Introduction to Pilates Mat Workshop

(8 hours over 4 sessions; enrollment limited to 12 participants)

Instructor:  Sally Leabhart (see further information below)

Where:

Studio M in the Packing House in the Claremont Village. 

548 West First Street.  Main Floor.

When:

March 1 (Tues.):  7:30-9:30 p.m.

March 3 (Thurs.): 6:30-8:30 p.m.

March 5 (Sat. ):   4:30-6:30 p.m.

March 6 (Sun.):   1:00-3:00 p.m.

Price: $140

$160 the day of the workshop (if space available), students w/I.D. $120

$60 deposit required, non-refundable

What will this workshop cover?

In this 8-hour workshop, we will learn the Introductory Pilates Mat repertoire (the Hundred; Roll Up; Tree/Single Leg Circle; Rolling Like a Ball; Spine Stretch) with an emphasis on the fundamental skills developed in each exercise.  We'll experience what it is to enlist a dynamic core support that allows us to move without bracing, hanging, leaning, gripping or levering.  Exercises from other movement modalities will inform our exploration of the Pilates matwork: Feldenkrais, Klein Technique, Eve Gentry exercises, Kathy Grant exercises, etc.

How to sign up:

Please contact Maria Bernhard at Studio M (http://pilatesstudiom.com):

email: m@pilatesstudiom.com

phone: (909) 625-3333

mobile: (323) 632-2386

What is Pilates?

The Pilates method is a movement study with a large repertoire--hundreds of exercises--developed over a period of 60 years by German born athlete and physical therapy pioneer, Joseph H. Pilates (1880-1967). The method includes work on specialized equipment, designed by Joseph Pilates, as well as the matwork which we will begin to learn in this workshop. Joseph's Pilates thought was to guide people in the direction of what he called "uniform development."

The method:

•changes one's movement patterns, leading towards a more harmonious and efficient "organization"--a better relationship to gravity;

•works simultaneously on strength and flexibillity;

•teaches one to move from "the core"--an integrating line of pull traveling up through the body which enlists, among others, the intrinsic or deep muscles;

•requires an awareness, a thoughtfulness--being "in the moment";

•teaches one to release certain held areas. In the performance of the exercises, dynamic core support replaces leaning, holding, gripping, compensating, etc.;

•leads us to develop a fuller range of motion through the spine as well as the other joints--shoulders, hip joints, etc.;

•allows one to feel "dynamically supported."

The Instructor:

Sally Leabhart is a graduate of the year-long teacher training program of The Pilates Center in Boulder, Colorado (www.thepilatescenter.com).  She teaches private lessons at all levels, using all of the equipment (and including matwork) in her Claremont studio: www.claremontpilates.com.  She has been a regular guest teacher twice a year in Paris at Core Body Pilates (www.corebodypilates.com) and recently did some guest teaching in Istanbul.  She has given the Introductory Mat workshop in various venues including the dance department at Pomona College and will be a guest teacher there again for 6 sessions this April in Meg Jolley's course in Somatics.

Sally continues to studiy privately each week with Amy Lange in Encinitas and is currently enrolled in the Masters Program--a continuing education program--of The Pilates Center (Boulder).

Sally, who graduated from Rutgers University, holds a Ph.D. in French literature from the University of Southern California and taught for 20 years in the Department of Romance Languages at Pomona College.

From late adolescence and for a period of about 20 years, she studied ballet beginning with four years at the School of the Pennsylvania Ballet with teachers that included Richard Thomas, Barbara Sandonato, and Edward Caton. In subsequent years, she studied with Lance Westergard, Glenn White and Stanley Holden. She has taught in the Dance Departments at Ohio State University, at Scripps College and at Pomona College.

Further information:

Please visit Sally's website for further information, including her F.A.Q. page: http://www.claremontpilates.com/Claremont_Pilates/F.A.Q..html