Pilates Studio

Generosity & The Business of Pilates

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“What I love most about Polestar and Brent Anderson’s message is the spirit of generosity.” – Mara Sievers

I remember reading a newsletter Brent wrote a while ago encouraging us to visit other Pilates studios, even the ones that are not teaching our technique or style. We can learn from everyone. Each new piece of information, every creative variation enriches us. Every life experience for that matter.

There is no reason to be afraid of other styles, schools or teachings.

When I first opened my studio, I felt a significant amount of stress to fill my classes and make everyone love Pilates so that my studio and I would thrive. This stress took quite a toll on my mental and physical wellbeing, so I made the conscious decision to eliminate the self-imposed stress of competition. I have to admit that it was initially more of a “fake it ’til you make it” effort, but over the years, I can honestly say that I have completely dropped the fear of competition.

Last year I visited a Pilates studio and took a session with the owner. During our session a man came in the door who was curious about Pilates and wanted some information. After briefly showing the man around the studio, she let the prospect go. She told me that her schedule was booked and she doesn’t need new clients. That’s wonderful for her, but she missed an opportunity to generously share the Pilates method with someone who’s interested by referring him to another nearby studio.

In order for the Pilates method to thrive, we all need to thrive. In this example, the studio owner could have brought business to another like-minded, hard working business owner. The man who came in would have remembered that this lady was generous enough to help him get what he was looking for even though she got nothing out of it. I think it’s better for us to be inclusive than exclusive, and this type of generosity and honesty gains respect in the community.

At my studio I get the occasional request if we offer barre classes, which we don’t, but I know of a studio in my town that does, so I refer them to that studio. Although barre is a different movement style, the spirit of generosity still applies.

Recently, a classically trained instructor who had moved to the area contacted me with her interest in teaching at my studio. After her demo and some thinking, she decided not to teach at my studio and eventually opened her own about 20 minutes from me. I saw this as a fantastic opportunity for me to experience classical equipment, which was new to me. I had been terribly curious about it and wanted to experience first hand what everyone was talking about. As soon as her studio was set up and ready to go, I booked a session and learned a bunch of new things that helped my body and inspired my teaching. She is a very different teacher from me, and she will attract very different clients.

Here are some reasons why I would refer a client to another teacher or studio:

  • I’m fully booked and can’t fit the client into my or the studio’s schedule
  • One of my current clients has a different mindset and approach to Pilates: if I feel I have to convince them in every lesson that what I do has value, then it might be better to refer them out… we’ll both be happier
  • If I or my studio don’t offer the day, time or type of class that the student is looking for, it’s more important that the student gets to do their preferred movement, even if it’s somewhere else

As Pilates teachers, it’s our goal to help people have positive movement experiences and to build awareness of mind and body. Whether they reach that goal through us or our “competitors” doesn’t matter so much; what matters is that people are moving and finding happiness.

Keep a generous spirit even or especially when the stresses of our lives make us withdraw, contract, and pull back. Sharing opens your heart to others, and people will love and remember you for it.

Your turn! Share your story of Generosity & Pilates in the comments section below.

Mara Sievers NCPT, is a Polestar Graduate, Practitioner and the creator of the Pilates Encyclopedia.  “Pilates is an amazing method, and it can be hard. It requires a lot of time to master. With its many details, it can seem overwhelming at first. Even after completing a comprehensive training, there is still so much to learn.“

Educator Highlight : Amy Dixon, NCPT

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What do you love about teaching Pilates and owning a studio?


AD: I am grateful for the blessing to teach what I love, and I am surrounded by an amazing staff who also share their love of Pilates! Owning studios since 2002, it has been both challenging and amazing to see how we’ve grown and evolved over the years. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else!

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

AD: I completed the transition course in 2012 with the Pilates Whisperer Shelly Power.


What are your current inspirations? What do you love about them?

AD: My life has been turned inside out the past few years with a diagnosis of chronic lyme disease. My normal day used to be filled with running a studio, seeing 7/8 clients a day, raising 2 teenagers and keeping up with their sports, a husband and home life, workouts, church activities, and so on. When my energy plummeted and mysterious symptoms reached a pinnacle, I had to adjust my life. Most activities got cut from my calendar, my client load dropped to 3 or 4 per day, workouts ceased, and life became quite depressing. As a studio owner, I couldn’t even do 30 minutes of Pilates without major repercussions that lasted for days. As my colleagues can imagine, that has been challenging! So I am currently working hard to manage day-to-day life and take care of my body. Accepting a new normal has been humbling, and I am learning to work within new parameters to find a balance of work~life~play!

Lyme symptoms can be broad due to the location of the bacteria inside your body and how they affect you. So varied are the issues that it’s also difficult to diagnose and treat. I know many are bed-ridden with Lyme, and others that can run miles and workout with no problem! I am thankful to be able to work and share what I love. So, my fellow “Lymies” are my inspiration.

Why Pilates? How did you find the practice?

AD: I came to Pilates at 22 through an injury with 2 herniated discs. I was a personal trainer and group fitness instructor who was struggling to make it through the day due to sciatic pain and foot drop! Once I started Pilates, I was totally hooked. My back pain was greatly reduced quickly with no shots or surgery needed!

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

AD: Pilates is for everybody, no matter what! Your body is a temple, and if you don’t care for it, who will?

Where would you love to vacation?

AD: Anywhere tropical, with white beaches and beautiful clear water. In a hammock, under a palm tree!

What is your favorite quote? How do you live or embody this?

AD: Philippians 4:13 is my life verse…. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” This verse inspired the name of my studio: Inner Strength Pilates

Describe your movement style:

AD: Creative and playful, explorative and thoughtful. I try to think outside of the box and make Pilates available for the person I’m training, not to make my client fit the Pilates routine.

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

AD: I love all of them, do I have to choose?!

What are you reading or learning about?

AD: Pilates for Lyme Disease, Neuromuscular Reprogramming, Pilates for Neurological Conditions and Pilates for Scoliosis are the avenues I am studying this year.

How does Pilates inform your profession?

AD: Pilates IS my profession, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I also have trained in many other modalities to complement my work, so that each client receives a blend of work to match their needs.

Learn more about Amy at InnerStrengthPilatesNC.com and @inner_strength_pilates on instagram

Polestar Pilates Educator Highlight : Noelle Dowma, Kansas City, KS

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What do you love about teaching Pilates and owning a studio? 

ND: My favorite thing about teaching Pilates is when someone has an “ah ha” moment.  This is when they realize they did something correctly either with awareness or the movement become effortless, with automatic ease.  This summer is my crossing into 27 years in Pilates. 

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

ND: I started as a dancer physical therapy patient who felt the efficiency from doing Pilates and was sold.  I continued to study, did my first certification in a classical program, and then started to teach at the Polestar Pilates studio in Miami.  While teaching, I had the opportunity to go through the Polestar rehabilitation series with Cynthia McGee and then trained to be an educator when onsite.  I have loved teaching for Polestar as an educator across the US over the past 15 years.  

What are your current inspirations?  What do you love about them?

ND: I am currently inspired by how much of our past influences the current and future.  How we handle these past situations dictates how we respond at the moment and how we will move into the future.  The more awareness and courage we can have to delve into these things, the more we appreciate the journey of life.  Similarly, I am currently interested in our reflexes and how they integrate or maybe don’t in our movement patterns.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching? 

ND: I think little things like having proper posture with the demands of our sedentary, device-driven world are crucial.  I love to try to tie the feelings of the Pilates work to function, so to help people continue to embody the work as a way of life vs. just ending when our session is over. 

Life is about efficiency and this is what Pilates teaches.  

Where would you love to vacation? 

ND: The Caribbean is my favorite place.  I am currently in search of my favorite islands. 

Describe your movement style: 

ND: I love investigating people’s desires for movement based on their past experiences and current desires.  Some people don’t feel like they have worked out unless their heart rate increases and they sweat, others need to stretch, and others need to “feel a burn.”  I personally don’t feel like I have exercised unless I have moved my spine and limbs.  As a dancer, I love the feeling of a stretch DURING movement vs. just a static stretch, and I do love to “feel a burn” in my targeted muscles.  I also enjoy variety, so Pilates, Oov, ballet, and weightlifting all are my rotated workouts.

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

ND: Selecting my favorite apparatus is like someone selecting their favorite child—how do I do that?  But, if I could only select one piece to bring with me on a desert island, I would choose the Reformer because it is so versatile.

How does Pilates inform your profession or recreation outside of Pilates? 

ND: The mindfulness of Pilates is what is so helpful for all aspects of life.  I love reaching a level of automaticity so to have the quality of movement Joseph emphasized, however we still need to have the mindfulness in our movements, especially when doing something less common like moving furniture and heavy yard work.  Forethought in these activities can go a long way in preventing injury.  

Follow Polestar Educator Noelle Dowma at: kinespherephysicaltherapy (facebook) and kinespherept (instagram)

Educator Highlight: Heather Brummett

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What do you love about teaching Pilates and owning a studio?  Where did you take your training and who was the educator?

HB: I love teaching others a method/way to move that feels balanced and achievable. I love how I feel and how clients tell me they feel when moving throughout the day after a Pilates session.  I love the subtle differences; changes and awareness in posture immediately and effortless movement. 

I enjoy owning a studio where I can give my community services that are unique to our location.  I love being able to have 1-1 time with each PT and client and allowing that time to integrate movement.  With more personal care I can see/hear the Pilates movement principles carry over into everyday life – something that is very difficult to achieve in a busy multiple-patient PT setting. 

I get inspired by the Pilates wellness classes that we offer.  We keep our classes small, 6 or less in class, to best cue and assist our clients.  It’s great to be able to integrate more advanced movements with smaller classes as well.
I took my Pilates training from Polestar Pilates Education in 2002 and my instructor was Lise Stoltz.  She has since been a wonderful friend, inspiration, and mentor!

What are your current inspirations?​  What do you love about them?

HB: My current inspirations have always been there.  Slowly in recent years, I have been able to work on them more actively.  It’s difficult owning a business; I try to work on the business as much as possible, but somehow along the years I get a gentle pull back to working full time and in the clinic.  So with that said, as much as I love working with all clients, I LOVE working with dancers.  Having a history of competitive dance growing up and then being a professional dancer for a short period of time, I am drawn to helping dancers understand their bodies and to help them to take care of their bodies and joints.

I love being able to teach a young dancer or a more seasoned dancer more about how their body works, how to feel their joints differently, and then move in a more intentional, efficient, and graceful way.  I love when they have their ah-ha moment – it gives me goosebumps!

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

HB: I love Pilates because it is choreography on machines.   I feel like I’m dancing with the machine.  I don’t get the time to take dance classes as much as I did when I was in my teens and 20s, so it is a way to embrace movement in a different way. 

I found the Pilates practice when I was taking classes in LA after high school.  I moved from Phoenix, AZ to LA to dance professionally.  Once there, I heard of a lady teaching Pilates in Hollywood.  Back in 1991, I drove over Laurel Canyon Blvd from North Hollywood to Hollywood, climbed up some ladders/scaffolding to a small building structure at the side of this bigger building to take a Pilates Reformer class.  Years later at a PMA conference in 2007, I found out that it was Mari Winsor who was my first Pilates teacher. 

From my first class, I knew I wanted to do something with Pilates.  While dancing I suffered a significant ankle injury and had to see a PT.   This, coupled with anatomy and physiology classes at a community college in LA, sparked my interest in PT.   Just after graduating from PT school in 2001, I took a course from Brent Anderson, teaching Pilates in rehabilitation.  I then signed up for the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive Course and continued to take more and more courses from the awesome teachers in the Polestar family.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

HB: I hope to convey that every movement that we make has an intention… the more we embrace the practice of Pilates, the more we live with intention with all that we do.  It’s definitely a journey!

Where would you love to vacation?

HB: I would love to visit the countries around the Mediterranean Sea.

What is your favorite quote?

HB: There are many that have inspired me along the way, but recently I like this quote: When Thomas Edison failed over 1,000 times inventing the light bulb, he responded…

“I didn’t fail 1,000 times, I learned 1,000 ways that it wouldn’t work.” 

Describe your movement style?

HB: Fun question!  I am not sure…I tend to move mechanically yet gracefully.   So I like to always feel a push-pull feeling to ground myself and my joints and then spice it up with a lyrical flowing style.

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

HB: I love feet in straps on the reformer.  I love to make up new choreography with double and single strap use.  I love the reformer for the constant feedback from the springs to push and pull against.

What are you reading or learning about?

HB: I love reading the Dance Medicine journals and dance imagery from Eric Franklin, but there are so many books on fascia that I enjoy reviewing as well… I wish there was more time in the day!

How does Pilates inform your profession?

HB: Pilates is an integral part of physical therapy in my clinic.  In Arizona, Pilates is slowly growing and being integrated more in PT.  Through presentations at state meetings and informal in-services, I hope I am helping to better educate our local profession on alternatives to traditional PT. 

You can find Heather on instagram at HBDancemedicine