Episode Show Notes
Welcome to the fifth episode of this special short season of The Pilates Diaries Podcast created to support and promote the rebuilding of the business of industry colleague and long term Pilates teacher, Kimberley Garlick. Kimberley’s studio business, Northern Rivers Pilates in Lismore was completely submerged in the devastating floods that tore through the region in February and March earlier this year. In pursuit of getting their business back on its feet, Kimberley has reached out to her extensive industry network and along with studio manager and daughter, Madison have created the Teach to Preach Retreat that will run at their studio in Lismore, November 4th to 6th this year.
On this episode Kimberley welcomes Kat Ma. Kat has been teaching Pilates for over 20 years and as an accredited exercise physiologist has always been passionate about helping people age better. In 2012, Kat was diagnosed with the devastating autoimmune disease Guillain-Barre resulting in complete paralysis and hospitalization for over six months, including being in an induced coma for 10 days and on a ventilator for over a month Kat has come to realize firsthand how much we take our independence for grounded as a result and Kat now brings a whole new level of empathy to her teaching, focusing on how important it is to ask for help, even when it feels hard to have to depend on others.
Kat’s presentation at the Northern Rivers Pilates teach to Preach Retreat in November this year is titled Beyond Movement: A guide to the bio -psycho-social pain framework in the context of movement classes where Kat will share her incredible 12 month healing journey back to a full recovery using the principles of Pilates. Kat will explore how the bio-psycho-social framework allows you to apply new methodology into your teaching to dig deeper into how pain and painful experiences affect your clients. 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?”
Welcome to this special short season of The Pilates Diaries Podcast created to support and promote the rebuilding of the business of industry colleague and long term Pilates teacher, Kimberley Garlick. Kimberley’s studio business, Northern Rivers Pilates in Lismore was completely submerged in the devastating floods that tore through the region in February and March earlier this year. In pursuit of getting their business back on its feet, Kimberley has reached out to her extensive industry network and along with studio manager and daughter, Madison have created the Teach to Preach Retreat that will run at their studio in Lismore, November 4th to 6th this year.
Our presenter introduction on this episode is Kat Ma. Kat has been teaching Pilates for over 20 years and as an accredited exercise physiologist has always been passionate about helping people age better. In 2012, Kat was diagnosed with the devastating autoimmune disease Guillain-Barre resulting in complete paralysis and hospitalization for over six months, including being in an induced coma for 10 days and on a ventilator for over a month Kat has come to realize firsthand how much we take our independence for grounded as a result and Kat now brings a whole new level of empathy to her teaching, focusing on how important it is to ask for help, even when it feels hard to have to depend on others. Kat’s presentation at the Northern Rivers Pilates teach to Preach Retreat in November this year is titled Beyond Movement: A guide to the bio -psycho-social pain framework in the context of movement classes where Kat will share her incredible 12 month healing journey back to a full recovery using the principles of Pilates. Kat will explore how the bio-psycho-social framework allows you to apply new methodology into your teaching to dig deeper into how pain and painful experiences affect your clients. Kat, welcome to the podcast.
Kat Ma: Hi Bruce and hi Kimberley
Kimberley Garlick: Hi Kat, and welcome to The Pilates Diaries Podcast. It’s really exciting to have you here. I feel so privileged to have you part of our Teach to Preach for so many reasons- one I’ve known you for so long, and this is really special to be able to work again side by side but secondly, you have the most amazing knowledge to share and also a story to share- one that I know you are so humble about speaking of, but I’ve encouraged you to share your story with everybody because I find you such an inspiration, not only for the Pilates teaching community, but I think for everybody as a whole. How about we start with your background and how you became a Pilates practitioner?
Kat Ma: Firstly, thanks so much for having me, Kimberley, I’m very excited to be part of the Teach to Preach. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone there and all the other speakers that are available. I started Pilates when I was working in the corporate world. I started as a client in Manly at Polestar head office and I just fell in love. I loved what it did for my body. I loved the way I felt afterwards. I loved the creativity of Pilates and every class was that little bit different and I loved the science behind it, so I just immediately fell in love. And at the same time I was falling out of love of the corporate world! I took a big leap and left a secure job for a new career and I’ve never looked back! It was the best decision I made- I’m very happy. I was a client at Polestar headquarters so naturally I did the Polestar course, and that’s where I met you, Kimberley on my first Polestar course. Loved it- I started off just doing the Mat and Reformer course because I still today love group classes, love teaching group classes. Then I decided to do the Studio course to complete the portfolio. Pretty soon after beginning to teach, I was already there at Polestar, so began to start mentoring and then took their Educator track.
Kimberley Garlick: And you’ve started your Exercise Phys. a few years ago is that correct?
Kat Ma: Yeah, I love learning and I just wanted to learn more and more and I did a little bit of investigation and Exercise Physiology is a great track. Really Exercise Physiologists, just use exercise as medicine and that’s exactly extension of my Pilates.
Kimberley Garlick: I love that exercise as medicine- that’s beautiful- and may I add that you did that with two children working you are one of those powerhouse women
Kat Ma: I don’t know about that, but it it’s a four year degree that I took eight years to do because I was studying part-time with young children. A bit of a juggle, yes!
Kimberley Garlick: Amazing! Tell us what you’re going to be chatting about at Teach to Preach.
Kat Ma: Essentially, I’d like to talk about the bio -psycho-social model that Exercise Physiologists and a lot of other Allied Health people use. I feel sometimes that’s what’s missing from Pilates teaching. As Pilates teachers we look at the mechanics and the biological of conditions. But it’s really important to also think about the psychological and social aspects of your clients And I think instinctively, we know this if you have the same client and they’ve just split up from their husband, it’s a very different class to you know, your client that’s just fallen in love so this is how it really impacts them on a deeper level through a rehab process that is going to make a huge impact on their rehab as well. So if we look beyond the physical, of course, we’ve always got to consider, the precautions, the contraindications what we’re aiming to move and how to move it. But I think Pilates can go beyond that.
Kimberley Garlick: And are you going to chat about your journey personally as well?
Kat Ma: I am, I’m going to incorporate that- I haven’t spoken about it publicly I just haven’t had the opportunity, but a lot of people seem interested in my story and it was quite a journey and I’m very happy to share that with everyone and take questions and see where that leads us.
Kimberley Garlick: When you talk about your journey you had Guillain-Barre now I remember we were actually at a conference and you weren’t feeling a hundred percent at that conference
Kat Ma: Yeah, at the conference- and we’ve all been there. I just had the razor blade throat- every time I swallowed it felt like razor blades. It was a virus- we’ve all had viruses and now more than ever, we’ve very aware of viruses. But I think I was also quite run down, so I was studying at that time, my husband was working away, he travels a bit for his work and my kids were two and a half and five. So you’re really in the thick of it at that age. I seemed to sort of recover from the virus itself then I noticed that I was really fatigued. And as I said any parent with a two and a half and a five year old there’s definitely fatigue- everyone knows the fatigue, but I knew it wasn’t right when my husband was away and I woke up and made the kids breakfast. Then I said “Mummy’s just got to go and have a lie down.” I didn’t have the energy to make their lunch for kindy or school. I know that there’s fatigue and there’s tiredness, but that was next level and I knew that it wasn’t right. The other big alert for me was I felt like I had D.O.M.S in my big muscles, so my hamstrings and quads.
Kimberley Garlick: When you say D.O.M.S as in D.O.M.S?
Kat Ma: Yes- it’s Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. If you go to the gym, pump some iron- you know, a day or two later, you could feel it- those muscles are tender to touch and certainly if you fire them up again, you can feel it. But I knew I hadn’t done anything to deserve D.O.M.S- I hadn’t done any weight lifting or hadn’t changed my exercise regime, hadn’t specifically worked on those sort of muscles and I thought I should not have D.O.M.S like this pain anywhere in my body, actually. So I was like, this is not right. I trusted my instincts and I went to the doctor who, because I had some neurological symptom, he sent me to the hospital. So the GP and the hospital did all these tests and they couldn’t find anything wrong- they said, there’s nothing, there’s no symptoms. But they kept me overnight because they were like we’re not really sure, let’s just keep you in- and I never left. Well, I did leave I’m but I was there for six months.
Kimberley Garlick: Isn’t that amazing , Kat that the fact that you are so aware of your body as a Pilates practitioner, you were able to know this isn’t right. And I think that’s a really important message for everybody to get out there. At the end of the day, we all know our a hundred percent and we need to trust our own personal instincts on when to go “No, this isn’t right! And I need someone to investigate this further because if you hadn’t gone to hospital, things could have been quite different.
Kat Ma: You’re absolutely right. I’m so glad I trusted my instincts As a Pilates practitioner, you are very aware of your body and the way it should behave. And that changes day to day but yes, I just knew it this wasn’t the way I normally am. So I’m very glad I’ve got help.
Kimberley Garlick: And then you ended up in a coma, is that correct?
Kat Ma: Yes. the way Guillain-Barre works is it attacks the myelin sheath so basically we’ve got our nerves that covered the myelin sheath, and it’s much like any electrical wire you’ve seen, you’ve got the actual wire and then it’s covered by that plastic coating. That plastic coating or that myelin sheath was stripped away, which meant that my nerves weren’t firing properly- they weren’t getting to the muscles. And typically Guillain-Barre works from the distal ends from your feet and hands, and then moves its way up. Mine was very severe and it came all the way up to my breathing muscles- my diaphragm and my rib cage and even my face. I had facial drop like Bells Palsy, but I had it on both sides. But of course once it reaches your breathing muscles, that’s when everyone starts to panic a little bit.
Kimberley Garlick: Did you feel that happening Kat? or were you out of it and unaware of the process in your body?
Kat Ma: I was in so much excruciating pain and this is the power of imagery if I focused 100% on taking my brain away I could stop the pain, but then as soon as someone spoke to me or as soon as my concentration was broken at all, the pain would just come back straight away. So I used imagery to escape, I used so much imagery and we’ll go through that.
Kimberley Garlick: Kat when you teach your imagery is beautiful and it really does create another sphere of movement for people and it brings confidence to your participants and maybe it’s because it does take them to another place you are almost creating a bubble around them of protection because their imagery is gonna be different to yours.
Kat Ma: Absolutely! And we’ve all got our individual experiences everyone’s image is going to be different, but planting that seed and letting, them take that is a really good way of doing it.
Kimberley Garlick: Question: how long were you in a coma for?
Kat Ma: Yeah, once it attacks the breathing muscles, that’s when they put me on a ventilator and to do that they put you in an induced coma. I was in induced coma for probably 10 days but I was on the ventilator for 30 days. And getting off the ventilator, I employed so much Pilates. So to get off the ventilator, they need to see that you can inhale and exhale a certain volume of air. I was using my Pilates breathing, I was using my diaphragmatic breathing, I was using it all to get off the ventilator, so all of that Pilates training, all of those breathing principles, they all really came back. I thought I have to use every tool in my toolbox
Kimberley Garlick: I remember you telling me that you said to your husband, I need a theraband- this was in your own rehabilitation because you pretty much rehabilitated yourself out of hospital!
Kat Ma: I did have a lot of help- they’ve got a really good allied support team there, but yes, I was like “I need a theraband, this is what I need to do.”
Kimberley Garlick: That’s pretty cool! Bringing that into our Teach to Preach- you’re going to chat not only about your own experience, but how that relates into the whole system of the brain to body.
Kat Ma: So I’ll be talking about the bio psychosocial and how that will impact recovery. The biology is obviously what we are quite strong at as Pilates instructors. The psychology is talking about self-efficacy and the belief in how you think things are going to go as well as mood- any depression or anxiety that you might have around certain injuries or recovery from certain diseases. And then the social is really important and I think that played a big part in my recovery that I needed to get back to being a mother and that was my biggest driver. So finding out what people are driven by sometimes that’s in what do they feel they’re missing out on? What activities can they not do that they would like to be able to do?- all of that will come into it.
Kimberley Garlick: It’s really interesting when you talk about that, because setting people’s goals, it’s such a big word, isn’t it like the word goals And if we can simplify the word because a lot of people relate the word goals to something above and beyond what they normally can do, but if we actually- your words were just so beautiful then- go back and think about what you want to be able to do in your life- and then that becomes your motivator to move better.
Kat Ma: A hundred percent! Goals. I love goals and I hate goals! It’s really good to, have a goal and to work with your client with their goals. But at the same time, you’ve got to be very careful because if you’ve set lofty goals and they don’t reach them, it can actually work a little bit against you. So I often are just careful around the type of goals that they’re going to set. But definitely working out what it is that, you want to do in your life? What is it that you can’t do at the moment? And looking at ways, we can use our biomechanics and our Pilates equipment, all the exercises we know to rehab the body, but sometimes it’s also about confidence, sometimes maybe they’re just scared, there’s some fear there. Finding all this out is going to make a difference because if they’re afraid of moving a certain body part, it doesn’t matter how good a Pilates instructor you are- they’re not going to move well, because they’ve got that fear- so we have to reassure them around that fear or work out what the fear is and just delve a little bit deeper into that.
Kimberley Garlick: I remember many years ago, Brent Anderson sharing a story an elderly lady said, I can’t reach my coffee cup on the top shelf-. he said I could fix that immediately- put it on the bottom shelf. And I thought the simplicity behind putting it in a different language to immediately have success. It’s simplifying the word goal, I think is really vital.
Kat Ma: That’s a perfect example. If that’s the goal, you might know that you can edge towards that , but you’re right- just move the coffee cup. Let’s live the life you want to live now by being able to reach for your coffee cup whenever you want. then work towards being able to lift your arm above your head height.
Kimberley Garlick: Talking about our Teach to Preach, what are you hoping students walk away with knowing that they can utilize throughout their daily practitioner life?
Kat Ma: I think as Pilates instructors we’re all pretty good at the biological of the biopsychosocial. I want them to be able to delve deeper and understand that there’s other things other than muscles, ligaments, tendons that may be influencing clients’ success, may influence your client’s session and influence their goals. I hope they have lots of questions, that it’s going to be quite conversational. I prefer that way of presenting, I prefer getting the participants involved and finding out what they want to know.
Kimberley Garlick: I’m excited to hear all of that. I think also understanding the rehab component when you have experienced it yourself firsthand- you are going to be able to share how it felt when you are going through that rehab. That is rare and as odd as it sounds is one of those weird gifts of life that you can then take forward with you and probably why you’re so brilliant at now another level of Pilates
Kat Ma: Certainly, the whole experience of Guillain-Barre gave me a different perspective in my teaching. I do understand fear having experienced that firsthand, and I understand how that can influence everything and certainly, primarily for us as Pilates instructors, fear will influence our movement quality, and everything about our movement.
Kimberley Garlick: That’s really cool because when I used to teach, when I was 21, I could do everything so much easier and now that I’m 52, it’s like a lot harder Swan now I feel things creaking as I do it- but the word fear is another perspective and I’ve never had a fear of movement however, so many people come in and you see their response through their body when they start to get the tremor or they burst into tears and they have a fear of movement and it might be a simple movement but that is huge if they’ve had an experience to create that fear. So think that word is another dimension to teaching and understanding people’s responses to why they react the way they do.
Kat Ma: Absolutely, and some of it will be psychological fear, some will be a physical fear and it will really change the way that people move.
Kimberley Garlick: I’m very excited to see you as a part of this amazing lineup of practitioners- I feel like I’m bringing a family together!
Kat Ma: Thank you. Yeah I’m really excited to share my story and excited to see everyone there. And Kimberly you’re right- it does feel like you’re bringing a family together, but I’ve always felt that since I’ve been in the Pilates community- I felt there’s such comradery and it is really like an extended family which is very different from the corporate world that I came from that’s one of the things I love most is that everyone just wants to see other people succeed and I’m so privileged and happy to be part of that.
Kimberley Garlick: I’m so excited that you’re willing to share this story too Kat, because it takes a lot of bravery to share something so personal.
Kat Ma: Thank you.
Kimberley Garlick: Thank you so much for your time Kat! From the 4th to the 6th we have our Teach to Preach. We have amazing educators coming from all around Australia and from Singapore and what’s also exciting is that we have amazing practitioners that are taking a leap of faith to come to Lismore our country town from Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Hong Kong. We have an amazing turn up- so not only are we going to have the amazing minds sharing the education, we are going to be surrounded by practitioners with as much devotion to our industry as we have for our industry. So thank you again Kat for joining us and I look forward to seeing you in November.
Kat Ma: Thanks so much for having me, Kimberley it’s been wonderful chatting and I can’t wait to see you in November at Teach to Preach and everyone else that’s coming along.
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.
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