If nothing else, Kristi, these big setbacks in life help to instruct us how to draw happiness from the simplest things. Here's to our continued rediscovery of joy and movement, and joy in movement. x

Cheers Joanna!

Thank you for sharing this with us Kristi and Christi. My healing thoughts and prayers are sent to you for your fast recovery.
Best wishes

This was a very special day and I'm so grateful you all feel the healing power of love through your screens. Have a very blessed day!

Thank you Kristy and Christy for so genuinely addressing the emotional aspects of Pilates! Have been wanting to ask for classes addressing this very subject. Kristy, you are such a brave and courageous soul! Thank you for teaching so much more than beautiful movement. Blessings to you!

I cannot add anything to what everyone has already said except to thank you both for such a beautiful session and for sharing it with us. What a blessing that will continue to impact many moving forward.

Thank you Kristi for this video. It took a lot of courage to do something like this. You and Meredith have been my favorites. I've learned so much from watching your videos and I thank you for that as well. I send you lots of love and good energy! I"m from Miami and have had the great pleasure of taking my Polestar exam with Christi and she is a beautiful person. You couldn't have chosen anyone better than her for this moment.

I do agree that Pilates could be a good venue for treating Pilates, but what you have done here is very over simplified. First of all, there are several kinds of trauma: physical and psychological, which can be acute or developmental. This is a complex topic. Are you saying this approach is good for all kinds of trauma? The first thing any Pilates teacher should do if someone comes in with trauma is immediately refer out because we are in no way qualified to treat trauma from Pilates training, and it is VERY easy to re-traumatize people and make it worse.

...And yes there definitely is protocol for treating trauma (I'm a polestar certified teacher, and have done some trauma treatment training and am working on a MA in mental health counseling). The only way Pilates teachers should be working with traumatized people is if it is part of a larger plan approved by a doctor. There is much more to it than just being friendly with them and creating a "nice space". Be careful, or you will re-traumatize people if you don't know what you are doing.
Get well soon Kristi!

Thank you so much for chiming in Jason . In no way is this video suggesting that Pilates instructors go out to treat trauma. Instead, it is shedding light and offering a perspective on how one might handle the human aspect of a person that cannot perform the repertoire because they may be coming back from injury, whether it is physical, emotional, etc. This conversation is about shifting the paradigm from a black and white protocol to a personal connection that can happen anywhere in our lives whether or not we are in a studio or even teaching. This video is about active listening and connecting on a heart level with other people struggling to get through a moment. As with all pathologies instructors are to refer clients to other professionals when the situation is out of their scope. The fact is that all of us are coping with trauma and experiencing a healing process when mind- body and breath are coordinated.