How does a Pilates teacher find the "Internal Shower"

In Joseph Pilates “Return to Life” he wrote about the “internal shower” and as Pilates teachers, we hope that our Pilates clients who come to the Pilates Studio get to experience that for themselves.  When we go through our Pilates Teacher Training Program we are so focused on learning the Pilates exercises do we really get that? Do we understand what Joseph Pilates really meant? Can we connect to that feeling for ourselves as Pilates teachers to then help our Pilates clients?

My Pilates journey has really led me back to that “internal shower” that I felt got lost over the many years of teaching. It is what truly led me to search and study deeply to re-connect with the why and how of Joseph Pilates and his work.  I went through my Teacher Training Program and out into the Pilates world which soon started to shift and change in terms of popularity, workshops, online presence and more. It started to get confusing for me as to why this exercise? I have never seen that? What is the purpose of this? As I did the work on my own and with my teacher for my own Pilates practice, I realized I was losing touch with all of it. So was my body and mind. I began to think this has to be happening with my clients if it is with me. I need to get back to the true work and purpose.

As I studied and delved deeply I began to look at my own studio and made the decision to take that final leap to the Traditional apparatus. Slowly I changed out my studio.  Having gone back to the roots of Pilates with my studio I got that internal shower back and was able to relate that back to  all of the clients, who for some all of the sudden realized what The Elephant was about, the Stomach Massage all these things that maybe they had felt and moved with but, now those light bulbs were going off for them in a wonderful new way.

Now, that is not to say in order to feel Joseph Pilates work and the internal shower you need this in your studio or practice. I have done my Teacher Training Program in studio’s that had every different brand of Pilates apparatus and we got there! It is all about knowing the purpose and the how and why then getting that connection. It is always the greatest to see those faces and that “OMG” moment!

This workshop actually came about as a fellow Pilates studio owner came to me for her own personal Pilates practice. She wanted her teachers who came from all different schools of teaching to understand and feel the deep work, to get back to the beginning you might say, not that they had to now teach a totally different way but, to understand and then be able to get clients to feel it in that same internal shower way! To go through the Reformer, Cadillac, and chairs as well as other apparatus and go back to the roots and foundation. It was a great chance to re-charge and get some passion back for her teachers as a group and a team as well.

So, I adore this workshop as it is what really brought my passion and excitement back to the work, it has been so instrumental for those going through my Mentorship Program as well as Teacher Training Program. I have a few different options when I take this workshop to other studios as it truly is catered to their needs in terms of apparatus and the studio. We dig deep and it includes a full mat class as a group to get moving, start the connections that will start to carry through the whole workshop and see the Traditional work mat which is the foundation as we all know. This can be taught as a full day 6-hour workshop or into 2 or 3 days 4-hour workshops. There is so much we can do and explore that the opportunities are endless.

As always this is a true full Participation workshop as every participant no matter what school of teaching will experience and explore the work together. Manual included. CEC’s available