Polestar Pilates

Factors to Design the Best Pilates Session: Part I

Does the “magic” Pilates class exist? One that serves both the student and the instructor? How are the best exercises chosen? Can a session be suitable for each and every member of the class? We’ll explore how to design the perfect class… 


Having a clear intention and focus is essential in choosing the exercises that are going to provide a positive and focused motor experience for your clients. 

It’s important to keep in mind that not every exercise or transition will be 100% appropriate for everyone. For an individual or private session, we take into account the specific circumstances of the student, their needs and their objectives. When we talk about group sessions (either collective or small group), we must look for a balanced group objective that addresses the entire body. In this case it is very helpful to have clear distinctions between the levels of each class: if the student is in an inappropriate class level, they may not be able to follow the class or it will be too simple, boring or insufficient. 

Whether it be an advanced Pilates session, a beginner class or a session for the rehabilitation of an injury, planning is essential.  

We recommend that you always perform a functional assessment and conduct an interview with your students to know their habits, lifestyle, sports practice, etc.  It is important to plan subsequent assessment sessions in order to evaluate the efficacy of your program design, changes in the student, and to subsequently adjust the program if the desired changes in the student have not been produced. This assessment tool also helps us communicate to the student their progress . 

It’s a good habit to keep a “logbook” of your classes where you can write down information about each student that may be relevant in relation to their movement.  This logbook can also be useful for you as the instructor in evaluating the level of your classes and how your students are performing and improving. 

In our next post we will go in depth on how to develop a movement program based on effective and quality Pilates, under the premises we follow in Polestar Pilates. Do not miss it! 

Before adding a new student to your Pilates classes, do you have them fill out a questionnaire? Do you do an interview or a functional assessment? Tell us what works best for you.


Learn more about Polestar Pilates Spain

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

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 : Misty Woodden

I am a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, Certified Pilates Instructor, and Certified Kinesiotaper. I graduated as a PTA in 2004 and began working for Diamond Peak Physical Therapy. I am a Colorado native and enjoy hiking and running with my dog Champ, traveling, taking Spanish classes and of course doing Pilates! I love my job and enjoy learning. I have been able to enhance my clinical skills by taking continuing education classes. Some of my favorites have been myofascial release, muscle energy techniques, manual therapy of the spine, kinesiotaping and, the one that I am most passionate about, Pilates. I began my Pilates training in 2008. I chose the Polestar method, as it is taught by Physical Therapists and draws on the sciences of anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and motor control. I quickly discovered that Physical Therapy and Pilates truly compliment one another and have been merging the philosophy and teachings of both to improve function and well being of my patients and clients.

– Misty Woodden PTA, PMA®-CPT

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

MW: The joy of teaching is in seeing the excitement as a new movement or concept is understood by the client or student.  I enjoy being a part of that journey. I took my Polestar comprehensive training in Denver, CO.  I was fortunate to have two wonderful educators, Lise Stolze and Pamela Turner.  I was honored to mentor under Pamela, Lise, and later on Dannielle Holder.

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

MW: Two of my inspirations are Runity and the Oov.  These two trainings align with the Polestar principles and have given me new avenues to explore movement and enhanced my rehab “toolbox.”  Runity has given me assessment and teaching tools to not only help my clients with their running, but has also improved my own running.  It has also made me more conscious of being varied and spontaneous in movements and approaching exercise more playfully.  After the Runity program, my husband and I started entering Xterra competitions. I have kept my focus mostly on the trail running events, and I am enjoying running more than I ever have! The Oov has been equally inspirational.  The emphasis on eccentric control using the Oov has proved to be very effective in being able to create new motor patterns.  It has also been awesome in several of my clients’ home programs.  

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

MW: I found Pilates through my work in Physical Therapy.  I took a Lumbar stabilization course as continuing education.  We learned a handful of what turned out to be basic Pilates exercises.  These exercises were effective with my clients, but I soon found myself asking “what do I do with my patient after they have mastered these exercises?”  In my search for Pilates teacher training programs, I came across Polestar.  The incorporation of science and critical thinking in their training program made me choose their course.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

MW: The joy of movement.  More important than what you call the movement that you like to do, i.e.: pilates, yoga, running, biking, kayaking etc, it’s the simple fact of moving and enjoying yourself in the process.  I hope my teaching inspires the desire to get the body moving, appreciating the many different ways we are able to move, challenging the body and also not taking it for granted or feeling the need to punish it.  

Where would you love to vacation?

MW: Ohh too many places to list!  I enjoy travel, whether within beautiful CO or abroad.  I recently went to Cuba and immensely enjoyed the people, geography, and learning the differences and similarities of our ways of life.  Wherever I travel, I find myself preferring to be outside and exploring the terrain, rather than in the city.

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

MW: Many quotes have inspired me at different points in my life.  So many, in fact, that I have a notebook full of them.  On a day when I need a little motivation or reminder of how I want to live my life, I can flip through the pages and read the words of some great minds. 

Two of my long time favorites are:


“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.  Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.”  -Joseph Pilates

I partly love this quote because of the word zest.  Such a great word!  This quote reminds me of the connection between my mind and body and the ability to find joy in our everyday movements and tasks.

“A true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”  -Albert Einstein

This quote reminds me that I don’t need to know the answers to everything, but to use curiosity as a guide to problem solving.

Describe your movement style.

MW: Thoughtful, varied, and playful.

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

MW: I am blessed to have so much beautiful equipment to work with at our clinic, so many options of ways to support or challenge every movement.  I have a lot fun with the equipment, but I love the mat.  I enjoy the simplicity and accessibility that the mat provides. 

What are you reading or learning about?

MW: Just finished reading Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.  As if I didn’t think running was great already, this book looks at the physiology of exercise, in particular cardiovascular, on the brain, and learning.  Great read. Things I am learning:  the Spanish language (poco a poco!) and how to mountain bike.

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

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

Educator Highlight: Heather Brummett

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

Educator Highlight : Katrina Hawley

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

I suppose you want something more specific than everything!  I love how versatile Pilates is.  I have taught an eight-year-old child Pilates, and I have taught folks who are in their nineties.  The method has such variation and diversity that a Pilates teacher can reach any population.  And, even better, as a person’s movement world grows and develops, the method grows with them.   

Pilates is so varied that there is a challenge for any body, and as I continue to practice I love that I can continue to challenge my own body by simply progressing the method…it makes the possibilities infinite.

What do you love about owning a studio?

I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about the kind of community I want to create.  I go to work everyday in my own playground and I find that spectacular. Together my business partner and I have created a space that honors the individuality of each person.  I also find joy in the continued creative care that it takes to keep a studio current.  We are constantly reviewing the latest research, learning the newest marketing skills, and continuing to grow as individuals.

I did the Polestar Pilates Comprehensive series in 2006 with Nelly Lugo.  She’s amazing! 

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

Right now I am slightly obsessed with the idea of finding a work-life balance and living life outside of the theoretical (like moving my own body as much or even more than I teach others to move).  I am so excited about motor control, and I geek out about neuroscience and systems theory.  Somebody once suggested that I find a hobby because I work “too” much.  This person was not wrong, but the thought of finding another hobby that is as satisfying as my work seemed a little daunting. I have settled on making all of my food from scratch and coloring every page in Netter’s neuroscience coloring book.  I mentioned these new hobbies to my partner and he said, “Well that is wonderfully nerdy!” 

I am inspired by geekiness and am so grateful to live and work in a community where that is honored and even considered heroic.

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice? 

I was a dancer and Pilates was my “day job.”  Then when my dance career evolved (I avoid the phrase, “when I retired”)  I wanted to find a way to make Pilates more interesting.  I needed to bring the creativity and art of the rehearsal process to the teaching.  And what a journey it’s been.  I love that my background in dance is reaching a wider population.  I love the idea that information my body has had since I was six years old is helpful in how it informs my intuition when I am teaching others.  I love that I have found a way to make every session new.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching? 

We can’t be kind to others if we are not first kind to ourselves; that error is the pathway to learning; that I have yet to see the ideal posture on an actual living human being; and that every body is perfect.

Where would you love to vacation?

Costa Rica.  I have been obsessed with sloths since I was getting certified in Laban Movement Analysis and one of our assignments was to go to the zoo, observe the movement qualities of an animal and create a movement piece that is inspired by that animal.  I spent the entire four hours watching a sloth move about six feet on a tree branch.  I was mesmerized by the constant unending motion.  There is a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica.

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

“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg

RBG is my hero in so many ways.  I embody this quote as I vote, advocate, and teach.  Each person is independent in thought and that creativity should be honored.


Describe your movement style:

I love to move big and wide and to ride the momentum of my fascia.  My nephew characterized my movement with those words when I was geeking out to him about the fascial system.  My challenge is to move in a manner that is controlled and contained around my center.  My life’s goal is to balance the joy of flying with the accomplishment of control.

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

This changes from week to week… Right now I’m having a slight love affair with the ladder barrel and its support in spine movement.

What are you reading or learning about?

Netter’s Neuroscience Coloring BookTherapeutic Neuroscience Education, and Body Respect are the three new books on my nightstand, and I am always working my way through one of the Harry Potter books. We are at the beginning of a revolution of changes in thinking, or maybe we’re in the middle of the revolution and I am just figuring it out… I never know.


Join Katrina in the Upcoming Comprehensive Pilates Teacher Training in Hadley, MA