[00:00:00] Welcome to Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. I'm Olivia, and I'll be your host. Join the conversation on Instagram @pilatesteachersmanual. Today's chapter starts now.
Hello, hello everybody. Welcome back. Today we will be discussing what it's been like teaching in the studio after reopening, I want to say post COVID, but COVID continuing to do its thing. So it's more like during COVID. I'm just going to be talking about main [00:01:00] differences, some of the challenges that in person teaching is posing, and some considerations about what the Pilates industry can really do going forward.
And I was really inspired by the conversation that I had last week with Marimba Gold-Watts. If you haven't listened to her interview, what are you doing with your life? It was incredible. She has fantastic experience and insights to share, and she really just inspired me to look at, you know, what could we do as Pilates teachers going forward?
Just a little disclaimer to throw out here. The opinions that I'm sharing are my own opinions. They are not the opinions of the places I work or anything like that. They are just mine. Fun fact: I almost called this podcast Olivia Has Opinions, which is accurate. So yeah, these are just my opinions.
A little bit about what's been going on in Chicago. I've been teaching in person for the month of July. So this is going into the third week of teaching in [00:02:00] person for me. Every state has different regulations about gyms. I don't even know if I'd call the studios that I work at "gyms." They have a very different feel. It's more like boutique fitness.
Even at maximum capacity, the studios I work for only have 12 people that could be in the class, maximum. So we have reopened in July at half capacity. So classes are limited to six people. They're sitting every other reformer. I teach wearing a mask, students take class, even cardio, wearing a mask, maintaining six feet of physical distance with everyone, actually with the reformers every other, it's more like 12 feet of distance. So that's really nice.
I take my temperature every time I go into the studio and log it. Students are doing their equipment changes. They are cleaning all of their equipment after class with like super strength disinfectant wipes, and classes are ending just a few minutes early so that they can clean their [00:03:00] equipment, get their stuff and leave before the next class comes in, so there's not more people in that sort of crossover time in between classes.
It was just announced in Chicago and going into effect this Friday, so today when the episode comes out, that gyms are not allowed to have classes with more than 10 people. So we're still meeting that restriction. And that's going into effect tonight at midnight. So that's different.
There's a lot of restrictions in place for safety. Totally understand. I'm not debating that at all, but it's just like a little different environment to be teaching in. As far as being open goes, I think that the studios that I work for are really doing the absolute best and really have gone above and beyond in terms of cleaning protocols that, you know, high touch areas are getting wiped off after each class. So, you know, doorknobs, light switches, anything that people are touching. The equipment is getting cleaned after each use. Sometimes before each use, students are always welcome to [00:04:00] come in and give their equipment a wipe down before class as well, that we're steam cleaning the equipment that, you know, the teachers are again, logging their temperature, that we're keeping track of things going really above and beyond to make sure that everyone is safe in our studio. So I feel really safe and happy in that regard. And I'm so glad to be in the studio and teaching in the studio. But at the same time, I'm also wrestling in my heart with just the fact that being open means that people are coming into contact with people that otherwise they wouldn't.
And not even during the class. For me, the biggest concern is like the studios it teach for or not in my neighborhood, I have to get to them. And how I get to them is I come into contact with people. Pre-COVID I would take the bus. And that is, you know, sometimes a hundred of your closest friends. That's a lot of people.
Right now, instead of taking the bus, I'm taking, you know, a Lyft ride to and [00:05:00] from the studio every day, which is expensive, but I'm hoping that that minimizes the contact that I'm having with people. But I'm still in a car that has had other people in it and like with a driver. And of course we're all wearing masks and windows are open whenever possible, but that's just like more potential contact with people.
The same thing with students. I know that they're wearing masks and they're maintaining six foot distance during the class, but you don't know what people are doing when they're not at the studio, right? I hope that everyone is following safety guidelines and protecting themselves, and then, by extension, the people that they will then interact with. But you really don't know.
And my students don't know that about me. I can reassure them, like really, I haven't left my apartment. I've been to the grocery store three times in four months, but still like, I have to do laundry in my building in a shared laundry room. And yes, I'm wiping off all of the handles and washing my hands and not touching my face, but that's still a shared space. Like you can't not interact with [00:06:00] people. And at a time where interacting with people is dangerous, that's just another consideration. Any time you're interacting with people, even in the safest way imaginable, that you're at risk. And all of life is calculated risks, but the calculation is a little bit different in the middle of a pandemic.
I understand the economics versus health, which seems sick. And I really wish that it wasn't an either/or thing, but, of course ,I need to work because I live in a place that I pay rent in. And I like to eat food and that doesn't just magically appear on my doorstep unless I ask it to nicely with money. So of course I have to work and the studios are open and I'm happy to be teaching there.
And that the studio also has its own economics to worry about whether they were able to negotiate lower rent payments or postpone rent payments, but they still have to pay expenses and they're still paying the teachers. So there needs to be some income there. [00:07:00] I know that my studios were able to get the second round of paycheck protection loans from the federal government. And so that was incredible, but you know, that's not a law long term solution. That's definitely a short term solution.
So I understand that businesses, especially small businesses need to be open in order to continue to exist. I know that small businesses are being hit hardest and that's really unfair.
The fact that our health insurance in the United States is tied to our employment is, I would say, deeply flawed because so many people have been laid off or furloughed, or you're just,like, not able to work for COVID reasons.
I'm very lucky. I am in the minority, I would say, of lucky people who happen to be married to a person who has a nine to five job that provides health insurance. For me, if I was a full time Pilates instructor and didn't have that, like this would be a very different story and I would be like a very different [00:08:00] level of stress right now. So I'm really lucky that I don't have to worry about health insurance and if anything were to happen and I were to get sick or have an accident, I would be covered by that health insurance. But for people who have been laid off, you know, that's a little bit more uncertain.
The big economic hit for me- Yes, the studio closing for COVID and then reopening was a financial hit, but also I do a lot of in-person privates and that was like a cool thing that I was able to share on this podcast, like how to work in clients' homes, sometimes without the Pilates equipment or using different Pilates equipment, using more props and less reformer, Cadillac business.
So, hilariously, in January, I filed for an LLC because I was having, you know, 10 private appointments in people's houses a week and I don't want to be arrested for tax evasion. So I created a business so that I could, you know, declare that as income and really like, keep that as like its own little separate animal.
So I've gone from [00:09:00] those many private appointments a week to significantly fewer and virtual appointments. One thing that I was able to offer with virtual appointments are 30 minute sessions, which is super cool, but those are definitely at a lower rate because it's a shorter amount of time. So that's a little bit of a financial hit as well. That has gone, I don't even think it's, it's been cut in half. It's even deeper than that. So that's like another thing that's going on.
Again, I'm very lucky that I'm married to a person who also has an income that is able to support us for the most part, even if I wasn't working at all. But that's not everyone's situation. It's just complicated. Everything is complicated. Nothing is not complicated.
So there was a little bit of a status update, in Olivia-land and in Chicago-land. Coming up after the break, I'll be looking at a little bit more of the differences between teaching in person now versus teaching in person pre COVID, and also a little bit of the differences between [00:10:00] teaching virtually and teaching now. As well as looking at the Pilates industry going forward and looking at some of the new directions, the Pilates industry may want to go.
Hi there. I hope you're enjoying today's chapter so far. There's lots of awesome stuff coming up after three as well. Please share this episode with your friends and followers and share the Pilates love. Now back to the show.
Teaching in the studio pre [00:11:00] COVID was definitely a, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone" moment. I just watched a class taught by Kathy Grant in the early 2000s at a dance and art school. And she's holding onto people's feet. She's touching shoulders and arms and rib cages, and she's up in people's business and she's talking to them and there's 40 dancers in a room and no one's wearing masks.
It's a historical class because Kathy Grant is a Pilates elder, but it's also really a historical class because no one is concerned about personal space. And now whether I'm in the studio or just around, that, if anyone is ever like walking towards me, I immediately like start backing away from them, right? So it's just a very different world.
It's really interesting because so much of teacher training in my teacher training was about getting you comfortable being in someone's personal space, and then offering those touch cues as a way to support, [00:12:00] encourage, to bring their attention to something that maybe they weren't noticing. That you were able to cue something verbally and then also use a touch cue for something else, so like you can multitask your cues a little bit as well.
And that's something that at Club Pilates is one of the biggest feedbacks that we got from our members was that they wanted more touch cues because there's just something about being in that shared space and giving that touch cue that really is supportive. You feel a connection to the student, they feel a connection to what they're doing.
And that's how Joe taught his classes because English was his second language. So he did a ton of touch cuing as his teaching. So it feels really strange to have that physical distance with people. Again, I'm totally observing it, but it feels weird keeping people at arms length when you're doing this movement work that is supposed to be about bringing people together, both [00:13:00] themselves, mind and body together. And then also as like a community of movers.
So the physical distance is still weird to me. I have to stop myself sometimes from going in or I'll verbally give touch cues and say like, I would really love to tap your shoulders right now. And then that becomes a thing.
The classes are smaller, which is fine. I actually learned at a studio that had six person classes, so six people instead of 12 people is totally fine. You can actually give a little bit more attention to people. Like there are six or in a lot of cases, there's fewer than six people in classes. So you can really still have a connection with the students. I really do appreciate being in the room with them and being able to use the equipment with them.
Wearing masks as a student and as a teacher, wasn't really an issue for me. I don't know if it's my theater training or my, you know, acting background, but I can project just fine from behind a mask. You can still hear me, especially in a class that only has six people. You can still hear me. It's fine.
It's weird. Not being able [00:14:00] to see people's mouths as someone who thrives on audience participation. It's difficult to tell if people are smiling or exactly what's going on there. So I joke now that I need verbal affirmations only.
But, yeah, I haven't had any trouble breathing with a mask on. I use a cotton mask or the pleated mask, and that's been fine. The biggest issue with the mask for me is that because I'm talking the entire time and my jaw is constantly moving, that it can pull the mask down. So I feel like I have to adjust it up sometimes, but even then I'm getting better. I feel like I'm adapting the way that my jaw moves while I talk. So like, there's a fun, new trick that we're all learning as teachers.
There is a heightened cleaning schedule. We're a little bit more conscious. You know, I come into the studio and I immediately wipe off the computer. I wipe off my phone. I wipe off the door handles, and you know, when I clock in, I'm wiping off the keyboard and everything, and the touch screen of the computer so that I know that everything I'm touching is clean. I wipe off the [00:15:00] thermometer as I take my temperature.
We were already very clean to begin with. So that doesn't feel like as big of an adjustment because you know, students were already cleaning all of their equipment. We're using different wipes now, but that's still there. As a teacher. I'm not involved in the steam cleaning. That's something that our front desk staff is handling, but that is also a few extra minutes at the end of the block to give everything that quick steam down, but it feels good to know that we're taking those precautions.
Does it feel weird? I mean, it definitely feels different. There's like a little bit of on edge about things, but I feel like that comes with the territory. I don't think that there's anything we can really do about that. We are on edge a bit.
There are some differences between the virtual classes and the in person classes that we're doing now. I obviously prefer in person classes, just being in a room with people feels really nice. I'm saying that as an introvert. I am definitely an introverted person and it's still nice to connect with people.
When I was [00:16:00] teaching virtual group classes on all of the platforms I was taking teaching on, whether it was Instagram live, Facebook live or Zoom classes, even in zoom, many students, most students, all students elected to have their video off while they were taking the class. So it felt very much like teaching into the void in that I'm not sure if you're getting this or if this making sense.
So all of that teaching was a hundred percent demo and what I call stream of consciousness teaching, where I'm pretty much just narrating what I'm doing. Mirrored narrating, so I'm moving my right leg, but saying to move my left leg, which I've gotten very good at doing. So like yay. Perks, perks of virtual teaching.
You're not really giving any feedback. This is very much like, "this is what we're doing, hope you enjoy, I have no idea if you do." So that's, I would say, not like that highest level of teaching that you can do. I think that it definitely has its place and it's better than [00:17:00] not doing anything, but I think that there's better ways to teach then total demo, total stream of consciousness narration teaching.
In privates, I'm doing probably about 50/50 demoing and verbal cuing. Most of the 50 50 is because some of the privates that I'm doing, the students have their own reformer, their own chair. And I do not currently have those things in my apartment. So I can't really demo a lot of stuff, but that's mostly verbal cuing.
And then some students really benefit from that visual representation of what we're doing. Again, I don't think that demoing is the highest level of teaching either because then a student is just looking at you to see what you're doing and trying to mimic it instead of really being in there their own body and trying to follow what you're asking of them, not just what you want it to look like. But again, a hundred percent better than nothing and we're all working with what we've got.
[00:18:00] What do we want the Pilates world to look like going forward? We've had a lot of time to think about it. And that's a silver lining that we've been able to really think about our teaching, about our studios, about what we do offer, about what we can offer. In a lot of ways, this time was a gift because many studios and myself, personally, were first to jump head first into virtual teaching.
And I think that virtual teaching has a lot of benefits. I've talked about some of the, the downsides, but as upsides, the reach that virtual classes have is massive. You can get Pilates anywhere in any corner of the globe. Communities that may not be able to access your studio, whether it's location or financially, you're able to get classes right into people's homes. Pilates is for every body. And teaching virtually really allows you to meet every body. Maybe not the same way you would meet them in person, but you're [00:19:00] really able to share the work and share the benefits of Pilates to a much, much, much wider audience.
In my experience, there's also been some community growth. I'm thinking specifically about Momentum Fest being held virtually, I've done several workshops, and teacher training continuing ed things while in quarantine as well. I've been able to connect with studios and teachers and other movement professionals in ways that I may not have been able to if I was teaching my full schedule in person.
So Jason Williams, who is a phenomenal Pilates teacher in Baltimore will be on the podcast next week. And I don't think that I would have reached out to him, or Marimba Gold-Watts or any of the teachers that I have been able to connect with, unless we were virtual. I don't know if I would have had the courage to talk to them in person. And I know that they're just regular people. But they're like, fantastic regular people. And I probably would have just fangirled about them on the podcast later.
Something about virtual, that the only way you can thank them for their [00:20:00] class is by doing it on Instagram. And so if that's the only thing that you can do, then that's what you do.
And I've met some really great people and had some conversations with really great people as a result of being virtual. Because we have this time. And even if you're back to teaching, if you're teaching a ton of virtual classes or you're back to teaching, like I am an almost regular schedule. We've had some time to have conversations and really think about what we want Pilates to look like in the future.
Personally, I love how inclusive and accessible these virtual classes have been. I would love to see studios keeping some virtual offerings because they do have that fantastically wide reach. I want to keep expanding what people think of when they think of Pilates. You know, when I'm talking to my Lyft driver and I say that I'm a Pilates teacher, I want them to think, Oh, you know, my grandpa does Pilates or my kids love doing Pilates or Pilates really helped my aunt heal [00:21:00] from her injury. And I think that we're getting there.
I think that the Pilates world is definitely becoming more mainstream and more accessible. But I want to keep going in that direction. I want that to be the first thing people think of is the way that it's like positively impacted their life or the life of someone close to them.
I'd love to see studios or teachers, myself included, offering community classes that are donation-based classes so that finances aren't limiting you from accessing the benefits of Pilates. I'd love pay-it-forward classes where you can donate a class so that someone can try it for free, that you pay for their class, or, you know, pay it forward memberships or scholarships for teacher training. Teacher training is expensive, even when it's affordable, it's a big chunk of change.
So I'd love to see scholarships for things like teacher training, so that people who may not otherwise be able to you work on it. Especially if you're changing careers or something, [00:22:00] you may not be able to stop working and just do your teacher training. That's not always realistic.
Going forward, we don't really know what is going to happen. There's a lot that's up in the air. Chicago just released these new restrictions on things. If cases keep going up, I can see, you know, studios and gyms closing just like they have in Arizona or in California.
But regardless of whether studios are open or closed, regardless of whether we're teaching in person or online, I think that the work that we're doing is still very, very important. And any movement work that you're doing, especially the mindful movement that we're focusing on in Pilates, is so important. And it doesn't require a reformer. A reformer is nice, but you don't need it to access the benefits of Pilates.
So I hope that as teachers, we keep leading the way and brightening people's lives, even when it's tough, because there's so much up in the air for us as well. We really are the [00:23:00] highlight of people's day, whether it's a virtual class or an in person class. I think that we have the potential to create an even more inclusive and even more accessible Pilates world. And I'm into that.
Have a great week. And I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you so much for joining me for today's chapter of Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. If you love today's episode, subscribe and leave a review. You can reach out to me on Instagram @pilatesteachersmanual or send me an email to pilatesteachersmanual@oliviabioni.com.
The adventure continues. Until next time.