Brett Miller is the new bold voice of the Pilates community. Chances are you have read his inbox magazine PilatesIntel or seen his comments in various Pilates forums. Brett lives and teaches in Stockholm while “marrying” his passion for Pilates with a full time career in software development.
I first came across Brett’s magazine Pilates Intel about a year ago and have been following it ever since. I have witnessed a rapid growth of his resource and was amazed at the abundance of interesting Pilates articles that came across my inbox over this past year. There were two things that absolutely amazed me about Brett:
- The questioning mind. Brett is never afraid to challenge any Pilates truth or rule. His discussions are not about being right or wrong, they are about hearing different points of view that get all of us closer to the best way that we can practice and teach Pilates.
- Career/Pilates balance. At first I thought that Pilates was Brett’s whole life. It seemed that he spent so much time traveling, teaching and talking to all the other instructors that there was no way that he could have been doing it part time. I was blown away to find out that Brett was successfully combining his Pilates passion with being a full time software developer.
In this interview Brett and I discuss a lot of burning Pilates questions. Get your “listening ears” on, download your worksheet and get ready to open your mind with Brett Miller.
Questions discussed in interview with Brett Miller
- The secrets to finding balance between a full-time career and Pilates.
- How to find a complementing occupation to supplement Pilates income.
- The “Why” of running an inbox magazine.
- Brett’s definition of Pilates.
- How asking questions makes you a better teacher.
- Brett’s recent biggest discovery.
- 3 factors that hinder the explosive growth of the Pilates industry.
- Best tips for a successful Pilates practice.
- 3 steps to become a better teacher.
Click here to download your worksheet (please right-click on the link and click “Save As” to save the file on your computer)
Connect with Brett Miller
- PilatesIntel – join Brett’s online Pilates magazine and enjoy free weekly articles
- Visit Pilates Intel Shop
- Connect on Facebook
Full Transcript of the Interview
1. Brett, what is your Pilates story?
I used to be a dancer, mainly ballet and used to live in New York. I found a person that I fell in love with and she lived in Finland so I moved there to be with her. But the relationship ended quite quickly. I stopped dancing and started to do software development.
I got an offer from Ericson, a company that makes telephone networks, to move to Sweden. That’s how I ended up in Stockholm.
Pilates was always too expensive for me when I was living in New York and dancing. I knew that it was fantastic but I couldn’t afford it. But then I started doing software so I wasn’t as poor as I always was. Another thing that attracted me to it was the fact that Pilates takes a lot of work and skill, a little bit like dancing.
I started doing Pilates in 2005 at a small studio with very talented teachers. They told me after 1 month “Go get trained and come work for us.” There was a STOTT training school in Stockholm so I went there. I am not an advocate for STOTT, but it was a good program and I went there because I didn’t know anything.
And then about a year and a half ago a letter landed in my inbox saying “Change your life, work for 4 hours a week and start an inbox magazine.” I knew it was a bunch of garbage but it turned out to be a very good thing to do. So I decided to make a magazine about Pilates. I was scared to death and full of doubts thinking that nobody would like it. But after a year and a half it is going really nicely and I am pleased with it.
2. What is your personal definition of Pilates?
Pilates is an extremely effective way of becoming strong and intelligent in your body. It awakens the body’s own capacity to support itself and by doing so the tension through the body will start to release, the aches, pains and chronic issues will start to go away. You will gain strength and greater intelligence of the body when you do it well and with a good teacher.
3. How did you continue your training after getting certified through STOTT?
Pilates is a bit immature here in Europe. In the US you have so many great Pilates teachers to study with. After about 3 years of doing Pilates I brought Kathy Corey to do a workshop here in Stockholm. And then I studied with Siri Dharma Galliano in California and I will be going to the PMA. I was just in London working with Amit Younger.
4. What is your goal and vision for PilatesIntel?
When I first started it was difficult for me to get content that was interesting. I have decided to give it one year. I started to publish every two weeks thinking that I can do 25 article in a year. I thought that if it wasn’t going well then I would stop after that. Luckily, very soon people got turned on to it and I started getting new content that was very good from other people. That has helped my magazine a lot because now I have people like Kathy Corey, Karena Thek, Michael King, Andrea Maida and Alycea Ungaro writing for the magazine.
Now I have a lot of interesting content on PilatesIntel and I can move into questioning and challenging the whole Pilates community. Our community is very fractious and political. I think that we have to … get over that.
I would like PilatesIntel to be very large and be the go-to magazine. I publish every week now. In time I would like to have some fun events around the world.
Update: One of the latest editions to PilateIntel is the PilatesIntel shop. Take a look around and treat yourself to a Pilates goodie.
5. Brett, you like to challenge the Pilates community and ask questions. What Pilates questions turned out to be the biggest discoveries for you personally?
Most recently I did an article about Gratz equipment and Andrea Maida helped me work on it. I love Gratz equipment very much but I also find tremendous value in the modern equipment as well. You have a camp of people who think that Gratz is the only way but I would simply question “What do you mean it’s the only way to go?” And sometimes there might be a very good reason for it that I am completely insensitive to. I think that I have a very good point of view because it is nice to make certain adjustments. I don’t buy these comments that if you change the equipment a little bit then it is no longer Pilates.
If you look at a tennis racket from 1965 and a tennis racket today, they completely different. Are you going to say that it is not tennis any more? No, that’s stupid. I guess it is going to make people mad at me.
Now I am on a new question. In Classical Pilates you can do Pulling Straps only with 1 spring, no matter who are or what you are. You can have a small girl or large guy doing this exercise. Why do you have to use only 1 spring? So it’s a new article series coming up with Andrea Maida.
6. What powers does asking questions give to the instructor?
Asking questions lets you really explore and learn something new. You always want to take it a step further because your own exploration is the most valuable one that you can do.
A teacher who is always asking questions develops their intellect in such a way that they become more creative, observant and more caring. They become better teachers.
A teacher who is just following the rules makes their intellect very dull because they don’t have to look at the person who they are teaching and make a decision. Instead of really looking, serving and giving they just follow the rules.
You as a teacher are developing and understanding more as you ask those questions. Later you can take those discoveries to your own practice.
7. What role does Pilates play in your life both personally and professionally?
Personally, I work out myself and put my workouts as my highest priority. I do it twice a week for an hour a half, sometimes a third one for a little bit less time.
I usually teach on Wednesdays and Saturdays for a couple of hours so these are the days that I usually work out. Pilates is a major part of my life.I also do Yoga and play tennis so I work out a lot.
Professionally, I teach between 6 and 10 hours a week. I teach 2 mat classes as well as private students at various places. It creates a nice balance for me since I develop software and sit all day. But once I am done I like to get up and be with people.
I also work with the magazine (PilatesIntel) and am learning a lot about publishing articles, advertising, selling products so that part is always expanding.
8. Is it difficult to keep your balance between your software career and Pilates?
Luckily, they are very different. I do go to an office and sit for about 40 hours a week but it is a very relaxed atmosphere. It is very intellectually challenging and fun. It is like doing a big puzzle every day and I like it very much.
Then after sitting all day it’s really nice to do Pilates.
I have to be very careful about keeping my balance. I work full-time as a software developer and then spend about 15 hours a week on Pilates. It is 55 hours of work every week.
I make sure that I take a lot of breaks and go to bed early, try to get enough sleep every night. But I don’t do much else besides work and it’s okay for me.
9. Do you have any tips on how to combine Pilates with another career?
Always follow and look for what you want to do.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that Pilates is not necessary (I might get a lot of people mad at me right now.) If you look at having a telephone, having food on the table, a house and doing Pilates, which one is going to go first? Pilates is going to be the first.
Think about what will get you nearer to one of the things that people always need.
I do software for mobile networks and nobody is going to give up their cell phones.
It doesn’t mean that you should be doing it but at least consider it for safety and security in the future. If you do find something that you like and that people need I suggest that you go in that direction.
In terms of “marrying” the work and Pilates, do something that is not physical to complement your Pilates practice. It is important to let your body rest so do something that is restful.
In Pilates you work with people a lot so you can do something that is not with people as much to create a nice balance.
This balance works for me but I understand that it is not for everyone.
10. What hinders the explosive growth of the Pilates industry?
I think there a few things:
- The price. I think that Pilates is overpriced and few people have $150 to pay for a class.
- There is very little cooperation throughout the Pilates industry. I have been doing Yoga since 1993. Whenever you go to a Yoga place, they prefer that you come and do their Yoga but they love it when you are doing Yoga, no matter where or what type of Yoga. Just do Yoga and we are happy.
It is not true in Pilates. We have classical people, STOTT people etc. and they don’t do anything together. In fact, they just dislike each other. I think it is ugly and not helpful.
There are some very generous Pilates people out there but as an industry we are not very generous or open-minded. - The equipment is very old-fashioned. It doesn’t mean that I want the equipment to change because I love the equipment. But we have to understand who we are competing with. There is really excellent and exciting equipment out there that attracts people.
11. What are your tips for a successful Pilates practice?
- Do it often and do it a lot. Take responsibility for learning this practice yourself.
- Find a great teacher or several of them. Go to these teachers often but still take responsibility for your own practice.
- Practice at home. Take what you’ve learned from your teacher and practice it at home.
- Teach your friends and your family. When you start teaching even though you are not trained to teach, you really get your thinking and exploration process going. The next time that you are doing it you will be looking (listening to the teacher) more closely because now you want to explain Pilates to your friends and family.
12. What piece of advice would you like to share with all the instructors and students?
- Always question what you have learned and what you have seen.
- Read at least once the original work of Joseph Pilates “Return to Life through Contrology”
- Always put your own practice first. If you are teaching too much and get tired to the point where you don’t want to do your own work then try to teach less (if it works out financially.) Don’t get burnt out so that you can have your own beautiful sacred Pilates practice.