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Welcome Pilates People! Let us pray. I’m kidding! It is way too soon for that - let’s save prayer for when you read what I have to report about the current state of our industry. But I digress. Whether you teach Pilates, are taught Pilates, do it on the floor to a $10 dvd, are a curious bystander caught up in the mystique of Pilates or a combination of all of the above, welcome one and all to PilatesNun.com, a free educational website created & written by me, Rebecca Leone. I am the Pilates Nun. I’m also a teacher, studio owner and continuing education provider and presenter at the Pilates Method Alliance and other national educational conferences. My mission is to help everybody everywhere to learn as much as possible about Pilates, how to do it safely and well, and how to use it as Joe and Clara Pilates intended; as the base for full body health and wellness. My Goodness Me! That’s a lot to accomplish, isn’t it? But don’t despair, I promise we’ll get it done. PilatesNun is evolving and you’re in on the ground floor. Updates to the site will be frequent and if you’d like to be notified via email when new information has been posted, just fill out the form below, do 5 Teasers and thy will shall be done. I’m just now finishing up the overall blueprint for the site, fleshing out the various branches, paths and divisions for all topics covered, both broad and specific and everything in between. My goal is that PilatesNun.com will grow with us for years to come and I’ve got to be very careful in setting the proper structure right now, at the beginning of it all, to support that growth. I mean, what use will this information be if you can’t find what you need? I’m trying like mad to get this huge undertaking structured properly so it can grow strong and true and in the right direction from the start. And, in the beginning . . . there was Joe & Clara. The first level of information to fill this site will be a history of Pilates right up through the current state of our industry. A lot of this information you will probably already know but I will be sharing phenomenal rare historic archival articles and photos that paint a vivid and strong picture of Joe and Clara personally, passionately and professionally as they developed, taught and grew old together doing this work. The historic information I’ll be posting comes courtesy of Gail Anderson, Director of Balance Within in Redmond, Washington, www.BalanceWithinPilates.com. Gail’s a champion of spirit, a brilliant and generous teacher and a mentor to me. The next level of information to post will be a detailed explanation of the technical aspects of Pilates including the theories of safety and progression that apply universally to Pilates exercises. And because some national schools do not (Gasp! Fall to your knees and beg forgiveness, you know who you are), I’ll give you specific orders of historically named exercises to follow in your teaching. After that, I’ll detail a structured process for problem solving and fully explain the biomechanics and use of resistance both on the mat and apparatus. Joe wrote books and took thousands of photographs and film of himself and his clients – he was multimedia, and so are we. We’ll use video and photography to tie it all together. Once that base is set, we’ll go on to deconstruct specific exercises using detailed descriptions, again using video and photography. The Pilates Nun is responsive! Use the question and answer column, Help Me Sister, to get a personal response to whatever’s been bugging you. Pilates feeds into many other areas of expertise and I have a broad network of professionals so you have access to many wise folks. Ask and ye shall receive. And I’m certainly not in this effort alone. My “right hand man,” surrogate daughter, soul sister and fellow teacher without whom I would close shop, take up tai chi and work in the yard, the fabulous Heidi Byrnes is also a big part of the Pilates Nun. Heidi’s nun name is Sister Heidi SideKick and she’s a treasure, a delight and so very brilliant. You’re going to absolutely love her. It will be up to Heidi and I to show you “teacher bodies” with higher strength and flexibility levels than the average client but we’re also featuring a couple of other teachers we work closely with as well as some long-time clients – and we love ‘em all. Using all of us, our goal is to show you everything from able-to-do-it-well to the struggles, the form challenges and more realistic strength and flexibility levels of your average client. Because PilatesNun contains information about how to teach Pilates, there are legal disclaimers that need to be acknowledged before you can have access to the information on this website. Once the site begins to fill, you won’t get any farther than right here unless you agree to the terms so eloquently set out by my very expensive lawyer. So, be sure to leave your email so we can reach out when we update the site and please please please let me hear from you. Let not distance, training, affiliation, religion, politics, or vegetarianism stand between us. Let’s get a whole lot smarter together so everyone in the whole world has a chance to learn more through me, through you and through us, about Joe & Clara and their gift of this marvelous work. The Pilates Nun is Rebecca Leone |