BASI Pilates Training

Chapter 1

The History of BASI Pilates

I'm here with Raila, I Sokowitz founder and director of body arts and science international, known as Bassey polities in their new space. Bassey Pilati is academy rail. Can you tell me how did the training program for Bassey Pele's originate? [inaudible] well, truthfully, I never had any great business plan to start a big training organization. It started, uh, in Australia 25 years ago.

I was asked by several people to teach them to become teachers of Polanski's. Uh, my background in academia, I had, uh, at that point I had my undergraduate degree, bachelor of education, and then my graduate degree, most of, uh, master of arts in m dawn studies. And, um, I had also lectured at college level. So I had a background in formulating curriculum and uh, I saw the popularity of polities growing and I knew that more and more people would want to be trained in philosophies and the system that I went through of being an apprentice in a studio and working in a studio and then becoming an a t a teacher, there was nothing wrong with that system that it was long. And I felt that I believed I could give a college level education to teachers who went to, to become teachers of polities or students who went to, to become teachers of politeness. Many of them were already teachers in something else. So I was approached, uh, by three people in Australia at the time.

I was directing the dance department at a performing Arts College in Sydney, Australia. I had, as I said, my degrees under my belt and I'd been doing [inaudible] for, um, probably, uh, eight years or so. And uh, the one was an actor, an actress, the other, a physical therapist and the other a dancer. And it's, it's that type of a mix in a group that has a pit surmised Bassey forever since the beginning, since its inception. And so we started with this little group I went to to give them a curriculum based program. This was not coming to the studio and watch me teach for 20 hours a week. This was on this day. We going to study this on that day.

We going to study that and go through a curriculum based program, an actual syllabus and uh, we did that and it was fantastic. I loved it. I loved the people, I loved the teaching. They got a lot of experience. They all went on to become very successful teachers and it grew from there. Kristy and I cannot believe we're now about to celebrate our 25th year in PyLadies education and I really feel and believe strongly it's excellence in education. It's always been my philosophy that we cannot compromise on the quality of education that we offer.

The number of people that go through is secondary earnings is secondary. What guides me is that philosophy of providing a high level education in this system, not in exercises but in a system. Can you speak to the name, Body Arts and science? I chose that name, body arts and science because this course is truly an amalgamation of the art and the science of human movement. It's solidly grounded in the classical work of Joseph politeness and Clara polarities. And we honor that legacy throughout the course. It's based on their very principles, on their very teaching on, uh, the movements and the exercises that they innovated.

At the same time, I would not be true to myself if I did not acknowledge science and the innovations of science and modern, uh, technology, modern research, modern findings, and very importantly, modern society today, the needs of society today, the needs of people today with the invent of computers, the fact that we're sitting at desks, the fact that we driving for so many hours, we're sitting on planes. This is a different world to the world that Joseph PyLadies lived in and I'm sure he would have evolved. So it is based on art in that there is a strong artistic component and when I speak of autistic, I don't only mean aesthetics, I mean the the mind parts of this work, the inner part of the work and then on science that we are always true to science that everything must be legitimised in terms of why do we do it, how do we do it, what is the reason, what is the purpose, what is the analysis going into the sciences of human movement, Anatomy, physiology, exercise, physiology, physiology, kindness, geology, knowing the house and the wise but never losing sight of that autistic component, the inner quality of the work and hence I called it party arts and science and the international came a little later because I saw that it did truly become global and this little kernel that was planted in this performing arts college started growing and growing and growing and it became global. It became international to the point where it now spans 27 countries. And I just heard earlier that we're adding a couple, so I'm sure we will reach 30 pretty soon in excess of a hundred locations, several franchise, uh, sites where there are regions that are independent.

Chapter 2

Rael and the Trademark Lawsuit

Uh, what can you tell me about that lawsuit? I'm, I'm so curious actually about it and I'm thankful that so many of you did step in and join the class action. I know it wasn't easy for anybody. Is there anything you can share with it? Maybe starting with what the basics of it was? It was a strange time, you know, um, the early nineties, uh, actually brought a group of us together, uh, which long preceded the plot is method alliance. But in around 92, 93, um, we created what we called, uh, the institute for the polities method was based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico and Eve gentry was a guiding lights, uh, Michelle Lawson, Joan Breitbart, and we created a body, uh, that essentially we hoped would oversee in a positive sense guide the [inaudible] community. And we created a working board. I happened to be on that board and was chairman of that board for Awhile. Um, and we hoped to establish a guidelines, um, for, for the industry. Um, then emerged a gentleman, Sean Gallagher, who bought the trademark for polarities. It had been a, I won't go into all the history, but it's been quite a, uh, it had been passed along, bought or passed along the trademark and Sean Gallagher, uh, but physical therapists in New York ported. And he then started out, uh, started sending out letters to people who taught polities to see synthesis, to not use the word polarities any longer or join his organization. And his organization had very stringent requirements.

He actually flew out from, uh, New York to meet with me and we had lunch together. I hosted him at my studio and I'm actually, I'm going to go back one step because I think historically this is important. Um, I shared a very good relationship with Romana Cruz and Oscar wri admire tremendously and uh, invited her to come out to, uh, teach at my studio. We had had already quite a long friendship, but it was just at that time that Ramonda started working together with Sean and she came to my studio and I got a call actually just a week before saying, you need to cancel the workshop. Romana con teach at your studio. And I said, what do you mean Romana con teach at my studio. It was from Sean Gallagher and said, what do you mean she can't teach at my studio? She's a friend. She's agreed to come. I've advertised.

It was the first workshop I knew of in this area. I had 30 people coming and these will students. There weren't really any courses going at that time. I had a course going, but I had three students on the course as these were clients of mine, we're coming to see remind. I'd spoken so highly of her and I said, you can't cancel. You can't do this to me. He allowed, we argued long and hard about it and he agreed that she come, but that a s a a notification would be handed out at the beginning of the workshop, not by me. He would send someone down to hand out this notification, which, which I'm trying to remember the context of it, but it was to say that [inaudible] teachers, the true polities and this workshop is not endorsed by the polarities guild by Sean's, uh, organization. I, you know, I, I can't remember the exact content, but it was rarely to say very clearly that I, he owns velocities.

He essentially has jurisdiction over a minor and that, um, people need to recognize that there is a split in the pieties world. I said, go ahead. It's not going to mean anything to my clients. They wondered were coming to my studio to learn this new form of exercise called polities that didn't really mean anything to them. So he sent two people down from La, uh, a gentleman cares and Melinda and they came down from La and handout, handed out the circular. It's okay to this, this notice and a, it didn't do anything actually other than Romano was very happy that she could come. She didn't want to pull out. Several years later, I had moved to a different studio, our second studio, the one that you knew so well, and he came, flew down to meet with me to see if I would work with his organization. I would need to change out all my equipment.

I would need to his equipment that he endorsed. Uh, I would need to start paying a royalty to him. Now, to put it in context, this is someone probably 20 years. My junior had been doing Polonius for very little time. Uh, it was coming to a very established studio. It was a studio that you knew so well, very big established, had a client seal of, Oh, we would, uh, see about 300 to 350 to about 300, 350 sessions a week. And this man steps in and says, do you want to teach for our organization and you need to start paying me royalties and you need to start giving me a piece of your business.

Did Not seem right to me. And I didn't do it. And then of course he became more and more aggressive and, uh, actually threatened people. Uh, one of whom is a very, very dear friend of mine, Deborah Lessen and Debra I've got to say, was the fighting force. Uh, Debra is not someone you want to fight with. And Deborah was a, it was rarely the driving force behind the cross action lawsuit. She was on that working board by the way, for them, uh, palladium institute at the time. She was very upset that I've even met with Sean Gallagher. And, and you know, my point of view was, let's see if there's room for mediation negotiation. Um, of course Deborah and I have remained dear friends of through all that, but, uh, and then Ken Endelman got involved and Ken was be given great credit for taking it on and the community got behind it. And, uh, it was a huge, uh, divide in the PyLadies community. And as you know, uh, PyLadies was deemed generic. Uh, I was deposed.

I spent four hours, one Friday afternoon talking to the lawyers on both of both sides. Um, Kathy grant of course, was in the lawsuit in New York in the courthouse and many say that she actually won the case. Uh, she was brilliant and, um, you know, she was my great mentor and guiding spirit in this work. And, um, it was deemed generic. Um, when you were deposed. I've, I've, I, I've heard drips and drabs of people have been deposed and sometimes Romano was there while it was being [inaudible]. It was just the, I, I, it was actually done till the phonically and the, I don't know where the different lawyers were sitting to tell you the truth, but they just asked me what my background, it, Cetera, etc. Uh, and you know, the one good thing that could have come out of it if, uh, this was a person with great foresight would have been to bring everyone together and actually start some body, some organization that could represent the industry, take it out of one person's hands and put it in the hands of an all of, of an entire community of an entire industry and lay the foundation for that industry. But that was not going to happen. It, it was really very, uh, self-serving and, and I feel that it's, it's, it's still a rift in this industry that we are dealing with today. Christie, if I could speak of the saddest thing in our industry, there are many things that bring me great joy every day.

I look at the many blessings. If I can say the saddest thing in our industry is the divide is the, the lack of respect for other colleagues is, is that the inability to embrace other people and not say, you don't know what you're talking about. Everyone has something to offer. You know who I love taking sessions from my students. If I see them observing, I'll often go up to them and say, would you mind giving me a session today? Because I learned so much from my students.

Kathy was always hungry for knowledge. Everyone has something to offer, but no one has the right to say that someone else doesn't know what they talking about. That someone else that everyone has something to offer. This is not, you can't own education, you can't own knowledge. It is part of the public domain and I feel it's been a huge, huge problem. Rather let people follow you and your organization on the basis of what you offer on the integrity of your program. Don't force them to do it on the integrity, on the basis of respect, not on the basis of running anyone else down.

And I often look at musicians, I take great, I love music and I take great inspiration and glean inspiration from musicians when, when you get a band up there and you get, I don't know, going back to some of the older musicians, Eric Clapton's playing and then he sees someone else in the audience and says, come up and play. You're such a great musician. And he'll say, you know, BB king will say, this guy is so great and this person so great and Sheryl Crow will get on stage and they're all at [inaudible]. They can't say enough good about each other. They can't. All they can say is, oh my God, you know, I just cannot play as well as this person. You know because, and you hear someone who's simply a maestro saying they can't play as well as I heard Eric Clapton once being interviewed in years talking about Jeff Beck and he said, Jeff Beck. Oh my God, I can't eat the way he plays guitar. It's just magic. I didn't know what he does on that. Gets on, you've got these icons, why can't we do that about each other and speak about each other with that kind of admiration? We should. We can. I love every one of my friends out there. I want to tell Debra, you know, they're realizing what a great teacher she is. All these people that have been such a great part of my pos out teach with any of them. Some of my greatest workshops had been with Moira Stott.

Merrithew a great teacher. We may have different training organizations, but we can still admire each other, respect each other, play together. Absolutely. What makes [inaudible] unique? You know,

Chapter 3

What Makes BASI Unique?

I know that we were one of the first, if not the first curriculum based program. Of course there were teachers out there teaching polities long before that. I studied with teachers who had been teaching for many, many years before that.

And I'm not familiar with, with curriculum based programs that were out there, but they may have been, I'm sure they were some, first of all, it is strongly grounded in the classical work and principles of Joseph Politesse. If you look at this big spectrum of, uh, the very classical work and then the extremely contemporary, I think we'll probably fall closer to the classical side of that spectrum. Um, however, we definitely bring in a, a contemporary approach and contemporary evolution and many of my own innovations and the teachers that teach with us, the faculty, um, bring in their own personalities, their own input, their own creativity. For instance, this equipment we sitting on is the Avalon equipment. It's a design that I, uh, created, um, 10 years ago, over 10 years ago. I worked on it, uh, for many years and that has become part of our program. Um, it's very unique to Bessie that we would have this as part of our program. We have an online software called Palazzo, these interactive that supports the studies that has all the work that we teach in the course available in streaming video with narration, uh, with some notes, bullet points available to the students. We have very extensive study materials or study guide, the textbook, the course textbook plus a six movement analysis workbooks.

That is a compilation of, uh, over 500 pages of material that we cover in the course. But you know, Christy, that's all to do with the studies. What makes it so unique, in my opinion, is the spirit of Bessie. There is a true spirit that permeates the organization. They are caring people, good people, open minded people.

You won't hear a Bassey person saying, I only wanna do it one way. That's the only way. No, I teach throughout this organization. There are many ways we have chosen a way that we believe in, but we embrace knowledge. We embrace and respect other people's opinions. And that spirit permeates this organization. The family aspect that, that, that strong network of people throughout the world who welcome professionals, welcome other Bassi family members going to different countries.

I feel it every time I go there. Going to conferences, I feel the high level of education, the high level of commitment, sophisticated thinkers, um, educated thinkers, don't just accept words, but think about words, question all the time. Great Teachers and, and uh, I couldn't be proud of that, of the caliber of, of teachers that we are producing and of the education that we provide and the spirit of education we provide. How many students graduate every year? And if you can speak to how,

Chapter 4

Culture of BASI Pilates

how many have in all of this time graduated as a Basti teacher? Well, uh, in recent years, uh, I believe about 750, Perry the year per year. 750 per year. Recognizing that in the first year as it has very few, you know, the first year with three, so a second year, maybe six, right. And it's grown and grown. But in the last few years, around 750 and in total in excess of, uh, 5,000, probably 5,500 all around the world. Not just in the United States.

No, I, in fact, I would say that, that, um, what epitomized Betsy from the very early years that it was global and that's partly by virtue of simply my life as being global. You know, I was born in South Africa. I lived in Israel where much of my studies, early studies were, and then lived in England where I did my graduate studies and performed and continued with PyLadies. And then I lived in Australia, uh, for a while before coming to the United States. So, you know, wherever you live, you create a contact, you create a family, you create a network of people. And therefore, I simply found myself traveling a lot, you know, for the last 30 years. Really. Uh, I've been doing launches for, uh, 35, but for the last years it has meant a lot of travel and Betsy became global from, from its very inception. But I am most proud of the caliber of people that come to study with us, the soulful people that are prepared to invest and sacrifice for good education. Is that what you would say is the type of person that comes to your program? I would I, I encourage people always to seek out a program that they can believe in, that they can trust, that is aligned philosophically now it it philosophically with their, uh, outlook and with their approach. It doesn't have to be me.

I highly respect my colleagues out there. I love my colleagues. I would be the first to feel confident in referring to other training schools. People that come, I want them to believe in my approach, our approach in the philosophy. I want them to feel welcomed, embraced. I want education to be available to all people. That is why I've initiated a very vibrant scholarship program, which I call it the Kathy Grant Memorial scholarship in Kathy Grant's name.

We've always offered financial assistance to people, but I wanted to make it formal so that people that do not have the means to come and study with us can come. I wanted to be available. Education should be for everyone. We need to generously share our knowledge and education is such a valuable treasure and I want to share it with as many people as possible. What are the prerequisites then too, to taking the program?

Chapter 5

Prerequisites

Do I have to already have training under my belt? Oh, okay.

I'm so pleased you asked that question. Uh, in the early years of Bessie [inaudible] I had quite stringent prerequisites. However, what I was finding is that certain people came onto the course, met all those prerequisites and went beyond those prerequisites. It didn't promise they were going to be good students, all good graduates and teachers. And I found that some people who didn't meet those prerequisites prerequisites but somehow entered the program or I taught as students, clients in the studio, well so suited to becoming [inaudible] teachers and through simple apprenticeship later on enter the course and were great students. And I felt it was doing an injustice to certain people to have very stringent prerequisites of having done so many years of anatomy, so many of physiology, so many years of polarities.

Because time is not objective. It's quite subjective. It's the quality of that time, the quality of your studies. And therefore today we do have a prerequisite that they have to have done a certain amount of polarities. They have to be familiar with polarities, but we explain very carefully to them that at the end when they graduate they have to have fulfilled a certain amount of education and have to have reached a certain level that may mean that they need to add on at the tail end what other people had coming in. Meaning some people come in with a strong background in anatomy and physiology but they meet may need to spend extra years at the end catching up on the movement part. However, some people come in with such a strong movement background, they are going to have to invest a lot more time and energy into studying the sciences of human movement. But at the end when they graduate, they have all reached a certain level and that's by the way I regard as the undergraduate studies. Then we offer specializations, postgraduate studies where people can later on specialize in areas of greater interest to them.

So Bessie Palacci is rarely provides a long career part for people. Tell me a little bit more,

Chapter 6

BASI System of Education

tell us a little bit more about the bathy system of education. First and foremost, I like to go back one step and that speak about Polonsky's as a system, as a method. I think that often today with the growth in popularity of polarities, people tend to see it as an exercise. And you know, Joseph Politesse was so adamant that polities should not be seen as just exercise, but a method, a way of life, a philosophy, a system. So what we teach in Bessie is in fact the system it, yes, the exercises are the vehicles, but they are conveying knowledge.

They are conveying and expression, they are conveying, uh, so much beyond just the movement itself. They are tools of analysis in Bassey, the Bassey system. There are several things that are so important. The, the, the nucleus of the Bessie system is something we call the block system. The block system, the Bassey blocks system is a way of formulating a session and a way of categorizing this vast repertoire. There are so many movements in the plotty system and one that we've added to the more contemporary repertoire that we've added to the system that we've created a system, essentially a filing system which allows each exercise to be categorized in a certain block.

This helps us formulate sessions for a client. It helps us document sessions and it helps us be very creative. That is the interesting thing with structure. To be creative, you need structure and musician to be a virtue shows they are still going to practice their scales every day. They are still going to read music, they are still going to fit into a structure, but they can also be very creative and go out of that structure or not out of the structure but within the structure. Be Very creative and that's what we've done with the Bessie block system. We've provided a basic structure for a session, but within that structure the teacher can be hugely creative and based on the client, based on the situation, based on the scenario that they teaching and the whole education that we provide is based on this Bessie blocks system. The beautiful thing, Christi, anywhere in the world that Betsy is taught you today could walk into Bassi Studio in Japan, in China, in Australia, in South Africa, within 20 minutes you would feel quite at home teaching in that studio.

Not that you will teach. Exactly. It's not a, a exact series that we're teaching. Not an exact sequence of exercises, but it is a structure that you are familiar with and that person in South Africa is familiar with. And within 20 minutes you could step right onto the studio floor and take over because the clients are familiar with that structure. With the Bassey block system, you will decide what exercises and movements to put within the structure. And our books are based on it. Our training manuals, uh, my photographer knows the Bassey block system because I'm always saying to him, okay, go to the reformer now go to the uh, abdominal work, now go to the series, now go to that exercise within the series and I can guide him to exactly the frame that I want within seconds.

And the students become very familiar with that structure and people within Betsy know that the system is about structure but the system is about creativity. The system is about being standardized. At the same time, the system is about honoring every teacher and their own personality, their own being. I do not want clones of me, God forbid I want clinically down 35 teachers out there that are teaching in their own way, but they using this system, this progression, this structure and the Bessie block system again grew from a little kernel and it's become the foundation of our system of teaching politeness. We all need structure. We all need something to hold on to. In every discipline of art there is structure. No one ever just came onto a dance floor and started performing.

There is a structure you learn, you study and within choreography there's a structure within music. There's a structure within painting and within PyLadies as both a movement form an art, a science. There needs to be a structure to then make you available, to be present with the client and give to that client what is best you are giving. The best of what you can give of your input of your observations. And that structure allows you to navigate through a session and take it in its most positive direction for a positive outcome. It, I can tell you that people have come to me and have been so grateful for that system. And I'm not speaking about young teachers, I'm speaking about very seasoned teachers who learn the system and feel that finally they have a structure.

That politeness is not just made up of a 500,000 exercises. It's not just made up of going through a fundamental routine and intermediate routine and advanced routine. No, we are dealing with human beings. They, we need to be able to be flexible and mold the session according to the needs of that individual person. But to do that, we need that structure. So I'm here with Jean King,

Chapter 7

National Administrator Introduction

national administrator for Bassey [inaudible] and Jean, I know you, but I'd like all our friends to know you. So tell us a little bit about what you do here and your blood, his background.

Sure. I'll tell you about my PyLadies me. I, uh, came to meet rail in 2000, uh, and went through the training course there. You actually were teaching in Santa Barbara and I remember one of our modules, you brought your students there. So that was actually my first experience with you, but there were so many of us. I know you wouldn't work, but that was, uh, that I, that was a good memory for me. Um, then, uh, I went on to be a Palladio's instructor after I finally passed the courts. It's a tough course by the way. Um, and I taught for six years and then I met Rael at a, a met class and he invited me to come work for him.

And you don't say no to rail ill if you want to be a part of the company. Can you tell us about your role here? I'm in charge of the host locations and all the students that go through the training. So when the first, uh, student first calls, I'm their first point of contact and then I let the host know that they've got a new student and then we try to coach them through the course through their whole life. Um, through the course when they finally received their diploma, I'm the one that sends that to them too. How many host sites are there?

Chapter 8

Host Sites

We have about a hundred in the world. There are 65 that I deal with directly the rest to go through franchises, which we can get into later. So 65 host sites and a, is that enough to our, our, you know, what if I want to become a host site, well, oh, you don't have to be a Bassey graduate. And that's the beautiful thing. Um, we'll take any discipline.

Usually people come to us because their training wasn't enough and they want to become an education center. So what you have to do for starters is have one piece of every, uh, piece of equipment, the one to chair the reformer, the Cadillac. And now we have rails, beasts, the armchair and the step barrel that we've included in our repertoire. Um, so that's what you have to have plus room for at least 10 people to do met. And that's the requirement. Well first of all, I need to know more about the beast [inaudible] rails equipment. Um, can you explain what you mean that the line of equipment that I know? Yeah. He, he invented in 2006 it was unveiled the Avalon arm chair and the Avalon step barrel and they're just two amazing, amazing pieces of equipment. Um, when I work out on them on at my home, I have a small studio there. I usually text or email rail and say, what the hell were you thinking?

Cause it takes whatever you were doing on a normal day and just kicks it up. It just, it takes you to places that you can't go normally with the other equipment, the shapes are bigger, everyone feels more secure, fantastic for men and older people. Terrific. And now it's part of the course. It is. We have a whole nother workbook and a, we've squeezed it in there. So you mentioned that you don't have to be Bassey trained to be a host. That's correct. But we found in the long run, if they'd go through our training, it's certainly more helpful, but some hosts aren't, um, hands-on.

They'll have a, a studio manager that we encourage them to eventually get the training that's required. So they, when our faculty leaves, they're the ones that the students go to. What would you say is the most beneficial reason for becoming a host site for [inaudible]? Well, a lot of people come to us because they, they're short on instructors and good quality instructors. They're looking for students to work in their, we're looking for qualified instructors to work in their studios. And if you're a host, you can pick the cream of the crop you watch and see how that student operates, uh, with guidelines and, and then you can kind of cherry pick. Can I host two different or educational organizations if I host per basket?

No, unfortunately that doesn't work. It doesn't work for you. It doesn't work for us. You're actually competing with yourself. Cause if you want to get 10 students to do a training, a lot of times they're not really educated in what kind of training it is. You know, I'd say about 50% are, but to your, your, you will be splitting up those, those 10 people and run two courses of five people. And it's just, it's, it's not a good situation cause the observation would get a little confusing too. That's true. Which of course, so if you're, if you're a host for Bassa your host for baths, right? It's part of our agreement. And then if you choose to go on with another, uh, company, that's absolutely fine, but we won't have an agreement with you any longer. Now as a host though, you can bring in other, um, modalities of a Lottie's for workshop.

Okay. And we think that's always good. Continuing Education. You've got to see what's out there. So I can bring in other school training schools. Sure. For Workshop or workshop only, is there a limit to the number of workshops that you can do in a year, but with another person? Only by the number of days that there are. I think a continuing education is so important that everyone should do it.

There should be mandatory continuing education credits, but we don't, we don't make our students do that. We just expect them to continue learning. You mentioned at the beginning a little bit about franchising.

Chapter 9

Franchises

Can you explain to me first what is the difference between being a host site at a franchise? And I guess the steps that lead one towards that franchise is, uh, is someone that we've been in business with a little bit. So we, they understand us and we understand them and they'll take over an entire region. Let's say, um, uh, we have a host in Turkey and all of a sudden they say they'd like to take over the entire region. What they would do is become a middle e mini satellite for our Bessie headquarters. They become the administrators.

They'd become the financial people and then they would pay a franchise fee and a percentage, but they would still adhere to the Bessie work. They still use the same books, they use the same website. It's just that they in, but they'll be the first point of contact. And a lot of times it works cause I speak the language. I see. So if I'm in Turkey, I know we have one in Duran, um, and South Africa, Greece. Um, so if, if I'm a franchise [inaudible], um, I then can host several courses in different locales within that region.

It's to your, it's to your benefit. The more you do more, you get the word out. Um, it's to your benefit and that's the hope. That's the hope that we have right, is that you will spread it through your country. Hi everyone.

Chapter 10

Director of Education Introduction

I'm Amy again here with Constance holder and she's the director of Education for Bassi and I'm going to let constants go ahead and introduce herself now and give us a bit of background of herself and um, we'll go from there.

I've been incident, some kind of an educational field probably for the last 30 years or so, but mostly from a recreational standpoint was very drawn to Bazzy in the late nineties with a long story in there, but came through the program with rail and basically never left. I just feel different roles as it's gone up because I believe in the program so much. Um, I just keep finding additional work to do within that sort of in that framework on a given day. What do you do? There's a lot of facets to it because I think we overlap in many areas. But as an example, the first thing that I did this morning was answer some Viber calls and some Skype calls about exams for testing a course assignments for different faculty members, filling different locations of appropriate people in locations. And when I say appropriate, just meaning that we really work hard to sort of match faculty with course locations. Um, also to make it close enough where students could maybe visit faculty or work with them. Certainly from a language basis and things such as that.

But a day looks like you're juggling a lot of different factors in a comprehensive course.

Chapter 11

How Long is the Comprehensive Course?

Can you outline how much time is invested or how long does the actual coursework go before students are required to begin their observation time? There's self-practice I'm assuming those are part of the, in the um, comprehensive teacher training course. There's 540 hours that are basically in the minimum. Okay. Let's say they're the minimum. I don't think there is no maximum here. 540 minimum usage. You have 72 hours that are in classroom time.

That takes 12 modules in each day is probably six modules. Sometimes they're taught over a weekend, sometimes it might be a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 72 hours of real classroom time. This is like theory, like college level lecture time where we introduce the work. But the body of the work is really to be done by the students when you're outside of the classroom because it's through practice and through reading and through research. But then there are a hundred observation hours that are required, 200 hours of uh, self-practice, uh, personal sessions that things such as that and then 200 hours of student teaching. So all of that put together comes up to about 572 which far exceeds what some of the requirements are for many organizations.

But what we feel is a good mix. Now how long does it take? That's up to the individual. Sometimes people come in with a great deal of experience and maybe they've already sat through many hours. So we kind of look at that on a one on one basis. But we ask that the students put in as much time as they possibly can in a studio, a actually watching and asking themselves questions and referring back to their books, asking us questions, asking their faculty member questions. Right.

Chapter 12

Where are the Courses Held?

Constance, let's talk just a little bit more about where training programs are held and how often, and I know there are host sites around the world, um, but in a given year, how, you know, how often are they held and where? Gosh, um, we have programs around the world. We there, we try to, uh, there's a lot of coordination that goes into staying off holiday dates, et cetera. But you can, if you look at the website under find a course or just courses and put in any given date, it's going to list all the locations that courses are held. I was working this morning on some scheduling for October and on my own schedule, what it showed were two specific courses and 15 other courses that happen to be going on in different locations. And that didn't include the international ones. That's a separate, did not cause that was a separate calendar. Okay. So we looking at it, it just seems like there are courses we try to have, we try to have courses in a number of convenient locations and convenient times.

And especially in California, I mean we have Pacific Palisades, we have Santa Barbara, we have Los Angeles, we have ranch pellets, vert is at Costa Mesa, and we try to stagger those days. So if something happened and a student missed a module for some reason they could, they could go into another, they have the option of going into another location, making that date up and then coming back to the course that they originally signed with or if they moved, they can actually just transfer into another course. And we handle all of that internally. If there is a student going through Bazzy and they do their, the modules and the course work and maybe they choose to do that and then they go to start accumulating their hours, who they have to observe only Bassey teachers. But there are occasions where that just can't happen because there aren't other Bazzy instructors there or host locations that they can go to.

So we have designed something I'm sure you've seen, which is [inaudible] interactive, which all the work that is included in the course is put into video for students to log on to and view. It's got all the written material, it helps them structure sessions as well as it shows rail queuing or demonstrating every movement, right? So in cases where they cannot get to a Bazzy location or they, it's just not convenient. Logistically, we give them credit for 50% of their observation hours to plot these interactive and it does log them in. So we see from the, in fact this morning I got a request from somebody in Australia for um, a letter or some kind of verification that they had completed a number of hours. And because we, you know, it's easier for them to do it that way because Straya has a pretty big place. We're giving them a letter that states how many hours, and I can see that in the back end of the situation. Every time somebody logs on, we give like six books and not including the study guides.

So we had a total of seven books when they register for the course and no additional costs and so on. Okay. Training manual training manual. So there's a study guide, there's a math book outlining each and every movement that we're going to go through some time in the course where they can refer back to along with photos. You and I are probably in the old days where people were doing stick figures. I was doing six 60 years of varying movements to make sure like where the palms forward with the palms down really are the arms. Yes. Now it's really laid out, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Right.

It's a good thing because it makes it more accessible for people. They have it available to them. They don't have to try to remember through a thousand notes. They can actually pay attention when they're in class. The bad thing is I often see people sitting in class without taking any notes or even seeming like they're really sometimes present because they have all the material that they can refer back to.

So you know there's always the there for every action. There's a reaction. When I've completed the comprehensive program, let's say I've gone through a,

Chapter 13

What is the Test Process Like?

what is the, and I've all my hours are done. I've documented, I'm ready to test. What is the test process like for Bessie? Bazzy has, well within the last year or so introduced what we call centralized testing. We did so, so that we could standardize the testing process. Um, there is, um, you know, a little quiz, there's a sort of a midterm exam, but the final testing, uh, comes to, we pick two or three locations a year.

We try to do two in Costa Mesa, one in the Midwest and one in the east coast to make it convenient for people. And it's either rail or myself that's conducting the test. So they're going to take a written examination on the final day with the faculty member that's there on module 12, but the practical examination and the teaching evaluation are scheduled at a later date. By the way, can I just say, I'm so happy that we finally got a way online for people to register themselves and pick a slot in time. Wow. Andrew, we met cause there is an additional payment on it, right. Um, and take care of all of that online. So they're assured that they have a place and that it's all taken care of. And there had been, if there's additional time that's needed, we're happy to put more time in those locations.

If there's more of a need or request like Oh, all the slots are sold out within, we'll add extra time. Wow. We want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to come and you know, sort of showcase their work that they've practiced so hard on with centralized testing. How many people are being tested out at one time? Each one of us really takes three people per hour, I'll put it that way. So if we start at eight o'clock in the morning, so we have to start with six people and they would come in and basically am keeping track of and monitoring the session for three people in rail is monitoring for three people at the end of that one hour of that teaching, um, student teaching by the way, we provide the client, they don't need to bring a client.

Maybe we provide a client and we provide somebody who's would be considered of high fundamental or intermediate level of work and nobody who has major restrictions or limitations so that a student really can showcase their work. Right. Uh, but they don't have to be limited to just the absolute fundamentals. Okay. What I try to look at it as and say to them when they come in is to to see it as an opportunity. They came to work today, they were hired today and here's your first client and you have a few minutes to, to speak with them or to find out some goals or you know, here's a little bit of information because they do fill out a client form to let them know of any restrictions or limitations that they might have. So you get some time to look at that and then you can kind of go through it. So it's the same way as if they came to work in your studio. Right.

You give them a client they've never met, they have, they need to start somewhere. Right. And that that way they'd have an opportunity while there is a testing process to get a Bazzy certificate to be Bazzy qualified, let's say. I wish it was the end thought and not the beginning thought. Meaning people come into the program on day one and they're already nervous about a test or this part, the written test or the practical examination instead of taking in the information and going about it one step at a time. We've often talked about the fact that wouldn't it be wonderful if there wasn't any testing at all that people were there for education, that they were there to improve their own movement as well as their understanding of appropriate movement and how it translates into very specific individuals instead of a test.

I recognize though that there has to be short term goals for people and that test is the way that, um, that works out too. But it shouldn't be the first thing thought of it shouldn't be the thing that includes you or exclude you in any program. Right.

Chapter 14

Pro Bridge Program

I know a little bit about the pro bridge program. Can you explain that to me? We developed the appropriate program for those individuals who are already trained. Um, probably in existing businesses, studio owners, we were, we were approached by so many people who wanted to go through the Bazzy work. We'd go through the comprehensive course but didn't want, didn't feel like, or it wasn't a good use of their time to go and do the hours again, the observation hours or the student teaching hours.

So we developed the pro bridge program and it really is the comprehensive teacher training course condensed because many of the, uh, many of the items that are contained in the course such as the application of anatomy that can easy ology things like that people have already had in their previous training. Right. So in order to come through the pro bridge program, when they apply, they also let us know where they received their initial training. We have a list of schools that we recognize because we know what it takes to go through their program and they are, they can enroll in our program. Sometimes the, if there's a program that we aren't that familiar with, we do a little research on it. And as long as it has the standards, the hours, I guess is what I'm saying. Because at the end of the pro bridge program, when somebody is qualified for it and they've completed it, we see them as a Bazzy graduate as if they'd gone through the comprehensive teacher training course and they're eligible for a certificate.

If they go through the centralized testing, they are eligible for all the benefits that Abazi graduate is. Although they have done their course instead of in 12 modules in six modules, there's two dates about, you know, but anywhere between four and six months apart, there's a three day schedule. In fact, we just recently completed the first half of appropriate [inaudible] of our second offering of the probe bridge and had people from nine countries in attendance. That's amazing. It all had received a different education backgrounds. It's one of the things that, um, people come back to me and say is, is, is, especially if they've already been through the Bazzy course because I always encourage Bazzy graduates to go through the pro bridge again because it's a way for them to audit the materials again to meet some great people.

The level of questions are very different because you're speaking about people who oftentimes have 20 plus years experience in the polities industry. What a great platform. It really has a, it's very heartwarming, some of the, um, the feedback that we have received from people just that it has really changed the way they've seen work that they've been doing for years. And there's an application process for that. So let's say if I were to, I'd go to the bathroom fancy website. There is an application, um, you would a part of your application, your background, where you're from. You would let us know who you had previously been trained with. And as I said, there is a list on the website that lets you know that your initial school of training, um, was an acceptable because it fit into some of the parameters, the hours that it took, the student paper that you have already written. So you don't need to write it again type of a thing. Um, and then we looked all of that up, we do the research on it and then you receive a notice that you're eligible to be part of the program.

We've only had the [inaudible] program in Costa Mesa up till today, let's say. And we're expanding that. And a few of the people that came for the pro bridge it just a few weeks ago, uh, one was from South Africa, you know, they will start back there presenting the first probe region in South Africa probably in a month or so. Oh Wow. So what's going on out in some of our other faculty that are right here in this area that attended will be eligible to teach it, um, in locations as we start marketing it to, that's amazing. A more widespread basis. Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. If that's going to be a great program. Yeah, no kidding. That's amazing.

Chapter 15

What Else Does BASI Offer?

What else does fasc offer? Wow. Bazzy really has a full spectrum of educational opportunities. Um, the foundation portions of it as you mentioned, the comprehensive course and the mat course. After completing that, we certainly hope that people are gonna go onto one of our certificate courses, which are three-day courses and are multi topics which I think are pertinent for contemporary times, which might be, um, we have pathologies and injuries, so it takes a lot, three days into rehabilitation and how to deal with specific conditions of the body that we see more and more as we have an aging population. Also, there is an aging population, a certificate course they would children's, uh, dealing with children, uh, prenatal and um, pre and postnatal and children, uh, as well as athletic performance. You know, those athletes that you have that you really need to give that extra. I mean, we talk about modifying the program and people often think of modifications as bringing the level of the work down and that isn't always true. Sometimes you need to bring the level of the work really up for people who are looking for that minute improvement to perhaps, uh, compete in some athletic performance, the specificity, you know. Right. And to reach a specific target. Yes. Okay. So those are more considered a, uh, would these be advanced as we call them our advanced education courses or acs?

And they are all three days. And of course I didn't mention the mentor program, which is also a part of that, uh, AEC because that's a certificate course and that's the more advanced a level of the repertoire. And Wow, it's a tough, you've taken the test program, it's very tough future of Bazzy educational programs. What's on the forefront? Anything that you can share or there's just always so much. I mean, something such as Bazzy fit is a newer program for us and it's, um, kind of an experiment. In essence, we've had so much requests, so many requests for, um, somebody with more working in a, in a more traditional gym facility to have exposure to quality polities. Many gym owners are to introduce some sort of Palladio's but oftentimes not really sure of what they're getting. So Bazzy fit is a program that we're launching that takes a little bit of the, uh, takes Matt and some reformer and introduces that.

So the people really do learn how to do a quality pelvic curl. Nice. So health club or fitness or health club or fitness based community. Yeah. This is where you shop every day.

Chapter 16

BASI Pilates Studio Tour

This is my dream, my dream. Christie literally I parked in that parking structure.

It's so clean and organized and we validate parking for everyone. And then I just walk straight down here into the midst of this flowing waterfall. And it really is, it really is. Hi everyone. I'm Christie and I'm very excited today because I'm back home with Raylee soccer with my teacher at best pupil Audi Academy. But there's one difference.

It looks a whole lot different than when I worked here. This is, no, it's, I just love it. You know, I feel like I want to whisper. It's, I mean it's, it's so beautiful. I just love this panoramic feel that it's got, this is all absolutely brand new equipment. We had 36 crates of equipment brought in. I wanted to create the studio of my dreams, the home of my dreams. It, I just went all out to create for really for the Betsy family, a home of our dreams. We turned to the east wing of the, uh, of the academy and we're heading towards the um, administration area we have right here.

Something that I'm proud of is our pro store and just displaying all our ways. Absolutely. Christy though the first DVD series I did, which you feature prominently, obviously an award winning series by the way, you know, just so people can see what we offer posters, um, our training manuals, the full line of DVDs and we'll be expanding on this offering and then our clothing, our line of clothing. So people that come in can see what we offer. You know, this was always somehow hidden in closets and we brought it out here. We have a full shower spa like shower, which is absolutely not being very busy, uh, of the weekend. But for showering facilities, we try and offer all the amenities. We've got a mail room where we do all, it's a large mail room where we do all the fulfillment of our orders coming in.

In fact, you can see chip down at the end of the corridor. Oh, hi chip. Chip is the man that takes care of all our orders. The fulfillment of orders, uh, right here. Stellar is our operations manager that lots of people know stellar when they call it. A lot of people know stellar. Absolutely. The for years or you met said, so he was telling me all the way from New York Kristy to work with [inaudible] milady's she wanted to work, uh, with uh, Bassey and may I say he wanted to work with meal? Would that be overstepping the mark? No, that would be hitting the mark over.

Yeah. You can actually see, uh, my office, which serves as both an office and a conference, uh, area. And that has become so handy. We have a full display, which, um, we do all our video conferencing. So we have a conference every week, uh, every Tuesday morning with our entire staff. Not, not everyone, but the, uh, nucleus of our staff who don't all live right here. And that makes Bessie quite unique in that out. Uh, both directors of education and advanced education live in other locations. Um, we are often conferencing with our franchisees in different countries. So this enables us to sit around the table and have a video conference with them and please Christie excuse the fact that we've just moved in so we don't have all our artwork up yet and people's offices may not be quite as, uh, as particularly as I'm gonna make.

But right here we have Jen. Jen is our social media and marketing director. She takes care of all the social media. That's her specialty. Uh, all our website activities, marketing activities, and we're agenda, just a huge asset. She taught me how to use Facebook. She taught you how to use Facebook gen last year, but not least, Christine Christie, give us a smile in a way, please. And that's Christie as CFO and Kristy takes care of all our financial needs.

I don't make a move without Christie. And when I do, I get scolded because I'm usually making a bad move. And you know what, let's go outside. You can go home. I love the smell of south coast plaza after a [inaudible] section. It's right there. Sometimes I think, uh, the beach would be better. But what could beat South Coast Plaza and we have a corporate deal with all the hotels in there. Not all the hotels in area, but several Crowne plaza offer us an incredible rate for us too for students. And when students come they can just stay there.

The Hilton is just on the other side of us, literally within crossing a road, seeing these tables and chairs here. They tables and chairs downstairs as well. And I teaching on Saturday and Sunday walk downstairs during our break and all the students are sitting around at the tables taking in some fresh air. The waterfall, it felt like a beautiful college campus. And that's what I wanted. That's why it is an academy. Ah. So this is where it all happens. Part of that.

Oh, but of course, let's not forget the important stuff, but that is a gorgeous picture. Bessie Balaji's body arts and science international. Yeah. Is listed amongst the registry of schools with the [inaudible] method, the lions, we as an industry set certain minimum criteria that a training organization should meet to be listed in the registry of schools. Is that where the 450 hours a certain level of curriculums or number of experienced by the person. Yeah. And then of course we have the definitive book on Peloton. Thank you Christie. I am so proud of this book. Uh, Lisa habit on the calmer our dear friend you feature prominently within this book in many of the pictures, uh, Leah Stewart's in the book.

So you know, it's really, uh, so many of the early Bassi people together. The two books, this one and uh, this ballade is anatomy. And by the way, Lisa and Lisa at the internal version, this is the internal version and that is Lisa as seen in close. But, um, this I wrote together with my dear friend and colleague, Karen Clippinger. And together these two books have been translated into 10 languages, which is just a, you know, I really am so proud of that.

And this one focuses more on the anatomy of the movement that this one is just mat work and focuses on the anatomy. And what's unique about this one, and Karen and I discussed this extensively before we made this decision, is that the exercises are performed exactly as they were by Joseph [inaudible]. So these are not the faculty version or any other version. They are taken immediately and directly from return to life. We made a tremendous effort to exactly copy them with the models as Joseph Polonius performs them and then analyze them. We do offer variations, which are, which are often the, the Pinata is variations that these are all the anatomical analyses of the exercises as performed by Joseph [inaudible]. A lot of space.

How many people are maybe in here starting with teachers on any given day? You know, being that it's quite new, we haven't explored the, uh, full capacity, but I had 35 people here, um, last weekend and it felt so spacious. I mean they were just, there was so much room and it allowed people to work and feel that they working without being on top of each other. You know, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to mix the equipment apple chair when the chair format. Yeah. So I decided to have an area for the one that chairs. So if you're giving a small group of one to chair a small class, you can have the one that chairs there. So we've got the various types of, one of the chairs and you'll notice there is a prototype of the Avalon one, that chair. So the, the Avalon system is a, a concept that I designed actually many years ago. And uh, I partner with balanced body in the, uh, final engineering and manufacture of the equipment.

But most people have only seen the Avalon chair and the Avalon step barrel. However, from the beginning, I designed the full line of Avalon equipment. So it's not a piece of equipment. It's a concept that follows through all the plot is apparatus and adds huge dimensions of work. That's the one, that chair area. This is the reformer area.

You'll notice that there benches here for the students to sit and do their observation hours? Well, I think about all the hours I sat on the floor and I was just tired of students, you know, sitting around not really knowing where to be. So here they can sit, they feel very involved in the action. And you get this full view of this a studio here we have on this reformer at dear friend Joe working, my former called if all my current call like, but we used to work together. We were students together, students together, same class. And then we work side by side in the studio.

Well you know, Joel's been coming to the sheet, uh, how many years ago? Joel, you've put up with me for 20 years. There must be something wrong with you Joe. Yeah, we have a section of raised mats and I'm sure Bannon's body would be the first to tell you that. Um, I have always had raised mets made for me. I've from the first studio you remember, I've always had raised Matt and I like working on raised mats. Christie, what makes it so valuable? On the raised mat as and why we call it a raised Matt is that you can put it on this block so it becomes an incline bench.

But what makes it so valuable here is when someone is holding on and they showed it is flexible, you can take it down to there, you can put it at that angle. So absolutely. So you can put it at that angle, but because you're more flexible, I could also put it at that angle and that angle and then we could even take it further. You start going all the way down and then of course we can add springs to it. So you can lie here and do your spring work with your legs. This is nice. That is nice. So they, we can hang all our accessories cause you're not putting them on the floor or not putting on the floor. Kristy, you know me, I have an allergy to a stuff lying around.

So here is the, uh, the uh, the um, Avalon Cadillac. And again, you, uh, one of my favorite series is to connect leg springs to here. And you can simply do it. It, it opens up universes of choices. So you know why we are here rather than going to the end, why don't I just show you the another break room and changing rooms. Get a change of scenery.

So here we've got this great changing role and everyone says it reminds them a little of Nordstrom's or Bloomingdale's, but I guess that's a good thing. So it's just very spacious changing rooms. Um, we've got two of those. And then this is an area that both the clients and the uh, assistant instructors use. And with a full kitchen area here, we've got the Avalon chair and I've got three of these lined up and it has the letter barrel attachment, which I app Saluti love using Christi. It's got everything that the ladder barrel has.

It's got everything that the armchair has and yet it puts it all together in the most beautiful flowing manner. The SAR location for the pedal pole. Um, now the Avalon here we've got the Avalon ladder barrel, the Avalon step barrels, which is something we, this is the first year that we actually introduced the Avalon into our comprehensive teacher training program. Module 13, right? Module 13 was integrated into the program and now has become part of our course. All the students learn the of the Avalon system. We can't teach them a full program, but we teach them the fundamentals.

And then this area is very easy to clear for mat work. Even this is fine for a small mat work class, but this is dedicated for mat work, which has hanging math and those are the hanging mats that we have over there. And we even have an exercise bike. I find some people like coming in and just warming up on the bike over there. We have our um, library reading room, quiet room, massage room.

And that is an area that again needs add onto this very large patios so you can get fresh air coming in. And I've always wanted the students to have a place to read. Um, we have got hundreds, literally hundreds of final papers that students have written. So besides now putting them, the ones that are digital, we're putting online, we're uploading to our site. We're going to start cataloging them.

We just are hiring someone now who will be the curator of our library and she will take care of, she's our librarian and we'll take care of laying out all these papers. I really wanted to go all out in every way to create a beautiful environment for students. I think you made it quite obvious that you did. Thank you. I can't wait to come here again.

Chapter 17

2013 BASI Conference Highlights

One of the leading teacher training programs in the plots industry, Bassey PyLadies, which has faculty all around the world. Our own Christy Cooper has been one of those principle Bassey instructors for a long time and in this episode she shows us her highlights from attending the 25th Bassey anniversary. Learn from the leader's conference in Newport beach, California. Take a look. Hi. I'm here in Newport Beach, California at the tail end of the Bassey. Learn from the leaders conference.

Just walked out of a class. You wouldn't believe it over 200 the people, and that's not counting the live feed that was going on. The whole reason for this conference is something that rail tries to do often to gather the Bassey community. But this time he brought in other leaders who brought in Alan Herdman, Karen Clippinger, Lovita San Miguel. There were over 20 countries represented here. Probably the highlight for me was the event last night, which was to celebrate rails and these really a 25th anniversary as an education organization. Rael brought in his niece, Maya Sokowitz and nephew Shai lock off.

My happens to be one of my personal favorites in terms of singers. So it was a real treat for me, but it got better because rail got on stage and Lo and behold, he can play the harmonica, he can sing Bob Dylan, his wife can sing back up. It turns out because the Dell got up there too, and I'm many people are walking around saying that they've never seen rail happier and I think it has a lot to do with the mood of our whole Bascue family. It was a great weekend. So much fun. I will be on this high for a long time. I think you're in good relations on 25 years. Thank you very much.

Do 25 more shower.