  | Julia Bozzolo How long were you practicing Pilates before enrolling in the Teacher Training Program?Three years. I started coming to the studio in mid-2019 and immediately started a twice weekly practice: 1 mat class and 1 private session. Luckily, I got a solid amount of in-person instruction in before everything went online in 2020. What inspired you to become a teacher?Honestly, it wasn’t something I had ever considered doing until the Great Streets Grant scholarship for teacher training was brought to my attention. A conversation with Lesa convinced me that the year of training would greatly advance my own practice and I was curious to learn about Pilates in more depth. After 250 hours of teaching throughout the year of training, I really grew to appreciate how fulfilling and invigorating it can be to work with clients and I decided to continue teaching after completing the program. How has teaching enhanced your practice?Seeing precise movement in others and cuing body awareness has become part of what I think about now when practicing on my own. Also, talking with clients about what their bodies need and thinking through session design to accommodate them while keeping them moving and growing has changed how I approach my own sessions. But I think the main change has been that I’m generally kinder to myself when I feel disorganized in my body and like I’m not moving well. What do you feel is your teaching expertise? It doesn’t feel right to say yet that I have expertise, but I’ve continue to study anatomy and have a growing strength in movement analysis. I find it is helpful to be able to speak to clients about which muscles are working and how we can target them to meet the purpose of individual exercises. |
