To my shock, PilatesStyle was gone! How could this be?
Chief Pilates Promoter
There’s No Time Like Now!
One year ago I was sitting at my favorite morning hideaway in between clients. The Fountain Room at the Beverly Hills Hotel. It’s the best kept secret in LA. For the same price as breakfast at Erewhon grocery store you can sit next to Martha Stewart and have an omlette while watching the Europeans eat a piece of toast and a coffee. As I was tucked away in my favorite corner of the large countertop breakfast bar I was looking into who owned PilatesStyle Magazine. I was thinking about all the trade shows and the amazing community it supported. The old shows in LA and New York and Florida. What a great group and amazing times! I remember Mari Winsor holding court over dinner every night. I launched my product with PilatesStyle over 15 years ago. That’s how I grew it. Vogue Magazine even called me because they saw Pilatesstick in PilatesStyle. My wife and Susannah Cotrone worked the shows, it was an amazing time with amazing people! To my shock PilatesStyle was gone! How could this be? It was the cornerstone of the Pilates community! The access point for the “regular” world people to see inside this coveted practice created by a brilliant wild man so long ago. The only Pilates magazine in the world was gone! Of course, being an entrepreneur, my curiosity kicked in and I researched it and discovered that the URL(domain name) and intellectual property(Trademarks) were available. At a price, but available none the less. I had to do it! I just couldn’t help myself! I know how much it meant to all of us that participated! The hard core classical practitioners, the neonists, and the crossover people like me, a trainer and exercise physiologist who had worked with another wacky genius. One that taught me about the mind and movement and how it interfaces. 15 plus years ago my mentor Elenor essentially validated every principle created by Joseph Pilates from a neurological standpoint.
It’s a brilliance that we are really just now able to put names to. Things such as Golgi tendon organs and stretch reflex spindle fibers and their overall effect on a persons well being and health. The concept of extension and expansion as opposed to weight training. I had always wanted to create products and my attention had fallen on Pilates. As any marketer would contemplate I wanted my product to be something that everyone should own. There was just one problem! If people are doing Pilates correctly they are best served to have hands on instruction! They need an Instructor! I consider a Pilates instructor much as a shaman or sha-woman. They must interpret the persons experience of their body and guide them to the correct form and self connection. This made it very hard to sell a Pilatesstick to just anyone(not in good conscious). So I had to go to the sha-people or instructors first, with a non traditional tool that is… we all know how that goes. But we were well received and we later had the largest and most successful give away contests in PilatesStyle history. We had a great run! I also spurred on a bunch of cheap plastic knock off’s! There is an entire category of Pilates Bars(they know I own Pilatesstick®) on Alibaba. You’re welcome! But that’s why I made it out of wood… I knew that was going to happen! I’ve invented two products and they both got ripped off AT SCALE!
There is always one thing you can depend on. No matter where you are, if you encounter a Pilates enthusiast or instructor you have met a friend. Generally enthusiastic, outgoing, educated, optimistic and charismatic, you know who you are! My mentor Elenor would have a few things to say about you. They say that how you do anything is how you do everything. Elenor would say that how you move influences how you think! Could moving with control and intention be wiring us a certain way? You will learn in time that it most certainly does! I have a client who is a psychiatrist and I was speaking with him about Pilates and self connection. He said something that really hit me! If we were all more connected to ourselves we would be more kind to each other! That has to be true!
Anyway, back to PilatesStyle! I know we need this. I know we need a place to congregate and share ideas, a place to learn, a place to pop into when we are taking a break at the studio and see what’s new! A place where people can learn about Pilates and find a local studio. We want people who are curious to take action and we want you to be there to receive them! If you are new to Pilates we are creating a network of support for you! It’s what Joe would have wanted! He used to pull people in off the street and make them believers! This is our street!
We are not going to be perfect in the beginning, but you will see that we will listen! We will continue to get better and give you what you deserve. We have a lot of ideas and I can’t wait to share them! I set the date for December because, that’s the only way to get through it is to take action! It’s been challenging, but here we are!
There is no time like now!
Welcome back to PilatesStyle!
Welcome home!
