As a Pilates professional, how curious are you about the way the human body moves?
I must admit, I am an information-junkie when it comes to the human body. Every client that I teach, every class that I take makes me want to learn something else and dig a little deeper into human anatomy and biomechanics. And then apply this knowledge to Pilates. Brrr! Just the thought of learning sends goose bumps of excitement down my entire body.
As Pilates professionals, we stand in a unique position to educate our clients about their movements and their bodies. We don’t teach Pilates because it is the latest fitness craze or because it is guaranteed to chisel a sexy booty or abs of steel.
We teach Pilates because we know the POWER of the method to change our client’s lives, to help them move in ways they never could or never thought they could again.
“Pilates is Empowering,” it’s the thought that Shari Berkowitz and I kept coming back to during our conversation a couple of weeks ago. Shari has been on my “priority list” of people to get in touch with ever since I seriously got into Pilates. My first introduction to her teaching was through Pilates Style magazine. Soon after that first article, I discovered Shari’s teacher blog The Vertical Workshop and I was hooked (it’s the best in-depth Pilates resource for any movement teacher or student – and it’s free!)
Shari Berkowitz teaches numerous Pilates workshops, seminars and continuing education courses in the US and world-wide. Her mission is moving scientific theories forward into practical application in Pilates and in any other movement modalities.
Shari Berkowitz
Download and print the worksheet before watching the video – click here
Transcript of the interview
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.
Biotensegrity is a great description (theory) of how the human body seems to work so that we can either predict outcomes of how the body is going work or help things happen that are not happening (but should happen.) It’s the understanding of the balance of tension and compression in the body.
Most common biomechanical theories are about having leverage in your body (joints are levers.) If we view the body from the point of view of physics then we miss these natural occurrences that happen in our bodies that are more about tension and less about leverage.
I like to explain that our bones are suspended in a network (web) of soft tissue in 3 dimensions. All of these soft tissues (muscles, blood vessels, digestive tract, nerves) interact and creates movement patterns. Biotensegrity and fascia go hand in hand together.
How does it apply to Pilates?
When we teach our clients, the better our understanding of how the human body works, the more we can understand what our clients need. So, we can see what’s working and what’s not working, and know what exercises to give and not to give. The better our understanding of the human body, the better our choices are.
If we think that our body is full of levers then we’ll pick certain exercises to help our clients. But if we recognize that our body is not full of levers and our joints are almost frictionless, then we will make different choices, better choices.
My perspective in teaching, is to help my client have the most mobile and active body that is possible. And return the agility to the body that has lost it.
5. Can you recommend any resources about biotensegrity and fascia? (Not just Pilates resources.)
There are a lot of people in the Pilates industry who are really uneducated of how the body really works. They are working just from intuition and intuition is a pretty lousy educator (though it’s a good way to start.) These people don’t really have any scientific background to support what they are sharing. A lot of times actions are taught that are not really good for the human body.
I highly encourage people to go to the website www.biotensegrity.com created by Dr Stephen Levin.
I also recommend The Fascia Conference website.
Another one is www.fascialconnections.com
6. 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.
7. If you were to teach a Roll-Up, what cues would you use to guide the client through a perfect roll-up?
From the very beginner level, your client must make a lower abdominal connection and a back muscle connection. We are always looking to have space between the vertebrae.
From the very first session, I am teaching my clients, deepen your lower abdominals, lift your low back bones. When they are doing a Half Roll Down I tell them
“From the top of the head around to your their sit bones, you are making a c-shape. Be a capital C, rather than a lower case c.”
And that immediately encourages space and back muscle engagement that are meant to lift the spine.
Listen to the interview for more valuable cues.
I use this image quite often to help my clients find space in the spines (I give it to my clients as their homework on the first session.)
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.
8. How to excite a client who is interested in purely cosmetic results about creating a mind-body connection and learning Pilates principles.
It’s important to recognize your client’s goals and your goals. My goal is to return my client’s body back to movement, back to being more like a human being and less like a machine. That’s not your client’s reason for coming. They just want their flat stomach or killer triceps.
However, I know that they are not going to get that flat stomach unless I get their pelvis moving, lumbar spine moving, ball and socket of the hip moving.
If their goal is to have great arms then they might be wondering “when are we going to work the arms?” “Well, we already are, you just don’t realize it. Pilates works your body as a whole instead of looking at each body part separately.”
It’s important to explain to the clients that Pilates is different from a gym workout. We are looking at the body as a whole. If we can get the lower abdominals and lower back working properly then we will give your entire body the right environment to work properly. Be patient, it is really going to work.
(Look for more tips in the video interview.)
9. Shari, group equipment and mat classes are a reality in many studios today. But it’s hard to deliver the one-on-one benefits of Pilates in a group setting. Do you have any tips on how to design and teach group classes (equipment or mat) in a safe and effective way?
There is a difference between group fitness and Pilates. A lot of times people are just giving Pilates exercises in a group class and wondering why are not particularly effective.
Even in a group setting, we still have to attempt to teach Pilates. Pilates is more than just a set of movements. It’s all about intrinsic (stabilizing) actions, like “pull your lower abdominals in and up and lift your spine,” “hug your midline,” “hug your heels and inner thighs strongly,” ‘square your pelvis,” “roll your shoulders down.” These are actions that we have to use in the rest of our lives as well.
We need to make sure that we are teaching these actions in our class and we must be teaching with a game plan that strengthens our classes over time. It doesn’t become everything at once.
I actually teach workshops on this all the time. The main thing to do is to teach thematically. You need to teach the groups expecting that they are coming back again the next week (even if they are not.)
You do a rotating series of themes. When I teach group classes I have 5 weeks per theme. I tell my class at the beginning of each 5-week session “These 5 weeks we are concentrating only on your lower abdominal and lower back.” And that would the focus no matter what class we are doing (Reformer, mat, mixed apparatus etc.) Every exercise I must make sure that I am cuing those things and seeing positive changes.
5 weeks later, we are ready for the next cycle. It is going to be Lower Abdominals, Lower Back plus 1 (like bringing a guest to the party.) Maybe we’ll focus on “where is my pelvis in space?”
The next 5 weeks is Lower Abdominals, Lower Back Plus Midline.
The next 5 weeks is Lower Abdominals, Lower Back Plus Shoulder Girdle.
The next 5 weeks is Lower Abdominals, Lower Back Plus Breathing.
Clients can really then dig into these intrinsic actions. We are not just throwing around these random cues around with no conscious thought.
Clients really hold on to this one theme that we are practicing and they become empowered. They really feel like they are learning something, and they are. They are learning more than just movement or techniques; they are learning intrinsic actions that they can take into the rest of their lives.
You also have to be able to teach mixed level classes. You must be able to teach a modified version and an ideal version, and maybe an advanced one for you.
If you feel that somebody really shouldn’t be doing that version, you go right over to that client and tell them “No, no, do the other version. It’s the right one for you. It’s the one that will help you achieve your goal!” You must use positive psychology to encourage your clients.
10. Is there a particular topic/question that has been on your mind lately and that you really want all of the Pilates professionals to rethink or pay particular attention to?
Three things come to mind. I think that most of teachers in the Pilates community are extremely well meaning. I am very critical of the level of teaching in our community.
- Critical thinking. There is a lot of blind acceptance and blind following in our community because the teachers have been taught this way. One example that really drives me crazy is “closing the ribs or kneading the ribs together.” We are basically shutting down the diaphragm, something that is definitely not good for the human body.
I was taught to close the ribs too but then I learned “Gosh, it’s really not how the human body works!”
There are a lot of things like that in the Pilates community. I would really love for teachers to question what they have been taught even if they have been taught by the most famous (and well meaning!) person.
We still have to question and use critical thinking. We need to make sure that the actions that we are teaching are really helpful.
- Remember, why you are teaching Pilates in the first place. I hear a lot of people complaining about teaching, so I ask “Why did you do it in the first place?”
It’s important to sit back and remember why you are doing this in the first place, what your goals are.If we remember why we came to Pilates in the first place then we will probably continue to enjoy teaching it.
- Be more encouraging in your teaching. Teach what TO DO instead of what not to do. There is a lot of negative teaching in Pilates. It would be great to say ‘sit taller!’ instead of saying ‘Don’t slump.”
“Lift your leg higher, reach it to where the ceiling and wall meet” rather than “don’t let you leg be so low.”
It’s pretty rampant in the Pilates community, people are told what not to do and it’s up to the clients to figure out what they should be doing. I would love to see more positive cuing in Pilates.
11. Shari, could you please share with us what you are working on right now and how we can learn from you more?
I do a lot of workshops year-round that you can see on http://www.theverticalworkshop.com/
I am also doing Pilates teacher Intensives, its’ a year and a half comprehensive continuing education program. I try to develop a true understanding of what it is that we are doing and to have real confidence when teaching.
I am writing a book for Pilates teachers and enthusiasts.
I’ll definitely post on facebook, websites and in my newsletter everything that is happening.
Connect with Shari Berkowitz and learn from her
- http://www.theverticalworkshop.com/ – workshop details and dates.
- https://theverticalworkshop.wordpress.com/ – Pilates Teacher Blog: free articles and in-depth discussions.
- https://twitter.com/ShariBerkowitz – Twitter
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/19389953732/ – Facebook group
Such a great article. I just recently had a Private lesson via skype with Shari, and we did lots of these exercises and these same thought processes and reading this again now brings it all beack even more clearly.
I am glad you enjoyed it Sunni! Shari is awesome, talking to her was a true pleasure. I hope that I will be able to record another interview with her some time 😉