Your Healthy Lifestyle

We are each responsible for our own health and happiness. At Clasique, it is our aim to inspire you toward greater awareness in your physical and emotional wellbeing that carries over beyond the brief sessions we spend with you each week. We aim to inspire you to practice your Pilates outside of the studio, to think of your posture and use your core abdominal strength during your daily activities, to take your recommended Chinese Herbal remedies if you need them, practice breathing techniques or qi gong exercises to keep your qi full and flowing, and of course to make conscious decisions when it comes to eating well and managing stresses in your life. Here you will find ideas and inspiration ranging from seasonal recipes to home remedies to help your child with a head cold. Check back often, as content rotates with the seasons and inspiration! 

Pilates works for Everybody, by Brooke Tyler

A consistent Pilates workout (4x/week) makes me feel AWESOME. Awesome qualifies as feeling strong, limber, confident, clear minded, and completely inspired. Pilates is much more than exercise… let me tell you all about it.

Joseph Pilates was a genius when it comes to intelligent, effective, corrective, long-term exercise. I’ve been doing Pilates as a student for 10 years now, and teaching for 8 years. And still… every workout is still extremely challenging, and every single hour I teach is unique and inspiring.

Whether on the mat or the equipment, the Pilates work requires the attention of the mind. Like anything, the quality of the result is determined by the quality of the effort. With such focus, the Pilates work never gets easy… in fact, as you advance in your workout, it only becomes more challenging as the work deepens, the core strengthens, the mind sharpens, and the form gets perfected. Joseph said, “The mind, when housed within a healthful body, possesses a glorious sense of power.”

Although I am a teacher, I know that I am forever a student. This past month I was fortunate enough to be an enthusiastic student and learn from some amazing Classical (Authentic) Pilates instructors, all of whom apprenticed with Romana Kryzanowska (direct protégé of Joseph Pilates, True Pilates NY). Brooke Siler (owner of re:AB Pilates Studio NY & author of The Pilates Body), Dorothee VandeWalle (incredible Master Teacher at Metropolitan Pilates Studio in Seattle, which is the “mothership” of Clasique’s Pilates Teacher Training program), and multiple others inspired my personal workout and my teaching. The Pilates work, as Joe intended it, is without limit and truly effective for all bodies, ages, injuries and abilities.

Personally, I do Pilates at least 4x/week. I am spoiled because I have my “private jungle gym” at the studio, and I truly love to play! But listen closely… a workout is sometimes only 15 minutes of mat exercises. Sometimes a workout is just the ‘100’ and the arm weight series. Often I simply do the ‘stomach series’ and the standing ‘2x4’ work for my core, alignment, and posture. Of course, nothing makes me happier than an advanced Reformer routine, and if you know me well, you know the Wunda Chair is my first love (don’t tell my husband).

Pilates is the foundation that makes me better in everything else I do. When I ride, run, swim, ski, practice yoga, dance at weddings, and toss my daughter in the air… Pilates is my core (pun intended). I want to feel this strong, limber, capable, and balanced, for a long, long time. In addition I have to add, that by continuing with my Pilates post-partum, my body felt as strong as it did pre-baby... only 7 months after baby.

For our entire lives, we must do some sort of physical activity or exercise. Pilates is the foundation that allows me to play and perform in all other venues and arenas. I am passionate about my Pilates workout, and very passionate about yours.

Pilates can be part of your weekly routine, and you will feel awesome. Learn the mat exercises and practice at home, come to our intimate mat classes at the studio, sprinkle in a group equipment class or two for a workout with the resistance of the springs. Dare to try Pilates Chisel classes, which I think of as ‘hardcore playground Pilates.’ Ask me how to incorporate Pilates into your routine… often & affordably. This is the heart of Clasique :: nourishing and inspiring you to feel like your best self.

So this week, maybe try the ‘stomach series’ at home… you might like it!
Look forward to seeing you soon, with “spontaneous zest and pleasure.”

Love, Brooke