Episode Show Notes
Welcome to the Pilates Diaries Podcast.
Our guest on this episode is Sarah Callaham. Sarah is the owner of The Body Method studios on the Gold Coast in Queensland arriving there after her early journeys across North America and the stint in Hawaii. Along with Pilates, Sarah is also an experienced instructor of yoga and Stand Up Paddle Boarding and brings a range of life experiences into her teaching.
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.
Our guest on this episode is Sarah Callaham. Sarah is the owner of The Body Method studios on the Gold Coast in Queensland arriving there after her early journeys across North America and the stint in Hawaii. Along with Pilates, Sarah is also an experienced instructor of yoga and Stand Up Paddle Boarding and brings a range of life experiences into her teaching, which I can’t wait to chat through today. Sarah, welcome to the show.
Sarah Callaham: Thanks for having me.
Bruce Hildebrand: Awesome to have you on. Sarah, 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 were some of the little threads that might’ve led you to discover Pilates?
Sarah Callaham: I didn’t even really know about Pilates until it came to a pretty serious injury that I had. So life prior to Pilates was blissfully ignorant- I didn’t know it existed, I didn’t know it could be a possibility- I was just being a student in college, nothing too earth shattering what’s happening in my world but I had been dealing with pain for a long time as an athlete. I had blown- okay, when I say blown, there’s no scans that have shown that pieces have fallen apart, but in terms of functionality they were done! Shoulders were gone, I had a pretty serious head injury from skiing as well. I started running with no core training, and that was okay, my knees bugged me, but it was just like, eh, whatever, you’re 18, you don’t really think about it. When I got into college, I was racing for the team just those club teams and the pain, kept getting worse and it was like, man, okay, what is going on? nothing was working. I went to the athletic trainer at the college and they’re like, you’ve got this pretty classic syndrome, it’s not really that big of a deal, we’ll just strengthen up and you’ll be fine. So I would work out two hours a day, every day and nothing was really changing. So we did all this strengthening stuff. She was like, oh, that’s weird- I don’t really know why this isn’t working!? And then she would just shred my piriformis and my IT Band. And she’s was like maybe it’s just too tight. So then she was like, what if we try cortisone shots? I’m like anything at this point sounds better than nothing. They didn’t work- nothing really worked there. And she’s was like “How about the light therapy?” I was like, okay. I don’t know what light therapy is, but let’s give it a go. We’re trying acupuncture, we’re doing chiropractic at that point- I’m like, okay, we just need to tape your knees. I’m like, go for it. What about these orthotics? Literally we did everything! Nothing is working to the point where you’re like, okay, it’s been two years and this is still going on. There’s something wrong? So at that point the poor lady she gave up! And she’s like we’ve got this specialist at the university, he deals with knees- he deals with this problem- why don’t you go and see him? At that point I’d been training every day, two hours a day- I was super strong in my core. Or I was super strong, quote unquote in my core. So we all thought! So he has all the x-rays, he’s looking at things and I’m like my knees just hurt. I’m 21, give me something!
Okay, you need to wear these braces on your knees, never take them off unless you’re sleeping and don’t do any exercise- nothing! I was like, okay, you’re the expert- I’ll do whatever you say. So we do that for two months and he says, Okay, how do you feel, Sarah? And I was like ” Exactly the same, but a little bit pudgier!” And he’s oh really? no change in the knees, but I’m like, you really think that was going to work, and he’s like, oh well, you know, you just need to go get really strong in your core. And I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me- you just asked me to do nothing for two months, and now you want me to yeah. I just think you’re really weak. I was like, Yes! because I did nothing for the last two months! He’s like, okay, well just go to Pilates or something. And I’m like Pilates- honestly, with my track record, I have tried everything- just add it to the list. I didn’t really know anything about Pilates, I didn’t know where to start- and I’m telling my dad- my dad’s a doctor in The States and he’s very Western medicine- there’s no alternative options ever- like his alternative option is oh, you should get a cortisone shot.
So he’s oh well, you know, our friend, the kids went to school with me- their mum’s a Pilates instructor- you should call her and figure out where to go. So he sets up this appointment and I walk in there mind you all I’ve heard about Pilates is the word Pilates and supposedly there’s a core connection. That’s literally all I know. So I roll up, walk in the studio and I’m like, whoa, what’s that thing this can’t be Pilates that’s just a bed, and it looks kind of freaky. So I opened the door- nobody’s in there, the room is painted weird colors and it’s dark and I have entered the space, but I have one hand on the door. I’m looking around. I’m like, this place is super weird. The lady walks out from the back, she’s got this long, flowing black hair. She literally looks like she’s walking on clouds and she’s like, oh, you must be Sarah. So it was not like, oh my gosh, I’m so excited about Pilates, this is going to be great. I can’t wait to do all these things. It was like, I’m totally freaked out. I don’t know what we’re doing.
I came in as an athlete, so the first session I came in feeling really confident in my body thinking I was strong, like, I’ll just do what you ask me to do in Pilates, that’s fine. I’m sure I can accomplish all of the things with flying colors- I do everything the best as possible. pretty much that’s my attitude. And she’s like, oh, so you don’t know how to walk? And I’m like no, I got that part. Like we can walk- it might not be pain-free, but I’m good! Don’t tell me I cannot walk. And she’s like “No, we’re going to have to work on that.” I honestly don’t even remember what she did, but I remember doing these exercises and these certain things where I was like, this is super weird, but ridiculously hard! What are we doing? And she’s like Okay, can you externally rotate your leg for me? And I’m like, oh, that is externally rotated. there is no more movement. She’s oh, we have some things to work on then don’t we! And I’m just like what’s happening? And that was the hour! It was the hour of what just happened? What’s going on? I clearly don’t know how to do anything anymore and I’m totally worthless at life, which can either leave my personality two options. One is screw this- I’m never coming back that’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life; or Two of I will prove you wrong and I will be the best at it of all times I took the second option! So I was talking to this lady because I was actually going back to school in San Diego. She’s like, my best friend lives there and she’s a Pilates instructor and she’s amazing. So I meet up with this lady and she is awesome. At that point I’m like, okay, I found my person, you make sense? she’s super detailed, she had all the little things dialed in and we started working regularly for the next. four weeks where we did twice a week, privates nitty-gritty figure all of the things out, as any normal new client comes into things. Of course I’m like mind blowing the whole time! I’m just like what do you mean there’s this thing called a pelvic floor and a transverse process and I can connect these things?! I’m sure it wasn’t actually said that way, but that’s the way it worked in my brain. And with all the little details and exercises, and I was super diligent I did them all! And within a month. I could walk across the floor without pain for the first time in four years. And so I’m like, okay, there’s something here- this will need to continue for a while. I don’t see life without Pilates happening anytime soon. So I started doing classes with her and then I tried to find how can I seek this out? And then I graduated the next year- at the time when the financial crisis hit in 2008, which is really an unfortunate time because there’s no jobs and I was going into non-profit – my whole academic background and passion was humans rights, women’s rights. I had planned to be working at the UN- working in refugee camps, doing conflict negotiation then the GFC hit. And I was like, okay, pause on saving the world because no one’s going to pay you to do that. And you can’t live off of nothing.
So I was really excited about the 40 hour week unpaid internship I got, but as I started working at this place, I started looking at how my bosses and the amount of hustle just trying to make it I was like we’re going to need a second job, I better have another source of income.
So I’m like, okay, well Pilates could be cool. Like If I get paid to do it, that would be a lot cheaper than having to pay to do it because that is expensive- and I looked at them as very separate. It was like, here’s my Pilates world over here and then here’s my human rights “save the world” over here. And they will never cross, they’ll be no options of mixing. So I start looking at the process and looking at the programs, I started taking a few more privates and just starting to learn a bit more of the classical work so I did my prep work and then I found the school that I wanted to go to in Colorado. Now, I don’t know if you are familiar with the Colorado Pilates world, but there’s the Oxford of Pilates, which is The Pilates Center run by the Pilates gods. And then there’s Pilates of Boulder, which is where I went. Let’s just say, it’s not the Oxford, but it’s epic! What was cool was the way that they laid it out. I was like, oh, that actually sounds probably better in terms of my learning style.
So I went straight there and went full bore- Pilates, here we come. My teacher, Richard Rossiter, he’s amazing- when it came to his knowledge about what the actual work was, it was spot on. A bit militant, but spot on. So yeah that’s where I got to- and then the path just kept un-winding.
Bruce Hildebrand: Amazing to hear the depth of that story. Tell us about the athletic pursuits that you had taken up you were skiing, you were running, you were swimming? What other things had culminated in you arriving to this discovery that you knew your body very well in many ways, but Pilates opened a whole new world for you, a new layer.
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, I was one of those kids who had the Olympic rings painted on my wall. I was like, I’m going to be an Olympic swimmer. Although my shoulders aren’t working and you’re actually not even pulling with your arms because they’re so in pain! I couldn’t pick the cereal boxes up off the shelf, when I started learning how to drive, I could not hold the steering wheel from the top, I had to hold it from the bottom! These things where you’re like, wow, your body and your brain are not connecting at all. Talk about the antithesis of Pilates! Looking back, it’s like, okay, well when one thing blows, oh, let’s just shift to the next- never actually dealing with the problem, which again, the antithesis of Pilates! And then I was like, oh, I need to be stronger in skiing, so I got to run with no alignment and no thought process of how muscles connect. I had no concept. I moved well, but I did not understand how or why I was moving- so it was inevitable that I was going to break! There was no way that I could have continued going, regardless of what other sports I decided to take up- I was literally just going to snap in half!
Bruce Hildebrand: So the four years of pain that you talked about was really a culmination of many years of backing yourself into a corner of essentially needing to find some solution and Pilates turned out to be it?
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, pretty much! Give me something because I’ve literally been in pain for four years from swimming and then another four years from skiing.
Bruce Hildebrand: Amazing to, live through that and to have no doubt, such empathy that you pay forward now to many of your clients and share that experience with them?.
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, that’s probably the one thing that I’m most grateful for. I look at a lot of my injuries, whether they’re acute injuries that happen now or it’s something that’s old that showing up. I didn’t come into Pilates because I wanted to have a six pack, or I wanted to look a certain way. It was purely because I was so dysfunctional and in so much pain that you’re at the end of your rope, and I feel like a lot of times we get clients like that, nothing else is working, they’ve been trying with other things and they finally hear “oh, Pilates could help with that.” You start grasping at straws and I get that mentality on every level, which I think is important because it’s not just an injury that’s physical- most injuries are more gnarly on the mental side- way more!
Bruce Hildebrand: Wouldn’t it be fascinating to bump Pilates up the list of things you try rather than the last gasp, like you’re talking about!
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, I think that’d be a game changer for a lot of people, you know, it’s not for everybody a hundred percent- Pilates is not for everyone- not everyone’s going to gel with it and it’s not going to always work, but I wish I would have tried it four years earlier- that would have saved a lot of pain and anguish!
Bruce Hildebrand: If it had been fourth or fifth on your list rather than 25th, it might’ve been a game-changer for you.
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, Exactly. Could have saved a lot of other crap
Bruce Hildebrand: Can you tell us Sarah, about your first impressions of your teacher- you mentioned Richard was a real influence on your Pilates in that intense time in your early learning. Also, can you tell us about the perception of some of the other people in your life when you told them that you began this thing called Pilates?
Sarah Callaham: Yeah Richard Rossiter, Bonnie Grebe and then his son Raoul Rossiter, were the three who ran the school that I went to. They were so entrenched in the classical work and I don’t mean that in a negative way at all- it was actually quite beautiful because they could see how all of this classical work – and I think I really appreciate this- they had no intentions of trying to change Mr. Pilates’ work to make it cool, or to try and fit a different demographic or to try and find some other way to source income. They never used it as a gimmick, they respected it on every level and I think that’s what gave me the deepest respect I have for Mr. Pilates and for his work. He always said I’m 50 years ahead of my time and he was! He had the understanding of the body biomechanically. He understood how to make these crazy contraptions to be able to facilitate that. I think that’s super important and I think that anybody who goes through a teacher training program or anyone who’s going to create a teacher training program, they really need to pay homage to that. I think most people in my opinion should do something that has a very classical basis so that then you understand this is what we’re starting from, this is the work and then you can go and do your continuing education here, or you can do your quote unquote masters style program, or maybe a bridge program and then you can see where this work has originated from and where it has been taken to. Which is quite impressive to see what these brilliant minds over this last century has really brought the practice too. So there’s that one side of it, there’s that deep respect, but there’s also the side of “This is the only way I must continue this way.” That was how it was taught and the other people in my course- they had the same mentality, the clients who we would work with had the same mentality. Yeah, it was militant to some degree, but from a respect side, it was just, if you work really hard and look at these cool things you can do, and that’s what the body should be celebrated as.
So you’ve got that, then you’re telling people like, Hey dad, who is a very Western doctor, I’m going to start doing Pilates. Okay, whatever, do your knee still hurt? No, dad. Okay, great. Glad it’s still working for you. That was one response. He was proud I’m sure to some degree. My mum was like look, you’re like a dancer- I used to be a dancer! To my friends like, what is Pilates? Do you just like stretch? You’re just stretching! It is not stretching- it’s so hard! And they’re like, yeah, I don’t really get it, Sarah. So it was like this weird, no one really knew what you were doing, except for the people who were in your world. Everyone else is just yeah, maybe it’ll pay off for her, but she seems like she’s gone off on a weird train right now. Maybe she’ll come back to reality.
Bruce Hildebrand: I’m curious if you began floating across the floor, like that very first lady that you met.
Sarah Callaham: No. There’s no floating! My Chinese Zodiac is a Wood Ox and in my house, the joke is I’m like a baby elephant. There’s no floating, there’s no quietness.
Bruce Hildebrand: So maybe you weren’t a dancer like you were in your mum’s eyes.
Sarah Callaham: No! There was no dancing. I don’t know where she got that.
Bruce Hildebrand: Sarah, can you unpack the breakthroughs that you were making in this pain relief for your knees? It seemed no doubt magical at the time, because early days, certainly in my experience it’s a bit peculiar why it works and how on earth it works to make such changes in your body. Tell us a little more about what you now reflect on that made such a significant difference.
Sarah Callaham: So for me- it was just I muscle everything- strength is my power- If I can force it I’ll force it there’s no finesse. So Pilates gave me a little bit of that finesse in terms of just super basic training your transverse abdominis, looking at pelvic floor. Like whoa, mind blown. I was like, what do you mean? And I remember Jessica looking at me like Sarah, figure it out. I was like, oh God. Okay- sorting it out! All of a sudden it was like, okay, I can move my body from these super tiny stabilizer muscles that I didn’t actually know existed! It was just so many details you just had no concept. Now, looking back with the knowledge I have now it’s interesting to me in a lot of ways that how is that something that’s so mind blowing for people who are coming in as athletes?
Like how do we not understand the mechanics of that basic work if we’re being asked to perform anything that’s physical because without that stability, As we all know now, without that stability, you’re pretty much screwed. If you’ve got a weak point, whatever joint it is, your weak point is going to show up in 0.5 seconds. I don’t know how anyone is functioning and if they are functioning, they have done a very good job of compensating. So it’s just those little detail muscles and that’s how I start with everybody now, from that point on I’ve always worked and made sure we have the pelvic floor discussion I want to be sure you know exactly what you’re working with. You’ve got to break it down really, really clearly! A lot of my cues are very intense- probably has to do partly with the guy who was the “Green Beret” that taught me- I’m guessing there’s a correlation there, I didn’t come up in the fluffy world- that’s for sure!
Bruce Hildebrand: And Sarah, was there any parts of the experience at this stage in your learning that you didn’t like, and you didn’t want to accept or parts of Pilates that you found most challenging in your pursuit of wanting to improve?
Sarah Callaham: Always when you’re a perfectionist, everything that’s not perfect is a challenge and an obstacle and that actually probably did me some harm, but in the long run, didn’t he good because in the beginning I was like, I’m going to perform all of these amazing Pilates exercises that are extremely advanced- there was no limit, we learned all of the super advanced- that was in our course, and that part was celebrated the most because that was the strength part. So in that aspect, it was like I’m going to be really good at this and I’m going to be able to do all of the things and I’m going to look really awesome doing them.
Inevitably I did them but when I went back to who I call my mentor now Cara Reeser. I remember the first session I had with her, like detailed session. And she’s just like, what are you doing? What do you mean I’m doing the exercise- you asked me to do the exercise! She’s no, but what are you actually doing? What are you doing with your chest? What are you thinking? She’s trying to be really nice- and I’m like “I don’t know, I’m just trying to do a back bend or something”. She’s like “We’ve got some things to work on, come back and see me tomorrow.” There was this need to do these massive cool things but I was definitely doing it in all my compensation patterns where I was probably doing myself not horrible harm, but enough harm where if I’d kept doing it that way, it would have been bad. But it’s good because that also teaches you, okay- look at all the details. Like how perfect do you need to do it on a physical level, and then how perfect do you want to do it understanding the intellectual side of it? And I think that’s where the two kind of married for me, where I was like, wow, this is never going to get easier, this is never going to get old and this is never going to be boring. You’re always gonna have something to work on that’s for sure!
Bruce Hildebrand: You mentioned Cara Reeser you mentioned Richard Rossiter and a few other names who were some of the other people that you met along the way at this point that really helped shape your Pilates experience?
Sarah Callaham: Those would have been the two big ones- Once I met Cara a lot of things shifted that was in Boulder. I did my school training in Colorado and then Cara was in Denver. Once I connected into that Denver world, a lot of different doors opened up. One of the girls I had met and become friends with she owned a studio in Denver and she was starting to run her own teacher training program and she asked me to come along. She asked me to “quote unquote” perform the good, big work. Like you’re strong enough just to muscle through it more or less is what she didn’t say- she said that very nicely. Can you help teach that advanced part of the program? That was a cool experience to have, and that first year everything was Pilates. I worked at a bunch of different studios all over the area and I got to meet a lot of different people, a lot of different studio owners, different ways of how they taught and how they thought about things, which really shaped how I teach. I got to work with a lot of different clients and that shaped me to think, okay, what do I want to do with Pilates? What is the point? And where are you going to go forward? And so that brought me to the conversation with our family friend who was a Pilates Instructor in the very beginning.
One time I was home and we do a session and we’re to chatting and she pointed out a couple of things always, grateful for. And then she made a comment cause I was like, oh, it’s just so hard trying to find the human rights work trying to balance it with the Pilates work she’s like, well, why don’t you just, combine them? And I looked at her and I was like what do you mean? She goes why don’t you do Pilates, for women’s issues! Use that as your source of therapy or your source of helping the world, but do it from a movement perspective. And it was like, whoa, mind blown! How have I never thought about this? I remember leaving that conversation started thinking everything I did with Pilates was now from a different lens. It was from the human rights lens. It was from that activist lens. Our work as Pilates instructors or movement instructors can very much be an activist work. You’re trying to get people not only to feel good within their own vessel, but what does that movement do for them on so many other levels?
I remember working with this little old lady, she comes in and she’s super kyphotic and she’s small and old. She’s ” oh, I just want to do some Pilates to make it better, if I could hang out with my grandkids more. And I’m like, yeah, that’s cool. That’s great, like we’re going to work on that.
Cara had the coolest program for community instructors in Denver- it was awesome! You would go in, it was only for instructors, it was two hours, twice a week, and you just geeked out on Pilates! The first part would always be okay, throw things at me. What questions do you have? What doesn’t make sense? What clients can’t you figure out? And we just workshopped it and then Kathy Grant died and it was massive.
I was sad but that soon, changed into ” My life is about to change in my path for Pilates because I’m now entrenched in Cara’s world and Cara was trying to figure out ” What am I going to do to make sure Kathy’s legacy doesn’t die? And you started to see it in those classes- she started workshopping a little bit of the Cathy work, and then she was like, we’re going to do all of the “Before the Hundred” work for Kathy Grant over these next few weeks we’re just going to go through the whole thing. You were in there every week, and then it would be now let’s start looking at the stuff on the Reformer, start looking at the stuff on the Cadillac, let’s start looking at how would you use this in all of these different scenarios? What’s the Kathy work going to tell you for so-and-so who said they couldn’t do X, Y, and Z. I also did the heritage training most recently with Cara, so I started using that lens and Kathy was that she was the person from everything that I’ve learned from Cara and Cara is like that too- they are these humans that are just trying to enable the best version of the person in front of them. So you start to see it from that really beautiful side. And then you hear those comments from the little old lady who’s kyphotic- one day, she’s able to do pull straps sitting on the box and she’s like, oh, I just feel like I can breathe again. And you know what. I don’t have to be so scared anymore and I can really shine. And I’m like, oh my God, this work is super profound and this is one year out! I didn’t even talk about any of your crazy issues that you’ve been having and all of a sudden, it just all starts coming out. That was when I started thinking like, Hey, Pilates really should be used- and I was working with young girls, high school girls and w e were doing similar stuff. They came in so meek, so quiet, physically, emotionally, mentally by the end of the school year, they’d walk in jumping, they’d be high-fiving each other. They were super strong, really confident, not just with each other, but with everybody they interacted with and it was more and more okay Pilates is not just a movement thing to make you out of pain. It may be that, but there’s also the aspect of, I can use movement or why aren’t we using movement as a form of empowerment and finding your voice and finding that strength.
You don’t need to go and sit with a therapist well, you may, but sitting with a therapist can only get you so far- you just keep talking about the same thing over and over again. If you’re not moving through those traumas, or you’re not moving through the places where you’re storing it deep within the tissues, it’s never really going to fully release.
And so that seed has been planted then. And that’s definitely carried me throughout my entire journey and led me to where I am now in terms of everything I want to do now. Yes, it has to have some sort of business mindset, but it’s very deeply rooted in.
How can we take care of people? How can we serve you and the community at large to make them not just feel good about themselves, but to want to be better human beings, to make the community at large, a better place. And I think that little conversations has definitely changed how I’ve done the whole journey for a long way, but I think that’s the most important part out of the whole thing.
Bruce Hildebrand: What an amazing connection you’ve been able to make with the human rights, deeply rooted passion. You have to connect with the movement, nature of Pilates.
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, as soon as I figured that out, my whole view of Pilates has changed and how I want to not necessarily practice, and not just teach, but it’s almost like it’s more of that yogic term of I’m just the guide for the class, the guide for these individuals. And they’re never going to get better unless they do it themselves. they got to believe in themselves to be able to move forward. You’re not doing it for them!
Bruce Hildebrand: Thanks for articulating that so beautifully, it speaks so richly of the impact that Pilates can have.
Sarah, can you tell us some of the challenges that you might’ve had at this stage in your Pilates progress. Was there any factors that either had your full more deeply in love with Pilates at this point, or maybe some elements that you were finding were rubbing you up the wrong way, some issues or hidden conversations in the studios that you’re attending, or the industry at large that you didn’t like and didn’t feel aligned with, or some people maybe that you were drawn to and others that maybe had turned you off.
Sarah Callaham: In general, I really enjoyed everyone that I had met, I really enjoyed people that I worked with. But I remember there were a couple of interviews that I had gone to, I was looking for a new studio to work at, or I was moving. I had a lot of confidence in my training, I may have been still relatively fresh on the scene, but I was all in, I was doing every extracurricular training I could possibly do.
I was, working with my mentor sessions. I was doing everything I could to learn as much as physically possible. So I may not be the most experienced, but I had a lot more than what my years showed on paper. So there were a couple of times where I would come to different studios and it would generally be a Stott studio. I’d have a great, conversation- I feel like I’d get along with the person really well. I felt like the studio would have matched quite well with how I taught. Then there would always be something that would come up and be like, because you’re not Stott trained, we would have to train you again.
And we’re going to have to retrain you and all of these things because you don’t know how to teach properly. And I’m like, are you kidding me? Looking at hindsight now with 10 years under my belt, I probably should have checked my ego a little bit more- it was just so off-putting I’m like really, you have seen all of the work I’ve done, I have done a demonstration class for you. You actually commented within the class that you thought the class was well put together- you liked some of the things that I said. And that’s not just me saying it other people in the class like, oh, that’s cool. Oh, I’ve never done this before.
And then you guys sit there and tell me that I’m not any good. Like I have no skillset to bring to the table until you teach me your way. That did not fly! I learned from the first one, I didn’t go as poorly for the next one. I remember going to Hawaii and a lot of the women instructors in Hawaii were Stott trained because there was a school there. And it’s really hard in Hawaii to try and get other trainings because it’s so expensive to try and fly out or try to get people in. And I’ve got nothing against the Stott training- I actually think it makes a lot of sense, especially for different learning types and for different clientele demographics it would be really good. But the attitude that I have heard from some not all, I know lots of awesome Stott people. There have been a couple egos that have just been quite exceptional. So I’ve had a few fun ones but in general. everybody’s been quite good and I’ve really enjoyed the diversity within Pilates. I actually really do genuinely enjoy it- with our instructors at our studio now, no one has the same training. Maybe one or two people have a similar training, but it’s all slightly different, which I love. Every time you go to someone’s class, it’s going to be different and as long as everybody’s doing it from the same intention and with that same background of why we do things and where we’re trying to achieve I think it’s great, but not everybody always thinks like that.
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s a funny balance and no doubt you know this as a studio owner, to oversee that and keep a consistent thread of what the core message needs to be for what you know works for a client It’s a tricky balance to try and find and I think we all have to find it in our own way to certain extent.
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, I’d agree with that. We’ve been really lucky- however much luck is what you make- but we’ve got such a good team, and I think that once you can get everybody on board and make sure that everyone’s on the same page, you’ve all got the same intention, as long as you understand what you’re doing, it doesn’t really matter where your papers from. But yeah, that, is a bit hard to cultivate in the beginning that’s for sure.
Bruce Hildebrand: I think it speaks of your willingness and open-mindedness to consider the human rights side of things and the humanitarian part of it because we all experience Pilates differently so it’s inevitable that the message that we convey can’t be removed from what our experience of Pilates is.
Sarah Callaham: No, not at all- and I think that’s what’s cool about Pilates like Cara and like Kathy used to always say Kathy would be like I don’t know that exercise, Mr. Pilates didn’t teach it to me. I didn’t need that exercise- Romana needed that exercise. So why would I have learned the same thing? Yeah, there’s the black book or whatever that Mr. Pilates gave to Romana, but that was not all that he taught. He taught so many people in so many different ways and all of those people are going to now take that experience and with their lens are going to try and do whatever they do.
And I think it’s the same with us- we want to be sure that we understand the work, but we’re going to take it from our lens. And that’s great for the clients because no client is going to come in and all be in the same cookie cutter box, right? We’re gonna have someone that’s going to work really well with you, Bruce, but would be really bad with me, because of your experience and how you’ve come into Pilates and what you understand and where you’ve come at it from whatever angle, but I’m not going to have that experience so that client would be really poorly suited to be with me, but be amazing for you, so I think that’s what makes it so beautiful to see so many diverse sides of instructors, because that means everyone’s going to have a match. We can’t ever walk in the studio and be like, Pilates isn’t for me just didn’t work. It’s yeah, because that lady was not good for you that would never have worked at a hundred million years, but if you find the right match, I reckon you could get anybody in Pilates.
Bruce Hildebrand: And for listeners on the podcast, what would be your advice if they’ve heard the message that there’s only one way to do Pilates?
Sarah Callaham: They’ve been lied to, like that was one person’s thought process. I just think that’s straight wrong sorry, bubble burst. There’s so many different ways. Yes, there was a lineage that was formed that came from Mr. Pilates, but even like I said, out of those people who were in lineage, he taught different things to each person. So who’s not to say that you’re going to take something and you might look at the original work and be like, okay, this is the exercise. This is the equipment that we’re going to use, or we have access to use- a lot of the times we did it on this because we couldn’t do it anywhere else, nothing else was available. But you’ve got a fused spine, we’re not going to articulate, that’s physically impossible, so I’m going to change it for you and you can still do the exercise, but it’s going to look a lot different than when Mary does it. I think we have to always keep that in mind no matter who’s teaching what exercise in what modality in what year, it’s never, ever going to look the same. And if it does, well you’re doing something wrong, it just can’t be the same all the time. Bruce, are you gonna do the same exercise that I’m going to do? No, my joints pop out of their socket at will, the hyper flexibility that I have that is not good is not going to be the same that’s in your body, you’re going to look different when you do it. And that’s great because if we look the same, that would be weird!
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s a funny ideal to achieve this so-called perfect look that I just think is so far from the reality when there’s an opportunity to discover that internally for ourself what movement could feel and look like from an internal perspective.
Sarah Callaham: That’s a very beautiful way of saying that. I think you should take that away right there- that was the most important part!
Bruce Hildebrand: You mentioned Sarah, that you made your way to Hawaii. When we first met, I was immediately curious about your time working with a specific population can you expand on your time in Hawaii?
Sarah Callaham: I had in my opinion at that point the dream job. I got to work with Alejandra Monsalve. She’s a Chilean physiotherapist that has made her way to United States and she now lives in Hawaii on Maui and she started with her business partner and practical partner Kazuko and they teach what they call Body Wellness Hawaii. I think they have one in Chile now and then one also in Japan. They teach this method, they call NKP or a Neuro Kinetic Pilates. And the way I would describe it for someone who’s classical, is it’s Pilates, to the extent that it’s being performed and executed on the Pilates equipment. They also have a Gyrotonic machine in there as well, which is really beautiful the way they use it. But it’s not Pilates in terms of Romana’s Pilates It’s a very different way of looking at things. Her background- she’s a Physiotherapist, she had been working with spinal cord injuries in her university when she was getting her degree in Mexico City and she was putting together her thesis on different ways to be able to try and get more movement back or looking at connection again and if it’s possible. She then actually became a quadriplegic herself while she was training and she had been developing this whole system of ways to rehabilitate spinal cord injuries, and she was using neuroplasticity. She was looking at the stages of infancy and how your body is learning that movement. You’re going from supine to rotational, to prone, to seated, to hands and knees, to lateral movement standing, and then using all the pieces to walk. She was looking at your myo-fascial lines and training those in the same way that you’d be training those in relation to your development as an infant from zero to 12 months. And the way she put this program together was genius.
So she’s been told by the doctors ” have your mom take you home, you’re never going to walk again, you’re done.” And she’s yeah, no ” Mum, start putting these things around me.” So she has her mom put this stuff around her, set up more or less like a cage kind of a thing with the springs and the pulleys- all Pilates kind of stuff. And she’s using that and she’s training herself, and if she walked into your studio right now, you would have no idea! Zero idea she ever had an accident, she ever had any spinal issues, she had any nerve issues ever. Granted everybody’s spinal cord injury is going to be different in how it manifests, whether it’s a full break, whether it’s bruising, whatever, right? They’re all going to be different, but she was able to test it out on herself and see how it worked.
If she works with someone who’s got a spinal cord injury, it obviously can’t be a total break. And you have to have some spasticity in your muscles. So what that means for people who haven’t worked with spinal cord injuries it’s when you have your spinal cord injury and you put yourself into a position or you’re put into a position, your muscles will spasm and your whole body goes rigid. It must be so uncomfortable for the people who have to deal with it on a daily basis. What she looks at is those muscles still have something they’re firing in some way. It’s not automatic, they can’t make it happen, but we can trigger the spasticity and if we can use that spasticity there, there’s a chance that we can get those muscles to work again. It’s brilliant. It’s really brilliant. So I had the amazing opportunity of working with her as her spinal cord protege.
She was trying to take a step back for her own personal health and reasons and so she asked me to perform all of the work with those individuals. So she would give me the lesson plan and it would be always two hour blocks? So you’d have two hours to work with your client and most of these people in the beginning were flying in to Maui,. So we had someone who was coming from Spain, someone came from the UK, we had people coming from the mainland in the United States and they would come for maybe two months at a time but they’d come in blocks Usually once a year and they would try and get all of this rehab in and see how much they could gain and then go home and then try and keep up as much as they could and they’d come back and it would be cyclical like that. Sometimes you’d have six hours straight, which was awesome, but physically hard- you’re lifting people and you’re trying to move them around and most of them were way bigger than me. So I learned fast but never have I had a year that was more rewarding, more intense, more physically demanding and mentally demanding , because although she was creating the lesson plan, I’m sitting there as the geek, trying to figure out why she’s doing all of it and seeing if I can guess where she’s going next? Like do I get it enough to be able to see what the next step is? But yeah, that was really cool.
And then you’d have moments where she’d be like ” Sarah, you cannot show any emotion” and I’m like there is no way of covering it! Like one person would all of a sudden move their pointer finger for the first time and then I literally started crying. I’m like, pull it together.
What was cool too during that time- my eye was able to define itself a little bit more. I was talking to a client today and they asked how can you see, how do you know my pelvic floor is working? And I’m like well I’ve been staring at pelvises for a really long time, oh, I probably shouldn’t really say it out loud, in public, but it’s true when you look at different bodies for a long time, you start to notice these weird little things that happen. So you would start to notice- she called it a “phantom engagement”- you could see in the skin. If someone has chicken skin or goosebumps that was a great sign because then you knew the nerves were starting to connect in that part of the body and you were like we’re on the right path. Then you would start to watch, you can’t really explain it, but it looks like movement under the skin. So the muscle isn’t actually contracting, but it’s almost contracting, but you could see it- you could start to see these weird little things that’s not just stillness or it’s not just limp it’s not activated, but there’s a space in between and that was, I think, one of the cooler, obviously the experience in itself was amazing, but in terms of skills that I gained from that was to really dial in and to understand what is moving and when and where to be able to make those little tweaks.
Bruce Hildebrand: It makes me think of the Latin origin of the name muscles is musculus like mice running up and down under your skin when a muscle contracts, it looks like that.
Sarah Callaham: That’s exactly right. Yeah.
Bruce Hildebrand: And no doubt it had a huge impact on training your eye to see the subtlety of movement for many clients over the years?
Sarah Callaham: Yeah. Probably to the annoyance of a lot of my clients.
Bruce Hildebrand: Sarah you’ve explored some wonderful opportunities there- the really rich time in Colorado and special time with Cara then this really special time in Hawaii. 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 a picture of being in the game working with Pilates. Were you beginning to sense a little that the time was coming that you’d have to turn even more inwardly and face up to a range of factors that would shape your involvement with Pilates to move forward? Whether it was actually going to be the thing for you to move forward with and what shape that would take. Can you tell us about some of the key factors that influenced where you decided to head to next and what that key turning point was for you?
Sarah Callaham: I think pretty much when I got to Hawaii having that experience with the spinal cord injuries and working in that studio or once I kind of realized that my time there was going to be done I felt like I was finally ready- that’s the best way of saying it. It was like ok, I’m never going to be ready and I’m never going to know everything, but I feel like I’ve hit another level of my understanding. I feel like if I was ever going to do something on my own, I’d be pretty confident in myself at this point in time.
I remember being at a point where I was like, I need to do my own thing. My dream was I always wanted to have my own studio- I had the perfect picture in my head, by the water with cool big garage roller doors so you could feel like you were practicing Pilates outside. There would always be this component of, if you couldn’t pay for it, but you needed it, we would get you in, there was going to be some sort of slush fund that people who could come and they had extra, they paid into it and it paid it forward for other people. And at this point I started developing the girls program I’ve always had in my head of working with teenage girls and preteen girls using movement as a way of confidence building and empowerment and not always having to talk about what’s actually going on, but just allowing yourself to be within the movement in the moment, and using other creative ways to get out the other pieces that maybe are still stuck or finding ways to express yourself.
I was looking to move to Australia, to be closer to my partner. So those things all came to a head once I got here. Granted- getting a visa here is no small task- that process is not fun. Moving countries where yes, you speak the same language, but you don’t speak the same language- there’s so many cultural differences and trying to figure it out, brought a lot of stuff to a head where either you’re gonna sink or you’re gonna swim.
I ended up walking into the studio, that’s down the street from my house, which I now own, which is really weird to say that out loud! Like, okay, I’ll just, work here for a little while, maybe I’ll get a couple classes under my belt and then I’ll start looking at how I want to develop my own stuff. We had already kind of had a couple conversations with the owner before and she’s like, you know, would you ever want to buy it? We couldn’t do it at the time – we just did not have the means.
I went back to Hawaii for a little while, I got some really good advice from some really awesome people. I planned a whole business out- I was ready to go. And at one point during that trip, she calls straight up, do you want to buy the studio? So then I’m thinking in my head, no, we can’t do this. And then, she puts down the figures of what they’re looking at. And I was like, maybe we could do it, where are we at now?
I remember being at a point where I was like, if this doesn’t happen, I’m done- I don’t know if I can keep doing this. I definitely can’t keep working anywhere like this. I’m going to have to fully change- and it was a pivotal moment- it was like, I don’t know if I can stay in Australia if we don’t buy this business and make it happen I may end up moving back. Thank God we bought the business because I would not be sitting here today- and we’ve got this really cool opportunity. we’ve got two studios, but for me it was always cool, we have this business- that’s great, but behind the whole purpose for it, for me was I have a platform to run what I’ve been wanting to run for the last 10 years with all of my charity work and activism work. You need to figure out how to run a business first and actually make some money- that in itself has been a learning curve more than anything! We’re in year number two and I think we’ve done really well- we’re finally at a point where I can talk about doing all these cool things- it’s been a really beautiful journey. I have all these plans with the business and where we’d go with next and how we can use it.
Bruce Hildebrand: Along those lines, Sarah, the juxtaposition of running a business and working in a humanitarian field, do you feel like there’s a bit of Joseph Pilates going on there- where, from everything I’ve ever read historically there was always a challenge for him to make ends meet when he’s running his studio in New York originally?
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, I can see that for sure! For people who are truly passionate about why are we here as a human? What are we doing here? What service are we bringing to the table? I always look at when I’m running the business, like actually in terms of life, I’m like, okay, how am I showing up today? Why are we doing it? It’s never, what are you doing? It’s why are you doing it? Because as long as your intention is good- like truly good- then where you’re going will be the right direction. So, yes, we have to pay rent, we have to pay our instructors, we need to make sure that our instructors feel valued. We need to make sure that everything is very nice but I think what I’ve been able to bring to the table is okay, we offer these really nice things, we offer a really quality service but am I going to up the prices? No! Unless all of a sudden our rent doubles or it’s physically impossible to run the business? No! I want people to feel like they’re coming because they can come number one. And number two- that it is still a good deal. That sounds bad in a lot of ways, but it really does need to feel like, I’m getting all of the money that I’m spending. I’m not spending premium because the place is nice.
If that’s the business’ prerogative- to make it nice- then you should own that. You shouldn’t pass that cost onto somebody else- that’s an investment in your space. So I’m always looking at that if we’re running programs or if we’re running community programs, if we’re doing workshops.
They’re probably really cheap when you look at what we could charge. But for me, it’s more important that it’s more of a community offering, I don’t need only rich people in my door- that is not who Pilates was made for- those are people probably who don’t need the service that bad- yeah, they’ll benefit from it, but they have a lot of other resources! So it’s trying to always balance that in a way where the numbers guy is stoked, but I think if you’re ever running a Pilates studio to get rich, number one, that doesn’t work. Number two, you’re in it for the wrong reasons.
You didn’t start teaching Pilates because you were like, yes, I just quit my investment banking firm and I’m going to be rolling in it as a Pilates instructor- that is so ridiculous! If anyone ever gets caught in that, it’s like, well, then you should go back to investment banking and just teach a couple classes on the side because no one’s making that kind of money in Pilates! .
Bruce Hildebrand: I think it’s a really valuable conversation to be having because- like you say, the economics need to be upheld, and that’s why it’s handy to have your partner on the side, calling the mother Teresa out from time to time- I think we only that in that life!
Sarah Callaham: Yeah, we’re a good balance. I’m pretty lucky and grateful to have him there to keep me in check. But also I’m like, we can’t keep rolling like this- we got to give back! There’s got to be ways! We’re both on the same page of why do we do it? We do it because we’re passionate about it, we do it because we genuinely care about the community, we do it because we have the opportunity to give back. I think anytime that you, as a human being have an opportunity to give back whether it’s in physical goods, whether it’s in service, whether it’s money- you have a responsibility to your community and to the human race and that’s the driving force for me. Any time I have the space or the time or the resources, there’ll be donations going all the time or we’ll find ways to fit other people in or we always make time, always make space- you have to, always have to!
Bruce Hildebrand: Thanks for sharing such a beautiful insight into the impact that Pilates can have. Can I take you back to the moment when the opportunity came up to buy the studio- was it a sense of triumph for you Sarah, or was there a sense of relief or calm, or peace or excitement or even overwhelm of what was still to come?
Sarah Callaham: Can we say all of those at the same exact moment Yeah on the emotional side and the personal side, if I can strip it back- that moment of realizing that we bought it- although I don’t actually even know if I gave my self the space to have the feeling of celebration, but it was like a ” you did that!”- there’s something to show for all of this hard work that you’ve put in all the time that you’ve hustled! I don’t know if Australian Pilates instructors fully understand the hustle of an American Pilates instructor, but let me tell you, it is not as easy as you guys have it here. We get paid very well in Australia to be a Pilates instructor- we got paid half that if for the hour- you were stoked if you were making 30 bucks for an hour teaching Pilates.
Bruce Hildebrand: Sarah, can you share with us some of the changes in both your body mind and even in your spirit as Joseph Pilates liked to put it- that are now second nature to the way that you do Pilates and that you’ve managed to carry over into your day to day life, that you couldn’t have imagined were either possible before you started Pilates, or possible during the time when you were wrestling with various things during the times that we chatted about earlier.
Sarah Callaham: Yeah- the first one is that I can breathe while still holding my core engaged. I never thought that’d be possible, it took me a year, every day. The other little things like, I can stand up straight. just naturally now or I sit straighter or when I move, I’m very conscious of how I move. Before I probably would have just thrown myself and because I am hyper mobile, I have to be very conscious of how I move otherwise I actually do sublux my joints. Never did I think that’d be second nature. Overall it’s been very interesting and I think it’s something to always remember as an instructor- how was it when you started? How hard is that to sit up straight? It hurts to sit up straight- it’s painful and sore and tiring, and it’s not comfortable! And now we just do it all the time so it’s a weird thing, having to answer that question and being like, oh yeah, that used to be difficult.
Bruce Hildebrand: I can certainly relate to wanting to be the perfect student sitting in some of my earliest lectures in Pilates and just dying with back pain the next couple of days, because I was completely out of condition and not even knowing anywhere near how to do that in a sustained way.
Sarah Callaham: Yep!
Bruce Hildebrand: Sarah, where do you now sit with your Pilates? What does the future hold for Pilates in your life and what plans have you got in store with your Pilates involvement and the business direction as well?
Sarah Callaham: I’ve got a couple of plans rolling around in my head, my own personal practice- I just need to do it more! But it’s hard when you’re an instructor and you’ve been in the studio all day long so that would be good if I did that more often! In terms of the business COVID hit right when I bought the business so that’s fun! Where I kind of have been thinking about going as I’m looking at doing like master classes is so egocentric, but it’s the idea of doing a class for people who are instructors already and diving into the geek stuff. And then also doing the same version of that but for professionals and clients alike. Trying to share more of that knowledge that I have been so lucky to gain with the community around, at large, that’s been a thing. It’s my back of my head. And then with that being there, I’ve always had the thought of maybe there’s a teacher training that could come out of that- maybe it would be a classic training and with a lens from all of my experiences. That can’t be said officially, but it’s definitely rolling. And then we looked at trying to do, retreats. But again, travel is like we don’t do that anymore. So maybe next year we’ll get to do that a little bit more whether it’s just a local retreat and trying to get people to have a chance to just check back in- it could be local or internationally- but a retreat where yeah, you’re doing stuff that’s good for you physically, but also I always want to be sure if we’re doing something like that, it’s taking you out of your comfort zone in some other capacity. And generally it needs to be in terms of okay, what’s the cultural issue in this area? What’s going on from the activist side, where could you be a better human being? I want it to push people to start asking those questions so when they come home, they’re fired up, they already feel really good about themselves physically and mentally so they’re in the perfect state to be okay, I want to be a game changer! How can I be a change maker in my own community, or maybe just my own family! But I think that those small steps can make the ripple really big because that’s always been something that’s been a passion. Then eventually I’ve always wanted to do girls camps- taking that girls program idea and putting it into a bigger practice of- okay- we have the program, we’d have this group of girls that meets on a school holiday in this locale then eventually we can have those running simultaneously, maybe somewhere else within Australia or somewhere in the states with my own connections. And then you have those cultural exchanges.
So you’re running all the same programs, but then the next one is where, okay, this group, but from Oz is now going to go live with these people who are from Hawaii and they’re going to cross homes and then they get to see how each other live. I had that experience when I was a kid.
And I think that was one of the coolest experiences of realizing, oh, we’re all exactly the same. Like you speak a different language, you look really different, but we’re exactly the same. There’s really no fundamental difference between any of us. And I think if you can have that as a kid, it changes your perspective going forward.
So yeah, those are the plans so far. We’ll see how many of them I can make happen within a small amount of time but it’s possible.
Bruce Hildebrand: I’m sure the sharing of those is what brings them to life even more. So it’s wonderful to hear you expand on those ideas, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how you integrate all the incredible experiences and passions. that you’ve shared with us today. Thank you. Sarah, what do you wish you knew at the start of your Pilates journey that would make the biggest difference to someone who might be either considering starting Pilates or facing some of the struggles you did with your Pilates progress?
Sarah Callaham: It’s not a straight line. It’s not going to be easy. Don’t expect anything to be given to you! You’re going to put in the hard yards, it’s not going to make sense, it’s going to be super zigzaggy. But in the end above all, it will be worth it more than you could’ve ever, ever imagined! So if you can hang in there. It’d be good! but it’s not going to be good in the beginning!
Bruce Hildebrand: It’s a pretty powerful message to stick at it. And I think your life journey is a living example of that. Sarah, it’s been incredible chatting with you today. Thank you so much for your time on the call. Can you share with listeners the best way to reach out and get in touch with you?
Sarah Callaham: You can get ahold of me at The Body Method- you can find us on the website, thebodymethod.com.au. We’re on all the socials, or you can always get ahold of me by email, just hello@thebodymethod.com.au
Bruce Hildebrand: Or we can hang with you on a standup paddleboard sometime close to the Gold Coast. Thank you so much wonderful chatting with you, Sarah. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
Sarah Callaham: Thank you, my pleasure too- I appreciate it.
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. 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 at www.TRIMIO.app.
Rebecca Glenn: 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.