Here’s a funny story.

This week I signed a contract with a major wellness company (hereafter referred to as The Company, or Company).  This was not an accident.  But it was utterly unexpected.  Here’s the story:

Two years ago I decided I should work with this particular Company. I put out some feelers among friends and colleagues  and quickly procured a lead.  A name and number of a key person at the company I so coveted.  When I finally sat down with my prepared pitch and summoned the nerve to call my contact, the number didn’t work.  I hung up utterly disheartened.  I did make a few attempts at finding a working number but after each one failed, I simply gave up.  Not sure about next course of action, I relegated the number and the project to my To Do list.

A word about my To Do list.

I am a list girl.  I have made lists since I was a small child.  Lists are comforting to me.  They assure me that all is right with the world and that I am, on a day to day basis, accomplishing something.  When technology became an inextricable part of my day, I established a new To Do list.  Or rather, a To Do email.  Every day I delete completed items from my To Do email and add new ones.  And then I email it to myself.  I do this every day so that the list appears at the top of my Inbox every day.   Type A, you ask?  In fact, I am.  But I digress.  Back to the story.

The project, The Company, the name and number of the contact sat on my To Do email for almost two years.  To be fair, it was pretty far down the list so I didn’t really see it every day.  But it was there.  A simple scroll function was all I needed to remind myself of the goal.  At least once a week I was reminded.  But nothing came of it.

Fast forward: Last month I got a call from The Company.  It was random and out of the blue. We starting discussing project ideas and several phone calls later it became clear that we both wanted to move forward with a collaboration.  The next step was to have “their people talk to my people” – so the appropriate paperwork could be drawn up.

Emails were exchanged.  Introductions were made.

And who do you think called my agent to initialize a formal contract?

One guess? Yeah, it was him. The “lead” that had been sitting on my To Do email for 2 years.

Fate? Karma? Law of Attraction?

All of the above maybe.  But it was worth jotting down how it all came to pass and if I can make just one tiny reccomendation -  if you really want something – keep it on your To Do list!

Yes, it’s true, the Pilates technology you’ve been waiting for is about to be released.  Pilates has come to the Wii

Wait, what?  Daisy Fuentes? Uh, ok.  Why?
I knew Daisy Fuentes did

I’m thinking Daisy did not enroll in a certification course and log in hundreds of practice hours so that she could teach you the perfect form and proper execution of the Pilates method.  I’m guessing she didn’t hit the books hard to learn human anatomy

To be clear, I’m not really picking on Daisy here.  I’m sure she’ll make do just fine.  Maybe as good as Jane Fonda

Think for a moment about the people you learned the most from in your life.  

Legend has it that Joe Pilates was not a very good teacher.  

I’m happy that Pilates has come this far and that people worldwide will have the benefit of Pilates in their homes.  

Will Miley Cyrus launch a Teen-ilates DVD?
Let’s hope not.
 

(Should we look to actors and actresses for our health and wellness in addition to our fashion and lifestyle choices?  Put in your two cents.)

Every day, I would arrive at 7am ready for my session with the other eager apprentices.  Romana would teach us after which we would embark upon our teaching hours.  Since Romana ended her days at 1pm – so did we.  In those days, there were no formal requirements for completion.  When you were ready, you were done.  And the investment was less complicated too.  Each day, I would pay Drago at the front desk $45 dollars.  That was it.

Some time later, Sean Gallagher and the Pilates Studio Inc. came into the mix.  Some time after that, they left the picture.  But in between those two events, a plethora of teacher training programs opened up across the country.  Seemingly overnight, small programs, large programs, specialty programs and modular programs afforded the Pilates teacher wanna-be more options than they ever thought possible.

Fast forward to 2009.  The economy is in the toilet.  Pilates studios are struggling nationwide (along with the entire industry of Personal Training) and yet these teacher training programs continue to sprout up.  Just this week a major acquisition was announced which effectively catapults the country’s biggest certification program into the realm of corporate monoliths and big box businesses.  A far cry from our humble beginnings indeed.

While I don’t object to the formal or organized or even big certification camps – I have to wonder, where are all these teachers going to teach?  Shouldn’t we be guided by simple supply vs. demand guidelines here?  How many more teachers are really necessary to satisfy the market?

This summer at my Tribeca studio is the slowest we’ve seen in years.  And yet, I recieved no less than 10 resumes from instructors looking for work.  And while many of them were new graduates, a fair amount were from very seasoned teachers.  From where I’m standing, this doesn’t bode well for our industry.

Consider this: flooding the market with teachers will likely have the effect of bringing pay rates down for instructors.  As competition stiffens, jobs will often go to teachers who ask for lower salaries.  Is this what we’ve worked so hard to achieve?

What are your thoughts?

~alycea

You must know however, that it is not that I have nothing to say that causes the long stretches of silence.  Rather it is that I am overwhelmed with far TOO much to say and cannot imagine whittling my thoughts down to just one lonely topic.

Alas, it must be done so here we go;

I had the pleasure of presenting in Toronto in April to a delightful and hungry group of Pilates and Yoga teachers.  The conference was spectacular in scope and quality.  I had the distinct pleasure of presenting alongside such Yoga luminaries as Seane Corne and Rodney Yee and even had a few dinners with Pilates superstar Mari Winsor.

But the event that most inspired me in my three days at the conference was during one of my courses which explored the idea of “Pushing The Envelope” within a group Pilates class.  I had presented this course before but as you know, teaching is an organic process and my outline notwithstanding, the lecture took off slightly to the right, landing still within topic but with a particular bent. 

The thrust? 

“What type of teacher do you want to be?”

I posed the question to the group and was met with wide eyes and tight lips.

A little prodding produced some single word responses.  A short list of adjectives from the back of the room.  Some further mutterings emerged, but nothing definitive.

And therein may be the problem for our industry.

How can you, or anyone for that matter, develop as a teacher without a clear vision of who you seek to be? 

Here’s a tool I came up with for my Canadian attendees.  I’d like to share it with you and hope it helps you to find your own vision as an instructor.

Describe, if you will, the exact words a student would use upon leaving one of your classes.  It can be a phrase, or an expression. 

Limit it to 7 words or less.

For some this is simple.  For others, I suggest thinking back to when you first fell in love with Pilates.  Who inspired you?  What did you say about them?  What words did you use to describe their teaching?  Is that the way you want your students to feel?  If not, how is it different?

For the record, yes, the students did ask me for my own answer.  They wanted to know specifically what words I wished to hear my students utter upon their departure.

My answer, without hesitation, was simple.

“Pilates is Hard!”.

 Over to you…………..

Alycea Ungaro

May, 2009