Joseph Pilates

5 Ways Pilates Can Support Your Mental Health

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“If you can relate to overwhelm, anxiety, or perhaps being ‘tired and wired’, then read on for ways in which Pilates as a practice can help you, and support your positive mental health.”

Sarah Edwards is a Doctor of Education and Comprehensive Polestar Graduate of Polestar Pilates UK.

Pilates is often promoted as being great for ‘core strength’ or ‘reducing back pain’, both of which it certainly can do. (I know, as back pain was the main reason I took up Pilates in the first place). Through personal experience and in teaching clients in private and group settings, I now know that Pilates has consistently supported me in managing my own anxiety. The practice can be instrumental in supporting the positive mental health of others.

Prior to teaching with Polestar and while I attended my weekly Pilates class, I was working as a Teaching and learning director in higher education. I completed a Doctorate in Education, raised a family, and I also experienced a number of traumatic experiences regarding my children’s health. Not surprisingly, I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder. 

Thankfully, Pilates really brought me out of that very busy headspace and, at times, my overwhelm. My experiences led me to train with Polestar as a Comprehensive Practitioner. I also trained as a mental health first-aider and, safe to say, I haven’t looked back.

Joseph’s Mind-Body Method

Joseph Pilates advocated a mind-body practice much before his time. In many aspects of holistic health, the context of “typical daily life” has changed in drastic ways. Modern lifestyle habits including chronic sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and even social media use and ‘doom scrolling’, have fuelled the anxiety epidemic. Mental Health disorders, including anxiety, have also increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the context has changed, the practice of Pilates, for the main part, hasn’t.  

How can Pilates specifically help? If you can relate to overwhelm, anxiety, or perhaps being ‘tired and wired’ then read on for ways in which Pilates as a practice can help you, and support your positive mental health.

1. Regular Practice

Pilates as part of your regular schedule will interrupt your overthinking and helps ‘press pause’ on any overwhelm. In our digitized, and always “on call” culture, we need to step away from our devices, and literally and figuratively “switch off”.

2. Break The Cycle

In turn, positive movement experiences can help break the chronic stress cycle. Chronic stress affects the nervous system, and influences related anxiety disorders. Stress can also have profound physiological effects. The long-term stimulation of the fight-or-flight response leads to the constant production and secretion of hormones such as cortisol. Long-term excessive cortisol is associated with a variety of consequences, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

3. Connect With The Breath

Pilates focuses on breath (it’s the first Principle of Polestar Pilates). Focusing on the breath, and particularly an extended exhale can help access the parasympathetic nervous system. This sends signals to the brain that all is well. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the “rest and digest” function of the body which is why you can likely hear your digestive system at work once you relax!

4. Practice Embodyment 

A skilled teacher will give you both internal and external cues that allow you to move in a mindful way. When you focus on the internal sense of your body (interoception) you cannot be thinking about your overwhelming to-do list. Teachers who have also embraced an element of psychological fitness training (such as with Polestar) can also help clients come out of their ‘thinking brain’ by stimulating the vagus nerve. This can support reducing stress, anxiety, and even depression.

5. Empowerment

The benefits in strength, posture, and mobility you gain from Pilates can help your self-confidence (we call this self-efficacy) and your self-esteem. Any positive movement experience will release endorphins, and hormones that will reduce pain and stress, and improve your mood.

Sarah Edwards @positivepilateswithsarah is a Doctor of Education (with specializations in Teaching and Learning), a Comprehensive Pilates Instructor with Polestar, and a Mental Health First Aider. She is particularly interested in promoting Pilates for mental health and runs one-to-one, and on-demand classes from her recently completed garden studio in England (gardening being another of her passion projects)!

References:

i Vora, E. (2022) The Anatomy of Anxiety. Harper Collins publishing.

ii Mental Health First Aid England, 2020.

iii The Parasympathetic Nervous System (2022) Brittanica Science. Available at : Sciencehttps://www.britannica.com/science/parasympathetic-nervous-system (accessed 8th August 2022).

iv The Counselling Directory. What is the vagus nerve? Available at http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/member-articles Accessed 24th August 2022.

v As a Mental Health First Aider (1) I am trained to recognize when someone is struggling with an anxiety disorder, depression, or psychotic episode and to signpost them to appropriate help. It is not within my scope to diagnose these conditions.

The Influence Of Imagery On Neurobiology is Powerful

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Watch the full Pilates Hour Episode #108 “Does Ideal Alignment Really Matter” with Brent Anderson PhD, PT, OCS, NCPT, and special guest Eric Franklin, Franklin Method.

Imagery Influencing Neurobiology

BA: What is your gut feeling about imagery influencing neurobiology?

EF:  It must be happening. We know the influence of imagery on a variety of psychological states and obviously, we know its influence on movement. For any of that to happen, you are changing things in your neurobiology, from neurotransmitters to hormone release. But we haven’t looked at it directly yet at the cellular level, which is where we want to go next!

BA: One of the interesting things about the idea of neuroplasticity is how our experiences modify our neural pathways. The synapses change and some of the neuromodulators change because of our experiences. Something I am reading about is the belief that neuroplasticity happens at night time when we are in our sleep. We have these experiences during the day and when we are in deep sleep the nervous system processes them. It actually moves through that neuroplastic part, the hard part of changing biology. 

It is interesting to use that knowledge to see if people in their sleep are in conjunction with their imagery and movement experiences. To see if those who have a good night’s sleep have better neuroplastic, bio cellular, and neuro-cellular change than those with poor sleep and the same interventions.

“the fastest way to change your movement is to change your mind”

Eric Franklin

EF:  I would be pretty sure about that because I always say “the fastest way to change your movement is to change your mind”. That’s because synaptic waiting and synaptic change happen so fast. You change your mind about the movement and the movement changes. That’s a very fast approach. Changing muscles takes longer, and changing the fascia takes even longer.

It doesn’t mean those are things you shouldn’t do. If you want something that works fast then images are a great way to create relatively rapid neuroplasticity. It is not just to brag about imagery and say it’s so cool because it’s also about motivation. 

People get stuck in end goals like “I have to work out and train until I get my six-pack or until this or that releases”. Or “I have to get some more collagen laid down in that area…”. Instead, give them some motivational things. Give them some imagery so they can immediately feel a change. Of course, that is not going to change the fascia immediately. It will need a lot more repetition, but it’s very motivational. 

BA: You are the pioneer on a lot of this, and especially for making it known. Back when I met you 25 years ago at IADMS our thinking was more about “hard-wired”, suggesting everything was structural.  People thought “my plie is limited structurally, I have tight heels”. Then we play the bone rhythm game and all of a sudden they can move into another 10 to 15 degrees of ankle dorsiflexion. Releasing the hips just with the image of the sitting bones widening.

We love your work and have supported it from the beginning, and that was a big breakthrough for us. That experience led to part of my dissertation looking at the idea of creating successful movement experiences for people in chronic pain.  Having that successful movement experience shifted their paradigm and we created that by using imagery they could process.  This is key as a lot of times doctors use imagery that the client can’t process and is thus unsuccessful.

EF: It’s very nice of you to say all these things. To this day, we first look at the kinds of functions that are built into you structurally. Then we add functional exercise on top of that. If you are told that your bone structure won’t allow certain movement, that’s already negative imagery. This alone could be part of why it is difficult. You hear “oh my bone structure doesn’t allow…”, and if you think this, why even bother?

If you are told that your bone structure won’t allow certain movement, that’s already negative imagery. This alone could be part of why it is difficult. You hear “oh my bone structure doesn’t allow…”, and if you think this, why even bother?

BA:  “I’m built this way…”

EF:  If you tell someone “you’re not built to do that very efficiently”, they may think “ok, I won’t even do it in the first place”. 

BA: Or, they might try to do it in a way that can potentially injure tissue. I love this idea of these two areas in particular that you’re focusing on right now. The idea of understanding biology in conjunction with imagery and the behavior, belief, or perception of how we mix the two. This connecting of behavioral science with the physiology and biology of things we’ve suspected for a long time because we see the change.  A lot of times the change is immediate, and when we think about the long-term acquisition of it it’s like you said, the tissue adapts with practice and repetition.

When someone can implement an image that helps them on a regular basis in their movement practice, you will start to see the shift in their motor control. We know the neuromuscular system shifts and is always seeking efficiency with the task, so we will often see that. 

The most exciting part of this is working with fascial gurus to understand the mass of science coming out about the communication system that exists inside of our fascia. In one study they removed fascial tissue from a living animal, put it in a dark room, and it continued emitting light photons for minutes after it was removed from the living organism. Just think about these tubulars that are talking to all the cells. The cells are very dynamic in their synapses, at least we know that –  really, really exciting!

EF: A lot of the research in motor imagery supports that if you rehearse the movement before you do it, afterward it’s better.  That is very interesting, but what about going further back even into the emotional aspect? What about working with the limbic system and how it affects all that movement and working directly at the endocrine and cellular level and doing imagery there.  So instead of just looking at the results and then trying to find explanations, go directly into the tissue with imagery and see if that’s measurable. No one has ever done that, why not?  

Maybe not measuring the amygdala and stress response on the cellular level. Maybe that’s a bit complicated, but there are other things that we’re going to look at -and to go further back, not looking so much at the result, but at the much earlier stage where these results are being created. Look at the imagery – what is it doing there?  That’s the next step.

BA: The neuromodulators can also be measured, like the serotonin type 2a and dopamine. Those things are tied to motivation and satisfaction.  I would find it really interesting to learn how a successful movement experience with imagery that they’ve embedded changes the whole neuro response. Specifically with the serotonin type 2a, which is thought to correspond to contentment or satisfaction, and dopamine, the motivation modulator.

EF:  Dopamine only gets released when you’re planning or thinking about what you want to achieve. As soon as you achieve it, the dopamine is gone. The serotonin for the contentment part, to give one answer – movement is good if it feels comfortable to you. If you enjoy doing the movement, then there must be efficiency on some level. There are several perspectives on efficiency and good movement. The inner perspective is:

“What is your experience of this movement?” and the external perspective is “What is the experience of the beholder?”. 

For example, you go to this incredible ballet performance or Cirque du Solei and they’re doing these incredible things. You say, “That was so amazing, so beautiful”, but meanwhile on the stage they are wrecking their bodies. 

There you have the conflict full on. A lot of things they were doing were dysfunctional, pushing their bodies way beyond what they should be doing. They were hurting badly on every level, but the audience thought it was beautiful and incredible movement.  They are basically ending their career right out there on stage.

Looks Good / Feels Good

BA: That’s a great topic, that “external versus internal”. Where is the feedback coming from? Who is giving the feedback that it was amazing? The observer or the mover? It’s the “looks good versus feels good”. When we teach, we provide external feedback “Move the pelvis in this direction”, “Allow this to happen”, or “Reach there”. The internal feedback is the question “How does that movement feel?”, “What do you observe with that?”, “What happens when you use this imagery versus that imagery?”.

EF: Starting way back, my experience in exercise classes and dance classes was all about positional alignment. You were told about the shoulders and ankles. Shoulder blades down, endless stuff like that, “Lift pelvis”, on and on until I felt immobilized, literally!  Is this correct now? Am I supposed to move from here? Well, I can’t really move because I’m going to wreck this great posture.

I was thinking that it feels very conflicted and it eventually donned on me that you can’t teach movement through a position. They contradict each other. Movement is movement, and a position is a position. We are not a statue on a wall.  That’s where it kind of started for me. If you want to align onto a wall, stacking the body like bricks, I think that works pretty well for a wall… but I’m not made for not moving.

In fact, we are very bad at not moving – that’s basically the crisis we have right now. We are more sedentary than our ancestors.  We are very adapted to a lot of moderate movement for hours daily. That’s what we’re adapted to and that’s why I was wondering about this postural teaching. If you try to move while you try to keep a position, you are going to create conflict and it expresses itself in tension. As we know, tension is the enemy of movement. If the movement from the beholder looks tense, and there are different ways it can be expressed, like discomfort, the suspicion should be high that this movement is not efficient. 

Watch the Full Replay of Pilates Hour Episode #108 “Does Ideal Alignment Really Matter” with Brent Anderson and Eric Franklin. For more on Neuroscience and Pilates check out the blog “Neuro-Concepts and Pilates”.

Community Highlight: Polestar Practitioner Peter Clerkin

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In your own words – describe “the Spirit of Polestar”:

PC: Using Pilates as a tool to create a positive movement experience.

What Three Words come to mind when you think of “Polestar Pilates”?

Holistic

Evolved

Legacy

What do you love about teaching Pilates?

PC: I love teaching because I can express and articulate what is good about Pilates as people do it – I know that a class or an individual person will feel better than they did before at the end of the session and I love to be present to see that change occur. I took my teacher training in London and my educators were Liz Bussey and Diane Nye.

What are your current Inspirations?  

PC: My current inspirations are researchers and physiotherapists trying to understand pain science so that it can be applied to Pilates, or movement practices in general, as a way to build resiliency in our clients. Polestar Educator Juan Nieto does a lot of good work in condensing this research and making it applicable to Pilates

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

PC: I have been a Pilates teacher for almost 10 years – before that, I coached youth sports and earned an undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science. Movement fascinates me and Pilates is a wonderful way of moving and making shapes that is in the moment, fun, and rewarding. Afterward, you feel improved emotional and mental health, and the physical, mental and emotional benefits continue the more you practice.

Pilates takes me into flow more than any other activity.

Why Polestar Pilates?  How did you come to join the Polestar Community?

PC: I felt that it was the gold standard regarding teacher training and I love that across the world we can all find common ground with the training and methods we use.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

PC: Moving is vital to being healthy and living a varied and fulfilling life. Also, that it can be fun, explorative, collaborative, and a way to understand your own unique body.

What is your favorite Quote? 

PC:

“The only constant is change”

Simple but powerful, I interpret it as trying to embrace what may come next and adapt to that rather than expecting things to be a certain way.

What is your Favorite Apparatus or favorite way to move?

PC: I love the ladder barrel – I think because a lot of the other apparatus are similar to each other. I like that the ladder barrel is a wonderful way of moving through many directions with your spine and also as a way to perform movements with a greater range of motion around the major joints.

You can find Peter on social media @peterdoespilates and discover teacher training opportunities here.

Unlock the Myth of Intra-Abdominal Pressure

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What Is Intra-Abdominal Pressure And Why Does It Matter? 

Intra-abdominal (IAP) pressure is defined as the steady-state pressure concealed within the abdominal cavity and resulting from the interaction between the abdominal wall and viscera; IAP oscillates according to respiratory phase and abdominal wall resistance.

How do we educate people who have lost the capacity to appropriately use intra-abdominal pressure?  Think about the following statement: The appropriate amount of stiffness for the anticipated activity. What does this best describe? Stability? Core Control? Powerhouse? All of these things? 

The answer is all of them. Whether we are talking about stability, the powerhouse, or core control, we should be talking about the same concept. That is, does someone have the right amount of support for the anticipated load or activity? I intentionally use the word anticipated. The brain is using information from past experiences to determine the best approach. This enables us without thinking to know how much stiffness to create in preparation for picking up a jug of milk versus a bag of dried leaves for example.

Joseph Pilates implied that the powerhouse is where things start. What kind of tools do we as movement practitioners have to facilitate the appropriate amount of stiffness for the anticipated load? When asked how they would rank the greatest influencers of intra-abdominal pressure, our #PilatesHour webinar attendees answered as follows:  

A lot of people think it is about muscle control or abdominal strength. This is not the case. When we talk about the abdominal wall and intra-abdominal pressure with our clients, we often confuse them. This is because intra-abdominal pressure involves much more than just the abdominal wall. Intra-abdominal pressure is the stiffness inside the trunk, particularly in between the chest and the pelvic floor. It is this stiffness that is necessary to control the amount of movement based on the load. 

The Power Of Breath 

Breath is a powerful influencer of intra-abdominal pressure. The diaphragm is in fact one of the primary muscles and controllers of intra-abdominal pressure. Some people do not utilize the breath or the diaphragm efficiently or as part of dynamic control. This provides a terrific opportunity for Pilates instructors to affect IAP simply through training efficient and supportive breath patterns. 

The appropriate amount of stiffness is going to be determined by the activity and facilitated by proper alignment. For example, holding your breath in and of itself will create stiffness, but does it create the appropriate amount of stiffness? Is this a stiffness or support that can be maintained for a period of time? Proper alignment and practice lead to efficient and successful movement that seldom has to do with core strength. 

Most of our bodies are given the appropriate amount of strength to be able to handle the movements we choose to participate in. That does not mean that tomorrow, with my body in its current condition, I can go out and perform a 400-pound deadlift if I chose to. I am not conditioned for this activity, nor do I have a need to lift 400 pounds.

However, if I were training to perform that specific loaded movement, my body would naturally start gaining strength by steadily increasing the deadlift weight. Tissue adaptation would happen, meaning that my abdominal wall, my back muscles, and my pelvic floor would all start to change based on the demand that I would be making on those tissues. 

This leads to the question, How much control, mobility, or stiffness is necessary to accomplish the task at hand? 

Let’s say the box in this photo weighs 40 pounds. What parts of his body must recruit and create stiffness to keep him from falling? What if the box were 100 pounds, vs 15 pounds. How would that change the situation? 

When we look at the dynamic movement of kicking a ball, what are they doing and what muscles must be turned on for the person in the photo to be able to kick the ball? Which fascial trains or slings are being activated or tensioned to be able to have the appropriate amount of control of the trunk so that their leg and body can accelerate the foot through space and kick the ball down the field? 

How can we support clients in improving the efficiency of their intra-abdominal pressure? 

  1. Help them find their optimal alignment 
  1. Help them find efficient breath patterns within their optimal alignment 
  1. Progressively load them, working always within ranges where they can maintain the above 
  1. Work through the above points to help them perform the activities in which they want to participate 

With this basic introduction to intra-abdominal pressure, we see that it is more about alignment, breath, and load than focused abdominal work. I encourage you to try facilitating the above points with your clients and see how their quality of movement and integration with activity improve. 

Brent Anderson, PhD, PT, OCS, NCPT is the President and Founder of Polestar Pilates International. Brent is a licensed physical therapist and orthopedic certified specialist with more than 22 years of experience. Based on his extensive background in rehabilitation and movement science, Brent elaborates on Joseph Pilates’ mind-body work through the Polestar curriculum by developing tools for critical reasoning and applying supportive scientific research. He also infuses the integral role of psychology and energy systems on motor control and motor learning.

Brent hosts our weekly webinar #PilatesHour featuring special guests from the movement science field and Polestar community. Watch episode 82 “The Science And Myth of Intra-Abdominal Pressure” here.

9 Tips to Self-Regulate your Nervous System

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Written by Polestar Graduate and Mentor for Polestar Pilates UK, Kristin Loeer.

There are many reasons for why we become Pilates Teachers. A love for public speaking does not tend to be one of them.

Kristin Loeer

As soon as we start teaching, groups, in particular, we realize that there is a side to this profession that is rather nerve-wracking. Day in, day out we walk into a large room filled with people who are all looking back at us expectantly. We feel the pressure to deliver something amazing and begin to tense up. We don’t know what to do with our hands and we can’t quite look people in the eye. We crack a nervous joke and blank unamused faces stare back at us in response. Too scared to repeat such an awkward display of disconnect we buckle down and escape into our “Pilates Teacher Mode”. 

We speed up a little as we talk, somehow needing to fill the silence and give people more to do, to make sure they are satisfied and do not have time to decide that they don’t like us. 

Somehow, we manage to get through the hour and as people leave, we hope desperately for a smile or a “thanks” from someone, so we know we did a good job after all. What sticks in our mind are all those people that leave without even looking at us. ‘Do they hate me?’ – we wonder. And while we are still wondering that, the next group of people are coming in and it starts all over again. At the end of the day, we are confused and exhausted and beginning to accept that there is a side to this job that makes us feel rather exposed and disconnected. 

While the described above is perhaps an extreme scenario as far as Pilates Teaching experiences go, I can say that I have certainly been there during the early years and I know that many of you have been too. This kind of challenging teaching experience is particularly common at the start of our career when we take on cover classes or work for health clubs where groups are large and unfamiliar.

And while things may improve with time and experience, many of us can not quite shake off the protective “Pilates Teacher Mode” completely and never quite feel fully authentic and at ease when we teach. 

It is no surprise that we feel so challenged in situations like this. Stepping in front of an expectant crowd and allowing ourselves to be seen can evoke a fight or flight response in our nervous system. This deeply instinctive mechanism causes us to lose the ability to rest into ourselves and socially engage with other people. In the end, we have spent an hour trying to manage our own stress while in the public eye, trying to connect with people and teach them healthy movement. Accumulatively this is a jarring process that could well be the first step to burnout if work situations like this persist. 

We can use Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory to get a better understanding of what is happening to us in classes as described above. 

When we are at peace and enjoying the company of others we are in a ventral vagal state. We feel grounded, calm, and at ease. Our body is able to take care of all internal processes like digestion, restoration, musculoskeletal and cognitive function in an easy and balanced way. We feel connected to and seen by others in ways that make us feel safe and validated. This ability to socially engage with other people is something that fuels our ventral vagal state further. We have a sense of “I can.” about us and our ambitions. Most of us will have an experience of this and some of us feel at home in this state of being more so than others. 

If we are under a lot of stress, experiencing pain, or managing difficult relationships, we may not find a ventral vagal state easy to maintain. When we then enter the studio in this state, we quickly begin to pick up the signals that trigger a sympathetic nervous system response. We perceive many unfamiliar eyes suddenly looking at us expectantly or even challengingly.

We are suddenly under public scrutiny and feel the pressure to perform and deliver. We tense up, our eyes go wider, and we cannot see the room as a whole anymore as we fixate on this or that. We become a little uncoordinated or even walk into things.

We get a mental block and cannot think properly. Our voice and movements speed up and our breath becomes shallow. We cannot look people in the eye. Even if we are aware of these changes, it is difficult to control or influence them. The body has gone into a sympathetic nervous system state associated with expecting or preparing for a fight or flight situation in a moment when we are desperate to connect with people and create an environment for health and well-being. 

How frustrating is this? In our attempt to make it work, we put more pressure on ourselves, and our sense of “I can” changes to “I must.” 

Unfortunately, no matter how much we try to hide how we really feel 70-80% of our communication with others is non-verbal and a lot of it is subconscious and instinctive.

Chances are that the class participants pick up on our sympathetic nervous system state, which means that now neither of us are able to socially engage with each other or find a state of well-being. 

If this experience is repeated again and again, we may eventually collapse into a dorsal vagal state, a form of nervous system shut down. We may experience symptoms like headaches, chronic tension, stiffness and pain, voice problems, and chronic exhaustion. At this point we have a sense of “I can’t.” and something has to seriously change for us to be able to get back to “I can.” 

What can we do about this? Ideally, we want to be and remain in a ventral vagal state as much as possible when we work with our clients. We want to be able to connect with them, put them at ease and role model physical and mental well-being. 

Below are a few simple tips that can help you self-regulate your nervous system in preparation of those challenging classes as well as during your teaching.

Before The Class:Take A 15 Minute Time Out

Perhaps the most important question we want to ask ourselves is: how do we enter the studio? Are we already in a sympathetic nervous system state when we arrive? If we are, it will be very difficult for us to shift this while under the pressure of a teaching situation. Schedule 15 minutes before the class in which you can take time out for yourself where you are undisturbed. 

Grounding

Grounding is extremely powerful in helping us shift into a ventral vagal state. Spend some time acknowledging the contact and support you are receiving from the ground and other areas in which you are making contact. Feel your feet on the floor and perhaps lean into a wall or back of a chair and feel the sense of support and holding this gives you. 

Self-Contact

Give your body some support by making gentle contact with your hand on your heart, stomach, or thighs. Follow your instinct, keep it simple and give this time. Track the sensations that arise. 

Identify A Resource

Ask yourself what else might help you settle and feel more the way you want to feel. Would a hot drink be helpful or maybe your favorite music on your mp3 player? Maybe you put on your favorite leggings that make you feel great? It is those little things that can be a great resource to us when it comes to settling our nervous system. You can also connect to a resourceful memory of a time when you felt the way you want to feel now. As we connect to such memories, our body resonates.

Track Your Sensations

You may observe energy rising. This is okay. Allow it to travel through you and keep acknowledging your soothing resources and the contact and containment from the ground, your surroundings and self-contact. Chances are that energy will settle if you allow a little time for this. Once you feel calmer and more relaxed, spend another moment to really soak up this nervous system state with your awareness before you enter the studio. 

This 15-minute preparation will make a huge difference to your following teaching experience as it will be easier for you to maintain your ventral vagal state and your clients may also feel more inclined to connect with you from the get-go. 

During the Class

Notice your Triggers and Slow Down

When you feel the very first triggers that challenge your calm, allow yourself to slow down. You have more time than you think. We quickly feel under pressure to act, especially in a fight or flight state. Know that you have time to attend to yourself. 

Acknowledge the Ground

You also have contact with the ground here, just like before. Notice it and allow it to support you. You do have the time to sense the ground and acknowledge that it is always there to support you. Notice how it feels to acknowledge this. 

Self-contact  

Placing your hand to your heart, putting one hand into another, touching the back of your neck, whatever helped you soothe yourself before, is perfectly acceptable to do while teaching a Pilates class. There are plenty of those gestures that we do subconsciously all the time, so chances are nobody will notice as you get a powerful reminder of your ability to self-soothe. 

 Remember that you can 

If you notice yourself thinking that you must make it through or that you must give people a positive experience, take a breath and remember that you actually don’t have to do anything at all, but that you can absolutely do this, otherwise you would not be where you are, doing what you do.

If you can follow the above steps in full you will find your teaching experience change. Not only in these challenging teaching scenarios, but also in your work with private clients and more familiar or smaller groups. However, if you are easily stressed or uncomfortable when teaching, don’t be discouraged if the above steps are not solving your problem completely right away. Often a little more support, guidance and practice is needed to help our nervous system regulate itself in challenging situations. Feel free to contact me if you would like more information on this subject or if you are seeking further support. 

Kristin Loeer is a Polestar Graduate, Mentor for Polestar Pilates UK, and a Somatic Movement Coach. You can find Kristin at her website and on social media at @kristinloeer_movement

Polestar Pilates Highlight : Ana Bolt Turrall

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Ana Bolt Turrall is a Polestar Pilates practitioner, dancer, mentor, fitness & dance educator in Jacksonville, FL with Revive Rehab Clinic and Optimal Performance Pilates Jacksonville.

What do you love about teaching Pilates?

I love that I get to share how amazing Pilates feels and is for the body. I have the opportunity to share the importance of movement longevity, to create change, and encourage people of all backgrounds to enjoy this treasure. It is wonderful to hear my clients responses when their minds and bodies are challenged and they get an understanding of the ‘self-awareness sensation’; I delight in describing personally what that organic connection feels like to me “a symbiotic helical effect”.

Sometimes I say to people, “Pilates it’s like eating live food, for a nutritious source of energy.”

Where do you teach in Jacksonville?

I am at two locations: The Revive Rehab Clinic, which has given me the opportunity to learn and work alongside knowledgeable PT, OT and MFR therapists to create beneficial wellness programs, assist in rehabilitation, and share the legacy of love for movement. I am also, the Pilates Director and co-owner at Optimal Performance Pilates, where my mission is to develop programs that will enhance people’s lives.

Where did you take your Training and who was the educator?

I did my comprehensive Polestar training in Miami with some amazing women including Cristi Idavoy, Shelly Power, and Beth Kaplanek who is my mentor till this day.

What are your current Inspirations? What do You love about them?

My current inspirations are to build programs for the MS population and people with disabilities. I currently work with Parkinson’s clients and survivors of domestic abuse. Every person I come across that faces movement challenges have some emotional struggles and I want to serve them.

They inspire me through their drive to find quality of life and the stories of survival. Hidden emotions can become an entrapment and occasionally we all do it for self preservation or a defense mechanism. Therefore, as the body moves there are layers of emotions that are released and the feeling of letting go happens. Sometimes words cannot express that feeling but Pilates can offer these individuals that freedom. I am constantly exhilarated to grow and continue this journey to provide positive movement experiences for better care and long lasting movement performance.

Why Pilates?

Pilates like dance is a journey – you never stop learning!

With Pilates I unearth my meditational zone, internal dialogue that leads me to listen deeply and also find the artistry and relationship with the beauty of dance.

With Pilates, there is a special focus: a strive for precision, coordination and fluidity through movement integration that feels like choreography in motion.

Pilates is also like dance because it is ‘a movement art form,’ a discipline that ties in with a holistic sense of balance and your daily living. It is the kind of movement that drives you from the inside out essentially with focus and sensibility about your body.

How did you find the practice?

I found Pilates while dancing in college at New World School of the Arts. I began Pilates as a somatic/healing movement practice after I survived domestic abuse. After a period of time, I was determined to become an instructor and turn the physical damages sustained into movement discovery and self empowerment.

By understanding and embodying the Pilates principles my limitations became possibilities.

The Polestar Pilates method helped me modify and strategize movement differently, and to dance again was my new beginning. Until this day I strive to improve and mentoring is another wonderful way to enhance the practice and evolve. I have realized that the graces of aging have led me to an intriguing journey of new discoveries where change is inevitable, but acceptance of these changes can be rewarding.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

Through my teaching, I let people know that I want to learn about them, motivate, encourage, share love and compassion, and in that process of learning with them – to also enjoy the fun that comes with Pilates!
I also teach the importance to invest in our bodies that God created so beautifully for long lasting and happy lives. I convey that Pilates in so many ways is a form of your own ‘physical mobility health insurance.’

Where would you love to Vacation to?

Spain where I lived growing up. I want to watch and feel the flamenco, take classes and dance to the folkloric music traditions and rhythms.

What are your Favorite Quotes? How do you live, embody and apply them?

A quote I created, that relates to me presently is:

“This body still has music left to play! The graces of aging just add a little more flavor”

Also a statement from Rudolf Von Laban:


“Movement is, so to speak, living architecture”

I teach movement and functionality for healthy living. My works have taken me to Canada and New York where I have the opportunity to collaborate with amazing movement artists with a heart for service. I see the Body as the ‘Temple of God’ – a living architecture created for amazing works. It is with gratitude that I share the gift of movement through dance and embody my work through teaching. Throughout my efforts, I help build connections in individual bodies and minds which also result in spiritual understanding of the ‘self’.

My goals are to create mindful movement programs for people to engage in exercise, and also for dancers/movement artists to enjoy Pilates through an integrative choreographed form with a flair of ‘movement architecture!’

Describe your movement style?

I feel that my movement approach serves with purpose, is thoughtful, dynamic, and depending on the class I teach, I add the dance artistry. I have studied a variety of movement modalities and danced many styles helping me become versatile and creatively engaged. I feel strong teaching with athleticism and tailor my classes to the needs of my clients.

What is your Favorite apparatus or favorite way to move? What do you love about it?

I don’t have a favorite apparatus. I find all the equipment to be a mindful playground where I can stick to the original/classical exercises, or be adventurous to create with endless possibilities for movement performance and exploration. As a movement artist I love moving in different planes to keep me curious and movement engaging.

The Kinesphere by Laban is a fascinating concept that I appreciate and use further in “Kinespheres for movement therapy” with certain populations such as Parkinsons (the body is challenged within a point to reach out into multi-directional dimensions which engages the zest of the core and has enriched gestural choreography for my dance works).

What are you reading or learning about?

I read about two or 3 books at once that correlate to the work that I do. I am presently reading “The Artisan Soul” by Erwin Raphael McManus to continue my sense of wonder, evolvement and creative processes.

For constant guidance and tuning, I read “Alignment Matters” by Katy Bowman, and Beth Kaplanek’s manual “Pilates teachers perspectives of Lower Extremity Pathologies & Joint Replacements” (Beths’ manual is like a bible for me!) and I am learning more about the Oov!

After taking the fundamentals and apparatus course, I am hooked on practicing the depths to where this tool keeps stimulating strategies to find balance and stability; yet the body is always challenged in a de-centering mode. My brain literally, goes into a rollercoaster, there is an internal dialogue that suddenly yields revelations, and it is then where for a few seconds I feel- ‘internal silence and almost a sense of center’ – just in time to start that rollercoaster again- this is seriously is pretty magical.

How does Pilates inform your profession?

I was a dance, theatre and fitness educator in the school systems for 20 years. As I continue to teach in these fields, Pilates is part of my curriculum. Hence, the Polestar method informs my profession all the time, even through the quotidians’ of life. It has provided me with a stronger foundation in all forms of education in movement performance for fitness enthusiasts, dancers and seasoned dancers. As an older dancer who continues to dance, Pilates informs my body with functional technique and safety. Therefore, I choreograph, and teach dance technique with a cognizant perspective by cross training with the Pilates Principles for Movement Artistry. I believe that institutional dance forms can benefit from and enhance the longevity of dancers with these principles. I apply them to myself and in my artistic development.

Fun facts about me:

I love taking care of orchids because they are so difficult to keep alive! I was born in Nicaragua, and I am 34% percent Indigenous Native from Central America from my father’s side. I have coached track & field, and Love to play the Djembe. I am not good but I enjoy the rhythms I create and it happens all in private 😉

Meet Ana on Social media @anaboltturrall and on Facebook at: The Bolt Movement . Visit her website www.theboltmovement.com