The purpose and intention of a blog is to write to explore thoughts and experiences and share it with the world. I have been remiss on the writing and thought exploration part, as I got caught up in the process of living the experience with so many of my #PilatesSisters over the past year. Very grateful to have so many gleefully join to laugh, sweat and share the movement and freedom we love virtually together.
We all may not agree on everything, but what this project reveals to me is we agree on mastery when we see it and feel it. That is an undeniable fact. As students and teachers of Pilates, we are responsible to ourselves and to a process of continually reshaping, refining and reflecting — on our own work — and building our own mastery of our craft.
I knew I could not and frankly didn’t want to do “my work” alone or in a vacuum. I knew that I wanted the eyes, voice and guidance of people I knew to be masters of the Pilates craft guiding me. Sex, color, orientation or age was not a variable of importance or consideration. It was never even a sorting criteria. I personally gravitated to the masters who spoke to me thru the quality of their work and style of teaching; I was pulled to them by my experience with them and frankly my intuitive “read” of them as a person. I used my intuition to determine my ability or desire to build a student/teacher relationship with them.
Truthfully, since I came to Pilates at an age far older than most (started my Mat Certification at 45 years of age) and from a far more structured background than the movers and dancers I found myself immersed with (corporate business management/leadership) I had little time or interest in anything or anybody that didn’t “cut to the chase.” But that is just me. We all have different needs and ways of finding our tribe or tribe leader.
It didn’t take long to see and find the Classical Masters I wanted to follow, watch and continue to learn from. As I reflect back on the past few months and the shared experiences with the @PilatesSistersSquad, I can see and feel the changes in my work, my teaching, my voice and my rhythm as a result of spending not just one hour in a MasterClass with them, but actually spending many months of the year in regular sessions with many of these exceptional voices and the history they share in the work, as we move, laugh and sweat together.
Brett, Phoebe and Clare
It is no secret that Brett Howard has been my coach, teacher and change agent for many years. I had been training with him privately before the pandemic for years and have been introduced to (or made aware of) many more of the classical #2ndGenMasters because of him. It took awhile for my mind and my body to get in synch to find and listen to Brett; we still laugh when I need to shut up and turn me “off” to hear and follow him, for we both acknowledge the controller in each of us. My age has no rank under his eye, “because I said so” is always the answer when I ask “why.”
Brett Howard Semi Private
It was a conversation with Brett, while working on the reformer, back in 2017, that led me to Clare Dunphy as I remember acknowledging her creation of the PilatesAvatar and thus, during the pandemic I started working with Clare regularly in virtual sessions on the apparatus, specifically and with the most joy on the Spine Corrector and Wunda.
Clare Dunphy Hemani Semi-Private
Phoebe Higgins is a quiet, treasured and hidden NY gem of what I respectfully call, the “Pilates Illuminati.” I say hidden, as everyone knows who she is yet, she is not aligned with any studio or organization and carries the depth, breadth and wealth of Pilates within her. Hell! Phoebe was Bob Liekens teacher and Phoebe taught alongside John Winters in the original Drago’s studio.
She is one of the most grounded women you could meet and one of the best “teacher-student” relationships to build. It was very cool and an honor to have two other #2ndGenMasters, Blossom Leilani-Crawford and Brooke Siler join her inaugural virtual class session on the Wunda Chair.
Phoebe Higgins November 2020 MasterClass
These are the three that I have personally spent at least six-nine months or more working with through 2020. They are not the only gifts I have found during the year, but they have created some of my favorite moments.
Join me, with a few more #PilatesSisters, in the months ahead with more amazing #2NDGenMasters. It’s one way we are making some sweet lemonade out of the lemons placed in front of us.
The recorded sessions from each of these world-class teachers is available for download on this site.
