Shelly Power teaches nationally and internationally for Polestar, administers exams, conducts Pilates workshops and Polestar Mentor and Educator trainings worldwide. She is a frequent presenter at international fitness and Pilates conferences. Shelly brings a unique and fresh approach to the work of Joseph Pilates. Shelly has taught for Polestar Pilates since its inception in 1992. Since then she’s taught thousands of teachers around the world so she’s well positioned to share what makes the world’s best Pilates teachers. What The Client Needs vs. What The Client Wants  I love being a Pil ..read more

How would you describe your presence while you’re teaching Pilates? Cheerful, affectionate, grounded, powerful, indulgent? I always find it amazing that two Pilates teachers can lead the same exercise, using similar cues, yet one of them leaves you feeling great and the other falls flat. This is the nuance that presence brings to a session. As a teacher trainer, one of my biggest goals is to equip students with the tools necessary to not only teach a safe, enjoyable, and thoughtful class but to also cultivate their presence. How do we do that? Is this even measurable? Below I offer some tips a ..read more

“You can’t get away from it, a few remedial exercises must be done daily if you care two pins about having a twenty-year-old figure at fifty.” Of course, they must be the right exercises; so in Part 2 of this interview, you’ll find the best remedial exercises hand-picked by Joe Pilates for a youthful spine. Editor’s Note: Remember when you’re reading, these are his actual quotes from 1934, the culture has changed a bit! Joe’s Pre-Exercise Advice Joe warns that these exercises must be properly executed. That is, correctly and with great energy, not the mere airy imitation of a series of motions ..read more

This rare interview with Joseph Pilates was written by Marie Beynon Ray for The National Weekly’s August edition 1934. Discover rare insights about the man who started the movement revolution we embrace today, and how much (or little) has changed when it comes to self perception, body image and the science of moving. Have You Ever Seen A Person Grow Young Again? I met an acquaintance the other day whom I hadn’t seen for two years; almost passed her by because she’d grown – not so much older, but so much younger.  Did she have a facelift? Some funny gland treatment? Perhaps she fell in lo ..read more

Joseph Pilates is quoted as saying “you are only as young as your spine is flexible”. Imagine the spine as if it has the mobility of a slinky and the pliability of plasticine. At the centre of our core unit, if the structure of the spine becomes compromised so too does the wellness of our entire body. Let’s examine how and to move your spine and feel the smile within. The 7 cervical vertebrae in the neck have an amazing amount of movement availability but require good alignment to ensure there is a decent muscular balance front to back. The way we carry our head neck and shoulders determines h ..read more

I love the Pilates Roll Up as an exercise. It may be I love it because I can do it, because I know a lot of clients who hate it, because they can’t do it. Good thing our job as instructors is taking people who can’t do something and give them all the skills and strengths to be able to do it. So, when it comes to the Pilates Roll Up, why can’t people do it? It’s a question that I hear a lot from student teachers. “My client can’t do a Roll Up, what should I do with them?” As I have said before, these questions are really loaded, and difficult to answer without a body in front of you. If you don ..read more

With so much pressure on women to be back to normal after the birth of their baby, we are seeing an increase in the number of postpartum considerations occurring in women. These include prolapse, incontinence and pain. Having a baby via vaginal delivery or C section should be treated more like major surgery instead of something we bounce back from in six weeks. This is not to say that women should not be exercising, but rather considering the tissue changes that occur in pregnancy and having a specific plan to return to the activities they wish to do. Women are commonly told to do what they wa ..read more

Four years after the birth of my second child I was eventually diagnosed with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Disease. It was a long journey to get the diagnosis, as although I felt very unwell, I was regularly advised that there wasn’t anything wrong with me. So, I just presumed all my symptoms were related to being a busy mum who ran a business. The symptoms I was experiencing: Lethargy / Fatigue Weight gain and fluid retention Depression / Low mood Sleep disturbance Breathlessness Dry skin Poor concentration Muscle pain and weakness Decreased libido Menstrual changes Other symptoms that pe ..read more

There are many ways in which we can guide our clients through movement. We can use a vast variety of verbal and tactile cues to help them change their movement habits and master increasingly complex challenges.  But how often do clients tell us that unless we put our hands on them to guide them in the right direction, they are unable to replicate the experience? And how often do they say, after a complex piece of work, that there is so much, or too much to think about and that they have to concentrate so very hard to coordinate everything? While feedback like that is common we should cons ..read more

Improve your Pilates sessions with these daily Pilates rituals Wondering how you can boost your Pilates workouts with summer around the corner? Simple daily Pilates rituals may be one way. Daily Pilates Rituals This year I came to a realisation that small daily rituals can go a long way to making improvements to your life. I changed my thinking from ‘have to do’ and it being a burden to a ritual that I enjoyed as an act of self love. The effects on the mind body and soul were revolutionary. With longer daylight hours, beach weather upon us we all might have looming goals we want to achieve tha ..read more