I'm a Mosquito....

“If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”

― Anita Roddick

Did you ever truly consider the impact Pilates has on our lives? If your'e a teacher, not only on your life but those of your students and clients?. If your the student or client then the impact on your teachers life?
I exhibited last weekend at a women's fitness exhibition, I was there to promote my Pilates Retreats, but, as those who know me best know, I'm not big on self promotion, however, there I was, the only Pilates Exhibitor on site in a sea of 12.000 (mainly) women and the odd very fit man.

Over the three days and having spoken to almost 400 people, myself, my mum and a friend explained, discussed and guided people through their Pilates questions and learnt about just where Pilates figured into their lives. Interestingly only one person asked me who I trained with, some wanted to know how to find a teacher, some were surprised to know the System was named after a 'Real' man. For the most part however Pilates was and is having the most extraordinary impact on their lives. Many are doing what is described as Pre Pilates, Clinical or Fitness Pilates, very few were doing Studio Pilates with access to the full system yet most were happy and feeling the benefits in ways they had not only hoped but also in ways they hadn't expected.

And so when I consider the ripple effect of one man's vision I'm left slightly in awe of what Pilates teachers far and wide are currently achieving, both in classes and the studio. In reality we can work as hard as we want but if a client doesn't pick up the baton and run with it then true change doesn't occur. The magic for me is that clearly the baton of physical and mental empowerment is being handed beautifully from teacher to client but also from client back to teacher. Quite simply the more we inspire the more inspired we should become better teachers. So it occurs to me that just as there is room for all skill levels and abilities in the clients we teach there is room for all types of teachers. The most important thing is that the right client finds the right teacher, fall's in Love with the Pilates Method and never looks back.

As for the exhibition, it saddened me that Pilates was not represented at an event that was about women, health and fitness. With so many Pilates training providers with much bigger marketing budgets than me (i.e they have one!) I was sorry not to see one there helping share the Method I'm so passionate about. And so I decided to be a Mosquito in a sea of 'Power plate', 'Extreme Body Sculpt' and 'Super Modal workouts' Needless to say my Retreat promotion was somewhat side tracked. I did however get to meet some amazing people all busy being Mosquito's in their own rights including http://www.theurbankitchen.co.uk/, http://gymluxe.com/ and http://www.rockondivas.com/ and was even gifted some fabulous gloves and toe socks by http://www.gaiam.com/ .More on these guys later as they deserve a blog all of their own for being such amazing people to know.

In the meantime I'd better get on with promoting my Pilates Retreats, http://www.seraphinapilates.com/pilatesbreaks.html, possibly using sign language since I've lost the ability to speak after talking so much, alternatively I might leave it to my administrator since she can always find something more to say, not to mention a fit man to say it to!

Happy Pilates Weekend All!

Suzy
www.seraphinapilates.com