Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Pilates for People Who Think Pilates Doesn't Work | Maura Clifford
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Pilates has a reputation problem. Some people think it’s “just stretching,” others think it’s only for certain bodies, and plenty of strong lifters try one class, feel nothing, and write it off. We sit down with Maura Clifford, an NPCP certified Pilates instructor with 15+ years of experience, former studio owner, and teacher trainer, to explain what Pilates actually does when it’s taught well and practiced long enough to stick.
We talk about Mora’s origin story, from a water skiing back injury and a year of chronic pain to feeling better after a simple once-a-week reformer commitment. From there, we get practical: why Pilates is about training the body as a connected system, how stabilizer muscles protect your joints, and why control and precision can make your strength training, running, and daily movement more efficient. If you care about longevity fitness, posture improvement, and pain prevention, you’ll hear why hip stability and balanced mobility show up again and again.
We also go behind the scenes on coaching and community. Mora breaks down what makes a great instructor, why smaller reformer classes often deliver better results, and how real progress comes from being seen, cued, and corrected. Jeff closes with a “healthy momentum” challenge that goes beyond fitness: build your core four to eight relationships and invest in mentoring so your impact multiplies.
If this conversation helps you rethink your training, subscribe for weekly episodes, share it with a friend who’s skeptical about Pilates, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of your movement do you want to improve next?
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, Jeff Ford. Most people think they understand Pilates, but very few are actually using it in a way that builds real strength, improves posture, and supports long-term performance. Today I'm joined by Mora Clifford, an NPCP certified Pilates instructor with over 15 years of experience. She's a former studio owner and now a teacher trainer, helping develop the next generation of instructors. Today we're going to be breaking down what Pilates actually does, why so many people don't see results, and how to approach your Pilates program in a way that's practical, sustainable, and effective to move you towards your goals. Maura, welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Thanks so much, Jeff. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. I'm a total geek when it comes to Pilates, so I love talking about. So thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Well, I know it's going to be a riveting conversation. I almost thought about having Kendra Till, our Pilates guru here at Palmetto Bluff, sit in. But I I was so excited about this that I was like, you know what? I I can handle this. I can I I know not very much about Pilates, and we haven't spoken about it in some time in our episodes. So I'm excited to dive in with you today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you so much.
From Water Skiing To Back Pain
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're very welcome. So let's kick things off with your story. How did you end up in the field of Pilates?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was completely by accident. So it was probably almost 20 years ago now. Um, I had had my last child, uh, I was about six months postpartum, and um I was water skiing, so I'm a slalom water skier. I have um four brothers, so we're rather competitive. And I was like, I'm I'm gonna go and I'm gonna get up and ski.
SPEAKER_00Did you grow up on a lake?
SPEAKER_02We did not. So we used to go to the Adirondack Mountains every year, still do. So it's been 50 years of going there, and my whole family goes and we water ski and campfire and hike, and it's awesome.
SPEAKER_00It's outdoor environments like that are just they're just epic. And and I connect to you a lot because I grew up learning to water ski as well and solemn skiing myself.
SPEAKER_02It's such a gift, it's such a gift to my kids because there was no, for a long time, there was no internet connection. So we would just completely disconnect and really reconnect to one another in that way. So yeah, really special.
SPEAKER_00Those were the days with not being able to connect in certain certain areas of the country.
SPEAKER_02Totally.
SPEAKER_00We'll go on. So you started water skiing, you got in the groove with solemn skiing. What happened from there?
SPEAKER_02So I had trouble getting out of the water. So it took me several times to actually get up and um mostly now looking back, realizing it was a lack of probably core strength, and um threw my back out. And so I had chronic back pain for about a year to the point of like getting out of bed. I had to figure out which side of the bed to get out, where to swing my legs, etc. And it gave me a real appreciation for people that live with chronic pain. So that was sort of the first thing. And then my friend who later became my business partner, um, she said, you know, I heard this Pilates thing is supposed to be great for backs. Yeah. So why don't we do that? And I'm like, I was one of those people that did, you know, like um boot camps and like really hard.
SPEAKER_00You were doing more of the high repetition, high intensity stuff, and that was your fitness focus. Completely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so we did. So we we had to sign up for a 12-week program. We went once a week. And after a year of chronic back pain, about six to eight weeks in, I felt amazing.
SPEAKER_00Wow. How consistently were you going?
SPEAKER_02You know, just once a week.
SPEAKER_00It was only once a week.
SPEAKER_02Once a week.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And we were on Reformer, and it just really taught me. Like the first time I went, I'm like, all this laying around like this doesn't, what is this doing?
SPEAKER_00You know, a lot of our listeners will relate to that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, this is this can't be doing anything. Like, I can't believe I spent this money, uh, you know. Um, but really within that eight-week period, I could move better. I was pain-free, and I realized I needed that tool in my toolbox.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, and so it was life-changing. It was really life-changing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what what a shift for you for putting yourself in a different environment that at first you weren't convinced that it was gonna solve anything. Right. And then proof is in the pudding, six to eight week, eight weeks later of consistency, the body starts to regroup, learns to stabilize. And I'm so excited for you to share how that happens and what Pilates can do for people who aren't familiar.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I think that, you know, we have this, we want instant relief, we want instant results. And Pilates isn't that. It is something that you have to commit to, even if it's just once a week. And over time, it really teaches the body to move in a really efficient, fluid way. And um, and to me, that's what Pilates is all about is looking at the body and the muscles in a in a s as a system versus I want to make my quads bigger, I want to have great biceps. It's more like how do the triceps and biceps work together to create a stable environment for that arm versus one, you know, having a massive, really great-looking bicep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well said. Instead of focusing on a specific muscle group that we want to look a certain way, looking at the body uh as a systems of systems and and how we train that will translate to how good we feel, most importantly.
SPEAKER_02100%, 100%. And there's a there's a model, it's called a tensegrity. And so it's um it's about creating balance in our bodies. So there's um there's an artist who does these sculptures and they're just rods and cables, and they, because they're under tension, they create a form. And our bodies are very similar, you know, we need tension to create so that we can stand. But if a muscle is pulling too far in one direction and the other muscle that's supposed to meet that force is weak, the body starts to be pulled out of balance. And so I see our job as Pilates instructors to help bring that body back into balance.
SPEAKER_00Back in balance. Maybe that's why there's the brand out there body.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right, that's right. Yeah, it's all making sense to me now more. 100%. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, when people hear Pilates, I I always feel like there's a lot of uh misconception about it. So what do we usually get wrong? And what does Pilates actually do for someone's body?
SPEAKER_02I think there's a lot of misconceptions. I think people think that it's just for women, that it's a and it was actually developed by a man for men.
SPEAKER_00Joseph Pilates.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah, Joe Pilates. So originally it was called Contrology, was his first name for it. Um so I think that's one misnomer. Um, and I think people also think that it's only for flexible individuals. Um but it actually like a muscle can be too flexible and a muscle can be too tight. But if we get that perfect balance of a flexible, strong muscle, we get stability in the body. And so that's really what we're looking for. So it's really for all bodies, not just a certain type of person or body.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Every single person out there needs to find their sweet spot so that the body can be stable.
SPEAKER_02100%. 100%.
SPEAKER_00I feel a lot of the time, and you kind of alluded to it in your early goings with Pilates, that there's this need that I have to get results. Anything that I do in my fitness program better drive results.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Why do so many people try Pilates and feel like it didn't work for them?
SPEAKER_02I don't think they give it time, you know, and that certainly was me. Like if I had just signed up for one class, I would have been like, yeah, this is not my jam, you know. Um, but you gotta commit to it. So I think that give it eight to twelve weeks, even just once a week, and you really will start to feel those results. So I think it's one of those things that the payoff is the commitment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that makes sense to me. Kendra's put me on a reformer machine just a couple of times, and I can feel the instability that I have on the with the tension of the cables and just how I move my body through the sequences. Yes. And it tells me very quickly that this is a skill that I personally need to learn.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's not a skill that you can just show up and be perfect at in the beginning, especially if your body's actually very flexible. Uh using myself as an example, I consider myself hypermobile.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Teaching my body to stabilize is one of the hardest things for me personally.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I think that that's why, you know, Joe Pilates, he opened his studio, his first studio uh near Broadway in New York. And so he got a lot of dancers that came in because he helped them find that stability. You know, they were very like you, hyper mobile, uh, rewarded for that flexibility, but that started to break down their bodies.
SPEAKER_00A lot of injury comes about when you land uh, I don't know, a dance moves very well, but when you spin yourself triple axle, that's probably a figure skating term, and try to land on one foot. For sure. We need our knee to stabilize with the ankle and up to the hip, as you well know.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And I think that that is what Pilates does is it works those little stabilizer muscles and gives a lot of attention to that so that the bigger global muscles can't it helps support the load of the global muscle. You know, if you have a really strong quad and hamstring, but you have a weak hip, um, those, you know, deep six rotators of the hip have to meet that force. And and we don't give a lot of attention to that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what a perfect transition. My bias is strength training as a fitness professional. You know, I look through the lens of major muscle groups, and you got to train the six foundational patterns two to three times a week. It's it's that simple. We we tend to overcomplicate it. Pilates is then a solid combination to those major muscles because we've kind of shifted where we've gotten so functional that we forgot about these stabilizer muscles. And as we were putting together our new program tracks for the new facility, yeah, we believe that a once-a-week reformer session for every single person is a great prescription.
SPEAKER_02I totally agree. I completely agree. And and you don't have to overcomplicate it. It doesn't have to be a three times a week. It it really once a week to give that attention to the precision of, you know, and control of movement, intentional movement, and and what you're doing in that movement can make those other workouts so much more efficient and give you so much more strength because you're not leaning on your biases, you know, like some people have really strong glutes, and so that becomes their bias. Some people have very weak glutes and they tend to overuse something called your QL muscle in your back versus your glute. And Pilates focuses on all of those little idiosyncrasies so that your other stuff becomes so much more efficient. You move with more ease, it's great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, firing all the right muscles at the same time, regardless of if it's a prime mover or a secondary mover.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00How should someone think about Pilates alongside traditional strength training?
SPEAKER_02I think we kind of touched on it. You know, I think that that it's a tool in your toolbox. You know, I always say to people, you know, when you're building something, a hammer is not going to work for everything. You need a screwdriver sometimes. And Pilates is that, I think. It's it's the the way to help bring balance to the body so that you get more efficiency out of your out of anything, really. It doesn't have to be, you know, weight training. It could be running, and you run with so much more ease. 100%. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, with with Pilates, I always look at it, at least with the reformer, and I'm not very experienced on the reformer, but the ability to do anti-rotational work and stabilize your spine in these various positions using the apparatus just changes the game. You can't get that in a functional training environment. You can by slowing things down, but it's not the same with the various resistance pulling from different directions and the angles of your body.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And I think it works eccentric and concentric contraction with the same amount of attention. So you really are looking at both instead of just one. You know, directionally, we tend to, you guys are really good at this, but you know, working at that concentric, like what is that concentric?
SPEAKER_00The upward phase of say a bicep curl.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Versus like when you do that, what's happening on the other side is just as important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right on. Now, many of our members are focused on longevity and performance. And uh we see lots of participation in in the programs that we offer here at the Bluff. We we want to combine Pilates reformer and just Pilates training in general with with strength training. But when it comes to like longevity in 10 years, 20 years from now, what's your take on how Pilates fits in?
Longevity Starts With Hip Stability
SPEAKER_02You know, I have I've worked with professional athletes all the way up to 90-year-old people. And Pilates is the same for that professional athlete at it as it is for the 90-year-old. We just try to make it different all the time. We do. We try, we do exactly. And uh, you know, the the we all want to move with ease. We want to, you know, that 90-year-old wants to be able to sit down on the floor with the grandchildren. And and the professional athlete might have deep, um, tense muscle that needs to relax a little bit so he can pivot on the football field through his hips versus you know pulling through his knees. And so it's the same for everybody. Um Plotties doesn't change to meet that. Um and I think that to me, I think hip stability, I'm a total believer in you need strong hip and flexible. So those two things have to meet to have a good stable joint. But um so balance is a huge part of that in in all populations, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I think you're making the linkage to falls and our stability unilaterally, uh, you know, being on one side of the body at a time. And I'm glad you brought up hips because we do a lot of mobility screenings here. And I can nine times out of ten guess that most people are gonna be missing hip external rotation, classic one, uh, because of lifestyle errors, too much sitting.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Uh, and then lacking hip extension, like the the hip flexors just don't like to open up. I I I joke when I watch people walk, they're they're in a constant shopping cart position.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah. And then you think like then you come in and you do your workout and you go to do a lunge or a squat and we overcompensate with our back position to to make us feel like we're more mobile when that's not really what's happening. Um, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's interesting because when we can personally understand this systems approach as as you've described, take a step back, figure out what mobility our each of our unique bodies need, and then learn which parts connectively need to stabilize better, then then we can almost take that step back to to take three or four more steps forward in in the overall training that we're doing.
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_00You've trained a lot of instructors.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I get juiced up on how to help instructors become not just better instructors, but better humans. It's what excites me most these days because we all know when we started leading someone in reformer classes or leading uh a group of 20 people through a functional training routine, it's it takes repetitions, it takes time. So I'm wondering with your experience, what separates a great instructor from an average one?
SPEAKER_02You know, I think the obvious answers are you need to know your anatomy. I think it's really important to know your why. So in each exercise, what's the goal? What's what are you trying to do behind it? Um, there's a lot of Instagram out there right now, and a lot of like people want to, you know, do these flashy moves, and and that's all good, especially when it comes to Pilates, but there has to be a purpose behind it. Um, but I think the thing that makes the best instructors are that they're lifelong learners themselves, that they really like live it and and they continue to practice it themselves. When I do my training, we kind of have a an approach where you you observe someone else teaching. So you get that knowledge and listen to the voice and and then you do your own practice, so you feel it in your own body, and then you practice teaching. And I think those things make great instructors because you know how it feels in your own self, you know how it resonates with you when you do your own practice, and then you gotta find your own voice. You know, you can fake it till you make it for a while, but you have to be your true self. And there'll be people that don't like you that they're like, you know what, that's not my flavor, and that's okay. Like, not every single person is gonna want that approach, but everybody finds their individual person, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I'm I'm picking up what you're putting down here. There's an authenticity that instructors need to have. I think younger instructors try to be what they see, and you've nailed it with finding your voice, yeah, finding how you're gonna command is a strong word, but how you're gonna take charge of that environment in your way. And um, that can be hard because we all have mentors, we're like, wow, they do such a great job of finding your voice and knowing how to walk a group of people through a similar routine in the way that's best for you is is a game changer.
SPEAKER_02It is, and I think you guys do an excellent job of this too, where you have to let the person be in charge of their own workout. Yeah. You know, so they have to, and you give options and levels to to how where people want to be on a specific day, you know, like you can you can do a burpee this way, you can hold plank if that's where you're at today. And I think it's important that an instructor allows the person they're instructing to have the buy-in as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for them to have the control of the modifications, the scalability of the workout. Yeah, I think for so long in fitness, it was like, here's what we're doing, you better do it. Yes. And if you don't, I kind of have more of that, why aren't you doing it? Yeah kind of approach. And I'm so glad that you noticed that. And I I do want to take pause again where great instructors are living what they teach.
SPEAKER_02100%.
SPEAKER_00And I think it's the number one trait that we look for. You know, if if you're not passionate about living life on your terms, like we want to allow our members to live life on their terms, then you you're not a right fit for this team.
SPEAKER_02No, I agreed. And you can feel that in your team. You really can.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you so much. I appreciate that. And I uh I am very on board with everything you're sharing today. What do you enjoy most about training instructors?
SPEAKER_02Uh, you know, I love to see the progression. Like when they first come in, they're nervous, they're uncertain, they're not sure if they've picked the right path, it's an investment. Um, and to watch them grow and um and at the end really do that commanding of the room and really feel confident in their teaching. And I I personally think Pilates is life-changing. So the more people that I can get out there to have that message and do it in an authentic, real, well educated way is great.
SPEAKER_00It's like the trickle effect of your legacy and what's sparked in you through other people.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Longevity without burnout is a big thing. There, we have a lot of I say this probably every other podcast. I feel like we Of a lot of people doing too much sometimes and not striking the right mix of what their body needs. So, what does a realistic, sustainable approach for the Pilates user look like when it comes to building strength and moving well long term?
SPEAKER_02You know, uh there's that saying of um, don't let great get in the way of good, you know, like this idea that you're you know I always laugh. New Year's comes around and everybody's in the gym, right? So everybody's like, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna achieve this in the next six weeks. And it's really the person that's just there once a week or twice a week, every week with that intentionality um that will achieve that.
SPEAKER_00Be consistent. Be consistent. That's simple.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now for the rest of our time, I'd love to dig in on lessons that you that you've learned. Humility is a big thing for me. I think I've always learned the most from my failures and then from various situations. And you owned a studio for 15 years. I did. So you you know what it's like to lead programs and to lead classes and to operate a business at the same time. After 15 years of owning a studio, I I can imagine you've seen it all. What's one of the craziest or most memorable moments that stands out to you?
SPEAKER_02You know, I this might be trite, but when COVID hit, to be told that we had to shut down was a huge thing, but there was such a gift in that because we pivoted and we did what a lot of studios did, which we turned online. And it was crazy. We had no idea what we were doing. You know, we there were two of us. So one guy was doing the Zoom and trying to get everybody in. And but it gave me this lesson of how important community is, and that showing up for each other, even though we had to do it in that remote way, um, was powerful in and of itself of that practice of supporting each other through movement and that movement is a mental game changer as well. You know, and um, and I think we thought, oh, maybe no one's ever gonna come back to the studio. You know, like everybody's gonna want to work out at home. And uh, and the minute people could start to come back, it was like flipped. It opened up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we experienced the same thing at at our wellness retreat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Where we were as occupied as we had ever been for that need for community and being around others.
SPEAKER_02So this, and this is another thing that I think you guys do so well here, is that community piece is so important. Um, and you do such a good job of reinforcing that with us.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, I know everybody on the team is committed to uh caring about every person who walks into the studio and and we want every single member at Palmetto Bluff within reason. We don't want too many big weightless, right? Um, but we want them involved in some way of taking care of their bodies because this beautiful property, the opportunity to live an active life still here is is such a blessing. And we we want this feeling for everyone to not have back pain when they're 90. Right. Like you said earlier.
SPEAKER_02I mean, to live a life pain-free, I that was such a lesson to me of chronic pain is is so depressing. It's so tough to work through. And so instead of rehabbing our bodies, we're actually like preventing injury with Pilates. And and that's that tool that we need, you know, to not bypass the need to care for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we got to use the screwdriver and the hammer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 100%.
Best Way To Start Pilates
SPEAKER_00How has your approach transitioned or changed over the last 15 years?
SPEAKER_02You know, I was definitely one of those people that thought a workout's not a workout unless I'm dripping with sweat, sore the next day. Burned seven million calories. Yeah, exactly. Like otherwise it didn't count. Um and as I've aged and as I've educated myself, especially through Pilates, I realize the importance of scaling it back, being mindful of that stability, that flexibility, meeting strength. Um and and like we eat, you know, nutrition, we look at, we need all these sources of nutrition, right? So when we work out, it's the same. Our bodies need various different kinds of workouts to help create that balance. Wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Macronutrients, micronutrients. We've got to address it all.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I could keep going here. I've enjoyed this so much more. We're we're at that time where uh I'm excited to have you give some tactical advice to those who have taken the time to tune in today. Best place to start if someone's new to Pilates.
SPEAKER_02I would say take a private session. Um, I think the investment in, you know, I always said in our studio that private sessions are for learning and classes for practicing what you've learned. And you'll get so much more out of those classes if you just take a few private sessions to really sink in and learn what Pilates is all about. And you guys have that here. Like we're so blessed that we have that right in our backyard.
SPEAKER_00And I'm so excited for our new reformer studio that should be live here in less than a month.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_00And uh, I just think it's gonna allow us to take take the experience to a different level, having that privacy. And then uh we this is something I meant to bring up earlier in the conversation, but we can go there now. I'm not a huge fan of these super big reformer classes, and I'm not trying to put down franchises out there, but I believe this like six to eight intimacy is really helpful and it's sort of the direction we want to go. What's your kind of thoughts on that? It it probably comes more down to the instructor and the ability to manage a group of 10 or more.
SPEAKER_02It does to a certain extent, but I really feel like I always say this that you can go and get a a cheeseburger and and be like, oh, I just had a meal, right? Or you can go and have a really nice, you know, steak dinner at some high-end restaurant and and you spend time and patience and really like enjoy that experience. I think you can go to these bigger places and do Pilates and you will get that out of it. But I think those smaller settings, you get more attention from the instructor, you get more um just better experience out of it. And so, so if all you can do is go big box because that's where you're at, I I support it, like do that. But I to go back, I think we are so blessed to have a place where there's only four, six, eight reformers and a teacher really giving us very specific and um really quality attention.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and shout out to Kendra Till. She really built the Pilates program here. You know, I've been here almost four years, and Kendra's coming and she does such a great job of training new instructors and starting to onboard them. And um, you know, we have a process of really making sure folks shadow a bunch of classes before they ever teach, especially if they're very inexperienced, and then breaking up the classes by okay, you teach for 20 minutes of the class, teach this sequence, and then move off of it. But just want to pause there, give her a huge shout out for what she's done. Amazing job.
SPEAKER_02I totally agree 100%.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Yeah, she she's gonna we're gonna make sure she listens to that. Um, but no, thanks for also confirming that kind of that four to eight is the sweet spot and and that as a professional yourself. At your studio, was that pretty much the norm? Did you get bigger?
SPEAKER_02When we started, we started out with four reformers, um, and we slowly grew to eight, and then that's where we capped it. And it was for that reason that, you know, I've been doing it for 15 years. But even for me, you know, you want to be able to give that attention to each person and make adjustments. And that to me also is what Pilates is about. Like I can go and do a reformer workout myself, but when you have someone's eyes on you and they look at those nuances of like, hey, you're you're always turning that right hip out, so just give me a little more, you know, inner thigh and a little more balance, and you're like, oh yeah, that's where I need to be. Then you feel that ease and that movement, and then you can replicate it in your real life. So having that attention is really important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Personal touch. Absolutely. Coaching cues, corrections throughout a class is just paramount.
SPEAKER_02Definitely.
SPEAKER_00If someone takes one thing from this conversation today, Maura, yeah, what should it be?
SPEAKER_02You know, I think it is try something new. Open yourself up to maybe something that might feel like a little bit of a foreign experience, um, and give it some time. And I think it really will be life-changing.
SPEAKER_00All right. Final question.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00What does wellness mean to you?
SPEAKER_02So I had to write this one down so I would get it right. Um, but to me, it's the ability to move through your life feeling strong, capable, and at ease in your own body.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Maura.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you. It was awesome. Yeah. Thanks for watching.
SPEAKER_00Appreciate you taking the time. And I've so enjoyed getting more members onto the podcast, especially like-minded members with how they go about life, how they want to live, and appreciate you sharing your expertise and um for all the all the positive feedback. I I don't think we paid you for any of the any of that today, right? No, you didn't. I'll look, I'll look at my Venmo and see if there's a charge later.
SPEAKER_02Fair.
Healthy Momentum And Core Relationships
SPEAKER_00Listeners, thanks for uh listening today. And you can hang around with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week. It was people. She talked about how her Pilates reformer classes stayed intentionally small. She shared the why behind this. Four people to start, grew to six, and then eventually eight, but it was never packed. And this wasn't because of space, it was because of standards. When you think about it, fewer people, that's when something powerful happens. You get seen, you get coached, you connect, you get better. Just like in life and Pilates or strength training, the way you do something matters. Every rep matters, every adjustment an instructor makes matters, every person matters. And it hit me that's not just how great classes are built, that is how great lives are built. We live in a world today that pushes us toward more. More connections, more followers, more conversations. But what if the real unlock isn't more? It's better. What if your life works best like a great class? A small group training? Not 50 people you kind of know, but four to eight people you really know. The ones you check in on, the ones you notice when something's off, the ones you ask better questions to and actually listen. Because just like in a great class, small group, relationships require attention. They require feedback and they require a presence. And not just when you feel like it. The fact of the matter is you can't coach from across the room. You can't connect from a distance. But here's the side of that, something more and I both care deeply about. Those small circles don't just strengthen relationships, they develop people. We both found ourselves stumbling into discussing mentoring and our joy and passion for mentoring younger instructors, our desire to help them find their voice, their style, and their confidence. It's such a beautiful thing when you see their eyes light up and they these individuals just beginning to learn, feel so proud of themselves after they do something where they get outside their comfort zone, something that they potentially thought they weren't ready for. And this doesn't happen in big crowded rooms either. It happens in proximity, in conversation, in sharing the reps from more and I's past of what worked, what didn't, where where have we failed, and what did we learn from it? Because if you're not just investing in your circle, but also pouring into the next generation, now your impact multiplies. So here's your healthy momentum challenge for this week. Take inventory of your core four to eight. Reach out to one of them this week and go deeper than surface level. Ask a real question, be present. And then ask yourself one more question. Who am I mentoring right now? Who could benefit from my experience, my wins, my failures, my perspective? Send the message, set up the coffee, invite them into the room. Because the quality of your life is tied to the quality of your relationships, and the legacy of your life is tied to who you bring along with you. And just like training, when you focus on fewer things, done better, you get results that actually last. That message brings us to the end of our time together today. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join the conversation. And we hope that you have a great week until our next episode airs every Wednesday. Remember that. And remember to actively participate in life on your terms.
