[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, good morning and welcome back to Morning Ray, or welcome if you are new here.
[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Elena Orlan.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host and today's episode is something that's been requested for a while now, but I wanted to wait until as a little bit deeper into my certificate.
[SPEAKER_00]: that I'm doing it through start.
[SPEAKER_00]: As you can tell by the episode, obviously, today's episode is everything about being a Pilates instructor, becoming a Pilates instructor, my experience with different certificates, different training processes, my experience teaching at different studios here in Toronto.
[SPEAKER_00]: both Matt and Reformer and kind of what is on the horizon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really excited for this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's something that I wish I would have had access to before I started on this whole journey of becoming a teacher, being a teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am very grateful that I have a lot of friends in the space that have been so gracious to share every detail about their experience and
[SPEAKER_00]: but I know not everyone has that same network.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted to put this episode together so that if maybe you are interested or maybe you're just curious and nosy and want to know a little bit more about what it takes and kind of
[SPEAKER_00]: all of the things behind the scenes of your favorite Pilates instructor.
[SPEAKER_00]: This episode is for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are also I would love to just give this disclaimer.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are so many different routes and avenues that you can go to becoming a Pilates instructor.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like becoming a yoga instructor.
[SPEAKER_00]: where there's a very specific governing body, it's a little bit different in terms of plotties or even like different to being a PT or group fitness instructor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Things are a little bit different.
[SPEAKER_00]: Different studios have different expectations, different requirements for their instructors, just a preface.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll be sharing a lot of what I have learned about the industry here in Toronto.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've learned about my experience along the way and then my DMs are always open if you're listening on Spotify.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're welcome to leave further questions and then I can always answer that in a follow-up episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's start off with our life updates.
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of my Pilotty's third, I did my apprenticeship exam which I'll get more in two so you can understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: What that means a little bit later.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I did my exam on Friday.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had been putting it off.
[SPEAKER_00]: I finished my in-person training back in April.
[SPEAKER_00]: And life had just been so busy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been traveling.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to be able to have enough time to really focus on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And quite frankly, I was also debating whether or not I wanted to do this exam or not.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I wanted to get certified, or if I just wanted to be stopped trained, we decided that
[SPEAKER_00]: If we put the money down for this course and we did the course, we're going to do the full thing and get the paper to prove it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we did our apprentice exam and I passed and now I'm a stop at apprentice.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can book with me through the stop Pilates app at the Toronto studio here in Toronto.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's $35 for an apprentice private mat or former essential and intermediate repertoire is what I'm able to teach.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm really excited.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's going to be a really fun journey and kind of like the next step on this process of becoming a better and stronger teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am less than one month away from my birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can tell, I'm a Leo, my birthday is August 6.
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, I've been having a love hate relationship with my birthday this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still love my birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get me wrong, but it does bring up a lot of stress surrounding what I want to do, making sure it's something I know I'm going to have fun with, that my friends are going to have fun doing too and it's not going to be something that they're going to dread.
[SPEAKER_00]: So definitely having a love hate relationship with that and just like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Coordinating when I'm gonna do everything because we always do a family dinner on my birthday I now have my lovely boyfriend, which I've never really had to factor in before, so we're doing Dinner together as well separately from my family dinner and then obviously I want to do something with my friends
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm kind of pass that stage of like hosting a pre and going out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So last year, what I did, well, my friends surprised me with these plans, but I kind of explained what kind of vibe I was going for.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, I did a sit down dinner with my friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we went to a smaller, more like mature club if you will not a club.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a bar.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, just down the street from the restaurant and it cake and drinks there and it was a very chill, but fun, girly night.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I kind of want those same vibes again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're gonna do a dinner just the girls and, um, my gay best friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then so one boy and then we're gonna go for drinks at a bar near by the restaurant and my boyfriend will come, my friend's boyfriend's fiancees will join my boyfriend's friends can also join and it'll just be like a bigger, more chill.
[SPEAKER_00]: going out situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now I'm just sorting out reservations for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that will be a lot of fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: I already have my birthday fit last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: The loopholes that I went into to get my birthday dress was insane.
[SPEAKER_00]: Could my, I could maybe end up wearing that same dress again this year, maybe for one of my dinners, but I have a cute new outfit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm really excited about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are in our second week of half marathon training and I'm feeling really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot more confident about my running going into this race than probably any other race besides like high rocks.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think coming off of my last high rocks, I really dialed in and figured out what works best for me and my training and
[SPEAKER_00]: because my last hyerox race was in early spring.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did all my running and training on the treadmill and I found that actually allowed me to be really granular and hit certain pace targets that were programmed for me in my training program.
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot more specifically and confidently.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in turn, I think that really impacted how I felt on race day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm continuing to take that approach, even though it is nice outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hot outside at summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: My long runs will be outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to stick to doing my tempo.
[SPEAKER_00]: And today I did my easy run inside just because I usually end up
[SPEAKER_00]: Running later on the weekends and it's hot outside, but doing for sure, like any of my speedwork interval work on the treadmills that I know I'm hitting those targets.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not just kind of approximating it, I have to go ahead and set out my watch to make sure I'm hitting it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can just put the speed in on the treadmill and go from there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So really been loving using the treadmill.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really I'm feeling confident in my training plan right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a 16 week training plan which I think will be a lot nicer and give me more runway leading up.
[SPEAKER_00]: to my race, so not only will I have the physical capabilities but mentally, I will just feel hopefully fingers crossed a lot more confident and comfortable with idea of running 21.1 kilometers on race day.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that said, I also started, I think I spoke about this last week, I started a new lifting program.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have been trying to switch it up around every 12 weeks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give her a take.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did that my last training block a little bit longer because of travel and I wasn't able to hit consistently my three lifts every single week.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just started a new training block still two lower body one upper body days, so three days of lifting three days of running.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as much as I love Pilates and you guys know I went there my stage where I was only doing Pilates a little bit of head a little bit of running But majority Pilates Pilates is now kind of just it's a bonus.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a supplementary.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not something I'm trying to hit in my weekly split I'm really striving to get my three lifts in
[SPEAKER_00]: have them feel good, work on that progressive overload, work on challenging myself, and then get my three runs in and making sure I have enough time for recovery, especially with my legs between all of that, to one prevent injury, but also allow me to show up in the way that I want to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I training?
[SPEAKER_00]: And
[SPEAKER_00]: I know it's only been two weeks of me doing that consistently and having that mindset and that intention when it comes to hitting my workouts, but I already feel so much better.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel so much more proud of myself as well because it is a little bit different than what I've been doing and it feels nice to kind of have that switch up a focus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get me wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love a good map, Plotty's Cause, I love getting on the reformer and I'm still going here in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once a week kind of is just like that sweet spot, it's that bonus workout I got to hit if I have time for it, but my priority right now is especially going into my half marathon and wanting to do another high rock semolina, sometime soon-ish, lifting and running are definitely
[SPEAKER_00]: my priorities right now and having lifted consistently since January of this year having been running consistently since January of this year and now with it being warmer getting 10k plus steps pretty much every single day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have noticed such a difference in how I not only feel
[SPEAKER_00]: physically, but also my appearance, my, I feel like I look so much more toned, I feel like I look so much less inflamed, which if you've been listening to the pod for a while now, you know that I used to suffer a lot with, well, not suffer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I used to struggle a lot with inflammation and I think diet definitely did play a part of that, but I was just over exercising a lot and doing a lot of high intensity workouts and all of these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even though I'm running more, I'm really trying to stay in zone two for 80% of my efforts of these runs and I'm really noticing that my body feels so much better.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't feel inflamed or triggered and all those kind of negative connotations that I had surrounding lifting and running and training a bit more intensively than Pilates.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't really have anymore because I've learned how to train these ways properly.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want an episode, maybe segment or something, kind of going a dip bit deeper into kind of like my training.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I went through this in my episode a few weeks ago on being like hotter for summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I forgot what it was called right now, but I'll have that linked below.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two weeks ago, the ultimate summer lock in a hotter and healthier.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was on July 1st.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought I went a little bit deeper in there, but if you want even more, let me know.
[SPEAKER_00]: To do an episode on that, and I'm still working with my wellness coach, Jamie.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think it's a really great thing for me right now And I have found that my eating habits have become so much more one balance to Consistent and three supportive of this training block and kind of this era of my life and by doing that I'm able to perform better in those lifts and show up in my life overall so much better So I've been really just loving working with her
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, I could probably do these things on my own, but I really don't want to know my macros.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to know my calories, and so by having a coach to me, it's worth that investment, and it's also an accountability partner or buddy to keep me on track.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of removed from my personal life.
[SPEAKER_00]: curly hair you guys I've been wearing my hair curly pretty much I work curly this entire week until last night I blew it out because it was my friend's birthday I went out to dinner with curly hair I've been wearing my hair curly to teach and I've really just been embracing the curls and I think also having gotten saisoned the
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mouth, for Malta High Free, carrot and treatment has really made me just feel much so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Feel so much more confident in my hair and brace the curls more and my hair is less breezy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also feel like I've gotten my curly hair routine pretty locked down, obviously, still new, still figuring things out, but also happy to do more of a deep dive of that on the pod.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, I have been uploading.
[SPEAKER_00]: videos on TikTok and Instagram about that and I'm really excited to continue that curly hair series.
[SPEAKER_00]: My hair has been feeling so much healthier.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking of getting no bleach highlights.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know something to kind of just switch it up a little bit and I know my hair is finally so much healthier but I just want a little bit of dimension in my hair.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I've been one color solid for the past.
[SPEAKER_00]: like four, five, and four years, three years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went fully back Brunette and I just want a little bit something.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want like blonde in my hair, but I want a little bit of like a lighter Brunette throughout.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not a caramel, because I'm really, I don't like caramel.
[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of picks me out on me.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I digress.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I'll let you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, current faves, let's get into those.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, our current faves, my current faves, the stays on, obviously, sharp glossy, I've been obsessed with this hair tool.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so incredible, especially now that I have the stays on treatment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am able, I let my hair air dry to be like half way dry or like three quarters of the way dry.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I go in with my short glossy, I use the wet setting and then I go in with the dry setting so the wet setting is like a blow dry brush and then the dry setting is like a ceramic or thermal round brush situation and it's so easy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It literally takes me 15, maybe 20 minutes tops to blow out my hair and style it and I don't have to go in with another hot tool afterwards
[SPEAKER_00]: When I didn't have the sales on treatment, I think if you have straighter, less frizzy hair, you wouldn't have to at all without a treatment, obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's just so easy and I'm able to put less heat on my hair and I haven't noticed any mechanical damage from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Either I'm not putting it on stopping one hair.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that super not great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I learned that the hard way when I was using that Revlon at Blow Dry Brush years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I fried off like so much of my hair.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm always so extra cautious now with blow dry brushes and things of that nature But it's so easy.
[SPEAKER_00]: My hair is done in 15 20 minutes top one tool also makes it so easy If I'm sleeping on my boyfriend's going to the cottage.
[SPEAKER_00]: I only have to bring one thing with me I'm less I'm leaving my hair curly, but even then I don't really like to fuse it on the go
[SPEAKER_00]: So with that said, I've been obsessed with Olaplex products.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like it's really been making a difference and then pairing them with a super hydrating shampoo and conditioner is what I've been doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the Olaplex number three plus I'll do that by weekly.
[SPEAKER_00]: So once every two weeks, I do the treatment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I rinse my hair with cold water and water in the shower and I don't always say cold water.
[SPEAKER_00]: I rinse my hair when I get in the shower.
[SPEAKER_00]: I put this treatment in from root to tip.
[SPEAKER_00]: I set a timer for three minutes and then I shampoo and condition and I move on with my day for leaveins.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have been loving the Olaplex Bonsmuther which is their leavein more specifically for curly, wavy,
[SPEAKER_00]: it's great to use as a curl cream.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got this because it kind of doubles as a curl cream and a leaving for styling with hot tools.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love, love, love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I repurchase the bonding oil.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love her.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been using it for years.
[SPEAKER_00]: been obsessed with wearing tank tops over sports bras more so often when going to the gym and working out except running so have to be in a sports bra.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got way too hot with four inch bikers shorts which end up looking more like into inch bikers shorts on me.
[SPEAKER_00]: The thighs the butt love to just bring it right up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love specifically the line four inch shorts.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been looking a lot at Fiori.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're active wear looks absolutely gorgeous and I want to
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know if you have any of your pieces and what you would recommend.
[SPEAKER_00]: I currently have G&D Flower Girl on my fingers, I had Chrome over top of it the last time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got it done and I liked the color so much when I saw her painting my nails before the Chrome was put on.
[SPEAKER_00]: that I knew that the next time I got my nails done I would get it and it's so gorgeous.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's literally the most perfect baby pink.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a little bit sheer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just did two coats and I think it's going to be my go-to now.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just like nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's literally what I've been trying to find from Pinterest for so long.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the other ones that I find are either too white or too kind of chalky opaque and they don't have that sheerness to it in this color.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just
[SPEAKER_00]: flower girl, two coats, so beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: I recently switched up my makeup routine, and I did it last night again, and I got so many compliments on my makeup, on my face makeup, on my eye makeup.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know if you want a tutorial or something on
[SPEAKER_00]: To talk or Instagram, but I've been using the makeup by Mario ethereal eyes palette.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got it during the Sephora sale I also have his master mats palettes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got rid of all my other eye shadow palettes, and I just have these two And I was so emotionally touched my other eye shadow palettes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had them since high school university definitely not hygienic at all, but I think we all did that But I just replaced
[SPEAKER_00]: all my eyeshadow palettes with just these two and they truly have all the colors that you need and more.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been doing a new eyeshadow look that I got from Vanessa Stern.
[SPEAKER_00]: She posts makeup videos on Instagram and TikTok.
[SPEAKER_00]: It does the most beautiful makeup ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was one of her like anti bridal bride makeups.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I copied it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so nice.
[SPEAKER_00]: You kind of do like you take your contour
[SPEAKER_00]: to kind of contour out your eyes and then you use kind of like this mauve pinky shade all over the lid into the crease and then I like to mix that shade with like a slightly kind of like neutral deeper brown into the crease and under the lash line and then you take kind of a gold shimmery shade on the inner
[SPEAKER_00]: corner lower lash line brown eyeliner on the water line and lash line and then I also like to wing it out a little bit on the top mascara it is so beautiful and I have also become a lipstick girl
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually need to check what lipstick shade I've been wearing, but I've been doing allorial lip liner that's kind of like pillow talk medium by Charlotte Tilbury this like kind of neutrally pink like my lips a little bit lighter, satiny lipstick from MAC and then a clear sparkly lip gloss from MAC over top and I've been obsessed with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Never thought I'd be a lipstick girl, but I absolutely love it, and I feel like it just looks so good, and it goes perfectly with the eye look.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of what I've been obsessed with lately, but I've been yapping, oh my god, it's literally 20 minutes into this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I've ever done that before.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, hello you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get into the
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get into how did I know I wanted to teach.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is something that quite a few of you have asked me before on socials.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, it was kind of this epiphany moment that I had back in 2024.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before that, a lot of the plotties instructors that I was close with.
[SPEAKER_00]: always kind of like we're nudging me to kind of explore it, try it, do a certificate, see about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh, like, I'm like not meant to be in front of a class.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love taking Pilates.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love getting my friends into Pilates, but I don't think I could be the one commanding the room as nervous about whether people would like my music choice.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole idea of putting a playlist together really freaked me out.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole idea of like, hapting to construct a class plan really freaked me out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even when I was dancing,
[SPEAKER_00]: teaching dance just because I didn't want that pressure and it's almost like I just didn't trust myself to be able to do that but I kind of had this epiphany moment and I want to say like spring of 2024 I was going through a situation break up if you know you know and I just remember
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's this one instructor that I went to a lot at that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think her name is Kira.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think she went by key.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea if she still teaches.
[SPEAKER_00]: She has a really curly hair, beautiful, beautiful human.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love to classes, but I always like I struggled so hard during that period of my life to get out of my head a lot of the rumination from my OCD, which is just like taking over.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the only way I could get out of my head
[SPEAKER_00]: Focus on what I was doing in that moment was when I went to J-Bird, and specifically when I went to Characters classes and Every single time my mind started to wander she would somehow it was like she knew she would have a cue That was like get out of your head get back into your body Basically like snap out of it
[SPEAKER_00]: and it always came exactly at the right time and going to Jaybird.
[SPEAKER_00]: During that period of time in my life was really a way of how I coped and it became such a thing that helped me get through those dark days in those days where I was just feeling really heartbroken and unsure about myself and feeling regretful about things, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was kind of like my escape and I'm sure a lot of you listening to this can kind of relate
[SPEAKER_00]: to exercise and goodness being this means of an escape whether it be from your work or home life or the thoughts near ahead, whatever it is, it's kind of this moving meditation for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially if you've been to a studio like Jaybird, you know, being in a jargroom, just focusing on moving your body, focusing how it feels, feeling the heat on your skin, it's really therapeutic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Created for me and that I got to have in that space, made me really want to be able to provide that experience for someone else.
[SPEAKER_00]: To be able to allow them to disconnect from the outside world, to really just be present with themselves, to get their mind to be a little quiet, to be able to help them work through some darker, lower periods of their lives through movement.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was something I wanted to be able to provide for someone else.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was kind of that epiphany that I had that I was like, OK, I think I'm ready to take the torch and try this out and see where it goes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I like it, I like it great.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I hate it, OK, at least we try it and we know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't have to think a worry or wonder about it anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that was in early spring, and I remember in the summer discussing it with one of my girlfriends at the time who had also been playing with the idea of becoming an instructor and getting certified, and we both decided to bite the bullet.
[SPEAKER_00]: We put money down on a search.
[SPEAKER_00]: We did research of studios and different things, and I learned about stock, which is where I'm doing my certain now, but it was just like a little bit too much of a commitment financially
[SPEAKER_00]: a certificate that I don't even know if I actually wanted to pursue teaching or like what that was going to look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I ended up doing a certificate for Matt Plotties at Solis.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think this was like one of the first few sessions that they held for the certificate.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was
[SPEAKER_00]: in October 2024 that I did it and it was a four-day certificate process.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did it with my friend and it was honestly such an eye-opening and rewarding experience and that was kind of what helped me get my foot in the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: And did this certificate teach me everything that I need to know?
[SPEAKER_00]: Most definitely not.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I learned a lot about what I needed to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: from my education in high school.
[SPEAKER_00]: As in the dance program, we learned a lot of anatomy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We studied Pilates as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up dancing competitively.
[SPEAKER_00]: We trained a lot with Pilates' style conditioning.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I knew a lot from that and also from taking classes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say I'm a very observant student.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I remember how teachers cute things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember all the little corrections and things that I have gotten and stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then a lot through experience teaching and seeing different bodies move from different cues
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know Solace has changed this certificate to be a lot more in depth and a lot more supportive of new instructors, which is incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Things have definitely changed with Solace's certificates from one I did it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that will allow me to kind of get my foot in the door to get my feet dirty in the sand and to kind of get to really know if I actually wanted to teach.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if this was something that I wanted to continue doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically what I decided when I went into doing a smaller, more entry-level certificate was I was going to use a certificate to be able to got a job to teach as going to teach for a year and when I hit the year mark I could decide whether or not I saw myself continuing to do this if I wanted to grow my ability to do this like build my career in teaching Pilates or if I wanted to just keep it as it is or ditch it entirely
[SPEAKER_00]: and if the answer was the first wanting to build my career in this and further my education, then I would pursue getting a more rigorous, in-depth anatomy heavy, very classical or contemporary Pilates.
[SPEAKER_00]: rooted certificate that was globally recognized and that is how I ended up doing and deciding to do my certificate at stocked.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was debating between balance body and stock ultimately I went with stock just because I had seen them a bit more in the space a few of the instructors that I really looked up to did their training there and so I felt a bit more connected to
[SPEAKER_00]: their method and their curriculum and what I was going to be getting out of the course and also just the course structure and how to sign up and everything just felt a little bit more clear to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now looking back and having some experience doing the course and going through it and being in the middle of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: and talking to instructors now that I'm friends with that did balance body.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think maybe balance body would have been a better fit for me personally, and there is an option and ability to switch you have to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you have to submit like a mat and reformer video class, mat, view teaching, reformer view teaching to a body, and you pay $200 for them to determine if you're able to bridge.
[SPEAKER_00]: your current core certificate, but even then I think I would need, I'd have to complete my current certificate and have that paper to provide to them in order to continue doing the other levels of my education.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like my current stotcer is only essential in intermediate mat and reformers.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would have to complete this and then I would go to balance body hypothetically and do my advanced mat and reformer, maybe do my other aparatuses.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the chairle, the barrel, and not the chairle.
[SPEAKER_00]: What am I saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: The chair, the barrel, and the Cadillac, with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I wanted to do that, or I could just, by my tongue, and do every single certificate at stop, which definitely would be a lot more streamlined and smooth sailing per se.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so in April, that was, or I guess, March, actually, that was the certificate that I started.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did the comprehensive mat and reformer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Certificate with star at their headquarters in Toronto.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was eight weeks in person Monday through Friday 130 to 530 p.m. pretty much all those days and the first eight days of the course were full anatomy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was muscles, it was bones, it was muscle movements, it was movement, planes,
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, everything, literally like a university level, anatomy, chorus, conecology, chorus kind of vibe, and then we moved into essential mat, intermediate mat, essential reformer, intermediate reformer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we were finished and within that pretty much every day, we spent three hours with an instructor, our instructors kind of rotated throughout.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have like their principal master trainers that come in and teach us and they all kind of have different teaching styles and different backgrounds one of our trainers.
[SPEAKER_00]: was a prima ballerina, which I personally found really interesting, growing up as a dancer, and I really loved her.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have so many different teachers from different walks of life, different training backgrounds, different levels of experience, all like very like experience, but
[SPEAKER_00]: some more even more so than others and pretty much what our day-to-day look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we were there for four hours.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got like one five-minute break.
[SPEAKER_00]: The last hour every day was a practice hour.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was for us to do physical review on ourselves to pair up with the buddy to practice teaching, doing hands-on adjustments, trying all the different progressions or modifications, and stuff like that of the material and repertoire that we had learned that day or that week.
[SPEAKER_00]: But during the three hours that we were with our IT, we'd basically go through, we have all these books with all the exercises they would speak through the exercise and then they would demonstrate it and explain it as they're demonstrating it and then they would cue us to do it so that we could feel it in our own bodies and then we would go and teach it to our buddy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And occasionally we would have round robins where we would be assigned an exercise and we'd have to teach it to appear in front of the whole class and our IT would give feedback on where we could improve upon.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we also did a few, a few of the days we did like full workout.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, once we have learned a significant amount of the central matwork, our instructor let us through the central matwork exercises because there's an order.
[SPEAKER_00]: We learned to all the saw basic principles.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, breathing, pelvic placements, ribcage placements,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to butcher some of this, a scapular placement and subcibility and placement, cervical and head placement and then lower extremities and all of that and learning the principles and learning the warmups and all the things and then also learning how to teach in a group setting a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was pretty much what this thought like in-person training had for the comprehensive mat and reformer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what I'm in is basically a hot-to-do and apprentice exam to become an apprentice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was a 45-minute practical exam.
[SPEAKER_00]: You prepare.
[SPEAKER_00]: with a body, you provide your body, which is another peer, another person, another student.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's 45 minutes split between mat and reformer and split between essential and intermediate.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to necessarily show or teach the stock principles, but you have to show your ability to teach safely, provide hands-on adjustments, teach the repertoire, and
[SPEAKER_00]: in order, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that is what I did on Friday, and I pass, they tell you like right then and there, your body leaves the room, then IT gives you feedback, ask you some questions, and then tells you whether you passed or failed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once you pass that apprenticeship exam, you are now in a apprentice, and you have to complete 60 apprentice hours for the comprehensive mat and reformer.
[SPEAKER_00]: at the Stott Academy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So basically, you're an intern, you teach one hour sessions that either the general public, friends and family can book with you through the Stott app or you can have your peers book with you as well, students get access to those classes for free.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then once you've done your 60 hours as an apprentice, once you've completed also your physical review hours, your practice teaching hours and your observation hours,
[SPEAKER_00]: then you can apply to do your certificate exam and so for the certificate exam it is a written multiple choice exam that I think is like a hundred multiple choice and it's more anatomy heavy things about posture and we learned oh we also learned posture analysis in the course so
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a Britain multiple choice exam and then you also have a practical so kind of similar to what you do for the apprenticeship.
[SPEAKER_00]: You do a 45 minute class plan mat and reformer essential and intermediate but you start off you're given a body that you don't know it's another student in the program you have to do a posture analysis on them.
[SPEAKER_00]: in 15 minutes, and then you have three minutes to state your focus, basically like your findings, based on their posture analysis.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if they have a posterior tilt, if they have lardosis or like their shoulders are rounded forward or maybe they have a flat back or their head is forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, stating your findings and how you are going to put your class plan together on the spot you can have it like made up basically to help better their posture like work on those findings.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you will go and teach your class plan and I don't think for those ones you find out right away I think they like tell you afterwards and if you fail one portion you take it again I think you have to like pass you have to get 80% average between
[SPEAKER_00]: The written and the practical and pretty sure don't quote me on that, I have to check, but that's kind of like the process to get certified and then if you are doing other certificates, so if you go and do your advanced or anything, then you also have to do that like I think you do it all back to back and you also only have it's a lot you also only have six months to do to finish all your hours to do your apprenticeship to do your written and practical exam,
[SPEAKER_00]: from the date that you finished your and person training.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what people.
[SPEAKER_00]: and updoing is a end up taking more courses that they have more time to kind of practice.
[SPEAKER_00]: These things, you can technically do it past the six months, but you have to either, one, you have to pay extra money for it, a lot of the things I have learned with thought, unfortunately, when doing it at the academy, like the headquarters, I don't know if this necessarily, I can't speak if this applies doing it at like a start certified.
[SPEAKER_00]: studio that's like teaching stock courses and running their own if they do the same way because obviously it's a different business but basically it's a cash grab there's a lot of things like if you even want to change the date of an exam that you booked you have to pay an additional hundred dollars if you fail your apprenticeship exam you have to pay an additional hundred dollars if to take your exam it's an additional six hundred and something on top of your course fees
[SPEAKER_00]: and my books and materials, so it's definitely an investment which is why I really wanted to make sure that I like teaching before I got into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, that has pros and cons to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, was I as educated in providing modifications for injury or career postnatal or things like that prior to this course will even like technically I'm still not
[SPEAKER_00]: on how to accommodate those who are pre-opposed anal, but I would love to do another certificate so that I know I have that paper and I feel more confident and I'm learning from something a bit more credited.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would some people be against that per se, like doing kind of a lower tier circuit going out and teaching real bodies and everything?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, some people might be against that, but Pilates doesn't have a governing body
[SPEAKER_00]: your studio.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, and I've said this so many times about like university and everything, like education can only go so far.
[SPEAKER_00]: You learn so much more and are able to develop your skills so much more in real life and real experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as incredible as all these certificate programs are and I'm not saying don't go be a teacher without any sort of certificate like got something
[SPEAKER_00]: do something, be smart, have your basis covered, kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because you have all the certs and you have the top tier prestigious certs in the world for whatever it is that you wanna teach in, Pilates, spin, lifting, personal training, whatever it is, does not automatically equal you being an outstanding teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think sometimes that's a hard thing for some people to wrap their head around.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same thing with having an MBA or PhD that doesn't mean you're the smartest person in the realm, which just means you have a paper to prove that you studied and did something.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the most successful people that I know weren't like the top 1%, 10% in their class.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they didn't even go to university, maybe they dropped out of university.
[SPEAKER_00]: So...
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, as important as education is, and I think it can be really beneficial, it's not going to necessarily equate to you being a really great instructor in the realm of Pilates, it's going to add to your ability to be a good instructor, but you have to go out and actually practice teaching on real bodies in real life and real environments in order to get good at it and to get better and to learn and to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: what works and what doesn't work.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I first started teaching, I feel like I ripped off the bandaid.
[SPEAKER_00]: I started teaching at a new studio.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm one of the founding instructors at LSCR.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was honestly one of the best things that I ever did.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was teaching eight classes on the schedule.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sabbing a lot, so I was teaching up to sometimes 16 classes a week.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think in doing that, it allowed me to drop them positive syndrome really quick, get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable and feel a lot better, commanding a room, being in charge of the studio, being in structure, a lot faster than how I,
[SPEAKER_00]: taking it a lot slower, how to lower schedule to begin with.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think doing a lot at the beginning really worked in my favor especially when I was teaching like four class blocks at the beginning.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would teach the same class plan for those four classes and I was able to figure out really quickly what cues worked and what cues didn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: and that is so important to figure out as an instructor.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are things that are going to work for your clients depending on where you live, the demographics that are coming in, what the culture is, some things are going to work, some things are not going to work and the only way to figure it out is by teaching and experimenting.
[SPEAKER_00]: and by being able to teach so much so often, so quickly, I was able to figure out those things and work out those kinks really quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if I had started teaching, which is like one or two classes a week, maybe one class on a Monday, one class on a Thursday kind of thing, I think about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I had taught just one class on Monday, and I felt like my cues weren't that strong in that class, I would have to wait all the way till Thursday to have another shot at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas when I was teaching in four class blocks,
[SPEAKER_00]: I literally had 15 minutes between each class.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the next 15 minutes, I was able to try again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the end of the night, maybe I was fatigued.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't teach four classes in a row anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I definitely don't recommend it right after each other back to back.
[SPEAKER_00]: But even though I was tired and delirious and I didn't know what day was anymore, what time it was, or what class I was on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew those cues like the back of my hand and my class just got smoother and smoother.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think in turn that made me a much more confident and shocker.
[SPEAKER_00]: My recommendation is if you are a new instructor, if you are able to take more classes on your plate load, don't let being a newer instructor or newer to a studio, scare you away from doing that, bite off a little bit more than you can chew and you will catch up, you will get there a lot, you will improve a lot faster, you will feel a lot more confident.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will say then Poster syndrome being a year and a half into this kind of never really
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still struggle with it a little bit, but I think now having done my thoughts and person training and working towards getting fully certified has definitely helped alleviate that a little bit more because I have that kind of like proof of education learning that I've done to prove my credit dentsials to be there even though I don't have the paper yet, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I have enrolled and done a program, you know, so if the imposter syndrome is still imposter syndrome, go and get more education, fill into the spots where you feel that you are lacking.
[SPEAKER_00]: If anatomy is something that you want to improve on, and it's something that you really admire about instructors, go take an anatomy course at a plotting studio, or even like any sort of physical education, school, or board, or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my biggest piece of advice is, Bake it till you make it, got comfortable with the uncomfortable, as I always say, rip off the bandaid, and most, most importantly, never stop being a student.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though I'm prioritizing, lifting and running right now, and I'm not in the studio as much,
[SPEAKER_00]: I am still prioritizing going to Pilates at least at the very least once in a two-week period.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it is so important.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also follow so many different Pilates instructors online, so I'm constantly watching and seeing their videos to learn and see what they're doing in class and taking what I like, leaving when I don't like kind of thing, but it is so important to continue your practice.
[SPEAKER_00]: No matter if you want to go into Pilates, if you want to go into fitness of any
[SPEAKER_00]: you will plateau when you stop being a student.
[SPEAKER_00]: The teacher must continue learning in order for you to continue to be a better teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same thing as what I was talking about before on the podcast where when I stopped learning and pushing myself as a human, I stopped being curious about different things and learning about different topics and subjects outside of just fiction books and reading nonfiction.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is when I like started to feel like I didn't have any more in my
[SPEAKER_00]: But the second I started to invest in educating myself more and being curious and learning about things that I don't know, I feel like I was able to show up here on the podcast, on my socials and in my life as a better version of me and I had a fuller cup to pour from.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of my experience with my Pilates certificate process, becoming a Pilates teacher, being curious about the whole process, doing my certificate, doing different certificates,
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, this episode is getting quite long, so I think I'm going to end it here.
[SPEAKER_00]: If there is anything that I didn't touch on in today's episode, and you still have questions, more things you want to know about definitely let me know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can do another segment on this in another episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you like this episode, make sure to leave a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast on, it's how you can help support the podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love you guys so much, and I will see you next week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye, guys.
[UNKNOWN]: Thanks for watching!