Episode Show Notes
On this episode we are joined by Siri Dharma from Big Bear, California.
Siri is a transformation teacher with a strong training and a long background in Yoga and Pilates techniques. After basing her business in Beverly Hills, and a successful career teaching Hollywood movie stars, she makes her home in the high mountains of Big Bear Lake, where students visit her from all over the world.
Siri conducts continuing education courses worldwide for Pilates instructors and Yoga practitioners. She is a much sought-after instructor for teacher intensive training and known for her expertise in Pilates’ equipment.
A protégé and certified by the late Romana Kryzanowska, the Master Pilates teacher who was trained by Joe Pilates, Siri Dharma is also a Kundalini yoga first generation teacher trained by Yogi Bhajan.
The mission of this podcast is to share the stories of the impact of Pilates to help you live and move with more joy, physical vitality, and renewed vigor.
Pilates was a somewhat unknown word until it started creeping into conversation somewhere around the 2000s- maybe even before then depending on who you asked and amongst which circles, and has largely remained and enigma for many reasons- one of which perhaps is that Pilates really has to be experienced to be understood.
There are now a wide range of Pilates styles available when you attend a Pilates class, perhaps borne from the variation of interpretations of how Pilates was originally taught by its founder, Joseph Pilates.
With The Pilates Diaries Podcast we’re inviting Pilates enthusiasts around the globe to share with us what they’ve noted down in their Pilates Diary. Our hope is that the Pilates Diaries Podcast goes some way to answering the question ” What is it that makes Pilates so special?”
We’ll take a privileged peek into the Pilates Diaries of our guests to gain a greater insight into the impact Pilates can have in all of our lives and contribute to the health and wellbeing of the community at large.
I welcome you along for the journey and welcome your comments and discussions through the links found on your favorite podcast platform
Enjoy.
Contact Siri
Facebook
Email
The Pilates Diaries Podcast
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Episode Sponsors
TRIMIO
Pilates Reformers Australia
10% off with min. $100 spend – use PILATESDIARIES21
Whealthy-Life
10% off – use PILATESDIARIES
ToeSox Australia
15% off with min. $49 spend – use PILATESDIARIES21
Episode Transcript
Bruce Hildebrand: In the spirit of respect, The Pilates Diaries Podcast acknowledges the people and elders of the Bunurong people, members of the Kulin Nation, who have traditional connections and responsibilities for the land on which this podcast is produced.
Hi, I’m Bruce Hildebrand and this is the Pilates Diaries Podcast.
The mission of this podcast is to share the stories of the impact of Pilates We’re inviting Pilates enthusiasts to share with us the notes they’ve taken down in their Pilates journey as we seek out the answers to the intrigue Pilates has been able to ignite inside millions all over the world. Our hope is that The Pilates Diaries Podcast goes some way to answering the question " What is it that makes Pilates so special?" Join me for privileged peek into this episodes Pilates Diary.
Our guest on this episode is Siri Dharma from California. Big Bear. Siri is a long-term inspiration of mine having crossed paths in the early two thousands in my time in the UK when Siri would come over and run various workshops and sessions from the US. Siri, welcome to the show.
Siri Dharma Galliano: Thank you. I’m so happy to be with my Aussies again.
Bruce Hildebrand: Siri, we’ll begin by taking a look back, can you tell me about life before Pilates? What were your pursuits? Where did you see yourself heading at the time? And in hindsight, what do you now see where some of the little threads that might’ve led you to discover Pilates?
Siri Dharma Galliano: I started Pilates when I was 27 years old. Prior to that I was teaching Kundalini yoga and doing massage. I had graduated college with a degree in civilization. I got into a very serious yoga group where we practiced a very serious discipline including hands-on healing meditation and movement. I got introduced to Pilates because I worked in Beverly Hills and in Beverly Hills was a Pilates studio and the teacher was teaching so much and it was the eighties. So the eighties were crazy in Beverly Hills and Hollywood- there was a lot of hanky panky play going on a lot of stuff going on. And so the teacher was pretty out of whack working all day, handling the cash in his pockets, sleeping with some students, trying to get equipment going on the sets. So his doctor recommended that he slow down and learn to meditate. He was getting a little bit crazy, plus his son was in a health crisis.
So I was referred to him, kind of as one teacher to another teacher. And after I gave him his session, he said "You should come in and see what I do." And that was my introduction and I believe that for every one of the people who fall in love with Pilates, you meet someone and that person welcomes you in. It’s not just the technique, it’s not just the equipment, but you have a teacher or a friend who affects you and invites you in because if they were a nasty person, you wouldn’t want to do it. So he welcomed me to his studio and said, you should try this. And I said, look, I’m already doing yoga every day. I’m already doing karate five times a week. I don’t have time to bend and stretch or lift my leg. And he said " This will help you strengthen your legs for karate." He put it in into a frame of where it was going to improve my performance and my goal wasn’t to do Pilates- my goal was to get my brown belt. He didn’t say you need to do Pilates, he said " Come in and we’ll strengthen your legs." So I was interested in that.
Then what happened, it’s not so much when you say falling in love or getting into it as a journey is that your body actually changes. It’s a real experience- your body’s changing and going "Wow!" I’m turning quicker, I can kick more, my butt’s lifting up. You have a personal experience and you want to repeat that experience. So repeat, repeat, repeat- and all of a sudden I went from a yoga body, which was a very soft, eyes closed, flexible body to more of a warrior body, more of a sport body. At the time we thought it was dance because my teacher was not a dance person, he was a tennis player. So there was a lot of strong physical workout, but all his teachers were dancers so common in those days, and even recently I thought it was a dance method therefore I felt extremely awkward at it because I was not a dancer- I felt awkward if I had to lift my hands up in a position because I felt awkward that maybe my fingers weren’t in the right place. So I had these wrong ideas. But my body changed, which is what everybody’s experience is, then my teacher had to leave Beverly Hills to go be with his son in Colorado and the studio closed.
So that’s when your other question comes in is when do things change? You’ve been on the equipment consistently and are having this change in your body and now if you go three weeks, without those springs- you’ve changed back.
Bruce Hildebrand: It happens pretty quickly. conditioning and deconditioning!
Siri Dharma Galliano: And I’m sure it’s happened to a lot of your viewers because they used to go to the studio and then they didn’t have access during the pandemic to the studio. So maybe their back problem or hip problem, maybe their body stopped cause you’re stopping doing this workout. Then when you go without it, you long for it and you go look, I need to get my own Reformer. So that was my first " aha" movement of in order to have that Pilates experience, I just need my own equipment. Then when I had my own equipment- again, like my teacher said, why don’t you come in and try this? I said to people, why don’t you come in and try this? And it was much easier to teach Pilates than it was to teach yoga.
Bruce Hildebrand: Fascinating. What was the difference that you could describe for us?
Siri Dharma Galliano: One of the biggest differences is what are your goals? For instance, in yoga, your goals might be to achieve omniscient, enlightenment, to disappear and calm your mind, to be able to go to sleep, to meditate, to cure cancer- the goals in yoga are much different than the goals of Pilates, because yoga comes from a Hindu point of view and Pilates is Teutonic. And I made all those mistakes in the beginning, just like I thought it was a ballet movement- I started doing my yoga with my Pilates together. So I would close my eyes, I would breathe with mantras. I would raise my arms to the Infinie and then the evolution of Pilates for me is getting away from that kind of thought and getting strictly more in the body and the mind, the mindfulness, you can say, what are the things that are similar in yoga and what are the things that are completely different in Pilates?
What is similar between yoga and Pilates is something like the sun salutation in yoga and the Mat in Pilates. You have this prearranged sequence of movements- you know, in the Mat you have 34 and sun salutation- I think it’s 12. But you always repeat that, you always repeat that so you have a habit to do that and that was his main goal- he states When you’re 80 you should be able to touch your toes. You should be able to do a Roll Up. So one of the main differences is one is much more in the body, in a sport way. And when you’re concentrating, you know, I had a circus performer here and I’m like, when you’re doing that, what are you thinking about? He goes, I’m thinking about my shoulder. It’s so in the body, I’m concentrating on my muscle. I’m concentrating on what I’m doing. The dancers have you know, uh, colored it this way. I’m not expressing an emotion when I’m doing my side stretch. I am stretching.
Bruce Hildebrand: Wonderful to hear you express it so richly, Siri, . Can you tell me a story of when you first arrived at Pilates?
Siri Dharma Galliano: When I arrived at Pilates, it was like a dream- there were beautiful women seeming to float around the room. There was like six Reformers, there was a balcony and the windows were open and it was all beautiful half movie stars just, doing their stuff and me. I felt like the bull in the china shop cause everybody was beautiful, doing beautiful things. Then I remember getting on the Reformer, liking it and doing 20 repetitions, but then not knowing what to do, and then you had to wait for the person to come over and give you the next thing, because they were all paying high prices- the movie stars I was in is a freebie with the trade- the teacher forgot me in the corner " Here, now do this." But yes, it was a feeling of enchantment.
Bruce Hildebrand: What were some of the other first impressions of both Pilates itself, but also your teacher and the other people in the class. I’m also curious the other people in your life who you’d begun to share that you were doing Pilates with, what was their perception of what you were up to?
Siri Dharma Galliano: In those days, there were very few studios and very few people knew what it was. So I didn’t talk to anyone that I was doing Pilates- at all- but one of the things I initially got was in a way different relationships. I was now having relationships, watching people do stuff in the studio but not a lot to talk about mostly because it was not a big interaction thing. It’s mostly like, when’s it, my turn on the Cadillac.
I think the relationship you develop in Pilates initially is with the teachers, whether you have one, whether you have three. Of course there was the main teacher- there’s always the person who’s the main teacher, it’s their studio- and then they have one or two or three teachers and they teach differently. In the beginning, because you don’t really know it’s a method you can only have the experience by the teacher giving you the experience. So you’re attached to the teacher and you want the teacher to like you. Then you either know how to train or you don’t know how to train. You either know how to take a lesson.
I knew how to take lessons because I’d been in yoga and martial arts so I knew my left from my right and to shut up and do what they asked my body to do. Just do what we’re telling you to do, and at the end you’ll feel better. Whereas some people, because it was Beverly Hills and training was new, there weren’t that many gyms there and so training went into the thing of your ‘Manny Peddy’ or your masseuse or your therapist, where you’re telling them about your weekend and you’re telling them your problems and so your relationship with the teacher I think more in the group classes, they kept you moving than in the Privates where if the person wanted to chat, you just let them chat. In yoga and martial arts you never chatted- the class began for 60, 90 minutes and then afterwards you chatted. During that class you only obeyed. My workouts with Stephan and watching him work out, he had a lot of men working out because he was a guy. So he had a two-hour men’s workout and you’re watching them work out and you’re like different than yours.
So the workout in the beginning was way different. I started teaching my yoga students Pilates and then I started getting Pilates students, watching their bodies change and then that led me right into working on movie sets, taking equipment on the plane and on location and then I had to get serious because now someone’s paying you when you a lot of money, not just group class to change their stomach and their bottom. So your technique has got to work and you’re always returning to the exercises of the equipment rather than the teacher or the personality because it worked on you. I know that if I did the 18 side legs, if I did this, this, and this, then I’m going to feel and look better. And now I’m going to make, you do it.
Bruce Hildebrand: Siri, can you share with us your experience when you first noticed Pilates was starting to have an impact on your life? Did you feel it challenging at that time? Were there some parts of it you didn’t want to accept or that you found challenging in the pursuit of wanting to improve?
Siri Dharma Galliano: I would say the first biggest challenge I ran into as I got deeper into it was I had one Reformer and now I wanted two! I just wanted more Reformers and more equipment and I would say my first biggest challenge was not the exercises or the information, but was getting more equipment so I could work out more people. Then I could lower the cost of it if I had two Reformers or three Reformers. So my experience started at that point which is whoever controls, the equipment was controlling the work- because it happened to me! And that was true in the eighties and then they started certification because when I was trained, there was no certification- you just worked out for a couple of years and if you wanted to teach, then you started teaching and you tried to remember enough stuff to get through the hour and you tried to not hurt them! I had a big bag, the tricks though because what they now call Contemporary Pilates they’re calling the 21st Century evolution of Pilates, which basically you could just put it under the subject of everything that’s not Classical. But in the exercises when we started in the eighties was when Jane Fonda started, you know, there were no gyms. So it was the Jane Fonda exercises done on the Reformer rather than doing you know, she started all that knee work, all that aerobic work, all that butt work. So we would do the same exercises on the Reformer- 200 of these followed by 200 internally rotated followed by 200 externally rotated, followed by what people now call the hydrant, followed by what people now call the ‘this’ and the ‘that’ – it was just massive resistance to the muscles, to a point of fatigue and that, and the therapy has now become what people call Contemporary.
But those exercises were, effective too, because even bad Pilates has effects. So I taught that for several years and that worked for several years and I was happy getting two Reformers- they were very difficult to get in California at the time, because makers of the Balanced Body equipment wouldn’t sell to you, and I didn’t know about any other brand- there was no other brand in California at that time- there was only not even Balanced Body- there was only Kenny Endelman, individually making frames that would take him six months and in New York Gratz only made, I think probably 10 Reformers in the eighties.
There was no massive equipment- so my first challenge was getting the equipment. My second challenge was after I built where you can build as one person, let’s say teaching 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 hours a day- my second challenge was getting someone else to teach with you or for you who’s as good as you or good enough: doesn’t hurt anybody, gets results, doesn’t lose the business. That went on for several years because I’m too busy working- there was no structured organization- you learned and then just as if you were a massage therapist or a tennis coach, and then you had clients and so I was busy. I started making money right away. And I was good- not just at Pilates, but at the other things. So then I’m doing movie sets, you know, going from this movie star to that movie star, to Beverly Hills to flying around the world in some billionaires jet and then hearing about Carola Trier in New Mexico.
So went to New Mexico to study with Carola and Carola was like 83 or something and was like this tall, and her stuff was very, very careful was a lot of the stuff now they do in Pilates which was the thread the needle, paint brushes on the ceiling, all that stuff and I teach that stuff to the very stiff and her stories of Joe Pilates. So at that point now I actually knew someone. When Stefan Freis had to close the studio in Beverly Hills, and I helped pack him up, I found some photos in there and I’d never seen at that point, any photos of Pilates and you see your first photo and it wasn’t even of Joe Pilates- it was Clara teaching this Asian woman the Neck stretcher in the doorway. And I just looked at it and it was the first thing I saw like that- a photograph with Clara, teaching an exercise. Because we we’re in California and California there weren’t that many people in Pilates in the eighties- there was Romana in New York, Kathy Grant in New York, there was Ron Fletcher in Hollywood, Eve Gentry in Santa Fe. And so they used to call it the East Coast and the West Coast- so at the time I was extremely West Coast, totally West Coast. And so that was your defense mechanism- you see it today even the same psychology perpetuates between the different training groups. In those days it was East Coast or West Coast- we considered Ron Fletcher East Coast because of the rowing- we didn’t do rowing, we did 300 butt exercises- you were the classical and we were the ones who sculpted the body. Everybody had a " Whoever you are, we’re the best!" But having been, to India and trained, you know, with all the great masters- the McNarndas and the Yogi Barjarns and the Christian Imerdies. I understood the value of finding someone with an extreme life experience, finding someone who had a 40, 50 year history transformational career in that one subject and going to them and just shutting up and bowing.
So if there was to be a journey, it’d be in the journey of knowledge, that connected going from the Eastern yoga meditation, Japanese karate into finding Pilates- my personality did better in Pilates than yoga. So I was able to become an effective teacher. I have the personality of a teacher. So at that time when you were teaching yoga you were teaching vegetarianism, being celibate, don’t cut your hair, wear natural fibers, don’t drink or smoke, don’t watch any violence or politics- all of that stuff was part of what you were teaching, but when you were teaching Pilates, it’s just straighten your legs and bend, squeeze your butt and breathe next. Do 10 of these and 10 of those, there was no layering in of the consciousness, nor should there be of something other than that Teutonic gymnastic approach.
So this is psychologically freed my personality because I wasn’t comfortable telling everybody, drink tea, stop shaving your legs and channel your chakras. I was much more comfortable in this mode- I had the equipment, the training, the experience and I had the personality and I also had the longing to meet other people who knew so much more than I did.
So after the challenge of finding the equipment. the other challenge was the people who tried to keep you from getting that information. For instance, Carola Trier came, it was very open in those classes and she was the biggest effect on me, I didn’t realize it till recently when I looked at an old video of hers, how much of my technique was from that class, because I would write down exactly- anyone’s class- word for word, what they said, word for word, what they did. And I would do the same thing, because that’s the formula- you get the same results. Carola was German, so Joe taught her in German. She was in the circus so they had that in common. She was an internment camp, but in the second world war- they had that in common.
So her technique was so exact like the way she did the short box that I just followed that. But I remember at the time and you’ll see it in the video, she was completely frustrated and annoyed with being on the Balanced Body equipment. She had come from New York, she had never used it before she went to demonstrate or have the teacher do the exercise, and it wasn’t quite right. The box was too high. The bar was too low. The straps were too whatever, and she would go like, and make some comments. So that was the first time, but it meant nothing to me- zero! The equipment meant zero to me for the first 12 or 13 years. I didn’t even notice it, it didn’t matter. I thought it was I’m working out and I’m making you work-out, you know. Until I went to New York, so there was Carola and then when they brought Romana Kryzanowska out to the West Coast, at that time, again, getting back to the equipment, they weren’t going to sell equipment to the teachers because whoever had the equipment had the business. So they were controlling who had the business.
So one of the challenges I would say is, I don’t like that. It’s not adult. It not who controls the information who controls the equipment, who controls the process- it doesn’t go with what I’ve learned and it makes me very rebellious, and it also makes you find another way- you know, Stephan closed the studio, it took me six months to find a Reformer, wanted another Reformer, Kenny Endelman wasn’t going to sell to me- okay, I’m just going to build my own Reformers- just that simple, it wasn’t simple though, but this need to have the equipment. So because I was building equipment- someone else was building it for me- they wouldn’t let me study with Romana because they wanted whoever was in that class to sell them equipment. All these layers of business, capitalism and control- nothing to do with the teacher on your way to learning the Roll-up. Because they refused to let me have that information and that experience with Romana, I was complaining and whining to someone just saying I can’t believe I can’t go study with this person because I was used to, you know, you go to Krishna Merde and you take the class, here’s the information we’re here to give it to you, you know. I didn’t know that stuff and at that point is when you know, a lot of the dancers comes in where they bring in this competition. I want to say honestly, a lot of the dancers, because the dancers had explained this to me. So that is not like Pilates and yoga. There should be cooperation- not this competition of either who has the most students, who’s did the right thing, or who can get the equipment.
So I found Romana’s number, and I said, hi, I’m Siri Dharma and I want to study with you but they won’t let me! I want to study with you and they won’t let me! And she said "Honey, you come to New York, come to my studio and just come to New York. I’m like, all right! So much closer than the Himalayas. So went to New York, walked in with two dozen red roses and said "Here I am!" I was so ignorant. I was so arrogant. She was so beautiful and she’s says well what would you like to know? And I said, I only want to know one thing. She said, just one. I said, yeah, I only want to know one thing- When you do your footwork do you inhale when you push you out or do you exhale when you push out? There’s a big argument in California! It was the beginning of that teacher, student relationship- everything should go back to the teacher- student relationship and the body to the equipment relationship, the rest you might have to use it to get there, but it has nothing to do with anything. And we know that now in the pandemic and we’ve stopped a lot of those habits. So her answer to that was Joe would have you inhale one breath and then exhale push back four or five or six times. So like a true master- whenever you asked her a question I would go what about this exercise here? And she’d say, I’ve never seen that before, let me show you how he taught me. Her way of delivering things, never putting you down, never giving you something you couldn’t do, always helping you being so kind but so hard but so effective. So that the young teacher in me- although by then I was already like 36 when I met her- I just scooped her up with her information and I was already running a business and I had the problems of running a business, which is now I have all the equipment and I have or don’t have teachers of all different styles and all different bodies and all different hours, and how do I run that business? And I was learning from her how to do it so our conversations had a lot to do with running a studio.
Bruce Hildebrand: What was one of your favorite experiences that you can share of your time with Romana?
Siri Dharma Galliano: I’m going to say my biggest impression when I go into that door that’s Romana- the first impression. The biggest memory that comes up is of course I wanted to talk Pilates, know Pilates find out everything about Pilates. Her hours were seven to one, so you would take a private with her and then observe her teach for three hours and then you would go to lunch with her, and then we went to her apartment in New York City. So my biggest impression of Romana is she lived up on the fourth floor and there was no elevator. She was 68 when I met her, had taught all day- there’s no elevator and she’s got her groceries and she’s going all the way up to the fourth floor. I was winded when I got up there, cause she’d kicked my ass and when she opened the door, I expected it to be like my studio would be, and there was just the magical impression of Romana’s house and it was all these different colors- the walls painted red, and there’s all this art everywhere and there’s baby grand piano and there was zero Joe Pilates. There actually was by the end of the lunch but I discovered that Pilates to Romana was a very small part of her life.
Meaning she had this big life and she carried on this work, but herself had this entirely other personality where we were talking about all these different subjects and then when we had champagne in this one room, she said "Oh, my father was a Russian painter and my mother was a painter, so they painted that picture of Joe and Clara. And on the wall there was the water colors of Joe and Clara and that was the only Pilates in her place. So that was a big impression on me.
Bruce Hildebrand: That’s an incredible story.
Siri Dharma Galliano: I have all these flashbacks of every time she came to Los Angeles we would meet, and she would invite certain people to the rooftop for champagne. She would always treat you to champagne, and she would say, here’s one of my favorite Romana quotes. You can have a champagne belly, but you have a Pilates bottom! And you can tell a person does Pilates by their bottom!
Bruce Hildebrand: I love it!
Siri Dharma Galliano: It’s, like, coming from this place when we talk about the journey of Pilates, it’s not like the Himalayas- the journey is you’re living and how long do you do something that helps you- does it really become a habit or is it just something you’ve tried? Tennis or ping pong?
Like Joe Pilates liked you to get eight hours of sleep too- lots of sleep and lots of stretching.
Bruce Hildebrand: He was onto something- not that that’s news to anyone, but a book I read couple of years ago was called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker and he’d researched sleep patterns for 20 or 30 years- it was phenomenal read if you haven’t already read it?
Siri Dharma Galliano: I was in Beverly Hills once and I was at the printing shop and I was getting some stationary printed and it said Live Art Pilates on it. And there was this man next to me was smaller, very dignified with the mustache and a cane, and he said oh, Pilates he said, I knew Mr. Pilates. I’m like what? He said, yes. I used to take lessons with him and I said, you’re kidding- were you a dancer? He said, no, I was rich. And I said is there anything you can tell me about him? He said, he liked you to sleep eight hours a day, and I still sleep eight hours a day. And I went, whoa. And I sit and do you do anything now? I mean, now you’re in your eighties, you live in Palm Springs, you knew him in New York. Do you do anything now? and he paused he said, yes, they worked a lot on my posture and balance and I still do that. I think that sums up Joe Pilates!
Bruce Hildebrand: That’s a great story I love it! Siri, can you share with us some of the challenges that you had at this stage in your Pilates progress? Was there any factors that had you fall more deeply in love with Pilates at this point, or were there some elements that you were finding that were rubbing you up the wrong way or some hidden issues or hidden conversations in the studios ?
Siri Dharma Galliano: I definitely fell more in love with Pilates when I was making a lot of money doing it, meaning I was able to buy a house, I was able to support myself. My studio was rocking you know, I was able to make that model work. Because we were in California, we were able to sell equipment and rent equipment, so I got into the equipment business, which allowed me to do more because of the profit in the sales and not just have a service. So what you’re more in love with is the life that it gives you as in any independent career, which means if you don’t want to work the weekends, you don’t work the weekends. If you want to work at seven in the morning and get off of one, you know, the freedom that it brings you in designing your own career I would say that helps you fall in love with it, not more with the exercises.
As my business got more successful, I would about once a year, be able to buy another piece of equipment. I would have this choice- do I want to go to New York and take a workshop or do I want to buy a Wunda Chair? And I would buy the Wunda Chair because it would teach me more and then I would have something to be taught on. I would say falling in love is more like someone who’s a car collector or loves dogs and what’s better than one car? Five cars! What’s better than one dog? Four dogs! Yes, I feel like they’re almost like family members in the collection of pieces and you fall more and more in love as you learned more about the different pieces. I would say the things that would annoy me in all studios, because I came from the yoga background and really I was too young to be a hippie, but think California, even though I’m from New York raised in California, you know, just love and let me help you, the raising of consciousness, the health of the body, that means the health of the mind. There was an article that just came out proven that if you can get your teenagers and young adults to exercise, they’ll be less likely to go into addiction.
I think the things that bothered me was I thought that the same universality that I saw in the consciousness raising movement was in the Pilates movement- and it’s not, it was not! And now that they put it in, that annoys me even more. So it became a playground because so many of the teachers that it drew were dancers, and their same attitudes came into Pilates. So there might be body bashing, so instead of coming from a position of, oh, you’ve never worked out before and you’re little chubby, let’s get you going. It’s oh, I’ll never be able to do that because I never danced. So a lot of the discrimination really bothered me, the relationships in the studio they never bothered me personally because you know, when I started, I wore a turban and had a sword, so if you can do that, you can handle anybody in the studio, you know. But I was disappointed by the younger, more naive people who came in with an open heart and were put in the same system of denial. Example in a teacher training program, which would be $1,500 I’ll teach you these 15 exercises, but now you need more to do this and controlling the learning process from its natural organic roots, where it came from.
Bruce Hildebrand: And was there a phase Siri where you are running series of workshops with the collective group of teachers to come together in many conferences.
Siri Dharma Galliano: Yes. that came from having been invited to teach at a lot of conferences because I sold a lot of Pilates equipment, and it was the equipment manufacturers who sponsored the beginning of big events, such as the Body Mind Spirit conference or Idea conference or any of the fitness conferences. So I started teaching large groups of teachers at those conferences. I found that having come from a yoga background where I was used to being in giant retreats the way that they treated people wasn’t quite right, and the way that they structured the learning experience, how much information you can take in how much the body can take in wasn’t quite right. There was a lot of drinking and a lot of partying, and there was a whole bunch of different styles and the person never really got it. And there was also a lot of "No’s". Romana would say "There’s no No’s- try to always say Yes. Just try to do this? Yes! Can you do this? Yes. But there were No’s in terms of the conferences- there was like I want to change my class to something else- No! I need a refund- No! I want to bring an assistant- No! It was lots of No’s and I felt that I could do better. I felt that I could put a learning situation together much better.
And then also if people are gonna talk about the evolution of Pilates, of course more people are doing it, but you’re talking about the business of it, the evolution of the industry. So at the time there was Pilates Style Magazine and they went through three different publishers. And I go to the second publisher and say "Listen, I’d like to write for you because you’ve got breastfeeding in here, and you’ve got astrology in here and some green diet in here and I’d like to put some Pilates in here, write about Joe Pilates and gymnasts and technique." And they said "Oh, we’re getting out of the publishing business- we’re going into the conference business because that’s where all the money is." So that idea as they thought, which is, if you get a hundred people to pay you $500, then that’s a $50,000 weekend, but it had evolved to a place where I did not think that the teaching was correct. So I thought I could do it better and that my event would be the teaching. And because I felt very abused as a presenter, I looked ahead and said I’m going to do a conference but the way I thought the teachers should be treated.
And I was able to think what is the right amount of hours? And I really believe that six hours is the right amount. You can’t do more than that- and you need breaks, the mind needs a break as does the body. So I started scheduling- I put all of Romana’s workshops into one weekend and always hire people that are on my level or above. And as I went around the country and the world teaching in all these different studios and all these different workshops, I brought them back to Big Bear. So we had 120 teachers the first year and each year the schedule got better- you’re designing an experience and this gets back into a point I’d like to share which is what is the culture. Joe Pilates came from a German culture- he came from a gymnastic culture. He created a studio and that studio had a gym culture. There weren’t a lot of gyms, now we have gyms and each gym has a culture. Maybe Pilates studios have a culture. If you have a lot of experience in your culture, then you’re not blended with other cultures. You know, this is Italian, this is German- it’s not a fusion. I find when people would go to different studios you would immediately feel comfortable in that culture, but when people didn’t have enough culture, they put other things in there, other psychological philosophical stuff. So maybe someone brings rebirthing into it and somebody brings their yoga and dance into it, someone brings their physical therapy into it, someone brings their psychology into it. For instance, you’ll sit and wait there until I call you- that’s a culture! A different culture is come in and start working out and when I’m ready, I’ll find you. That culture of training people- so when you go into a gym today, COVID being not withstanding, let’s say there’s 15 people in that gym- they’re all doing their own thing by themselves, in front of a mirror, doing their own reps, their own range of motion, their own resistance level and their own routine- and so are you! And that’s what I think when you’re talking about the journey and the future of Pilates, it’s an individual thing that you’re giving that person that he or she will have a habit of a technique.
It’s because it has fallen into this role model of the certification groups with that style, almost like a dance style or a yoga style. Let’s use for an example in Korea how the Pilates has exploded and just as my challenge was , it’s so expensive to get equipment they build their own equipment. They copy it, but they’re making it bigger and when I met the Koreans, when they came to Big Bear a couple of them had really odd bodies, and you’re trying to figure out what is it?
And finally I said, show me your equipment. The equipment was so big- a normal Gratz is like 23 inches and their equipment was like 33 inches. Now you’ve got little tiny girls that weigh 110 pounds, but they’re doing their pull-ups, their legs circles, and their flying squirrel on equipment that doesn’t match them- and they don’t know it! And you don’t want to get into a oh classical versus contemporary evolved. So that’s a cultural thing, because if you look at something like gymnastics, which Pilates comes from, these are the parallel bars- he called the Pilates Reformer a gymnastic apparatus- you have all these exercises of leverage and hand stands, back bending and all this stuff and you took at the Olympics or something all of a sudden took the parallel bars and made the pipes bigger, or the distance bigger or higher or further apart- you can’t do that trick. And people saying well it’s evolution of Pilates that we’re doing new tricks- No! The body hasn’t changed. So the relationship to the equipment to the body and the person to their practice is important and not separated.
Bruce Hildebrand: Can you share some stories with us Siri of the journey through the movie star part of your teaching career? You mentioned that you had worked a lot with movie stars based in Hollywood initially, and then you got flown all around the world. I’d love to hear some stories in your diary of that phase.
Siri Dharma Galliano: Now are in the movie culture? You’re in the movie business, you’re in the movie culture. So they’re producing, let’s say a television show. I did a lot of TV shows because of course you’ve got Burbank and Fox and Sony where they’re producing television shows and that actor, when they don’t have a job is in the studio training, or recovering from their job and then they may get a job- and you can only go to the set on their lunchtime because they’re shooting 12 hour days. When you’re in television or movie production you’re shooting, usually 12 hour days, So you’re put in a certain time usually at their lunchtime by the actor because that’s the only time they have So you’d have that one hour and you either put equipment on the set or now they might have it in the gym at Sony or you work them out in their trailer. My biggest movie stars, my biggest movies, of course, Uma Thurman on Kill Bill and the Matrix. So those films were huge productions and training was part of the schedule. In a normal actor situation, training is not part of their schedule- they themselves either pay for the trainer to get them in shape for the character.
When you come in, you’re in a category on a pay sheet and that category is the same as a hairdresser, a makeup artist, a wardrobe person, and you’re scheduled and then you have to work with everybody else in that schedule- and that’s a big part of being a professional. I would say that if anything, the attention that is not given to making a Pilates teacher is how to be a professional, how to make money! How do you bill? What do you charge? How do you get paid? The business part of it not where you’re just spending money on equipment and spending money on lessons and spending money on rent, but how do you get paid back if this is your career? And that’s really important because that has got to be in coordination with everybody else.
So that’s when I would say that I became a master of my craft because you have one body for a long period of time, very consistently, but other people are doing stuff with that body and you have to learn what everybody’s doing. For instance on The Matrix they’ve got a stunt coordinator she’s going to be fighting martial arts from 10 to 12, then you’re going to have her from 1230 to one 30, and then she’s going to go take the motorcycle lessons, and then she’s going to learn how to flip on the wires. So you’re coordinating- if she’s already doing two hours of kicking, you’re not going to give her going up front on the Electric chair and heavy leg springs! You’re going to give her these exercises. When are you pushing, when are you just stretching, making it balanced out, and who pays for the equipment? How do you put a Pilates studio on the set?? How do you fly it somewhere? You know, I remember when the Eagles got into Pilates and Isa- the one who found Kenny Endelman started traveling with the Eagles.
And so she was teaching the Reformer and they would pack it up just like they would pack up a movie set or they would pack up the equipment for a big concert because it just goes on a truck. So all those things of how you negotiate for your equipment for example they didn’t want to buy equipment because they’re gonna be stuck with it. So I leased them a chair, I leased them a ladder barrel, leased them a Cadillac and then when we moved to Sydney, they paid for shipping it all down there, used it for the training we did down in Sydney and then was able to sell it to some Pilates teachers. So the business of how you get paid, what you charge, when do you fit into their schedule?
When you work in a studio, people come to you, you’re in control, you got control of the hour, the music, the air conditioning and the heat. But once you go on location you’re not in control anymore- you have to set your studio up and that creates a culture. And when you create the culture of your studio, people come into it. But you get a job because you get results, and then you go on to the next film and the next film.
Bruce Hildebrand: Siri, can you speak of the extensive research you’ve done on the historical nature of Pilates? You’ve been to Knockaloe on the Isle of Man and done a bunch of research along with multiple historical articles.
Siri Dharma Galliano: Before there was a lot of stuff on the internet and before there’s a lot of information out, the legend and the myths were growing and growing, as more and more people did it, someone’s " Oh yeah, he met his wife and she was in a wheelchair and he made her walk again. So now we’ve got Jesus or something. I’m like "No!" So I made a list of everything that was ever said about Joe Pilates at the time, which wasn’t a lot. And was it true? Was it false? Was it a myth? Do we know about it or not know about it? Because it gives you more information- the more you feel you know him, the more you think you know what was going on in his head? Which was to help people. For example the first myth, the common first line that’s repeated everywhere: " He was a sickly child- he suffered as a sickly child, but yet you have him in first person quotes saying I was never sick of him in my life. So I had these questions, what was answered, what was not answered and I would go to New York a lot to try to find people who knew him and start getting all that was available at the time, let’s say for Life Magazine, Roberta Peters, where he was standing on her stomach and she was 17 and he was teaching her stamina and vocalization to do the opera. I called Roberta Peters when she was still alive and she said "Look, you know, I have memory problems, but you should call this opera singer because she doesn’t and she also studied with Joe like what! So I would call her up and talk to her on the phone for hours and I said, oh, was he sick? and she said something illuminating, which was, she said he wasn’t sick, but his mother was sick and she died young and that is what got him on the path, his grief. And that little bit of information was so revealing to me. So I’m in a position now where my mom is suffering because her culture didn’t have what we have exercise, diet, lifestyle, all that stuff. So I think that’s where he started his mother and his brother and sister died and that made him really start to work on health and the importance of it. His culture at the time, which was German culture, which was being outside, being in the sun, sweating outside, taking a sunbath, scrubbing off the dead skin, taking cold showers. What he did in his culture then has been interpreted in 21st century.
For example lets say Mary Bowen in New York. She is a psychotherapist so her culture and her lens is through her lens of psychotherapy. So she fills in her blanks about Joe Pilates with her interpretation. So as do other people. If they’re a pervert they feel through his experience of going in the shower with people in their perverted culture, where to him who came from a prison with a thousand guys, he’s going in there to teach you " No! you’re going to scrub your skin. You’re going to get all the crevices. You’re going to do this. You can did that."
He’s not trying to rape you, you know, but they’re putting it in a different frame of history. This is in the storytelling- so when they say he was a boxer, he wasn’t in Madison Square Garden. He was like a common guy- you either made money going to the factory or you went in the ring- it was a common thing. I wanted to explore the boxing- he went to England to box. because there was no boxing in Germany when you do the research! The Kaiser had banned boxing in Germany! There was wrestling because wrestling is part of gmnastics. So he learned to box the British were the boxers that was when boxing developed, as a sport and there was boxing in the camps and they had all those years to fill up. So the more I learned about the history, the more you question, the more you question everything! Is that true? Is it true I have to be recertified? Is it true that I’m not advanced? And now the horrible things that are coming up with all the new books, because the people who 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60 years later are writing a book and putting it forth as gossip and all that kind of really harmful stuff, all that kind of 21st century stuff.
As opposed to a man who, you know, lost his mother, lost his wife, lost his freedom, lost his country, but still thought I’ve got to help people because this is really going to help them, that kind of drive. And also he thought he was going to make a lot of money because it was industrial revolution- if he could add that and put it in every home, he thought that, and he was right. So the closer you get to his story and there’s a lot more biographies out now and some of them come to really uncomfortable conclusions. Do they matter? No. To me, they mattered because it makes me a better teacher if I understand where he came from. So now I see, for instance, the language example a lot of my Pilates work now in America last couple of years has been when bad accidents happen because I’m an equipment expert and I’ve been used to write about and testify accidents, A lady just lost her eye and her eyesight! So the question is who’s fault is it? Who are we going to sue? Did the equipment malfunction? Did the teacher give the wrong instruction? Did the student lose their attention? What happened? And that has thrown me further into explaining things?
And the language we use- there’s all this language of sport in it, we got the rowing, the biking, the running, the swimming, the diving, we’ve got the ice skating, got the boxing the language, the handstands, the pull-ups, the pikes, the back-bending, the back dive, the pushups, these are specific sport gymnastic movement languages of his. So if some dancer or some creative 21st evolutionary evolvement decides to put an expression in the middle of something, and that equipment isn’t designed for that leverage and something happens and it breaks and the woman loses her eye… whose fault is it? And I’m able to answer that question from an investigative point. I think those things are important to then come back to the idea of equipment safety, buying it used, or what is it that you’re buying. To me the question where do I see this now, or where’s my life going? Well, it keeps me sexy and functional. That’s it? It’s about me, it’s about my body! And I’m here if you want to find me, you know, that’s about it!
Bruce Hildebrand: Along those lines, Siri, can you share with us some of the changes, both in your body and your mind, and as Joe Pilates I understand what the Geist used to put it that are now second nature to you in the way that you live your life and go about your day to day activities that you couldn’t have even imagined were possible before you came across Pilates and couldn’t even imagine when you were first finding your feet with it?
Siri Dharma Galliano: Yes. I couldn’t imagine I would have it in my bedroom and I would just come home and get on it when my legs were really tight, and I couldn’t imagine being this age- you can’t imagine being this age, but I do remember being 38 when I met Romana who was 68. And at the time I was deciding should I keep doing this or should I be an actress? Or what should I do? What could I do? What must I do? And when I met her- she’s 68, she’s working full-time, she’s drinking champagne, she’s traveling, she’s meeting people and she’s happy! She’s happy with who she is and where she is and what she’s doing. And 30 years earlier, I looked ahead and said, it’s good to know that’s what I’m going to be doing because that’s what she did- and she turned out okay! So that perspective- I’m not 68 yet, but getting closer! So that idea that you will be vibrant, you will be functional, you will still teach if you want to. I think that the changes are huge, but not just in Pilates-, it would be anybody who you were in your twenties and your thirties and your forties and your fifties.
I think that because I have so much technique, I’m able to give myself new goals. My goal’s right now with the hanging straps and to get my arm strength back- so that kind of goal and teaching always one of the most beautiful things about teaching of course, is when you’re teaching it’s about the other person, not about you. So even if don’t feel well, you’re depressed or things are happening to you- when you’re teaching someone else and helping them, you just feel better.
So right now, because there are varying levels from someone who’s got brain cancer to someone who is 40, a boxer, a runner a studio owner, and been taught everything and all over the world, messenger, Skype, zoom, whatever- and before I give them the class, I do it. And it’s not based on I’m going to do my Reformer or something. I come in, and today I started on the ped-o-pul and got super into it, followed by a one spring workout on the Wunda Chair And so that’s where I started my person because I’m like " Wow! This feels like this." And you feel it differently in your body because your body’s not the same.
Bruce Hildebrand: You mentioned a moment of go Siri about a time when you could see yourself having a long career in Pilates. Can you share with us that turning point or that realization for yourself- was it that interaction with Romana? Was it some other factors like, you mentioned you were making some really solid money- there was a future in it for you?
Siri Dharma Galliano: Yes, in the service business. First of all at the time you needed to be in a high-income area where people could afford personal training because it’s personal training. So you have to be in a place where people can afford that, which is not necessarily Big Bear. So I was in the right place at the right time being in Beverly Hills and I was able to make a good career with the service and also with studio always being functioning and always having good teachers. I saw a bigger career for myself. I don’t know if the careers, the word or destiny’s the word- and I don’t know if I’ve hit that yet. I mean, I’ve had some big peaks in my career, such as teaching in Moscow at the Olimpiyskiy. Being at the Russian Fitness Conference of 10,000 professional sports people having 250 people in my class with an interpreter that was a high point in my career- very difficult to teach because there was a bunch of broken Allegros on the floor with no legs and no boxes. So hard to teach a Reformer class if you don’t have all the right parts, but that was a highlight of my career. A career sometimes is when you make money, but a destiny is something that talking about the soul and Pilates you know, it is a vehicle to reach other people’s soul and to express your own.
So at one point I volunteered to teach in the Los Angeles county jail. That is another highlight of my career because it was so difficult. It came after a time when my emotional life was falling apart, I had a bad accident and I had gotten sued with this lawsuit and I needed to get back teaching. For me, if I can get back teaching I’m in the zone, I’m absolutely clear, I’m strong, I’m ethical, I know what I’m doing and I enjoy it. So I need to get back to teaching, but I didn’t want to organize it. I was done organizing the experience? So you literally have a captured audience because they’re in jail and you yourself have got to create the culture. This was jail, not prison so it wasn’t like they’re already convicted felons- they were more like waiting for their sentences- it wasn’t the really bad guys. But they had to pass time and we’re full of stress, So you have to create the culture- it’s one thing when someone walks on your set, they walk into your environment and here’s the system. And here’s what you’re going to do. It’s another thing when you go someplace and you don’t have your tools like teaching in a middle school, teaching kids between the ages of 12 and 15, that was worse than teaching in the jail, because they just bounce all over the place, if you say the word pelvis, they break down, you know. How do you create a culture and control the group. You do that with the authority of your body, you know, you see Joe, the authority of your body, the authority of the coach and how you create the discipline and the structure of the class.
So it was helpful. in that environment, telling the story of having been to the Isle of Man and having spent the week looking at 3000 photos looking for Joe Pilates and all the pictures and seeing the story and telling them because telling them a story, I’m putting it in a context of telling a story, not about myself, not who I am or what my experience is, but here was a man who was unjustly for doing nothing, just his race incarcerated for five years, with a thousand other guys with no women and no children having to eat salted herrings! In the modern day time, our problem in the modern civilization is we didn’t have enough time- we’re all really busy- we’re working, we have kids, we didn’t have enough time. And the infomercials Pilates 20 minutes, three times a week and you too will have a butt this size, not enough time in modern society! Now with the pandemic or with Joe and the Germans in prison, or with these guys in jail, the problem is too much time.
So in that way, when people on their journey and Pilates, they should collect as much equipment as they can- then they can pass some time. They can do the barrel, they can do the Chair, they can hang from the Cadillac, they can do some footwork. It’s passing the time to help you feel better, you know and nobody talks about sex enough, you know, to just give you stamina, to make you feel more confident, to get your circulation going- he always talked about circulation. And then my conversation for the last couple of years is when people go "mind body", the mental part of Pilates a little different than the culture, but the mental part- and they’ll go, oh yeah, Pilates- that’s like yoga that mind-body stuff! But when you talk to a gymnast- " What is your mind body connection?" " I’m concentrating on the trick." What are you thinking? I asked the guy " Gosh, you have three hours before you show, what are you thinking?" " I’m thinking about what do I have to do- that’s what I’m thinking. And so this little bit of experience I’ve been able to have with this culture of the gymnast and the Russian performers comes back to my own understanding of some of the Pilates work. For instance, on the guillotine and the end of the Cadillac, they do this exercise – in reality, it’s the guy on the swing in the high flying trapeze- the action that’s taken to move the swing. Who’s ever said that nobody. So it brings back a lot of stuff of the gymnast culture and it refreshes my mind to think of it and to take it away from the politics, from the personality, from the therapy. And of course, one of the best things about having the equipment or learning the method is you always hurt yourself in life- you fall down, have an accident, something happens, there’s a pandemic! And now you have something where you can fix yourself after rehab. And that is part of, I think what he learned was the longevity of his own life in his twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties. So in those last 25 years, I’m sure he’s fanaticism grew and grew because everybody around him is getting really old. He going no, fight it, fight it, fight gravity! He kept taking his shirt off because he worked out in a bathing suit, but the boxers, when they’re boxing and when they’re doing their workout, their shirt is off. They’re watching your muscles and they have the least amount of clothes on as do the gymnast and that’s was him and people will interpret that into today’s culture, but it’s the culture in the gym.
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s been wonderful listening to your story in your diaries. Siri. Can you give us a rundown on where you’re sitting now with Pilates- what does the future hold for you with Pilates in your life, and what other plans have you got in store for your Pilates involvement?
Siri Dharma Galliano: My Pilates involvement comes from who I meet- for instance I went to my Japanese dentist here in Big Bear and with age the teeth bones are all changing and she said, we can straighten your teeth. And this would be the process this would be how much time it would take. And she was telling me that she has back problems and she went to a surgeon and they wanted to fuse her spine. And I said " Why don’t you come to me? I think I can help you." so over the course of the last 10 months, my teeth have gotten straightened and stronger and her body has gotten stronger. So in terms of my involvement, I see it right in front of me. There’s someone in front of me who I can help. Come and see if I can help you. From people who want to take lesson around the world, to the people I’m meeting to someone with the accident. So I see my involvement to teach- I’m not big on the promotion and also I don’t really like a lot of the game and the competition. I love to teach!
So I see now people coming to Big Bear as my guests like Romana would do, or Eve Gentry would do and study with me on my equipment. I see this internet, Skype, Zoom situation. In the future are we traveling- maybe? You know, I love Australia, you but I’m drawn to Belgium and Wales too. I see myself being available as one of the world’s leading experts for the rest of my life, but I don’t see myself out there marketing it too much.
Bruce Hildebrand: I think your generosity on this call, there’s little need to do the marketing because I think it’ll speak for itself.
Siri Dharma Galliano: Romana’s style of teaching in her workshops was all about working out. There was no talk, you just started, and that is training. Then at the end you could discuss I know in my own life I’ve had a, big experience, a big education and then my personality suits this work really well. And of course the relationships we have with my brothers and sisters, like you I think it’s an individual thing, I don’t think it’s a group thing and my advice is don’t think people are joining anything other than their bottom to the vinyl and their feet to the straps. Join your body to the equipment and just get as much information experience as you can.
Bruce Hildebrand: That reminds me of a fun story about the tush that when I was fortunate to work with you coming through LA in 2003, and I recount that you knew by heart, something like 30 different languages of the word for the behind, for your butt!
Siri Dharma Galliano: In Korean it’s in Chinese is in German, Popo, Russian Popa in Brazil. Buddha. Italian and Spanish Kula. My favorite, this lady came of course in Beverly Hills we had a lot of visitors and then she was from new Delhi and I said "Oh my God, how do you say Butt in Hindi? And she said "Butt!" So that’s been the easiest to remember.
Bruce Hildebrand: One of my favorite questions to ask is what do you wish you knew at the start of your journey that would have made the biggest difference to someone who might be considering either starting Pilates or is facing some struggles maybe that you did along the way with your Pilates progress.
Siri Dharma Galliano: I would say be very clear with what your goals are- whether this is something that’s an art form to you, whether there’s just you work workout, whether you see it as career choice, And then be very clear what the investment is and what the return is. I see a lot of people making mistakes. So thing I would advise people today is " Why are you doing this?" If they say, look, I’m an accountant and I’m tired of numbers and I really want to work with people- then I would say " Are you married? Do you have a trust fund? Do you have other means? How much money do you need to make? I don’t think there’s enough discussion and people should know the economics I would say the biggest thing is in the economics and translating that into " Do you have to feed your kids or are you just, you know, well, it’s my passion and I want to save the world" and okay, how much money do you need to make? I don’t need to make money. Oh, I need to make money. Okay, then you need to do it like this. And I think those are difficult in these times because now we’re in the pandemic and everything will be a little bit different. So what would that look like?
The main thing I say now to most of my friends and to myself is what is your lane stay in your lane. Like you look at a swimmer, he’s just going in his lane. Doesn’t matter what anybody else is doing you know what? it’s not my problem I’m staying in my lane, they’re in their lane, I’m in my lane. That’s where I’m going. Maybe you’re splashing around or you’re treading water?
Bruce Hildebrand: Siri. Thanks so much for your time on the call today- it’s been wonderful chatting with you. Could you share with the listeners the best way to get in touch with you?
Siri Dharma Galliano: Yes, of course- on Facebook Messenger’s good. Siri D Galliano . By email SDGalliano@gmail.com is good. I’m on WhatsApp. It’s pretty easy to find me. I’m not all up into the webpage- I’ve gone off in a different direction now. But I’m still teaching and available for consulting. I love telling you where to put your equipment and what you should do and what you need and I find that the Australians are very kind people with a lot of the Physical Therapy approach management. And so my style is "Let’s erase the lines, but connect the dots."
Bruce Hildebrand: Thanks so much Siri!
Siri Dharma Galliano: Thank you for the attention. Ciao Ciao!
Bruce Hildebrand: We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Pilates Diaries Podcast. Drop us a comment online at the links in the show notes, and be sure to subscribe and rate the podcast to keep updated with episode releases and hear more stories from our guests’ Pilates Diaries. This podcast is made possible by the following sponsors- keep an ear out for exclusive Pilates Diaries Podcast listener discount codes. Thanks for listening. The Pilates Diaries Podcast is a proud partner with TRIMIO. Set to launch at the end of 2021 TRIMIO is a much needed space and time utilization booking system for the Pilates industry. With TRIMIO you can return your focus to delivering the highest value to your customers. No longer be lost to the encumbrances of inefficient interactions and experience a new level of working freedom with the power of technology automation doing what it should. Maximize your profitability by optimizing the utilization of your time and physical space with TRIMIO. Find out more and register for pre-release updates at www.TRIMIO.app.
The Pilates Diaries Podcast is a proud partner with Pilates Reformers Australia. The Australian distributor of the Align Pilates range of equipment, Pilates Reformers Australia aims to provide high quality cost-effective commercial standard apparatus for both studio and home use. Reach out to the family owned Australian company and see how Pilates Reformers Australia can help meet your Pilates needs. Visit PilatesReformersAustralia.com.au to see the full range. For Pilates Diaries Podcast listeners Pilates Reformers Australia is offering a 10% discount across all products when you spend $100 or more. Use special discount code PILATESDIARIES21 at checkout to receive this offer.
The Pilates Diaries Podcast is a proud partner with Whealthy-Life. Whealthy-Life is an Australian owned equipment supplier searching out the best products for Pilates enthusiasts. Stocking a wide range of straps, handles, balls, bench covers, pillowcases, pouches and other goodies, Whealthy-Life is a distributor for products such as Elements, Makarlu, and Venn Balls. For The Pilates Diaries Podcast listeners Whealthy-Life is offering a 10% discount across all products. Use the special discount code PILATESDIARIES at checkout to receive this offer. The link can be found in the show notes.
The Pilates Diaries Podcast is a proud partner with ToeSox Australia. The main stockist of the US-based brands ToeSox, Tavi Noir, and Base 33. ToeSox Australia provides a selection of active wear and non-slip grip socks for Pilates, Yoga, Barre and Dance for women, men, and children. Made from high quality, durable and sustainable organic cotton ToeSox, Tavi Noir and Base 33 meet all your fitness wear and accessory needs. Whether you’re looking for socks or apparel that looks amazing, offers crucial support when needed and uses the latest sport technology, the family owned Australian company ToeSox Australia and its products is the place for you. For Pilates Diaries Podcast listeners ToeSox Australia is offering a 15% discount across all products when you spend $49 or more. Use special discount code PILATESDIARIES21 at checkout to receive this offer.