Polestar Education

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

Pilates Beyond Muscles & Bones: The Autonomic Nervous System in Motion

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Many people turn to Pilates to help them recover from injury, overcome chronic pain and physical limitations, and improve posture.  With those goals at the forefront it can be easy for Pilates practitioners to focus in on muscle tissue health, biomechanics, and, of course, movement quality.  That is what Pilates teachers know a lot about and tend to utilize in helping their clients improve and in reaching their goals.

What we do not tend to consider is how much the autonomic nervous system plays a role in our clients’ limitations and how much addressing it within our movement work could help them.

Kristin Loeer, NCPT Polestar Education Mentor

The autonomic nervous system is the branch of the nervous system (NS) that is in control of our bodies’ hormonal and chemical balance.  

It is very sensitive to what we experience on a daily basis.  Throughout the day it swings between parasympathetic and sympathetic responses in our body.  We tend to only be aware of this swing if we pay close attention or if we are reaching a threshold of tolerance where our nervous system begins to struggle.  When we are in a comfortable parasympathetic state, we are relaxed, calm, and able to sleep well.  We are in a state in which we are comfortable, able to learn new things easily, and recover from injuries quickly.  This is so because our nervous system is detecting no threats to our life and therefore chooses to take that time to focus on the internal processes that help us regenerate and grow. 

These processes include sleep, rest and digest, healing, and learning.  As we become more stressed or under pressure in some way our NS starts to move us into a more sympathetic state.  We experience subtle physical changes, such as a rise in blood pressure, increased tension in the body, and breathing becomes more shallow.  

Our NS does not understand the modern world we live in.  

It interprets our experience of stress and pressure as a reaction to a threat.  It reacts accordingly by making our body ready to respond (fight or flight).  The further we go into a sympathetic state the more the NS compromises on some processes in our body in order to focus all energy into short term survival.  It keeps us alert and our body in a state of constant readiness.  Our mind can not deal with anything else besides focusing on the potential threat or the stressful situation at hand.  There is little room for restful sleep, capacity for learning, or healing from injury during this time.

Both the sympathetic and parasympathetic states are important and should work in balance with one another.  However, we no longer live in the wild.  We live lives our nervous systems do not necessarily understand.  It does not know about the stress and pressure that comes with work commitments.  And it does not understand surgery or medication.  It does not understand our social pressure to suck up the emotional turmoil.  This can make it difficult for our NS to keep regulating itself in a balanced way.

Never mind knowing that we are often stressed and exhausted, how many of us and our clients deal with high blood pressure, sleeping problems, digestive issues, excessive tension in the body, difficultly to focus and remember things, and injuries and pain that just won’t heal?  If we add a slightly more traumatic event into this imbalanced nervous system, such as perhaps a bereavement or a car accident, it can push our NS into a traumatic state where we remain stuck in a sympathetic pattern way out of our window of tolerance.  Or it may push us down into a deeply para-sympathetic state, also outside of our window of tolerance.  We recognize this as a state of depression.

It is safe to say that many of us are dealing with a somewhat imbalanced NS nowadays.  

We need to consider how this may be affecting our clients during their session with us.  It is important that we read our clients well and acknowledge the state they are in when they come in.  

  • Are they rushing in overwhelmed and exhausted?  
  • Do they speak loud and fast?  
  • Are they complaining about not sleeping or struggling with digestion?  

These are clear signs that they are currently stuck in a sympathetic state.  Beginning their session that way may not be helpful, as they will find it hard to let go of the excessive tension in their body to move easily.  Their body is still looking out for threats.  That is not something we want when we are trying to help them heal, expand their movement abilities, and learn new movement patterns.

What we can do, is dedicate our first few minutes of the session to help them feel safe, so that they can tap into their parasympathetic system.  How do we do this?  There are many simple tools:

1. Modeling Safety

First of all we need to slow down our own pace and model the behavior of a person who feels safe.  This is why it is so important for us as practitioners to be self-aware and to self regulate our own NS.  We can speak slowly and softly, breathe deeply, and allow our own bodies to relax.  Our client’s NS will pick up on this and take in the message that if we feel safe, perhaps there is no threat here and perhaps they can join in on feeling safe too.

2. Orienting

Then we can make them aware of the environment they are in.  Perhaps their brain is still in traffic or at work; encourage them to recognize that they have arrived in your studio where they are safe and in an environment of joy and healing.

3. Grounding

Guide them to ground themselves in their body.  Make them aware of the contact they are making with the floor, the mat, the piece of equipment they are on and invite them to explore the subtle sensations of that.  Make them aware of their breath and encourage them to explore it or breathe more deeply.

All of these things can help your client shift into a more parasympathetic state in which they will be more able to engage with their body, focus on what they are doing and learning, move with more quality and efficiency, and remain safe as they move.

However we need to keep the NS in mind throughout the session.  We are asking our client to go through a variety of movements, and we do not know what their individual nervous system might make of an exercise that we think would be good for them.  

With our anatomy hat on, we might decide that a supine stretch would be beneficial to improve their thoracic extension.  

We need to understand that there might be a very good reason why our client’s nervous system has decided to keep them stuck in excessive thoracic flexion. 

 It may just be that desk job that caused them to hunch over time.  However it is likely that there is more to this person’s rounded shoulders and hunched posture.  It may be a side effect of the client’s NS detecting danger a lot of the time, asking the body to assume a more protective posture.  So before we ask our client to bend backwards and open their heart to the sky, we may need to take even smaller steps towards this movement to ensure that our client feels safe and, if possible, even empowered to take this “risk.”  

Likewise if we decide that our client is physically able and ready for the intense experience of Russian splits or hanging, we need to be aware of the signals that this physical undertaking may send to their NS.  Both of these exercises can in fact be amazing tools to help someone expand their window of sympathetic tolerance, which means if they achieve it while feeling safe and they have a positive experience, it may help them feel more capable and confident in their every day lives.  

However if we take a client who, at that moment in time is struggling with an unstable NS, he or she may well be unstable in Russian splits too.  Not only are we at an increased risk of something going wrong, we may just be adding the last bit of stress that may cause the client to go into sympathetic overwhelm, which may be hard to recover from or could even cause re-traumatization of someone who has been struggling with emotional trauma.

The problem is that our client may not be fully aware of what state they are in as the NS regulates itself on a rather subconscious level.  

On top of that we like to reassure each other that we are “fine” or “okay.”  That is why we, as practitioners, have to be even more aware of the signs that tell us about where our client is in his or her NS spectrum and the effect that our session may have on them.  As practitioners who support our clients to engage and work with their body, it is also our job to help them become more self-aware.  This practice will help them be able to self-regulate their NS, to make more wise choices when it comes to what they ask of their body, and to live a more balanced healthy life.

Kristin Loeer is a Polestar Mentor in London with Polestar Pilates UK Polestar Pilates United Kingdom

Learn more about Kristin

Alexandra Dalli: Polestar Mentor

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Polestar mentors are graduates who have directly assisted Educators in comprehensive pilates teacher trainings. Mentors in training are nominated by Polestar educators to begin the path of a Polestar Mentor. They are nominated for their potential to reach the highest standard of presence, knowledge and awareness as Pilates instructors. Welcome Mentor in Training Alexandra Dalli!

Polestar: What do you love about teaching and where did you take your training?

AD: I love that teaching Pilates allows me to facilitate a positive movement experience for others who may have a negative view of their body or associate movement with pain. Because I am a dancer who has been training since age 3, I have been afforded the opportunity to develop a unique relationship with my body and its abilities. As technology is pushing us towards a more sedentary lifestyle, many people never get the chance to experience the joys of movement in all planes of motion that dancers are accustomed to. 

I took my training at Rutgers University and completed the Mason Gross Polestar Pilates Comprehensive Studio Teacher Training Program with educator Kim Gibilisco. Additionally, I completed my 65-hour internship in Madrid at SLINGS with Juan Nieto and Blas Chamorro.

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

AD: My current inspirations are the 5-7-year-old dancers I teach ballet. Their energy and genuine interest in dance and Pilates inspires me and reminds me that we are all born with this innate curiosity and propensity to move. By incorporating Pilates exercises into their warm-up routine, I have seen the ways they are excited to rise to the challenge of more difficult exercises and how, over time, their proprioception and coordination has increased simply by doing the same exercises week after week. It reminds me we all have (and inspires me to listen to) that playful childlike energy inside of us.

Polestar: Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

AD: I was first introduced to Pilates in high school by my ballet instructor. As somewhat of a perfectionist, Pilates allowed me to focus in and center myself before ballet class, long rehearsals, and auditions. In times of stress or anxiety, I still find tranquility in getting on the floor and counting and breathing my way through some mat exercises. 

Polestar: What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

AD: In my teaching, I hope to convey the idea that anyone and everyone can do Pilates and reap its benefits. Regardless of limitations or contraindications, there is a way Pilates principles and exercises can be applied to your body. 

Polestar: Where would you love to vacation?

AD: I would vacation in Puerto Rico to learn more about my roots and experience the culture my grandparents grew up in. I love everything about my culture–from the food, to the music and the language, and I am looking forward to visiting hopefully sooner rather than later. The sun and sand definitely beats New Jersey’s winter.

Polestar: What is your favorite quote?

AD:  “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” This can be applied to all facets of life and reminds me everything is a journey with valleys and peaks but as long as you continue to apply yourself to the best of your ability, you will find success.

Polestar: How would you describe your movement style?

AD: My movement is 100% informed by my background in ballet. To me, every exercise is choreography and can be performed as a beautiful dance. I love highlighting the rhythm and flow in an exercise while also honoring the natural rhythm of your body.

Polestar: Do you have a favorite apparatus or favorite way to move?

AD: My favorite apparatus is the chair because of its endless opportunity! There are so many variations on exercises that can be done on the chair and personally, it feels like the safest apparatus to incorporate creativity to exercises.

Polestar: What are you reading or learning about?

AD: I have been reading about neuro-linguistic programming since I first began my Polestar training. I am fascinated with the ways language informs our movement outcomes as well as our perception of self and world. NLP can be directly applied to how teachers cue students through Pilates exercises.

Polestar: How does Pilates inform your profession? 

AD: Pilates is what gave me the courage to leave administration and commit 100% to turning Pilates into my profession!

You can find Alexandra on instagram @Alexandra_Elise where she will be posting more about her journey as a Polestar Mentor in Training.

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Educator Highlight: Deborah Marcus

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We interviewed Polestar Educator Deborah Marcus! From Dancer to Pilates Instructor, Educator and Studio owner, read on to meet one of the best!


Polestar: What do you love about teaching / Pilates / Owning a Studio?  Where did you take your Training and who was the educator?
 
DM: I love being an agent for another person’s discovery of their own self efficacy.  Pilates is the perfect tool for this.  
 
I meandered into the Pilates world in the 1980’s New York City via teachers like Andre Bernard and Jean Claude West while pursuing a career as a dancer and choreographer.  I moved back to my hometown, San Mateo, CA after my first daughter was born and opened a studio, now called Movement Refinery Pilates.  I found my way to the Polestar Teacher Training in 2008 where I studied with Sherri Betz in Santa Cruz, CA.  It was an eye opening and transformative experience for which I am forever grateful!   
 
Polestar: What are your current inspirations?   What do you love about them?
 
DM: Many things inspire me every day: my clients who never give up, all quadrupeds, birds that fly solo and birds that fly in groups, human acts of bravery and kindness.
 
Polestar: Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?
 
DM: The continuum between assisted to resisted movement, closed chain to open chain, breath as a tool….these and other pathways inherent in the Pilates studio repertoire allow an individual to find her/his way from pain and dis-function to movement ease and function at any level of fitness.  Personally, Pilates has eased my way through this journey before and after multiple surgeries.  But what originally attracted me to Pilates was the specificity of the movement forms.  I have to go back to my experience as a dancer trained in the style of Anton Decroux.  It was incredible movement training that gave me an appreciation of how form and function are intimately intertwined in the health and well being of every human. 
 
Polestar: What do you hope to convey in your teaching?
 
DM: The most powerful thing you can do for your own progress is to be in the moment.  Easier said than done!
 
Polestar: Where would you love to vacation to?
 
DM: Antarctica and Japan.  I have a second  cousin who moved to a village deep in the Alaskan wilderness.  I’d love to visit her.
 
Polestar: What is your favorite Quote?
 
DM: I don’t have one.
 
Polestar: Describe your movement style?
 
DM: Depends on the day and the place.  Somewhere between sensuous and sharp, like the precision in a Bob Fosse jazz number .  I recently had a Watsu treatment and I loved giving up to that movement state.
 
Polestar: What is your favorite apparatus or favorite way to move? What do you love about it?
 
DM: I enjoy the Chair.  It takes up so little space and gives you the biggest bang for your buck with regards to gravity.
 
Polestar: What are you reading or learning about?
 
DM: I just finished Haruki Murakami’s surreal 1Q84.  Another great read from him is What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir.  Right now I’m half way through Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything, by Randi Hutter Epstein.  
 
Polestar: How does Pilates inform your profession?
 
DM: Pilates as a profession is evolving on every level.  The opportunity to learn more is always there thanks to organizations like the PMA, Polestar Continuing Education, and Balanced Body to name a few.  I also am grateful for the privilege of being a Polestar Comprehensive Educator where I get to share my expertise gathered during many years of practice and learning from talented teachers.  And, of course, teaching is learning.  It never stops!

Deborah Marcus is Currently a Polestar Educator and the owner of Movement Refinery Pilates Studio in San Mateo, CA.  Check out her post “Helping and Healing Through Pilates“

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