This week we chat with Ash Salisbury.
Ash graduated from The Pilates Center, Boulder’s Bridge Program in 2018. She teaches at Springboard Pilates studio in Portland, Maine. Ash first discovered Pilates in 2007 when she was 32 and overweight.
Hi Ash, how are you and what are you up to today?
I’m great! Savouring the crest – I’m on the high side of the wave right now, trying to appreciate it before the inevitable shift! I’ve just finished a back-bending lesson with Meredith and I spent the first night in my new house last night and it was wonderful. To keep it real I am also bailing on another class I was going to take today because my mind feels like it needs a walk and not more concentration.
Why did you choose to train with TPC?
I teach at a TPC host studio. I had my initial training at a classical program in NYC and was reluctant to do another program, but then I saw how my colleagues’ teaching changed as they went through TPC, how much richer and more effective their teaching became. It was like they were teaching in colour and I was teaching in black and white. My experience as their student (we take lessons from each other every week) deepened and I wanted to learn how to give that to my own clients.
What was it about TPC that made it stand out from the other Pilates training schools you had experienced or looked at?
After taking a few lessons with TPC trained teachers, I was like, “wow, what have I been doing all this time?” … abdominal crunches with breathing, basically! Besides the history, experience, rigor and passion of all the TPC instructors, what really stood out was who they were as human beings. I’ve been around a lot of cranky Pilates teachers, but everyone at TPC was so thrilled to be teaching and found so much meaning in the work, creating peace in the world through creating peace in the body. Humans can be nutty and high-maintenance, and we trainees are no exception. The patience and nurturing of TPC instructors was just…boundless! I wanted what they had: patience, purpose and positivity.
Why do you think TPC is the best option for people wanting to become Pilates teachers?
- The history: no one has been practicing and refining it longer, you’re touching history when you listen to Amy and Rachel.
- The rigor: it’s a demanding and extremely well designed pedagogy. The work is layered to develop everything from the nuts and bolts of the exercises, your teaching skill, anatomical knowledge, imagery and psychology, and the special sauce: how to use Pilates to change lives.
What was / is your favourite things about TPC’s teacher training program?
The intensity and depth! The Pilates Center training will change you – it will change your life. This program is all about how what we do with our bodies changes our minds and spirits, and trainees experience this intensely. As you dive into your body awareness and address imbalances, it spills into your non-Pilates life. Whatever you’ve been ignoring and denying, you will confront. With confidence!
The instructors understand this and create a safe, supportive space for that growth.
What do you think your experience at TPC has given you most?
I had so much imbalance in my life. Since graduating from TPC I feel like I have been given the tools, confidence and support to make changes towards “uniform development.” Relationships, friendships, living situation, how I was treating my body… Everything came into stark relief as I moved into the Level 5 work. (The Level 5 work is the pinnacle of the original method, the exercises are incredibly challenging and require the entire ethos [body, mind, spirit] of Pilates to come together in order to achieve them healthfully and successfully)
I have also found that learning to teach holistically and to particular individual client needs has brought more clarity and empathy to all my relationships.
I love the level 5 work and how it reveals the Grand Design of everything we’ve been practicing since level 1!
What would you say to someone who is considering training with TPC?
If you just want to learn choreography, it’s not for you. If you want to change lives, including your own, then this is the program for you.