Pilates Instructor of the month: Rosa Whitehead

Where do you teach?

London

My teaching tips

I am a body control Pilates teacher, hence my teaching style is breaking the moves down and building them up accordingly for the client.  I see a really big difference in my clients performance, when I get them to focus on one part of an exercise.For example, the arm movements in double leg stretch and just holding the curl up and then adding the legs once they are stable in the curl up position.  I set my clients monthly personal challenges, such as an exercise that they couldn't do, or to increase more mobility in a certain area.  They fill out a monitoring wheel each month which scales from 1-10 (10 being the optimum) of how they feel in their body and mind.  The scales I use might include stress levels, body tone and definition, body confidence, mobility etc.  If you want a example or a sheet emailed please feel free to email me for your copy rosa@pilatespluswellness.com

Coming from a personal training background I find a lot of the clients that I teach want to work really hard.   Changing the clients mindset that feeling the burn isn't always going to give you the best results, I have found sometimes necessary.  I teach my clients to enjoy and be happy with where they are now.   Enjoy the journey of improvement and to accept and trust there will be great results in body and mind by making your Pilates practise part of their daily routine. Even if its five minutes a day or standing at the bus stop.   I have found structure and routine in classes, with a bit of variety is really good as it helps clients see their progress.  I also think using really good music is important as music is really uplifting and people connect and feel through music.  If you use a regular song for a different part of the class, it also helps clients remember the exercises and routines.  

I always tell my clients your thoughts effect your emotions which effect the actions you take and the results you get.  So if they are not feeling like exercising one day, think about how you will feel once you've done it and what you want to achieve in your body.   Keeping clients inspired and helping them tune in to their body and mind by giving them a different focus each week aids their concentration and keeps things interesting for them. 

Energy breeds energy so the most important thing is to make sure you look after yourself and make time for you.  Think about how your energy is impacting the clients.  I always think about what can I do and say to make my clients walk out of the room feeling absolutely amazing and relaxed but energised.  I always do a 5-10 min relaxation session at the end of each class and bring their awareness to how they feel at the end of the class and how they felt at the beginning.  We tune in to the usual letting go and relaxing.  I use a visualisation exercise of imagine there is a bright light that enters from the head,through the body and relaxes each part of you as it runs down to the feet.  Or get clients to actually say in their mind Let go.  So as they breath in they say " Let" and as they breath out "go" so it gives focus.  Or they can focus between the eyebrows, the area for intuition. Or to visualise a candle burning.

Favourite Exercise and reason why

I really love the combination of chalk circles with hip rolls.  My clients love this too as it stretches every part of your upper body and it is also a really nice exercise to experience the flow Pilates offers and the breathing for relaxation and release.  We start with feet together and arms out to the sides, in line with your shoulders.  Breath in to prepare and breath out to hip roll over to the right, keeping the shoulders grounded.  When you can't keep the shoulders grounded anymore, follow the movement with the left arm coming down past the hips until you are laying on your left side with your arms in front of you, to continue the movement into chalk circles. Breath in as the left arm comes up level with the ear and breath out as you circle the arm and ribcage until you are back to start position.  Alternate sides in a flowing movement.

In a nutshell, tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience in the industry

I gave up my full time career as a Radiographer five years ago to do what I am passionate about, which is health and fitness.  I am now running my own PilatesPlusWellness business which I am building to provide Pilates/personal training and health and wellness coaching; to help my clients in their body and mind and to help them feel and look the best they can.  I am also running my Pilates retreats in Turkey for the first year.

I suffered an injury to my upper back and Pilates played a huge part in my recovery.  It has also changed my body shape and tone in a way that no amount of weight training and exhausting myself at the gym could give me.

I originally became a personal trainer and did freelance work at Fitness First.  I wanted to understand and help my clients further so I decided to train with Body Control Pilates.  Fitness First gave me the opportunity of doing Pilates demonstrations at the vitality show.  This proved very successful and I met the hotel owner where I now run my retreats in Turkey. Details of which are all on my website.  www.pilatespluswellness.com I also had the opportunity to feature in zest magazine for their body confidence issue.  

I went on to doing a internationally accredited life coaching course and I now combine and build on all three areas.  I am currently doing Reps level 4 low back pain, GP Referral course in Pilates, for the back 4 good body control Pilates campaign.

Many of my clients are mothers or mothers to be so I specialise in pregnancy pre and post natal.  I find it so rewarding taking these classes and love to be able to help the ladies in a way the is much appreciated and effective in such a big way for them.

I am so glad I took the leap of faith and went for what is my passion and purpose.  My Radiography career has served me well and I draw from the medical and technical knowledge I have.  Week by week I am challenged and growing.  It has been the hardest I have ever worked but also the best and most rewarding time for me.  I love being my won boss and I sieze every opportunity given to me.  Each week I am learning and growing and I think the key is to help each other to learn and grow.  We in turn can help our clients develop further and build on the legacy, Joseph Pilates has left.

Do you have a motto or mission statement?

Each day in every way I will strive to help and empower people in both body and mind.  It makes me feel really good to help others feel better and see their confidence increase or their movement improve.  I really love the coaching I do and I incorporate this in the relaxation part or in the terminology that I use.  Neuro-linguistic programming was part of my life coaching course and it is something that has greatly changed my delivery in how I teach and also the results I help clients get. This is really rewarding and I highly recommend it. www.thekerslakecompany.com

Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

My absolute dream is to have a studio outside of London and by the beach would be great.  I want to have Pilates teachers, personal training and also hypnotherapy and meditation provided in my centre. 

I would love to have some DVD's produced from my retreats to help inspire and give clients the feel good factor, especially if the weather isn't so good in the UK!  I would like to expand the retreats and hire teachers to teach a set format that I produce for clients to follow.

Hypnotherapy is something I really want to do along side Pilates.  I am focusing 100% on my Pilates and getting that running really well and learning as much about business as I can.  Everything is a work in progress.  I have leant to enjoy the journey and to tak my time.  I think it is important to acknowledge your successes day by day, no matter how big or small.  Aim for the stars and if you hit the moon you are doing well.  Persistence pays and I make sure I take action on one thing a day to get me towards my dream goal.