Isa Herrera Interviews Charlotte Blake About the Female Pelvic Floor Essentials for Health Professionals
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Speaker 1: Today I’m here at Charlotte Blake’s Pilates studio in New York City with Charlotte Blake, who has just taken my course. She is one of the most phenomenal Pilates teachers in New York City. I’m going to sing her praises also. Thank you Charlotte. Thank you for being here today.
Charlotte: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I know that you’ve been through my course. I want to ask you a couple questions about your experience with the class. What would you say was the one thing that had the most impact on you when you were taking the course?
Charlotte: I think two things had the most impact. Number one, the breakdown of the anatomy was so helpful. Just sometimes I’m on my own. It’s hard to find this kind of mentorship and this kind of teaching about the pelvic floor. On my own I’ve been looking at an anatomy book and breaking things down and trying to figure out on my own, so to have you explain in ways that made a lot of sense and my brain could really wrap around was amazing.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Charlotte: Yeah. It was really exciting. That’s how you kicked off the program. Those videos were special to have and to watch. Then secondly it was just really nice to get to your module when you talked about movement. Also being able to, certain things that I’m already doing, really understand that on a deeper level. Then definitely learned a lot of tools just to apply through Pilates and through movement.
Speaker 1: Let’s talk a little bit about the movement because we do have a lot of movement individuals who will be taking this class and are currently taking the class. What would you say was one of the takeaways from movement, your movement or your Pilates? What would you tell somebody who’s a Pilates instructor? Why should they take this course?
Charlotte: Yeah. A lot of people come to me who are in pain. A lot of people go to Pilates teachers who are in pain. A lot of these people who are in pain are women. A lot of these women are told, “It’ll get better,” or, “This is just how you have to live.” I feel there’s a responsibility and a time for learning and empowering other women as a Pilates teacher to help these women and to explain to them exactly how their bodies work and how it works with the diaphragm, so with breathing. I’m interested in the kind of Pilates where the teacher is going to take it to the next level …
Speaker 1: Yeah, go deeper into it, right?
Charlotte: Yes, and really teach their client exactly how their body is working. The movement and the tips and the tricks that you gave were really helpful just to be able to feel even more confident with clients. Sometimes it is hard because when you talk about the pelvic area I’m not a practitioner who can do internal exams and who can go to that place with a client, but to … In some ways it’s just as valuable for the client to learn from a Pilates teacher through movement because then they’re able to take that and do their own in-home practice or whatever it is, apply it to their every day life. I think that’s why the movement piece is so important and why it’s so important for Pilates instructors or personal trainers or anyone who’s teaching movement to understand exactly how the core system works, the pelvic floor, the diaphragm, how they all work together. Yeah, teach these women who are in pain that they don’t have to be in pain and that they can take a certain amount of ownership as far as healing themselves.
Speaker 1: Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.
Charlotte: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Really love that. I think that you hit it right there, what needs to be told about the impact that this class will have on the practice.
Charlotte: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When you were going through the program did you feel that it was organized in a way that you could understand it, because a lot of people said, “Well, I’m not a medical doctor. I’m not a midwife or etc. I have a certain level of expertise or education.” What did you think about the way it was organized? Was it easy to understand? Was it easy to flow through it?
Charlotte: Yeah, definitely. At first I wondered the same thing. Well, I know I can’t do internal exams. I don’t do certain kind of pelvic work with women, but the thing was that I learned so much. I also learned how to communicate with a PT like you and what a PT would be doing with women. Also, I just feel like I have more awareness of if my client is seeing a PT, what she should expect. There’s more of a language that I can have with that client and also with their PT. Hopefully their PT would be you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Charlotte: Yes. Overall, at first I was worried that it wouldn’t pertain to me but then it absolutely did. Even the things that I can’t put into direct practice with a client, you were really great at actually letting people know that these can also be practices that you can do on yourself, ways to explore your own body and really get to know your own body better, and even teaching women those practices even if you’re not doing them directly.
Speaker 1: I know that there’s some hesitation with different kinds of movement practitioners and Pilates and Yoga, etc. If somebody was on the fence and said, “I’m not sure,” what would you tell them? What would you tell somebody that was on the fence about taking this course?
Charlotte: Yeah. I would tell them to just take the course.
Speaker 1: Yes, of course.
Charlotte: Also I think what I love about what you do and what I love about this course is that you’re making a taboo subject not a taboo subject. That’s what someone will get from this course is just having more confidence talking about it. When a client comes in with pain, even back pain, or any kind of lower body pelvic pain, that practitioner won’t have this feeling of, “That’s outside of my scope of practice,” which no one should ever feel that way. Being confident about the entire body is so important. It serves the practitioner. It serves the client. Just being able to have a deeper understanding about the entire body and feeling more empowered in your own scope of practice is right then and there the reason why someone should take the course.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Charlotte: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Thanks Charlotte. Thank you for doing this testimony for the course. I really appreciate it.
Charlotte: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your kind words about the course. Thank you for the encouragement for other practitioners who may be thinking about taking the course. I think that this is going to open them in a way that maybe they’re not used to thinking. It’s very good. Thank you Charlotte.
Charlotte: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that.