Get Empowered with Science-Proven Pilates (with Shari Berkowitz)

Have you ever thought of what makes Pilates such a special workout? People who come to Pilates do so for different reasons: some want to get a flat stomach, some are recovering after an injury, others want to improve their golf swing or are looking for a more mindful way to work out.

Pilates can accomplish all of these goals and even more if it is taught and practiced correctly. Now, if you visit several different Pilates studios you might get confused about all the different teaching styles that you will experience. Some teachers will go slow, others will fly through the workout, some will use light resistance while others will ask you to put the heaviest springs on (to name just a few.)

The logical question that anyone might ask is “Which one of these styles is the true Pilates? Which one will help me reach my goals?”

These questions inspired me to talk to Shari Berkowitz, a Pilates teacher and educator who specializes in spreading science-proven teaching techniques in the Pilates community. She is the go-to person when you want to get the real, science-proven answers to any Pilates questions.

Shari has a great Pilates success story that shows just how empowering Pilates actually is. We had a great conversation on Skype talking about her:

• teaching style
• the state of the Pilates community
• scientific theories that help Pilates instructors and students move smarter and better
• best practices for teaching group Pilates classes
• and the tuna fish tower (you’ll see :-))

Read a short version of the interview below or get full access below.

1. Shari, please share with us your Pilates story.

I started Pilates after an injury as a professional dancer. My whole upper quadrant was paralyzed. I had a year and a half of physical therapy. About 11 months into my PT they started giving me Pilates sessions 30 minutes a week.

I was an elite professional dancer and after the horrendous injury I’ve been focusing strictly on getting the use of my arm, shoulder and neck back. The rest of my body has not been incorporated into my healing. The opportunity to do Pilates was incredible because it is a full body movement. And the focus has been different than my dance focus has been, and certainly my physical therapy focus. So that’s how I got into Pilates.

And later I was allowed to go back into performing. I was doing a show but I kept doing Pilates as well. It was going 30 minutes a week, then 2 sessions a week, until I was doing primarily Pilates and just a little bit of Physical Therapy.

I was thinking, “I am going to try to keep up with this. And Maybe some time later I would like to teach this. And maybe it would be my day-time job and I’ll be doing shows at night.”

Eventually, I ended up ditching performing, which I had done for 27 years, and falling headlong into Pilates.

How did you get into teaching?

My first experience in Pilates was with Romana Kryzanowska. I went right into classical Pilates because I wanted to teach what I knew. I did my training with Romana in New York and later moved to California.

When I was doing Pilates for myself I felt that it was so empowering (even though it is such an overused word!) I physically was feeling stronger than I even did before my accident. All of a sudden, I was a dancer who had upper body strength, a different mobility with my back and a whole different understanding of how my body worked! The confidence that I got in my body after having such a horrible injury was what I wanted to share with the other people as well.

I recognized, that this method could really help people feel confident in their bodies. And that kind of power that you have internally is pretty life changing. So that’s how I knew I wanted to teach it.

Do you still consider yourself a classical teacher or a more contemporary science-oriented teacher?

My style is Joseph Pilates’ exercises with a modern biomechanics understanding of them. For all of us who work in any kind of movement modality (Pilates, yoga, soccer etc) it’s really important to understand how the human body really works and apply it to your craft.

I find great value in Joseph Pilates exercises, so I indeed use them primarily, but I have also picked up a couple of other people’s exercises that I feel have value. However, I don’t follow the biomechanics from 1940 or 1960. I follow modern biomechanics, stuff that’s happening right now.

Application of those modern biomechanics to Mr. Pilates’ exercises makes them very dynamic and body balancing.

2. What is your personal definition of Pilates?

When a regular non-Pilates person comes up to me, I say

“Pilates is just a workout. It’s a really great workout that balances your body and is very mindful. And it can be crafted appropriately to any person, whether an elite athlete or a person who has never exercised before, young or old.”

3. You share a lot of your articles and tips on your teacher blog The Vertical Workshop. What research, thoughts and ideas are you trying to bring to the Pilates community with it?

Visit Shari’s Pilates and teacher Blog –

I seek to write articles to teachers and Pilates enthusiasts with the information that will help them understand their body better, the method of Pilates better and understand teaching tools better.
I put immediately useful information for teachers into my articles. It crosses all boundaries, and it is useful for any movement modality, whether it is a form of Pilates or not. It’s really about

• What is good teaching?
• How does the human body really work?
• How does it apply to the Pilates exercises?

Visit Shari’s Pilates and teacher Blog –

4. Shari, you base your articles and teaching on scientific research. Can you share with us exactly which theories/studies really excite you and which ones do you find particularly valuable in a Pilates environment?

The most exciting stuff is biotensegrity, the most modern theory on the mechanics of the body, and the real understanding of fascia.

5. There are a lot different views in the Pilates community on the safe spinal flexion. You have just posted an article on this topic. What is your take on the safe spinal articulation in Pilates?

Article referenced in this question – click here

We are meant to flex our spine. How we flex our spines is a different story.

The entire spine (except sacrum) is meant to have forward flexion, back extension, lateral flexion and rotation.

Different segments of the spine are meant to have different ranges of those motions. There are different things that are already set up in your body that help you stay within those ranges.

Regarding the controversy of the spinal flexion in Pilates, yes there should be forward flexion of the spine. However, we need to think, are we crushing our vertebrae, and are we forcing our discs back into the posterior longitudinal ligament? Are we forcing flexion so much that we are limiting movement?

My understanding of Pilates, is to increase movement and increase the ability to stabilize or mobilize for the health of the spine and all joints in general.

Let’s watch out that we are not compressing, crushing the spine. It’s been overkill for a long time, forcing a round curve. In this case most people are actually compressing really hard and hinging joints. Which becomes like a backlash, they can’t even move the spine and end up having this incredibly stiff spine hinging forward.

Let’s look at the way the human body is actually meant to move. Forward flexion is meant to happen, but if we are forcing forward flexion then we are causing compression and a lot of trouble. And if we are not allowing the forward flexion to happen then we are causing an equal amount of trouble because then we are no affording movement, and your spine is meant to move.

With education we can really understand how the human body is supposed to work, it becomes ridiculous to think one extreme or the other. The actual answer is really simple, it’s the middle zone where we move within the ranges of motion allotted to our spines.

6. What cues do you use to teach proper spinal articulation?

Imagine your lowest backbones are 5 tuna fish cans. They are stacked one on top of the other and they make a tuna fish tower. These cans are on your kitchen counter (inside of you), now lift the entire tower all the way around. Now take the 4th one off the 5th, and then the 3rd off the 4th, and the 2nd one off the 3rd, and finally the 1st one off the 2nd. Now all your tuna fish cans are hovering above the counter.

Connect with Shari Berkowitz and learn from her

1. http://www.theverticalworkshop.com/ – workshop details and dates.
2. https://theverticalworkshop.wordpress.com/ – Pilates Teacher Blog: free articles and in-depth discussions.
3. https://twitter.com/ShariBerkowitz – Twitter
4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/19389953732/ – Facebook group