blog is part of About.com, and I have written hundreds of full articles and exercise instructions as well. I applied for the job because it was a good combination of skills and interests for me: Pilates, writing, web, and marketing. I’ve had a great time blogging and writing about Pilates. I really love it, and I love the Pilates community — as diverse as it is.”
Q3. What is your one wish for the future of the Pilates industry?
Marguerite: I want the Pilates industry to continue to grow with a high level of quality. There have never been as many excellent teachers as there are now and I see many signs of that trend continuing. In addition, the application of Pilates movement principles to all kinds of interests and needs, from sports to rehab, is expanding and very exciting. So the challenge for the future is to grow, and keep the integrity of the work, while we make Pilates available to more people. I want to see that intention succeed.
#2 Kara Wily, karawilypilates.com/blog
1st post 2012
“I blog about Pilates to increase SEO for the website to my studio so that more people in the area can find me for lessons. For people who are not in the area, I would still like to educate the public and other Pilates teachers about the work and give more nuanced information about the Pilates Method than what I often see published.”
Q3. What is your one wish for the future of the Pilates industry?
Kara: I roll old school. The lesson starts on the Reformer, do a little mat, do a few specific exercises for your body using the other equipment.
#3 Shari Berkowitz, theverticalworkshop.wordpress.com
1st post 2007
“Either in person or via emails I would receive questions from wonderful teachers. (Each day I still receive many questions and enjoy answering them all.) I wanted to have a place where I could share information to teachers on a broader scale. A place where teachers could turn to for the information they seek. The Pilates Teacher Blog developed from that!”
Q3. What is your one wish for the future of the Pilates industry?
Shari: I wish that Pilates industry had better education for its instructors earlier on. I wish the the first program apprentices go into would be the only one that they would need. Then continuing education, of course. But there are so many instructors who learn too late in the game that their teacher training programs were sadly insufficient. With that, they find themselves struggling to maintain clientele because they don’t have the proper teaching tools available to them. This is a key reason why I am, at long last, launching a teacher training program: The Vertical Workshop. The first teacher training program you take should be the only one you need. The onus is on the people who create programs to make sure they are really educating the apprentices to be really solid, young teachers with critical thinking and understanding. It’s possible…it just takes a lot of work from the people who create programs.
#4 Benjamin Degenhardt, benjamindegenhardt.com/articles
1st post 2011
“Initially I wanted it to be a place where I can post information for my students. But when I realized that many colleagues liked what I wrote, too, it became more of a resource for teachers. Ironically, all my students still read the website, and they love getting a deeper perspective on Pilates by looking at it through the teacher’s lens. Hence, the tagline now reads: “Inspired education for Pilates enthusiasts.”
Q3. What is your one wish for the future of the Pilates industry?
Benjamin: I would love to see more of an effort in our industry to embrace the integrity of Joe Pilates’ original work. His philosophy was simple at its core (pun intended): Move well in order to take care of your body and it’s self-healing properties. And even though exercise science is steadily catching up with much of what he developed well over 50 years ago, it seems that most Pilates related research is directed towards changing the work. Why not instead direct research towards understanding it better? That is what I am trying to do, and I hope many will join so this wish can come true!
#5 Jennifer Kries, jenniferkries.com/blog
1st post 2009
“Pilates has played such a central role in my life since age 13, of course it made sense to pay homage to it this way.”
Q3. What is your one wish for the future of the Pilates industry?
Jennifer: That more teachers and devotees dedicate themselves to studying with 1st and 2nd Generation teachers who pass the torch with the original and authentic rhythm, dynamic and flavor that Joe Pilates would have wanted people to know and practice, so that the actual “spirit” of Pilates becomes reinvigorated.
