Episode Show Notes
Welcome to the Pilates Diaries Podcast.
Our guest in this episode is Darren Vizer from Mr. Pilates in Melbourne
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.
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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.
Today’s guest is Darren Vizer from Mr. Pilates based in Melbourne, Victoria. Darren, welcome to the show.
Darren Vizer: Hello, Bruce.
Bruce Hildebrand: Darren, 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 with some little threads that might’ve led you to discover Pilates?
Darren Vizer: Like many Pilates teachers that I meet along the way, my background was dance, it was also gymnastics, and competing in the state Queensland team for tumbling, acrobatics and trampolining. Then I moved into dance and I became a dancer for 20, 25 years I remember way back in dance school one of our lecturers, Sharon Belgen taught us what I’m pretty confident was a form of Contrology, which we just did on the mat. it was a conditioning exercise system, which was very similar to what Pilates is. That was probably my first dipping my toes into the water way back at dance school. I didn’t see myself stepping into Pilates at that time until probably the middle part of my dance career or later when I stepped into Pilates with Megan Williams, the late Megan Williams.
Bruce Hildebrand: Take us back to that first conditioning type class that you referred to as Contrology- was there something about it that stood out for you? Did it peak your interest at the time or were you curious about how your body felt after doing that sort of work?
Darren Vizer: Sharon was teaching us this floor work and it was so hard- it was so challenging on the body and you just felt exhilarated after those classes. And I speak with confidence now- I was really good at it and I could do it really well. And Sharon said to me, you could be brilliant if you really want to. And I was like, what do you mean? I didn’t get it- I didn’t know what she was talking about was the powerhouse, where I was working for my powerhouse, but I had no idea what I was actually doing. And so the difference is between Sharon helping me discover the conditioning method, the system, Contrology at the time, I don’t think it was full Contrology, but it was definitely an adaptation of the Contrology- I think the difference, in hindsight, and I think dance teachers, Pilates teachers, movement teachers people can find their powerhouse and find their guts of the movement, of the dance, of the choreography, of the power, but people miss explaining it and it really shits me when that I go, oh yeah, that’s your powerhouse. And that’s your Centre! So explain it. What is it? Is it in the pelvis? Is it the muscles in the pelvis? Is it just the abs, is it the shoulder girdle? Is it from the perineum? That was probably a one thing where I think why don’t teachers just say it, how it is more now so that you get the information to the kid and go- " This is your powerhouse, this is what you do, this is how you connect it and this is where you can move and breathe with and from. Because then five or six years later, after coming back from studying at the Laban Center in London. I went back to Sharon and said Oh I’ve just discovered what my powerhouse is- I finally found my center and she’s like, well, you had it all along. I’m like, why didn’t you say anything!
Bruce Hildebrand: So with that wonderful hindsight and your years and years of experience Darren, how do you simply put it these days that it cuts through and has people get it right away?
Darren Vizer: I’m not afraid to talk about the pelvic floor and what that means- all those muscles around the coccyx and pubic symphysis and perineal muscles, I just explain what it is! Sometimes you just have to go there for people to really get it. Bearing in mind, obviously you’ve got to try and do it with decorum, and depending who you’re working with, because some people can misinterpret it- but if you don’t put anything on it, you just say it how it is, and then people get it- there’s no emotion, there’s nothing on it- it’s not sexual- you just say it where the base of the pelvic floor is. And then we start including the lower abdominals and bring all the rest of the whole classical trunk into it.
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s great to hear you speak about it so succinctly having done a handful of your classes I know that it’s very clear the way that you described that. Following on from this early experience in a dance class with one of your earliest teachers, Darren, it eventually led you to the experience of Pilates. Can you tell me a story of when you first arrived at Pilates and what stage that was in comparison to the first conditioning class that you attended at dance?
Darren Vizer: I stepped into Pilates in Double Bay in Sydney with the darling darling late Megan Williams. I turned up there when I was dancing in between jobs and had some lessons with her. I had that feeling which most people get the first time when they do it right where you just come out of that class and you’ve squeezed all those muscles and activated all of the powerhouse and the breath and the movement and you have this endorphin rush- that high, it’s almost like you come off a performance. I experience that when I’m working with my top level teachers that really they know how to take that body to the edge and it was like I had a complete DNA rewire from those lessons with Megan and I just remember them so vividly how much it changed me and my physicality and my mental state all of those glorious things that you get when you’re integrating the Pilates system and the principles and your having that heightened experience. Megan was, she imprinted on me quite a lot. Bless her.
Bruce Hildebrand: Tell me more about some of the other people in the class and the perceptions of other people in your life when you told them that you’d begun Pilates- what were some of their responses and some of your earliest progress in Pilates.
Darren Vizer: The classes with Megan, I was lucky no one really knew what it was in Sydney at the time that was in 19 94 95. It hadn’t hit the mainstream like it did in 2000 or whenever it was. I was on my own a lot and then after that I went to a couple of other teachers in Sydney and also when I toured to Melbourne. When you have the experience of working with someone well trained and they know the system they’re working with- whether it’s the Contemporary or Classical model. You can’t compare it you had a certain bar with Meagan these other teachers they weren’t teaching what I was taught at that place- it was no comparison. It wasn’t until much later I started training in Double Bay with Helen Tardent and I did learn so much from her – she was a wonderful teacher and she left a big impression on me and I was very grateful for that. That’s where I first stepped into mixing with other students- there were a lot of other students learning the Contemporary method. At that time I did my studio certification because in those days you didn’t have a Cert IV or a Diploma, Advanced Diploma – you go into a studio and you just do it- which is still around these days and a lot of the classical models in the training grounds. So that was a great experience building up a community. I didn’t realize at the time I was learning Contemporary. Towards the end of my training. I started to step into some Classical classes with Cynthia and had several lessons with her in Surry Hills and I went " hang on, this is different again!" That’s when I really started to understand it’s all leading to the one place, in my opinion, because it’s movement in the end and some people just start differently and obviously Cynthia teacher as one of the ways which was closest to Joseph, which there are several different forms of classical as well whoever was taught by which elder and how it was handed down – it still has its different inflections.
Bruce Hildebrand: We’re talking of Cynthia Lochard based in Sydney Cynthia trained with Romana Kryzanowska from New York originally from there herself trained with Romana for many years and has been a long-term teacher in Sydney. It’s really interesting to hear your long-term perspective and participation in Pilates over the years to get a good sense of the landscape of Pilates in Australia, Darren.
Darren Vizer: And look we were doing it at dance school the rehab stuff anyway- the Clinical- we were doing it as dancers. Sometimes if I want to describe Pilates, which this may seemed frowned upon but I do sometimes I just feel like Pilates, depending on which part of system you’re teaching, I do feel like Pilates is broken down ballet with some of the exercises that we describe to people when we’re using the arms and the movement from the powerhouse and the leg and foot work on the Reformer and all the folding that you do on the Caddy- it’s so close to the classical ballet as a technique, So we were doing it in ballet almost. I have heard what’s his name who used to dance with Martha Graham? the Pilates teacher who’s died a couple of years ago.
Bruce Hildebrand: Julian Littleford.
Darren Vizer: Yes! I remember him saying it was really Martha Graham before Joseph that created this powerhouse stuff, but I’ll get into trouble saying that. I did a lot of Martha Graham at university and when I do the contraction of the pelvis and the pelvic floor, it’s so similar- it’s like the Martha Graham technique as a dance technique on its own there’s such similarities that you could almost say they were same, same!
Bruce Hildebrand: I was fortunate to work with a professional actor many years ago here in Melbourne and he had an opportunity as a keen mover to work a season with Anouk van Dijk with Chunky Move it was called Complexity of Belonging. There were four dancers and four actors and Anouk amalgamated their collective skill sets to strengthen each other’s performances. The performance was remarkable! It was interesting to observe the four dancers and observe the four actors crossing genres, as they were asked to do in this season was a really interesting take that Anouk had created. My client had been fortunate to have some extensive time with Anouk one-on-one to learn Anouk’s creation called the Counter-technique. He would say as he would come along and have Pilates with me on a weekly basis, that it was very interesting to see what similarities there were in what I was teaching him with Pilates and what Anouk was teaching him in preparation for performance in a dance setting, even though he was coming from an acting experience.
Can you tell me at this point, Darren what you first started to notice when Pilates were starting to have an impact on your life?
Darren Vizer: Probably after I’d finished my studio certification with Helen Tardent and then I did the bridging course which Sally Anderson created. It wasn’t really until then I was discovering many teachers teaching it and then it becoming a recognized accredited training through the government in Australia. I thought that I need to go and start learning off different people. How Sally put it together is very BASI influenced, which is great.
Bruce Hildebrand: That’s Body Arts and Science by Rael Isacowitz?
Darren Vizer: Yes, correct- her work’s hugely influenced by BASI and one of her faculty members said it at the time, her interpretation of it was she said to me this BASI influence, it’s like the closest modification to the Classical method – because Classical is such a wonderfully challenging system on its own that the modifications of it makes it more accessible to the person down the road who is a non mover, a non dancer it’s Mick your neighbor who’s 50, 60 works as a trade and has a disc bulge it is more accessible for him to do this type of system. That’s probably a controversial saying that but it rings true to me that having learnt through Pilates International that I did find it was the closest to the original method, which is more accessible because of the modifications that BASI has in there. But I’ve always returned to classical as well, because I love what it does to my body. Being down in Melbourne, I’ve spent many a session with Marda Wiley and I’ve learnt so much from the way she approaches the Romana system handed down with Marda’s twist as well.
Bruce Hildebrand: I first heard of Marda myself in about 1995- one of my sports science lecturers registered my interest in Pilates and he’d had some crossover with Marda and said the best avenue to pursue is with Marda- so that’s an early name for me on the radar as well.
Darren Vizer: I really love Marda and so much enjoyed learning from her and what’s been handed down to her- I have a lot of respect.
Bruce Hildebrand: Darren tell me more about the parts of the experience at this point in your Pilates progress, as we make our way through your timeline that you didn’t like, or you didn’t really want to accept, and perhaps even the parts of Pilates that you found most challenging in your pursuit of wanting to improve at it.
Darren Vizer: It was funny- because I was looking for a career change, being a dancer and one of my friends said to me, why don’t you go and do a module and do a little section of part of the mat work and see if you like Pilates. So I did it and I remember being, like, this is so boring. I don’t know if I could do this. Is this what it is? Because it wasn’t the same experience that I had with Megan Williams first off. I was a high mover- I was a competitive gymnast and trampolinist and professional dancer- I needed to get my teeth into it! Then once it got going, I was like, oh, okay, I get it now, it’s just the basic stuff and I just have to be patient. And then as you went through the modules that got a bit more challenging, but thank God I stuck with it because I was literally not going to continue.
Bruce Hildebrand: That’s not an uncommon experience at the start of Pilates. I flag it those days with my clients- I say it’s going to take about six sessions for you to even think beyond that I’m just talking a different dialect of Kazakhstani to you at the moment.
Darren Vizer: Yeah, what gets up my goat is when I hear these people going, oh, I did Pilates and I didn’t like it- it wasn’t very hard! When I hear that I just think, like you said, I say, give it a couple of weeks. but come twice a week, at least, and then make a decision. otherwise it might be boring.
Bruce Hildebrand: And Darren, you’ve mentioned the handful of your mentors and teachers already, but I’m curious what other people you met along the way that helped to shape your Pilates experience?
Darren Vizer: Yeah, Megan Williams, Helen Tardent, Sally Anderson’s crew, Marda Wiley amazing. Also trying to work with boys- it wasn’t until I remember having a wonderful lesson with Zac- who was with Queensland ballet, and then he was with Expressions. I worked with Paul Cini- I had a wonderful experience with Paul Cini- like what a beautiful teacher, someone could go in there and you could say a classically trained person would go and go this isn’t Pilates- this is not what it is. But when you go in there and I had those lessons with Paul I mean, what a beautiful way to move, what a wonderful approach to a movement philosophy and a system, and then, I remember Sonia Crisafulli she was trained by him originally, and I can see how she was influenced by him and the way they approach the fluidity of the movement and the flow and the breath. That was really interesting for me. And him being a man and Zac as well- he’s a wonderful mover and dancer.
Also Jennifer Newman-Preston- what a wonderful human being- what a gem, a beautiful soul such an exquisite teacher- she’s very strong and stern and she holds the space, but she’s funny too, under that, loved having lessons with Jennifer over the years- and I learned a lot about, connecting it all together- connecting the, pelvis to the shoulder, girdle to the feet, to the arms, and it wasn’t until recently Carla Mullins put it into wonderful language- she described the distal part, the limbs and the feet and the periphery, and Jennifer talks about that as well- we’re not just moving from the powerhouse there’s all this periphery and it comes back to when I did my master’s degree in choreography – you’re so hyper aware of your body and your breath and your periphery and your guts you’re not just connected inside with the bones and the muscles, but you’re connected to all of your external environments.
Bruce Hildebrand: Darren, can you reflect on the time, was there a specific moment when you knew you were starting to get hooked on Pilates- the way it was speaking to you, the way you were sensing your body- what was it that was the threshold for that.
Darren Vizer: When I started to make my own money, I was like, hang on, here’s a system that I can teach to everybody which is accessible and I can have a lifestyle. So I really appreciated that when I discovered that I could teach a system like Pilates- whether it be Clinical influenced, Contemporary, Classical. So that was a lot of fun discovering that I could integrate some type of financial stability doing something that I like outside of the jobs that you did in between being an artist and a dancer which I was for so long. And I really appreciated accepting that I could approach it however I wanted to approach it, whether it be from a movement perspective or a Pilates perspective, and I could teach it to people.
Bruce Hildebrand: An interesting turning point for you in the journey.
Darren Vizer: And that was after I finished training with Helen because I had a dance school at the time and I was teaching these six year old, eight year old kids in the studio and I was pulling my hair out. I had all these kids wanting to jump and scream around the studio and I stood there looking at these kids having the wildest time of their life and I was like this is not my future because I’m more of a creator of choreography and that’s when I was like, okay I’m going to learn the Pilates system.
Bruce Hildebrand: Can you tell us about some of the challenges you had at this stage in your Pilates progress? Was there any factors that had you either fall more deeply in love with Pilates or was there some elements of bodies that you were finding were rubbing you up the wrong way maybe some issues or some hidden conversations in the studios that you’re attending at the time or the industry at large that you didn’t feel aligned with and even some of the people that you were drawn to or some others that turned you off?
Darren Vizer: I think this probably originally comes from America maybe and I may step on some toes here, but just the whole Classical Contemporary divide, I think there is a sense of that, I was very aware of that early on. And I was like I’m not going to step into that. We’re just working with bodies, we are teaching movement and they all serve a purpose, I think being aware of that- Yes! The bottom line is of course the Classical Method is the closest system to the way Joseph taught that, of course that’s unrelentingly you cannot say it any other way! But outside of that the Contemporary influence and the way it was modified I think it’s a beautiful way of allowing people to access that like I said before- non movers. I think probably being aware of the landscape of the industry. And then you’re also talking about the way a lot of the Physios approach the movement, the clinical, the rehab, and there’s a whole thing in the industry about Physiotherapists teaching Pilates, then people saying it’s not Pilates and all that type of argument. But they’re doing their job too! This is a generalization but rings true for a lot of Physios, because I have done quite a bit of Physio rehab work as well, that they serve their purpose- they’re working with bodies as well. They are doing what they need to do with the body at the time. So let them do what they’re doing. This is what they’ve been taught! As long as they’re doing it well looking after the body and handling it well. So I think you have to respect all people. One of Sally Anderson’s faculty members at the time said to me, and it always stuck in my mind, and I use it- everyone has something to offer. I could go into a class or one of those studios where there’s 10 reformers or even 20 and spend time with a teacher who’s done a very tiny bit of training, whether it be six weeks and she’s now a Reformer teacher and he, or she, they might say one thing to me in that class, a cue, which I could take away go, oh, hang on I’ve just learnt from something this person said or did So it goes from that level of everyone has something to offer to those highly trained, comprehensive instructors who’ve spent time doing the classical system or doing their Diploma, Advanced Diploma, someone who’s really spent time in the studio working with an elder or has spent time really unpacking it all. My viewpoint is that everyone, if you’re open, can bring something into the space and this comes back to not just teaching Pilates, but being a dance teacher, gymnastic coach, trampoline teacher as well and being a director myself which is my passions outside of this.
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s a beautiful way to put it I think. And that leads me into asking Darren, it’s often at this stage that you’ve been in the game long enough to be getting a really good feel for what Pilates entails and particularly with your heavy involvement with what the Pilates industry at large entails. I presume you’re getting a really good sense that the point in time where you’d perhaps even have to turn a little bit more inwardly and face up to a range of factors that would shape your involvement with Pilates moving forward. For example, the process of determining if you’re going to make it more of what you do, or if you feel like it’s not really going to be for you moving forward, I’m assuming that because of where you are now, you decided to move forward- obviously. can you tell me about what that turning point was for you that made you go " This is what I want to move forward with."
Darren Vizer: I think setting up my Pilates brand "Mr. Pilates" I created that and started developing that in Sydney, just after working with Helen and then I moved away from running my own studio. I had started the studio in Double Bay. I realized I was missing my creativity and I got back into creating and performing working as an acrobat and dancer with Legs On The Wall and Opera Australia. Then knowing that what was missing because I started to hate Pilates as well for awhile but I realized I needed a balance, I needed to dip my toes in creative storytelling and also the love and the excitement teaching Pilates brings to my life. It wasn’t until I went on my own again 10, 12 years ago when I started, Mr. Pilates again in Melbourne and set up my own studio and eventually ended up in Port Melbourne I created my own space where I could have my equipment. I was in control of who came into my space- it was about actually having the confidence to say, and it wasn’t until I started to understand my worth, who was privileged enough to work with me and who deserved to have my time. And I’m not trying to say this from a sense of arrogance because where this is coming from is just owning it and believing in yourself that you have something to offer and you have something to pass on because my Pilates is heavily influenced by my method acting, training, my dance training, my gymnastic training, my horse riding, because I was an equestrian show jumping rider as well growing up. My movement and Pilates practice is heavily influenced by Feldenkrais as well and I’m always using my method acting training on my clients and people said to me, oh my gosh, you’re such a good teacher and you’re so good I’m like, it’s more about getting the body and the person to take on the information at the time, because you might be able to say something to someone and they don’t get it, because they’re not listening or they’re not feeling or understanding what you’re saying. And so you have to get the person at that time who might come into the studio exhilarated having such a wonderful day but they might come in the next day feeling shitty because they had a rough time at work or their partner, relationship or whatever, or they’re feeling vulnerable. So it was about approaching the body and the person at an emotional state at that time to take on that bit of information, to get them to move in a way that you need I think that’s what can set a person apart or a teacher apart because they’re approaching a body and a person in a mental state at that time who’s in that state for a specific reason to get them to understand what it is you’re trying to do to help them at that point in time.
Bruce Hildebrand: It sounds like quite a discovery at that point, when you saw the value and the worth that you were bringing to your clients, and the opportunity to share that fundamentally for the client’s benefit and share your expertise to bring all those skills together.
Darren Vizer: Yeah well, I think, as teachers and human beings that pass on information, I’ve also been lucky enough to be affiliated with Katrina Edwards and her school and have some of her students. What I try to pass on to the students that are coming through, who are training to be Pilates teachers is to instill the belief and the confidence that what they are learning is really solid so then you can go into a class and teach, one person or three or four people in a room or however many, and have confidence in what you’re passing on is of value. Because if you’re not going into class with any self value or self-worth, you’re also going to get walked over because you might have a person coming into your class who’s a tough nut and they might just walk all over you. And if you can’t control the body, if you can’t build up a certain amount of trust in the person and that they can’t trust you then can get real ugly and be detrimental to you as the teacher and you can come away feeling pretty crappy as well. Hence, going back to when I understood my value and worth as a teacher, as a person who passes on information to other people,
Bruce Hildebrand: There’s a lot of experience speaking just then- I see it as quite a evolution for yourself as a person and seeing how that needed to come together for yourself in this amazing Pilates teaching field . I think it’s easy to overlook the number of things that you need to bring to the setting that makes an effective class come about because of your expertise.
Darren Vizer: Yeah, it’s nice to pull it all together also I really try not to come from the ego. I really try to come from the heart and create a safe space for the person coming into the room- hence coming back to setting up my own spaces and having my studio in Melbourne if I can create that safe space with my heart and that person can trust me, then they’re going to we both are going to go on a journey together and they’re going to get as much out of it as I am but if I’ve got somebody coming in who is not open and I’m not open, then it can be a recipe for disaster.
Bruce Hildebrand: At that point in time, can you share with us the sense that you had when you made those discoveries for yourself- were you relieved that you came to this point in time was it calmness or peace or excitement or even overwhelmed because of what you knew lay ahead and where you were heading with it?
Darren Vizer: Look, it was a sense of relief! It’s almost like a coming out again. If I step back into me growing up as a kid and I’ll step back into my vulnerability of being a homosexual man and trying to grow and discover who I was in the eighties- seventies born- and when we couldn’t get married- it was just an horrendous time to be a homosexual growing up. There’s so much suppression and bullying and it was just awful! To trying to discover your self worth as a human being and knowing you’d go to dance class and you’d have this wonderful teacher encouraging you saying what a beautiful mover that you are, and you have all this encouragement around you, but then you have also society kicking you in the teeth saying you can’t be gay because it’s just bad to then like growing up and then going, let’s say for example, on a Pilates journey and then discovering the value that you have as a human being- as a person- and then layering that with somebody who’s a movement teacher, and then you’re passing that on to somebody else who is a non mover! I love teaching newbies, particularly if they’ve never been influenced by anyone before , and that ties into teaching somebody with my heart and having emotional intelligence as well, because I was just a strong believer that you need to have the person and the body open- the muscles need to be open, the bones need to be open all the tissue needs to be open and contracted and controlled at the same time depending on what you’re doing. If the person’s soul and mind and emotions are not open in my opinion, it’s going to be stiff and jolted and fractured and if someone’s emotion is fractured at the time- we all have bad days, we just do bad weeks, it’s normal, you have to do what you need to do to go through it. The point I’m trying to make is when you’re coming together with the body and the mind and the soul and the heart, and you’re moving with the Pilates system and the principals describe it very well to me it integrates the human beings’ body, mind and spirit all together. When you connect it all and you come from a place of non fractured, when I had those discoveries working with some wonderful teachers, it’s just gold!
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s so beautiful to hear you articulate that in such a unique and beautiful way Darren, thanks. It’s an exciting time, I think for you in making these discoveries- what’s been the path for you Since this time? Even to backtrack a little and look at the time between when you parked Mr. Pilates in Sydney and then rekindled it in Melbourne- there was some time back in theater at that point, is that right? And what’s been the path for you ‘ Pilates wise’ since then?
Darren Vizer: Yeah it wasn’t until I realized that I needed to storytell, I needed to write and I needed to choreograph. I developed my own theater company called Devize Co, where the work is all devised and we storytell with texts and lived experiences of people. We develop scripts and with the script work and the characterization and all that acting stuff that I’ve been taught it wasn’t until I realized that I needed to create theater after stepping away from it for Pilates for about five, six years, that I was able to find a balance. I became a much stronger artist and a much stronger teacher because for me I was creating and that was important for me to have that avenue to create. There’s nothing more exciting than having a room full of people sit in a theater watching a show and listening to a story, watching movements that you created from an ideation in your head. It is the most rewarding thing for me that I’ve done in my life having somebody sit in a theater and watch what I’ve created with an ensemble of people- because the work that I do is devised. And to some extent when I’m working with clients in the Pilates studio, of course I’ve got a system and a structured programming that I work from, but as I go along I’m also devising with the body- devising and creating what that person needs at the time. I’m heavily influenced by how the body is presenting to me at the time. What I try to do with my clients is to move from an emotional space and physical space so they’ll come into the Pilates studio and be shifted physically and emotionally, or get them thinking in a different way. Same with my theater company- if the viewer can go on a journey and I’ve shifted them emotionally or physically, and I have awoken something in them, then my job’s done.
Bruce Hildebrand: It takes me back to how you described your first experience having class with Megan Williams up in Sydney.
Darren Vizer: Yeah, absolutely- I mean, when I walked out of there. I felt like this snake one of those cobras that had this powerful spit their venom! I was so shifted- all of my systems were awoken, my glands were firing, I felt all the right peptides had been fired up, felt so powerful that I could just
Bruce Hildebrand: I recount some of the earliest classes of classic Pilates myself when I visited the US back in 2003- I remember never having felt so exhausted after a workout, but in the same breath felt so invigorated and so alive and so spontaneous and ready, it was amazing what it really taps into in your whole being.
Darren Vizer: Yeah, in a Pilates class, we spend so much time activating the powerhouse, which activates all the organs and the intestines and the gases, and gets everything moving and flushing everything out that it gets the whole body working in a really correct aligned way, with all of the systems we have in the body.
Bruce Hildebrand: And it lends itself to the title of Joseph Pilates’ original book called Your Health- it’s beyond just a fitness regime, to call Pilates ‘Fitness Pilates’. It’s got connotations, perhaps that it’s just limited to only your muscles versus this whole body experience that you’re talking about.
Darren Vizer: Oh yeah, I think it’s much bigger, yes there’s ‘Fitness Pilates’, it can be just about fitness and for some clients, Yes!- I just approach it about them getting fit because that’s what they’re coming for and that’s okay- you take that approach- but if, if someone’s coming in for more mindful physical connection then that’s the road I take with that person at that point in time.
Bruce Hildebrand: And that leads me into my next question what are some of the changes in your body and in your mind, and even in your spirit, as Joseph Pilates liked to put it that are now second nature to Darren, that you’ve even managed to carry over into your daily life as well that you couldn’t have even imagined either before you ever started Pilates or couldn’t imagine when you were perhaps struggling or wrestling with a few things that we talked about earlier.
Darren Vizer: I think physically, if we’re going to talk about the pure physicality I have a strong lordosis in my lower back and for me that’s changed my body so much just being so aware of the position of the pelvis and the position of the spine, where it needs to be for me and if I’m sitting for long periods of time or I’m doing my zoom classes and I’m not participating I go into my lumbar lordosis and I start to- like anyone- develop those muscle posture patterns that come back in. I really love for me on my body that Pilates has helped me work on that lordosis. It’s not a major injury, but it’s a posture thing so I really love what it does to my body. What I will say and it comes back to fitness because I come from a big movement background that when I really understood the Pilates system and understood the layers of Clinical, Contemporary, Classical where I understood Pilates’ approach and I became confident in doing them their way that it would give me a sense of confidence, and so when you’re combining all the principles of Pilates- whichever system you’re working in, and you’re moving with confidence, you’re moving with the breath, you’re moving with the mind and you come out of a session and you feel exhilarated, and confident- then I feel like me wrestling with a dark past of intense bullying that I feel I’m able to just live and cope better! I’m not just talking about my past, but talking about being in lockdown, working with COVID or you walk down the street and come across someone who’s having a hard time, or I was chatting to some of my clients on zoom and they’re having a hard time- which is, we all go through a hard time- but I can wrestle those things easier because I’m physically strong, my bones are aligned, I’m feeling in sync with my heart and my soul, and I can not be hard hit by lockdown. I think the third or fourth lockdown was the one that hit me the hardest. I mean, I go through my moments too. I did a class today because I’ve got some of my equipment at home now I just did a class I worked out with my client, and I just felt like I’m actually quite happy- it was just something I needed to do, need to do a good little class, get into my body and I’m okay. I think that also comes with growing up- I’m almost 50 now!
Bruce Hildebrand: Darren, as we come to a close, can you expand on where you sit now with your Pilates and what the future holds for you? What have you got in the store with your Pilates involvement? I’m also interested to hear any recommendations or if you knew what you know now, what would you be sharing as advice if you’re knew that at the start of the journey- what would you be recommending to those who are perhaps starting out or facing a few struggles with their own Pilates?
Darren Vizer: My advice is the same spiel for people who want to learn Pilates as teachers and study it or clients you want to do it, they’ve never done before. I simply say to them it needs to be easy for you! Go down to the closest person who’s near your area and start there. Give them a try, see if it works for you and if it doesn’t work, then try somebody else and keep going until you find the right person and right teacher that you connect with. If you click with a Physiotherapist, who’s doing clinical rehab- great- then, follow that for a while because eventually if you’re open, you’re go on different journeys, go and learn the classical with someone but be opened to finding the right person. I know many people who just really like doing real ‘rehabby’ type of movements, just really soft, easy, stretchy- being a dancer. I do a lot of stretching in my class. I had a client that came to the day and she just needed to open up her fascia so we spent a whole time stretching the body- it was almost similar to doing a yoga class but not really, and I did it with her and I felt amazing. And yet the next time that person or my next client wanted a hard workout- we just did a hard workout. Just be open to trying different things and if you don’t like that person then that’s okay, move on- stop going there- go somewhere else, take responsibility for the money you’re spending or your time and go and find the right person that you connect with.
Bruce Hildebrand: What does the future hold for you with Pilates? You see yourself blending your theater work with your Pilates teaching or is Pilates the main thing for you just now, and particularly where Mr. Pilates was heading.
Darren Vizer: At the moment we’re having a hiatus. I have a wonderful client base in Port Melbourne, South Melbourne. Recently I’ve bought a lovely big house out at Werribee so I’ve decided to start building a home studio here because I love my hometime now. If that’s one thing COVID has taught me that I love having my own time and being nurtured in my home. Developing a little home studio with a handful of clients in my area- I’m going to enjoy that because- I had a home studio in Double Bay and I had a home studio in St. Kilda, and it developed into having a commercial space- I do feel like that’s the right avenue as well, so I’m also going to be traveling into a Port Melbourne and South Melbourne and teaching my clients there.
Bruce Hildebrand: Darren, thanks so much for your time on the call today- it’s been an absolute pleasure chatting with you. Can you share with us the best way for listeners to get in touch with you at Mr. Pilates?
Darren Vizer: Reach out to me at MrPilates.com.au, search for me on Instagram, Darren Vizer you can add me as a Facebook friend.
Bruce Hildebrand: Thanks Darren. Really appreciate your time, we’ll see you next time on the podcast.
Darren Vizer: Thank you.
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.
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