Ep. 87: The Teacher As Pilates Instructor with Aly Marie Moniz
Make sure to read Aly’s guest blog post, Teaching is an Artistic Skill.
Ways to reach Aly:
Instagram and YouTube handle: @ohmyitsalymarie
Transcript:
Melissa Milner 0:09
Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. I'm your host Melissa Milner, a teacher who is painfully curious and very easily inspired. This podcast is ever changing, and I hope that each season, you find episodes that speak to you in your work as an educator. This is the fifth season of The Teacher As..., and it's exciting to see the growth in how many educators are listening. Episodes are released every other week. If you enjoy The Teacher As... please rate it on Apple podcasts and leave a review, it helps the podcast reach more educators. Thanks for listening.
Melissa Milner 0:41
I'm jumping on to apologize for the sound quality in this episode. I did not really notice it when Aly and I were recording. Her end of the conversation is kind of muffled at times, not to Aly's fault. I don't know whether it was the acoustics in the room... I'm not sure why it's like that. But I just wanted to apologize for the sound quality. The content is amazing. I hope you're able to hear it and enjoy it. Thank you.
Aly Marie Moniz 1:13
Aly Marie, more often called Aly just because I call myself Aly. I like to chat in the third person sometimes. If I call myself Aly, everyone else also has permission to call me Aly too. I think of myself more as a movement artist who just gets to use Pilates as her canvas, if you will, to express that. I know very kind of artistic. Big thing about me is I guess what I want the listeners to know as I am a creative person and that comes out no matter how much I try to hide it. So that's part of what impacts my viewpoint. I just see when an opportunity to create a movement pattern or workout that works for all the bodies in the room or in terms of a class setting, if it's one on one, whatever the goals are. Pilates is definitely something that brings me a lot of joy. I could do Pilates until I'm blue in the face. I could talk about Pilates until Kingdom Come, if you will. Yeah, I got into it...actually, Pilates found me. I didn't go looking for Pilates. I didn't Google anything about it. My sister in law reached out to me or we were having a conversation because I live in the Assembly Row area or near the Assembly Row area of Somerville and there you have Fit Row where we've got your Orange Theory, Title Boxing, and there's also a Club Pilates there. Club Pilates had been there for about a year and I was like, Yeah, whatever. But then the Orange Theory came in. And that's what kind of perked my interest.
Melissa Milner 2:57
What does orange theory do?
Aly Marie Moniz 3:00
Orange theory is more of a HIIT based workout, circuit training. So you'll do part of its strength training, another part of the rowing, high intensity. And then another part is on the treadmill. It's called Orange Theory, because everyone wears a heart rate monitor, and that heart rate monitor allows you to know, based on other information that they have in their system when you sign up, I'm going to let you know if you're in the orange zone, which is the the most or what science has shown the zone that you need to get the active burn effect, which just keeps your metabolism going. You like a really intense sweaty workout. That's your thing. I do like an intense sweaty workout. I like science a little bit more and the whole part of like, wearing the heartrate monitor and seeing if I was in the right zone kind of intrigued me. I was also under a different mindset at the time. Orange Theory came in. I was talking to my sister in law about it. She had tried it, wasn't a big fan of it, but she was thinking about trying Pilates. And she's like, come to this class with me. The doctor recommended it because she was having some lower back pain issues. And I'm like, Alright, cool. Like we'll go try Pilates together. I wasn't exactly like jumping for joy, running out the door kind of deal. But we went together. What intrigued me was how the equipment looked.
Melissa Milner 4:25
Yeah, so why don't we get into that? Let's get into that whole thing. So I showed up at Kink Pilates is where I met Aly and I had many physical issues. I was a year out from my knee replacement surgery. I have lower back issues. I have middle back issues. I have neck issues. I mean I could keep going. But I show up because years ago I used to do mat Pilates you know you go to the gym you go on a mat and you do the Pilates. This was a different kind of Pilates with the reformer machines. And I'm like, I'm going to try this. And I decided to do a one on one. So can we just start there with the machine? Or the difference? So you've got the Tower, you got the Cadillac, and you've got the Reformer. And then how do you set goals for a one on one? How does...that whole process.
Aly Marie Moniz 5:26
So setting the goals and figuring out which machine to use because it's true? So Pilates was created by this man called Joseph Pilates. He didn't call it Pilates while he was alive. He called it Contrology. Control-ology. The art of control, or the connection of mind, body and spirit. It is a tongue twister, and it's not something that rolls off your tongue. So after he passed away, a bunch of people basically got together,and was just like, No, we're calling it Pilates. We're just naming it after him because it's easy. But he came up with the mat exercises first. I don't know how he came up with it, or where that led him to do so in terms of a teacher training or learned. He was a relatively also sickly kid, at some point, he went from Germany, to England, and that's where whatever he did as a child that healed himself was perfected into these theories of exercises. And while he was in exile camp in England, he then did the exercises with everybody else there. And Spanish Flu was happening at the time, and everyone who did the exercises with Joe stayed healthy. So that's what I remember learning from teacher training. So there was something about these exercises, and getting you to I don't want to say optimal health, but better health for you, regardless of your fitness modality.
Melissa Milner 6:59
No false health claims here.
Aly Marie Moniz 7:05
Yeah. No false health claims. Like this is what we learned in teacher training. Like, it's very much like when you learn the history of Joe, it's just a 10 minute video? This is like so this is about him. Which is why when I talk about him, it's just like, it's presumed that this is the case. But Joe genuinely believed, in his core, that Pilates would save America.
Melissa Milner 7:26
No pun intended.
Aly Marie Moniz 7:27
Yeah, no pun intended. Exactly. I know, we're all about the core in Pilates. But yeah, at this time that this is where it is suspected that the reformer springs came from or the idea of the reformer, the Cadillac because some people were bedridden. So how do you get them to do the exercises, if they can't get out of bed kind of a deal? Again, like I don't know about, like when the springs were invented, and how the reformer came about. But this is where the equipment came from, or at least the Reformer, and the Cadillac. And then the chair, and there's a bunch of Pilates equipment, just a disclaimer off to the side. Not going to tap into all of them, because I don't even know everything that Joe created. But the next big one that I use from time to time, and I know it's also useful to Melissa is the chair.
Melissa Milner 8:26
Not a fan. I am not a fan of the chair.
Aly Marie Moniz 8:30
Not many people are. It sounds nice. And like you could just sit on it, which you can but it's meant to challenge. Or at least that's what I learned from my teacher training. Yeah, every time I pull it out, the bodies are just like, Oh, we're using that thing today. But the chair is much smaller. That was invented because now we're at the point in Joe's timeline, where it's after World War II, he is now settled in New York, he has his own studio people are coming, whether it be people also with pain, but we also attracted a lot of Broadway artists and musicians, dancers, just because of where his studio was located in New York.
Melissa Milner 9:19
Yeah.
Aly Marie Moniz 9:20
Most of them wanted to bring the reformer to their house. And if you don't know what a reformer looks like, it's this long piece looking of equipment about eight feet long. Wide as a twin size bed. And that requires a bit of space, maybe more space than one might have in a New York style apartment. So that's where the chair came in, or that's rumored where the chair came in. It's so weird because again, I don't want to make any claim,s but this is what I remember from learning, it was smaller so that we easier to fit inside the apartment and you can still do all the exercises. Much more challenging because of how small it is, But the mystery behind it is...not necessarily, well, the mystery for me, the genius of Joe, if you will, is how do, I would love to just have a conversation with Joe, like, so tell me about the reformer, what idea came to mind for you to say, hey, let's just take this twin size bed, add a few extra feet on it, cut the mattress in half, bring the bar or foot bar up higher, and then just add springs to press it in and out. I think that's magnificent. Because of what he came up with. It does look very weird.
Melissa Milner 10:42
Right?
Aly Marie Moniz 10:44
It's definitely not anything that you've ever seen. Whenever I get feedback about the equipment, it goes one of two ways. It's the medieval torture chamber, where you'll see some of the pictures where the person is being stretched in either direction. Either end which is valid, because you do come to Pilates to stretch things out, to lengthen. And who whoever has done Pilates, like whenever you leave, you always feel like a supermodel if you will, like you just feel taller. When I started Pilates, it was... I would walk by and I was like I feel like a supermodel and then I would look at myself at the windows walking by the T station. I was like I'm definitely not Gisele Bundchen right now, but that's ok.
Melissa Milner 11:27
Well, I think it's interesting. Again, you know, first impression, like, if I think back to my first visit, my first one on one, I was like, What is this lady doing to me? And after 20 lessons, like I'm completely sold, everything is stronger. In teaching terms. If you're looking at a student, at least a year's progress, I feel.
Aly Marie Moniz 11:49
You did amazing coming... Yeah, when you can in that first session, or I remember just having was like, Alright, we're gonna set our baseline. These are the exercises I like to use to set a baseline... what the student can and cannot do, or, more importantly, what they can do. So that way we know where we need to build from.
Melissa Milner 12:09
Yes, teachers, doesn't that sound familiar?
Aly Marie Moniz 12:13
So, actually a little tidbit about my background. Pilates is the thing that I love doing and talking about. But I didn't start with Pilates. I got my undergrad in radiation therapy with Suffolk University. I know, off in left field. And then after that I did human resources or people operation for a little bit of time prior to getting into Pilates.
Melissa Milner 12:38
You have the personality for that.
Aly Marie Moniz 12:40
Thank you. But one thing I can definitely say is, regardless of whether you're teaching, or actually, maybe there is a little bit of degree of teaching in everything might be a better way for that. But it's important to understand or to set a point of, well, this is where we're starting from, even when you're speaking and communicating. Is the person understanding what I'm saying? If they're not, well then, what words do I pick? How do I change that it do, I need to do a little bit more of a dance kind of a deal. And I say this because in instructing Pilates, there's a shape I want you to get into there, there's a certain way I want you to sit onto the carriage to help you get into that shape. And there are times where, because everything around you looks so unfamiliar, that when we add familiar movement is a little bit of a dance. I usually use my arms. To demonstrate. If I'm fortunate enough to have a piece of equipment to physically demonstrate on awesome, if not, then it's yeah, it's a little bit of a hand dance. But yeah, yes. So I'm backtracking a little bit. Going back to our first session. I remember going through my checklist of exercises, after speaking with my boss, Sarah, being like, Okay, so these are her goals. This is what I already know. Let's see where she is in these areas that she wants to work.
Melissa Milner 14:15
Right. So when I signed up for the classes, Sarah, the owner, she asked me, So what do you want out of this? And you know, the main thing I wanted was just to feel stronger and hopefully get more range of motion in my knee. But like back issues, I definitely was hoping it would help my back. But I also the goal of the one on ones was to be able to be ready to take classes. We have students that we work one on one with. Their in class for the whole class lesson, but then we grab them and we work with them if they need the extra help and getting them ready so that eventually that whole thing where they don't need to come to the one on one anymore. Their success. So that's a nice little goal. So you're coming in going okay, I I know she eventually wants to get into classes, you know. And so we got to the 10. So you buy 10 sessions. And I looked at Aly and I said, Aly, do I need another 10 sessions before I do the whole class? She's like, Yeah, I think so. Because we were just still working on strengthening. And having me just, I mean, simple thing now, like, I could do them now. But things that were seemed insurmountable in the beginning, I now can do, which is so cool.
Aly Marie Moniz 15:31
You can the progress that you have made in 20 sessions is absolutely incredible. Because when we started that, that was a lot of... challenging for me, because it in the best way possible. Because,
Melissa Milner 15:46
Yeah, yeah. It's ok.
Aly Marie Moniz 15:47
It was, it was. I remember leaving, I was like, that was so hard, but in the best way, because you had areas for the hamstrings, I was like, Okay, I know this exercise is perfect for the hamstrings we'll target that. It's like, well, this muscle's now acting up like well, now that's not so good for the hamstring. That's fine. Let's tweak this a little bit. And I remember going into my backup plans. And we didn't get to as much as I wanted to cover in that first section, which was totally fine. But it gave... it allowed me to have the opportunity to actually finish that session, that's when I realized the chair is actually a good piece of equipment for you. It's small. It targets different things. And that's how you...
Melissa Milner 16:34
But the other the other I mean, like my bridges were like nothing, I couldn't do a bridge, if you guys know what a bridge is. I couldn't I mean, I barely could do them. And now my back is strongly like, you know, I'm able to do bridges, but the... as student in that situation, I was so confused. Because the fronts of my... you kept saying my front body and my back body. My front body, like my legs are strong. When I'm doing certain moves, I can like I was like, This is too easy. And she kept upping the tension. I'm like, this is still too easy. But then when it came to the hamstring, I couldn't do squat, like, and that the PT knew that my hamstring was was weak. And that was something we've been still trying to get stronger. But I thought I thought it was interesting. I as a student was watching how you as it's, you know, because, again, my, my podcast is The teacher As... blank. And I'm like, it's so interesting. This is so differentiated this one on one like she's able, you know, she's able to think because when we go into a class setting, she is still going to be able to differentiate and come over and say, Oh, do it on this level, or you'll be able to differentiate with me, because you've worked with me one on one and you know what I need? But also, I think it's interesting. I could see you I, because I'm a teacher, I saw you pivoting. Oh, okay. All right. Let's do this. Like you were, you had it all in your head. All the backup. You're so knowledgeable, which we hope all teachers are that when a kid isn't getting it, you're able to Okay, we're gonna do this now. And you are positive and you were like, you're so Aly's big thing, which I don't know if I'm going to use it in my classroom or not, but I love it is when I was like, Ah, this hurts. And she's like, honor it. Honor it. I'm like, I'm gonna honor the pain. Okay, whatever, Aly, but I mean, after all, I'm like, okay, I get what she means by honor it just kind of like work on dealing with it and don't fight it. But it is there. And what can I do to make it? Yeah, I just I found it fascinating. I walk in, you say how are you feeling today? You're like gauging what you can and can't do with me. That's something teachers I think could do. Just remember to ask a kid before you start working with them. How you doing today? That's huge. I've been picking up on your teaching, you don't probably even know you're doing it. But as a teacher,
Aly Marie Moniz 19:01
That's true. I'm listening to just like I just say honor it and a lot. I didn't realize like, yeah, or a similar phrasing where it's just like, just notice the experience. That's true. You just need to observe how your body is feeling. Especially when the thing that you're teaching is movement, because there's a little bit of an extra pause when it comes to motor learning. Because I'm saying something your brains got to take it in. And then your brains got to tell your muscles, hey, this is the thing that we're going to do is that it does require some pivoting from time to time. But that's also my favorite part about it.
Melissa Milner 19:39
I have empathy for students, because as I'm going through and you're you're talking to me and I'm I'm hearing you, but I'm not processing because I'm still trying to get my my heels together and my toes pointed out, and you did and I'm like, Oh yeah, I gotta like, slow down sometimes or repeat or show, instead of like yours, yours is a different situation. But it made me realize, don't ever say to a kid, you're not listening. Because they are, they're just trying to process it all.
Aly Marie Moniz 20:13
And sometimes there's so much going on in terms of maybe mentally, maybe just other things around them that are just catching their attention. And they're just like, I'm just chatting right now just to focus for just to touch upon something that you said, I do find that there's a lot of overlap. In terms of everything that I'm saying that I'm doing that I'm showing, oftentimes, it's, I'll say it one way, first. And if it doesn't resonate, you can tell very quickly just by looking at faces and bodies and whatnot. And oftentimes, it is just what you said, Wait a minute, I know she heard or she said to do this thing, but I'm still focusing on this. Like, for anyone who has done Pilates, a big thing for us is feet in straps that goes with the reformer, you're lying down, they're just back behind you when they go onto your feet. It's a very, very freaky experience. But I feel like that captures exactly what they're talking about. Like, wait, she's told me to grab these straps behind me next to my shoulders and put them on my feet? How am I going to do that? Like, okay, I told her, she said, take one foot, do it this way. But even then like that, it's just, it's one of those where anybody that's listening to me right now is thinking what do you mean feet in straps? Just for that in itself, go try Pilates.
Melissa Milner 21:39
I do recommend if you're not feeling like you're a fit person, I recommend a one on one to see if you like it, I don't recommend just jumping into a class. Or if you have aches and pains, if you have back issues, one on one to start, I think it's just smart.
Aly Marie Moniz 21:54
I always recommend one on one, especially just to build confidence because being in a class setting can be intimidating. I've taught between a minimum of four classes to at most 12 classes. So it can get challenging, definitely the more people that there are to keep your eyes on to make sure they're understanding the more layering that's required in terms of layering, I view it as checkpoints, when I'm programming.
Melissa Milner 22:23
Yeah, talk more about your programming.
Aly Marie Moniz 22:25
So in the beginning, I used to use a notebook a lot, I went back and forth between a physical notebook and using the app Good Notes on my computer, just to see which one resonated a little bit more with me. Good Notes was a good and bad in one respect in terms of it was a little cumbersome to have it on my phone and look at my phone and teach while looking at all the bodies. So luckily, I did have an Ipad, tried the Ipad. A little bit more smoother. And then same thing with notebook, it was basically both have their pros and cons. I like that the digital one I have everything that's programmed in there, it's stored there. However, I liked the physical writing down part, like I find it very spontaneous for me. And in the moment, like I'll just be walking around with a dog and it's like, oh, this would be an awesome thing to do. Let me just jot it down somewhere quickly. So that's step one, just the idea comes spontaneously, at this point of well, what if I tried doing this? Then I test it on the equipment myself. See how weird it is for lack of better wording? Because sometimes I feel like this was the best thing I can describe it. It's like, oh, well, what if I tried doing this? I was like this. This is kind of weird. I don't know how I feel they're neither positive nor negative thoughts just very neutral. And then that's when I dive a little deeper. And it's like, well, what muscles are we working? Where am I feeling this? Are we working on proprioception is this more focus in control? So yes, muscles are still working, but sometimes the essence behind the exercise I pick isn't necessarily to work a muscle, it's going back to that mind body connection. It's the full of something just quickly ran in front of you, how quickly could you stop and center to yourself, which is more of a proprioception thing or going off of that, too, is when I'm walking my dog or anybody that has a dog, or even I've seen people walk their cat. So I would say if you walk any animal you could possibly identify where sometimes they'll just go off in a different direction too. And same thing you need to be able to just catch yourself and be like, No, my dog likes to wnder around my feet. So it's one of those things where it's so that step two, what is it that I want my body to work on? Are we focusing on the tapping your head rubbing your belly thing?
Melissa Milner 25:04
So objectives.
Aly Marie Moniz 25:06
Yeah. pick an objective. And then after that is establishing a baseline, which is that starting point? What could everybody do? And at this point, I haven't thought of a class setting or a group setting. I don't know what body it is. I genuinely say, Well, what if somebody came with their mom, aunt, grandma or child, which hasn't happened? And they come into the Pilates class. So it's like, how do I make this approachable for them? So that way, they're not so intimidated. And where would we start off from there?
Melissa Milner 25:43
Yeah, low floor high ceiling.
Aly Marie Moniz 25:45
Yep, exactly. Really what the next step is from there is, what can I take away? Now that I've we've set a baseline, how do we make this harder. So in terms of footwork, which is basically squats, no matter how you slice and dice it, whether you're sitting on a chair, putting the pedal down, lying down on the carriage pushing that in and out, you are squating, and we're moving our feet in different positions.
Melissa Milner 26:11
They're much easier than real squats.
Aly Marie Moniz 26:15
That's one of the things that sold me on Pilates, because one way to make it harder is you take a foot away, and all of a sudden what are single leg squats, pistol squats. My pistol squat looks so much better on the machines than they do anywhere else. Because of Pilates, they have also gotten exponentially better. But that's the next thing. Like what can I take away? How can I make this a little harder? If I really wanted to make footwork spicy, maybe we lift the hips up a little bit.
Melissa Milner 26:45
What you're talking about is differentiation for your higher learners, your students that are maybe needing a challenge. In your case, it's not that, but it's like an example of you know, the idea of taking something away to make it harder, I think is really cool for classroom teachers. Yeah.
Aly Marie Moniz 27:03
It is, but actually there are a lot of different exercises where the intention is it's like, okay, if this is too easy for someone and they are more advanced, how do we make it harder kind of a deal? Well, one way is, a next thing is, now that we've introduced the straps and Pilatesland. Hands can also go into the stacks, it feels much more natural. For when the hands are in the straps, we can add ab work to it. And then you can add a chest lift, which is just the crunch, upper abs, lower abs would be your legs.
Melissa Milner 27:38
And trust me, it makes it harder,
Aly Marie Moniz 27:41
So much harder. The best way to describe Pilates is if you've never seen it any walk past a studio and you look inside, you're like, Oh, that looks really easy because it does like it's just like, Oh, you're just gonna bring your arms down, you're just gonna add your chest. Yeah, it's very slowly, which is also part of the programming is how do I get you as a body in your flow state while working these muscles and moving through the different parts of the machine. And another part that's important in Pilates, aside from the core is moving your spine in all of these different directions like there's a checklist of did we forward fold? Did you do some back bends? How about some twisting and some sides? And did I do at least one exercise where we tried to move your spine in two different directions at once. That's a challenge for everyone. But that's how you progress along Pilates, because then the more advanced exercises, it's no longer two different directions. It's three different directions. And so how you get your spine to feel limber like a leaf or the wind going through the branches, if you will.
Melissa Milner 28:50
Yeah.
Aly Marie Moniz 28:50
So it is, it's a lot of building up from there. And that's when the next step is. It's the lingering, and I stopped when I look at the bodies, and it looks like they've had enough. When I'm programming, the layers never stop. Like I'm always thinking, Well, what if I did this? What am I what if I do that? It does go or it gets to a point where you're honoring more you really advanced learner because it's getting into more control or focus land. But so once I now we're at the point where I've gotten the idea and tested it out, I created my layers or my cluster, if you will, how is it going to progress if I decide to teach it in a class setting? Then the next step is can the bodies do it? What bodies would be able to do it? What would be the right setting for it? So the next step is then I pull up the class setting. I see what families are in there.
Melissa Milner 29:49
You know some of them because they come back. Right?
Aly Marie Moniz 29:51
Exactly. So if they come back and they tell me what their goals are, then it's I pick the clusters on that like okay, collectively this is what the bodies can do, this person's got lower back issues, nine out of 10 people suffer from lower back issues. So if we do a little bit more to the lower back, everyone's gonna benefit from them. Yeah, this person wants to work on posture, everyone can benefit from possibly a little bit. So we're gonna throw that in there. And I like to make sure we hit the body. So there's some arms, there's some abs, and there are some like very defined arms, abs, and legs.
Melissa Milner 30:30
So would you say you come into a class very well prepared?
Aly Marie Moniz 30:34
Yes, I've done a lot of prep work beforehand, I do have my notebook. Sometimes I need to pull out my notebook, when I'm teaching a class, especially if I've come up with a new flow. But yeah, there's a lot of prep work that goes into a class, I see it more like a presentation. When I was back in school, like you do all this work of preparation, and then you create your PowerPoint, and then the class setting is like, this is my PowerPoint.
Melissa Milner 31:00
Right. But you also I've observed it are very flexible. So for instance, you know, you might have been programming and then you realize, you know, someone's joining the class, who's a Pilates instructor herself. I mean, you're, you know, you might shift things, you might change things up a little bit, knowing that or give, give the general like, I noticed, because I took my first actual actual class on Monday, I noticed you give the general directions. And then you say, if you want to duh duh duh or if you want to blah, blah, blah, you give it after the general, which I noticed, that was a good way of doing that. And you could do that with kid, you know, with students, too.
Aly Marie Moniz 31:40
Thank you. That was something I got from teacher training. So I went through to Pilates teacher training programs. One because I just had a very heavy moment of self doubt, where I was like, Am I doing this right? Like, am I missing something? So I had a just big impostor syndrome moment where it's like, I need to kind of nip this in the bud. So I enrolled in a second teacher training program, for confidence reasons. In that teacher training program was completely different. Looking back on hindsight, now, it's, it made my education more complete, because it added studies and one of the studies was specifically on motor learning, or what are the best methods to have your body learn how to do things movement wise, and one of them was what you said to give them choice. So one way I like to give choice is just like that, like, if you want to do this, try this. Actually, my favorite part is when the bodies tell no though, because more often than not, every I know, it may sound funny, but more often than not, because of the workout setting, you are there for me to push you a little bit more. So I see myself as also professional peer pressurer. And but I think that all movement instructors, were professional peer pressurers not in a bad way. But that's what you're coming to us for. Just to push you a little bit more.
Melissa Milner 33:09
Again, that with any teaching.
Aly Marie Moniz 33:11
Yeah. So there. So I like it when the body's telling me no, because I also see this as a collaboration like, Yes, I studied Pilates, I studied how to word this in the best way. So that way, you can hopefully understand what I'm trying to say. It is a very different environment, and the lingo too. There is Pilates vocabulary to also get used to too, so there's a lot happening. So it's one of those where if, if I give you the option of well, do you want to make this harder? And you try it, you're like, No, that's not for me today that's where the collaboration comes in. Or where I see it as a collaboration because you know, your body you know how you feel, you know how you slept, you know what you ate, you know, mentally, physically, emotionally, how you're doing. And all of that impacts your ability to move and what you're able to do, when you show up to the session. I can say that from personal experiences, if you are thinking about anything else, while you are doing Pilates, it will 100% show in your Pilates that you are thinking about something else. And when I noticed that happening, like we just see the face, zone out a little bowls and stuff, okay, we're gonna not take it a little easier. But just take a mental note of mentally this person is not here with me.
Aly Marie Moniz 34:34
So maybe I might need to repeat things a little bit more, maybe go a little bit closer so that way they can keep up with the pace of the class to a point where they're still with us, but they also don't feel left out. That's another part that's also important to take into consideration because oftentimes, at least with a Pilates instructor, I find when you have an open level class, it's your advanced person coming in and then your new person in and how do you make everyone feel like they got a good workout, that they were successful.
Melissa Milner 35:07
Yeah.
Aly Marie Moniz 35:08
And that's when I find, you kind of experienced this on Monday, the basics is where it comes into play the best, because the simpler your moevement, and just taking in a limb or adding a limb, or just the smallest little touches, everyone still gets a good workout.
Melissa Milner 35:28
Yeah.
Aly Marie Moniz 35:29
And then building from there, there are some points where I'm just like, like, let's see how much shenanigans we can do today. And shenanigans for me, I'm saying is like, you have your Pilates exercises. And then you have your things outside of Pilates that Joe didn't create, but you still find in the Pilates setting. I like to do that, to test the different shapes. Also, an important part of my programming, and I didn't mention it when I was going through my flow, but also when I'm picking out the setting, and I'm giving the options is how do I help my body meet health guidelines by the American College of giving ACSM American College of Sports Medicine, which for me, is two strength training sessions with either 150 minutes of moderate cardio or 75 minutes of high intensity the HIIT cardio, Orange Theory like, if you will per week. Pilates is the strength training part of that.
Melissa Milner 36:31
Oh, I sweat cuz you're doing stuff and you don't stop for 45 minutes.
Aly Marie Moniz 36:37
Also, like Sarah had mentioned, I'm a bit more fast paced.
Melissa Milner 36:41
I like that.
Aly Marie Moniz 36:42
Yep, I like that for the cardio reasons. If that's my way of sneaking in. Well, you're here with me for 45 minutes, let's try to work towards that 150 minutes of moderate cardio that you need for the week, or 75 depending on how you choose to go. But yes, that I would say that's one of the most important things for me. And I love that you get a little sweaty that's another thing that gets me excited.
Melissa Milner 37:08
A little!
Aly Marie Moniz 37:12
I see spots on there. It's like, yes.
Melissa Milner 37:14
Thank God, we wiped down the machines.
Aly Marie Moniz 37:16
Good news is you're here for a workout, and no one needs to look cute when we're working out.
Melissa Milner 37:23
All right, well, this was amazing. If you were to try to convince teachers that Pilates would be a great thing for them to try. What would you say?
Aly Marie Moniz 37:33
Go for it. Try it. You don't know if they're gonna like something unless you try it. I know that's something I heard a lot as I was a kid, whenever there were certain foods they didn't want to eat. So just go ahead, try it if you like it or not. But it is one of those if you asking that question, the first thing that comes to mind is the quote, Joe has had many of them, but one is in 10 sessions, you'll, you'll notice a new body, in 20 sessions, you'll feel like you have a new body, and in 30 sessions, you'll have a whole new body. So that's just more of well, why do Pilates or why try Pilates? Because there's just something magical about it. And I say magical because no matter how much you try and sit and think it's just like, well, what makes this so special? You can't quite pinpoint what it is like, is it the fact that we took gravity away? Is it these springs? Is it the fact that I can move you in all these different directions? Or is it just because it looks so weird, and just the weirdness of it attracts people to it, like who knows what the reason is, but it does allow you to become stronger, more flexible, definitely more confident and feel like you can handle other stuff that's going on around you.
Melissa Milner 38:54
You know, if someone like me can do it. And I'm not being like self deprecating. I'm just saying I have a lot of physical issues. And I'm able to do it. So I mean, I'm doing it at my, you know, level, but I'm able to do it.
Aly Marie Moniz 39:09
Anybody can do Pilates. It's very safe. And even I've done it with my younger cousins. Like it's safe enough for children to do, especially with the mat work. We don't do all the exercises, because some of them are a little intimidating. But there is one called rolling like a ball. It's exactly how it sounds. You're in a tiny ball, and you're rolling back and forth. That's a crowd pleaser among kids.
Melissa Milner 39:30
Thank you so much. I think this is just another metaphor for teaching. I mean, you are teaching like it's not a metaphor, but it's a different kind of teaching. But a classroom teacher can take away a lot from what you do. Your focus and your discipline and your compassion for the your students like the people who are in front of you at that moment. So, your flexibility. It's awesome.
Aly Marie Moniz 39:55
Thank you. It's an honor to be here speaking to you and I'm grateful that we can have this chat and have the opportunity to share this.
Melissa Milner 40:05
For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As… Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.