COVID-19 Impact in Toronto

Hello and welcome to today. Our conversation today is with Georgia burns and Georgia is coming called talking to us from Toronto in Canada. We're going to do about 30 minutes of questions and answers and then we're going to wrap up, Oh, sorry, 30 minutes of discussion and then we'll wrap up with 30 minutes of question and answer. So just put them in the chat. I, we have two things. We have the Q and a, which is where you put your questions and we have the chat where you can make comments, share links, do all those kinds of things. We'll be answering everything that's in the questions and answers section, so please put them in there. Georgia is based in Toronto.

She's a Pilates teacher, trainer and she specializes in women's health and rehab. And if I remember, George and I first met about eight or maybe it was even nine years ago and she came and taught to on is anytime there and last year she did an amazing workshop for us, uh, on rehab after birth. Mmm. We're going to share some links in the chat as we're going to go through this. But I would say we don't have the answers to all the questions.

So if you asked me, when am I going to be able to reopen my studio? I've just got to tell you in advance. I have no idea. Um, but we're going to chat about the sort of thoughts that we have in those things, but we don't claim to know the answers to everything Georgia told me about where you are and what you do. Um, well I am, I just finished my mat leave actually. I have been on mat leave for the last 18 months and I was building our, uh, books for our advanced teacher training during my mat leave and doing some workshops for you. And I just went back to the studio in October.

And so that's really, I know, I love it. I'm S I was so happy to be home and uh, it's been, it's been amazing being back. So this is, uh, a hard blow for everybody, but I feel like I really just got back in there and I wish I could still be in the studio every day. Cool. And do you have a eight year old, a three year old and a barely one or he is, he's actually almost two. Yes. He's, he's one, but his birthday is coming up this month. Ooh. Gotcha. Relations. Yeah. Baby shark birthday. Yeah. Um, tell me about your practice. Uh, where do you, do you have a studio?

How do you practice polarities? How do you teach? I do the caddy latter barrel teacher training and chair teacher training at the mindful movement center in Toronto. And uh, it's just a gorgeous studio. It's boutique. It's really, um, part of the fabric of Toronto right now. The people who go there are amazing. All of the clients are, I did, um, and Leslie and all my friends are here saying hi. Um, that she's just amazing. She's, her studio is gorgeous. So I'm lucky enough to do a lot of teacher training there and it's been a dream come true. I've been working my whole life for this, uh, experience and [inaudible] now we're, I'm just taking a pivot from, you know, all that excitement and passion and still still doing the work and really enjoying during the [inaudible]. But it's just a, it is a really big mental shift to, to understand what you're going to do next and what we're really feeling.

We really have to put a little perspective into that as we, um, navigate the next steps and how to make that shift. Cool. Yup. Everything is just being turned topsy. Turvy with this change, you tell me what it's like being in Toronto at the moment with the Corona virus. Toronto right now is very quiet and they've closed everything on, on March 24th. They, they closed down all non essential services. So we've been inside earlier than that. We, uh, it was the 13th Friday, the 13th of March. We all chose to go home, you know, the school's closed or daycare's closed, a lot of offices closed. And that was the, that was a real choice in Toronto to close some businesses lingered, some stayed a little bit longer. But March 24th was the official date of, uh, non-essential closure.

Cool. And do you feel that the hospitals are ready for what's expected to be, you know, the onslaught of people? I hope so. They've done so much. We are very lucky in Toronto that we are almost like the last wave. So we've seen this coming. We'd had the opportunity to, um, stock are our hospitals to really make sure that we are following the protocol, that we're doing the real work of, of physical distancing. And I think we've done a really good job. I hope we've done a really good job.

I, I know, I don't see people in the playground anymore. There's nobody playing basketball. People are walking by themselves and taking their space and [inaudible] I hope it's enough. The hospitals are very well prepared and they have beds right now, so fingers crossed there. I'm just going to run a quick poll. I'm curious. So whether or not people on the webinar have a friend or a friend of a friend who has the Corona virus, so he's going to run that for a second. I'm just kind of curious. Uh, my own answer to this is I have a friend of a friend who has it.

I don't know anybody directly yet. Mmm. You know, we're kind of monitoring to see what's happening to our community. Pella, these teachers that we know so well and see what's happening. The good news here is nobody on this webinar has it. Yeah, thank you. Uh, friends have it. They have 20% of the 22% as a friend of a friend and then nearly 60%. So I am not sharing the results here. That's bad. I mean, anyway, here it is.

60% don't know anybody. You know, even a friend of a friend who has a, uh, I'm suspecting that is going to change as this pandemic spreads through our community. We've talked before about, you know, your, you do a lot of online teaching before this. So tell me about what you're doing there. [inaudible] Mmm, well I have made quite a shift really quickly and I always fill my classes. I've always filmed my classes.

That's how I actually got into teaching with bloodies anytime was I sent in my little video and [inaudible] was the first, um, holidays, anytime, next flies into him teacher contest. And so I had been doing that for a long time. I sent it in. I, I've been doing it ever since and I have been putting my longer videos online in an online studio of my own that I actually just do from my house. And so I have a little set up. I just, I do a lot of [inaudible] private sessions. I do a lot of group classes and when I can, and it was really, it's kind of like the same job that I love. I just was that shift. How am I going to do it?

Yeah. So I've asked you to do this before, but you know, obviously you're broadcasting from your spare bedroom here. We just have a quick look out of the windows. We can see what it's like in Toronto today. All right. It's kind of overcast today, but you can see my backyard there and I'm trying to see if I can see my kids in the, is that a park behind and there's the park. Yeah, the kid's park is right behind the house there. Cool. So, and there are some people out there, this is the, my neighborhood kids are out there. They're all in their own little pack.

So they, they only see each other. Um, but they, they are seven and eight years old and they just roll back and forth all day. You know, they, they miss school for sure. Yeah. I think there's a lot of kids are missing school missing that. I think there's a lot of parents that I'm seeing the fact that school's not there. So I'm saying I'm working from my spare room, but I'm working one hour a day when my little one naps and my husband can take an hour for lunch. So that's really all I'm working from my house. I, I went from a full time [inaudible] instructor to full time mom.

So I get one hour a day of, um, holidays and really my, Mmm. My place where I come to meditate too. Um, make sure that I'm taking care of my own mental health. And in the meantime I'm producing something. I'm making videos to share and to put online. But that is really the routine that I've created to keep myself grounded and focused on really how I'm feeling and not really allowing the emotion to flip my lid for, you know, yeah. A better word.

Yeah. I'm just saying this in the chat. I just want to acknowledge Naomi here. Um, she feels that she may have had it, but testing hasn't been available to her. Um, and she knows of two people from her father's church who have died. So just saying, yeah. Thoughts. Yeah. That makes it feel really real. Uh, she lives in London, so thoughts are with you and please stay, stay healthy. And that applies to everybody there.

Uh, when it gets personal, it becomes really different. It's not just something you read in the news and we are so comfortable. A lot of us are in our homes and I mean, I'm, I'm extremely comfortable. I'm happy to be in my home, but, um, it hasn't hit like that yet for us. There's not been this personal contact, so it doesn't seem as real work. We're home, but we're okay. Yeah. Let me just ask the quick question of our audience. Yeah. It's your polarity studio closed. I'm kind of curious.

There's a few places in the world where people can still have their studios open. Um, and we believe that's kind of Japan and Sweden. Um, there may be other countries and if you still are open, I'd love to know where you are and if you wouldn't mind putting that in the chat. Um, but it does seem like pretty much everywhere in the world is kind of close for business at the moment. There's about three or four people who their plotty studio's still open. Um, but that's, that's the world where we're in. So George, I know on the other side of you, I'm pointing in the wrong direction, but you know what I mean? Is that side of you, um, is where you do your filming. So I would love to kind of see what you have there. Um, so here's the rest of the room. I'll take you on a little tour.

Um, this is my daughter's room. So you'll also see her bunk bed, but I usually just come right on over here and you see my little reformer on the floor, my little arrow glottis or farmer [inaudible] and I just line her up like that. And there you have it. However, you'll notice here I have a huge ring light, which makes a really big difference to the shots. Definitely suggest you'll see how it just lights it right up. Okay. So that's basically where I shoot from.

I just grab my iPhone and I start making videos and I honestly do it so much for myself to keep my creativity going, to flex my muscle of teaching because I really do feel that it's important to keep practicing and practicing practicing. So it really grounds me to come in here and film these glasses and [inaudible] is something that I can share with everyone. So it's a, it's a pretty awesome feeling of uh, being productive while we're trying to figure out what we're going to do. Yeah. So just to do a little recap for folks there. So Georgia is just using her laptop. There's in the camera in the laptop and she's, as you can see, she's doesn't have any earplug butts in them, but some people have been using the Apple ear buds or similar kind of wireless, um, kind of pieces.

But because she has quite a quiet environment there when the children are out or asleep, um, she is able just to speak to the laptop and do her communication that way. So there's no Latvia, Mike, and if you've watched parties, anytime videos, you know, we'll be using like a Mike like I'm wearing or something to me it doesn't look like a game or thing. But when we closed the office it was rush home and this happened to be something I had at home. But you can do something less here or it'll make the clips onto here. I was saying a lot of other people, um, filming with their iPhones so you can do it with an iPhone and uh, just just do that.

I was really great to have a little stand and I think we have some links to the different things. And I would really encourage lighting. You know, the most important thing when it comes to making videos is the sound. So you can't hear what the person's saying. And then the lighting's really important. And you can see here, I hope you sold Georgia. I'm showing her a light there. But she has a ring light like that. And if you look in the center of the ring light, if you're not familiar with them, there's a little place where you can put your iPhone in and it really, really makes a difference.

I don't like make Georgia look bad but can you just switch off your light? I mean it will see you, huh? Still pretty lit with my uh, my big window there. But the more light the better just opening it up. So the ring light works really well when you're very close. Like I taught a workshop on a Wednesday or Tuesday and um, I use the ring likes, it was very, very close. But when I'm back a little bit about like say six feet so I can get the entire length of the reformer, it's really nice to have the umbrella lights.

So there is a, I think that Julia has a link for the umbrella lights there. The ring light is really great too for those closer shots. So, and certainly here in California, I think it's the same with you, Georgia, that they are still available from Amazon and the delivery is just a few days. Yeah. Oh yeah. One of my girlfriends just got her, um, her little reformer today in the mail. She ordered it two days ago. It came really quickly.

Fantastic. So that, that's the kind of setup, not, not particularly complex, complex and uh, those things. I think we've talked a little bit more about how to teach online and we've covered it in some of the previous webinars, but we'll touch some of the points before. Uh, there's a question in the chat. You know, you have an arrow [inaudible] reformer there. Um, it's available lots and lots of places. There's different models of arrow, polarities, reformer. Uh, I don't know particularly one that you have Georgia, but um, yeah, and maybe GA, if you could just put a link in maybe from Amazon, just as an example of why you can get it from and it's on the shopping channel sells them. And if you're interested that we have so many videos on is anytime, I'm not meaning to plug our service, but we do feature content that has that particular reformer and we've been chatting with Georgia, whether she'll film something from her studio there on the upper floor of her hacks and see if she can do that. Mmm. When it comes to the, your clients that you do the classes with. So you do some group classes and I think you do privates, is that right?

So because I did take this transition into full time mom, my schedule right now will allow me to do an hour of teaching a day. So whether that's making a video for my website that goes up and it's online indefinitely or a private session. Well, Mmm. Or I do a 15 minute office stretch for people who are sitting at their desks. So every day I have my one hour set up to really like make something, be creative, make something really, um, hopefully valuable to people that they can watch and use right away. Um, so for me, when I started reaching out to my clients, I actually had to be really mindful that I couldn't overbook myself because I, um, I want to reach out to every single one of my clients. And so I have been over the last two weeks checking in and doing my, my, well, today's Monday, usually I see Maria on Mondays, I'm going to shoot her a text and just be like, are you okay?

Do you want to talk? Are you ready to talk or do you need a minute? Cause I'm here and I, it helps to share as well. So I've been kind of keeping tabs on my clients, making sure that they're safe. And when I realize that my new normal included an hour, then I would offer it to somebody. And, um, I found people when they were ready, Mmm. Wanting to come and do sessions.

So I just made a real effort to make sure that everyone was okay, that my clients were, felt supported. And um, and it happens to me at the studio too, is I end up checking in on everybody and then everybody wants a session. And then I'm a little bit overbooked and it's like the best problem to have, but I really want to see everybody. So that's kind of where I'm at right now. Um, so that's why I like to make the videos that they can rewatch so that everyone can do their daily [inaudible] session. And um, and I'm kind of referring out to the women I know. Ooh. I've worked with who I've taught, who I've then with who are really great and have the time right now as well. Yeah. Thank you. Um, we're going to address some of the Q and A's about the specifics of how to film a little bit. We'll do that, uh, in, uh, in a few minutes here, but we've got a few more questions. What's up to explore?

You mentioned that you do your daily stretch, uh, kind of class. So you put up a new video every day or I do it just on Wednesdays, so I do a 15 minutes live stretch. Um, that is just a broadcast, so I can't see anyone and it's just for people who are sitting all day long. And right now a lot of people are working in it and working at home on a computer or working very long hours. So I wanted to make sure that they had something that they could do this 15 minute stretch. Um, so every Wednesday we do it as a live broadcast and then they can watch it every day for the full week or whenever. Um, and then directly afterwards I open up the class and do a half hour reformer class. So they kind of blend into each other.

We start with the 15 minute stretch, go into a reformer class for those who can stay and those who have. Uh, so I do that once a week and I do that, um, just as a free offering for everyone because those are things that I think people need. Yeah. And then it, um, it's really great cause again, I've like built up this great community and people who I want to make sure it feels supported. Cool. I believe you're involved in the Toronto PyLadies teacher community. Can you tell me about what you're, what you're up to there? Yeah. Well when everything started, uh, around the 13th, the 12th and 13th, um, we all came together. A lot of the studio owners in the city created a thread and Instagram thread.

So there's about 50 studio owners on the thread who are sharing, very experienced through the thread, um, different ideas of when to close should we stay open, we have staff who need the income, we don't feel comfortable closing or we really need to close because this is more serious than we think. So there's been an open thread. Then it kind of shifted into how do I get my videos up online? How do I get my teachers working? How do I, how do I navigate this? So the threat is going to change over the last three weeks. But it's been really amazing to see it.

All of the studios in the city kind of come together a little bit to talk about their own experience. And we have the same thing with a lot of studio teachers, Brett threads, and they, um, are very different. Obviously they have very different conversations. But I think that [inaudible] opens up the community when we would normally see our colleagues take each other's classes. Um, w we don't have that anymore. So the thread just kind of opened it up a little bit. It's like you guys were saying you do like a coffee, a 15 minute water cooler break over zoom every day.

And that's really what I was hoping what happened with our community and they've been amazing supporting each other. A lot of the links that I'm going to put up, uh, uh, that GE is going to put up in a minute are really come from these groups, you know, teachers and studio owners. Check out this link so that you can make your decision whether you need to stay open, if you need to close, if you need to work, if you need to, um, if you feel comfortable going online and teaching. Cause I know a lot of teachers are not comfortable with that. Mmm. But there is some government assistance coming, but we really need to look at the government wording to know if it's right for us. So there are a couple of, um, Ontario government links that came from this group that I thought are very valuable because it's so confusing. The languages changing every single day, what we are eligible for, what they're offering to studios versus studio teachers. Um, so I think it's really important that each of us keep up to date.

So we know should we teach a couple hours here and there online, try to make it work. Tried to pay a rent, try to yeah, have an income. Yeah. Is it going to be worth your emotional and physical time? So the links that I really want to share with like Canadian audience is, uh, came from these teacher, these groups, um, that were on Instagram. Fantastic. Thank you for doing that. And I'd encourage anybody in the communities all over the world that are listening today to, you know, if there isn't something going on in your own local community started and, uh, help this, this is not like we're competing with each other.

It's like how do help each other during this tough time. It's to share experiences. We are literally, this is the first time in history when every single being on the planet is going through the same thing. [inaudible] this levels are playing field. There is no competition. There is so much that we would benefit from sharing our experience and our knowledge. Um, every single person's unique experience should be examined and looked at and thought about and cared about. So I really, yeah, just like you said, I encourage everyone to start that thread because it's hard to, you know, sometimes you get nervous like, Oh, they're not going to like me or they're, they're gonna think of whatever.

But it's always better to open up the community and um, share your, your knowledge and share your experience. Fantastic. Thank you. So we're going to put George's links not just in the chat today, but we'll also put in the description below the video and hopefully that will help as many people as we can. Some of these are Canada specific, but really hope that we're going to do that. Uh, we're also going to be talking next week with Mmm John Grasso from those, the president of the PMA about all the resources that the PMA is pushing out, many of which are applicable globally and other ones which are more applicable to the U S um, today is the first day in the U S where you can apply for the pay work payroll protection program is what? Of alliteration there. Yeah, we're getting questions about does it apply to me? And it is complicated. There's nothing straightforward about this, you know, talk to your bank, talk to your financial advisor, try and work out what's the best thing for you. It's so individual at this point, whether you're a studio owner or a teacher or I'm in Canada, you qualify for something, but if you work even one hour, you no longer do.

So it really is so personal. Um, you need to be up on these, on your own country's, uh, information and daily because it is going to change. These people leaving of the government are really, I do believe they're trying to help us. Um, it's their first time doing this too. So it's going to be messy. It's going to be like, okay. Yup. It's complicated. I've got to run one more poll here and then this is just a quick one about, um, how much money are you making today as opposed to what you were making before the Corona virus. So if you make you a hundred Canadian dollars before, how many, how much are you making now? Um, is it nothing? Is it on to 25% of that? What's this kind of income that you're saying?

And just to share this, these results with everybody that, I think so many people are suffering in the same way as they were before. Yeah, sorry. We're all suffering in a way that none of us were from before. Just sharing the results here. And about 40% have no income. Another 40% are between one and 25% so 80% of folks are less than 25% and nobody's making as much as they were before. I know it's no constellation, but this is affecting.

So to me, it's so comforting to me to know that everyone is in the same situation. I, I, I don't know why I feel, um, it really is comforting because I feel like I, I will trust that if every single person is in this situation, we, we, we'll get help. We will get some sort of, I really do trust that right now. Aye. Yeah. It's, it's scary. You know, the, the U S unemployment is that I think 10 million people in the last two weeks have filed unemployment. That's just beyond understanding the work, what that really means and clearly many people in the police profession and not in a situation where they can file for unemployment. Many contractors. So luckily in Canada they've decided that um, as contractors we will be eligible for assistance only if we don't work at all. Which is kind of, yeah. Complicated. Tell me what you're doing to keep your head together in this time.

I'm kind of the mental health because all of us, this, this is stressful. You know, we are kind of grieving for the life that we had three weeks ago. It's crazy. And the life that we planned. And a lot of us, especially, I feel like as polities instructors, we are so passionate about what we're doing, we're doing it for love. And, um, it is such a loss just to have to change or it feels like we have to change and kind of give up a lot of those dreams. Mmm. And I really have been focusing on mental health really for the past two years because my, after my last son was born, I really had such a hard time. I couldn't, I couldn't get it together.

So I did my entire program on the emotional trauma and how to work through it, especially using movement. So it is, um, it's been so helpful to know that there are stages. So this first grieving process, this is part of it. This is how we heal, to grieve, to talk about it, to really express like, okay, my goals are now different, changed forever. And it's really allow ourselves to feel that hurt and pain and again, why the community is so important. Um, and I feel like I did a lot of grieving that first two weeks. I found it really, really, and now that we're in this new normal, this routine phase, I've got my [inaudible] set up and this is exactly what I did after my son was born. I had my reformer, I took a lot of videos, I worked through how it felt and I took time to really feel it.

And I am definitely one of those bloodies instructors who says, what muscle do you feel right now? What, what is working? Can you consciously activate consciously? I, you know, I hear that I say it all the time and um, that's what I'm focusing on right now. What do I feel? Okay. Is it my rational brain or is it the part of me that is anxious and sad and scared? Um, and I'm going to not judge it, but I'm going to make decisions when I'm in the rational place and I'm going to move through it. And, uh, with holidays, of course, um, I moved my reformer from our basement up into our spare room. I've taken over this whole room. Now I'm in here as my, my safe space. So this is my meditation spot. This is my mental health. Yeah.

The routine is what is keeping me going right now. Checking in on my clients and making sure that I'm productive every day and making sure that I am taking the time to focus on, uh, the kids. So doing those things is keeping me Mmm. Happy, comfortable and really excited. Like I am really excited to see, um, where we can take this and what's going to happen next.

I do think there's a lot of good that's going to come of it and I think that we'll be able to, especially as our community, we can grow stronger. We can grow. This is the time. Okay. If I can just take a moment to say, um, these links when that are going to explain to you, should you take the assistance or should you try to work? I would say if it is making sure and you happy and bringing you joy, this is such a good time to donate time and to work on your craft and to build a library and to work for a passion project. Um, if you can. And, and that's why I think so many people are offering free content right now. They're building their brand, they're building their libraries, their lists.

And I think that is um, a choice that some people are making. And then, um, there's definitely the other side where we are career plus these instructors and do need to make money. So I strongly suggest that every bloody instructor read especially, sorry in Canada, read the links that we've provided because um, you need to really weigh those options. Like do you make a little bit of money teaching a zoom that might not accumulate at the end of the month to the $2,000 of assistance? You might do it because it's a passion project because you want to build your list because, and donate your time or you try and you make that as much money as you can in the month to pay your rent and buy food and just know the difference.

Know the pros and cons of both. Great advice. Thank you. And one of the things that you know, we're talking about within plot is anytime it's just getting back into a rhythm. So, you know, we, we schedule, everybody's been working for home for three and a bit weeks now. But you know, people are expected to be kind of at work at nine and we're going to finish at five and this is when we have our check-ins and these are the meetings and um, we're trying to make the, try to create that rhythm, that routine because that's so comforting to us. So they much the same. Same as you. All right, let's see if we can answer the questions and um, yeah, I'm sorry, the ones in the chat, I'd be great if you could put them in the Q and a as well. I'll read them out and Georgia will give us the answer. Um, this first one is from Patty. Any advice on filming recording? Um, that non-life special?

So I think there's two things. Any advice on filming? Recording with a special liability assurance? I have Philadelphia fitness, wellness insurance, Sam covered for live feed, but not for recording. Everybody has a slightly different insurance policy. So I think this is a time to call up your insurance broker and say what's covered and what's not covered and um, everything is available, but sometimes you have to pay a little bit more for that. The insurance. Do you have any other thoughts on the insurance part of that?

In Toronto, the consensus has been that pretty much everybody who's called their insurance and bumped it up, it's been about $50 a year to, to have your insurance cover online content. But again, you have to call your own insurance provider and make sure that's just been the average around what I've seen. Cool. Thank you. Uh, Stephanie, um, I was just talking to Leslie Logan. Leslie Logan is going to be on the show on Monday and we're gonna have there, we're gonna have a whole discussion about liability insurance. If you want to know more than that. Uh, let's come back to talk with Leslie on Monday. But, um, step one, call your insurance broker and see what's possible. Read the policy, see what's there. $50 a year is not very much. Um, uh, this is from Stephanie, Georgia.

Could you tell us about your visual tech set up? What works best based on your trial and error? Is there anything you'd like to add? We talked about it a bit before. I want to say that when you're filling your piece to really find, um, just straight lines in your shot. So when you're looking at your mat, make sure you're aligning your mat up with the edges of the camera.

Look at everything as straight lines, like really try to find the camera on the same level as you, as your body. And when I'm seated, I want to just reach my arms out, make sure I'm still in the shot. And you'll have one shot for classes where you're standing and one when you're lower down. So think about that. When you're designing your class, where you make, as long as you're very centered and all your limbs are in the shot, it will look very beautiful. Lots of light. And I strongly suggest keep it very, very simple. Use a phone. Use your iPhone. If you are in an echoey place, you might choose to get like a lapel or a mic. But if you're in a room that's pretty contained, you should be fine.

Just using the audio from your phone even and get lots of light behind you. Um, so I coming from in front of you and make sure that you can see your face. Those are just the things that I go through my checklist. I'm like, okay, straight line, straight line. That's what makes it really beautiful and Plata is, is so much about that, right? Like the angle is 90 degrees or it's straight out and when you're setting up your shot, that's what I look for is a lot of really straight lines.

I think it makes it look a lot, a lot cleaner. Cool. Thank you. Next one is from Rebecca. Uh, from Washington state. I was wondering how instructors are dealing with recorded content and deciding whether to put a posted on the studio website where they work or on their personal business website. Um, and then I'll come back to how much he charge here in a second. But let's just talk about, you know, um, that first part of the question.

Um, so I think this is really different for everyone. If you have your own online studio and you have a lot of people involved in that, um, I would probably, it really is so personal if you're, if you want to keep your relationship with your studio very open. I am doing both. I am giving my content to my studios that I'm part of. I just, I will let them use my videos and then I keep them on my site as well and um, that seems to be working. But it, it's so personal.

If you would want to keep your, I'm very community based. I just want everyone to, I just want to be out there and connecting with every single person. Um, but if you feel like you want to keep it on your own site, I would say it depends on if you are allowed to work, if there's a limitation on how much money you can make, how much you're charging. I think there's so many variables. It's very a personal choice there. Yeah. I think the, the other part of this, if you know, it depends whether your employee plans, whether you're a contractor, um, if I remember rightly, Georgia you before virus, if that is the right term that you worked at several studios in Toronto. Yeah, I do.

I have a studio that's very near my house where I rent a space and see private clients. Um, and then I have the, a beautiful studio in Yorkville at I do teacher training. I have friends who own studios everywhere that I will sub and cover for whenever I can. Yeah. It's the complicated issue of who owns the relationship with that client, whether or not it's you. So in George's case where she rent a space, it's clearly her relationship between that client and herself. So doing those things [inaudible] if I'm doing a private session, um, from mindful movement, I have been, I have already sold my packages to my clients and I am deducting from those packages. Even though I'm in my home. To see those private clients where I was renting space, to see those private clients, I am take payment directly through my own website.

I would, I'd encourage people talk to, you know, if you're an employee of a studio, it's a different position too. If you're renting space in a, as a contractor from the person, but talk to the studio owner, try and work it out. You know, they always just scared and as unhappy by this as you are and open communication can really help because at some point the virus will be over and you may want to work where you were working before. So I would really encourage you to kind of think it through. But what Georgia was saying there I think is really key that if the package was sold through that studio, that studio is still getting that share of that revenue from that package. So it's Mmm.

And they will continue. When I sell another package, that client belongs to the studio that I, I'm teaching at. And so I will sell the next package through mindful movement and they will, Mmm. Continue to pay mindful movement. That client is, um, yeah. Thank you. Um, how much are you charging? Is it the same as you were when you were doing in person to when you'd go to online?

Mmm, yes. My, so as this kind of is the same thing is those private sessions are already purchased. My clients buy packages in advance and I'm deducting that. So yes, I am charging the same, um, four people who already had packages. Yes. Cool. Uh, I think this is a key point that we've talked about in these various webinars that you ha you still have the same bills that you had before. You'd need to be, you know, you still have the same skills that you have developed before, so you have all those talents, all those investments. And that's why I really strongly encourage everybody charged the same as you were before. Now, if your client can't afford to do that, and maybe before they were able to afford a private session with you, you know, I really encourage to think, well, if you can't afford my private rate, try my group classes, they're really good. Obviously you won't get the same attention. But, um, you know, try and keep them and do those things.

And if you really feel you need to give away some of your content, then a bit like Georgia does. She has one class a week, which is for the community that's for free. Um, but you owe it to yourself as police to professionals to, um, to make a living. And it's going to be tough enough. But so please, my thoughts on this is don't discount. I don't know if you want to be even more emphatic, George. Nothing is, nothing has changed so drastically. Like it's still my hour. It's still the same session.

I am a 100% focused and committed to supporting my clients in that time. Um, they're still my client, which is more than the equipment. It's, it's more than the workout. Being, uh, a body worker working with [inaudible] is about supporting the entire person. Their emotional and physical state is important. And by creating this routine, uh, to me I was like, I could charge more because it's important right now to be [inaudible] that normal, to have this connection with another person, especially something that they love. They love you, they love [inaudible], they love doing this. And this is important. So I don't think that, um, no I don't think we should be discounting our rates. I think that our relationship with our client is what they pay for 'em and I think it's very important.

Cool. I'm going to stay with the theme of charging here. This is from Jenna. Do you charge clients for the videos you have on your website? I do. So I have one free class a week, uh, that I shoot live and it goes out and it, the quality is sort of like, this is the webcam and I filmed the same class and I post it later so that people can watch it. So the live stream is free for 24 hours and then after that the class itself can be purchased. And on my website, the way I do it as I can, you can buy one class and have it for 24 hours or you can subscribe and do a month long subscription. Cool. Obviously I'm a big fan of the subscription business.

I learned from you say that with a, what do you use as your platform for your online videos and being able to charge and all of that. I'm using that from a stream, but what I've seen from MINDBODY right now, I'm I like it's, I think they're doing like some really interesting things right now. So I think for studio owners tapping into the online, um, mind body button is going to be really, really, if you have a physical studio, you already have a client base, you already have the list, then I think, um, my body is definitely the way to go. I really liked Nama stream. I've, I've, I had no real Mmm. And I'm not super techie. I don't know how to use it, anything other than my iPhone and I didn't really have any trouble with it. I really enjoyed putting it together and building my little. Mmm.

It's, it feels like a home. It does feel like my own studio and I, I aye. Yeah, it feels like my, my little space, so I'm very, I really love it. Cool. Very simply put, I'm a stream is a little bit like plot is anytime it's a video streaming subscription business that you can build your own version of it for your own client base. Is that fair Georgia? Yeah it is. It's great. You can buy like one video at a time. I've got workshops, I can do private sessions. Um, I can do live streaming. It just makes it really easy because it, this is complicated. Um, we were kind of doing it on YouTube and sending out links and so that's kind of the bootstrap way to do it and Mmm. I think it works and is good if you already have a list and you're already like a big studio. Um, but there are definitely different ways to do it there.

I mean you can definitely start with like Facebook and Instagram live, but um, I think once you start to think, this is my career, this is my, my baby, then it's really, he needs to kind of research how to, how to put things online and how to share them with your clients. Cool. I have a question here from Rachel. Do you think the current online offerings or continue beyond the pandemic? I is online teaching the way for the future, what you think will become a brick and mortar studios. Wow, that's a great question, Rachel. Mmm, well Georgia was thinking that online teaching was a thing of the past, you know. Um, so yeah, I think that what, what do you think Georgia? I think a lot of people will get very comfortable with online sessions and online teaching. It's quite accessible.

It's something that you can kind of take anywhere in the world. I do think there'll be, um, a shift towards loving online studios. I don't think it will take away from brick and mortar. I think that it will benefit, uh, actual physical studios. The more our clients are doing [inaudible] the better because they feel better in their bodies and the notes from the plays.

So if I have a client who comes to see me twice a week for a private session and I give him him classes to do every other day, it does not take away from him coming in to see me physically. It's that it makes his practice better and deeper and more integrated into his routine. So I actually think they will benefit each other greatly. I think a lot more people will come in to the physical studio and they will also do more online sessions. Yeah, I totally agree with George. I think that yeah, lots of people are going to learn the skills about how to use zoom or whichever platform they want to use to deliver this content. And I think on the other side, the clients are going to be like, wow, that was better than I thought it was going to be.

Nothing is going to replace that in the studio experience with a hands on correction and where you can really see what's happening with that body. So I think it's, I, I kind of liken it a little bit of do you want to see that bound that you love life or just listen to the recorded music and there's place for both those things. But that in-person live experience of seeing whoever you're into. Um, maybe it, hopefully it explains, you know, I bought a lot of rolling stones music, but I've also seen them live at least 10 times. So, uh, I kinda think it's like that. I agree totally. One does not take away from the other. Yeah.

And just to talk about the free content, I don't think that takes away from the paid content either. I do think it is important to charge what we, um, are, were originally charging. But I also think that the more we can give to our community, the better. So I think they work together just like online and in studio, these things there. There's a lot, there's so much that it just brings more. Yeah. However, there's lots of really good questions here.

So Naomi OS, any thoughts on zoom? London has gone zoom crazy this week. Mmm. W what do you use when you do your life? You use zoom as well? Yeah. Yeah. I just say that. Answer this from the plot is anytime sort of thing. We've been using zoom as our conferencing tool for several years and we kind of looked at the various people like Skype and zoom and Google Hangouts and so on, and just consistently came back to zoom. And just because the quality and the reliability and the features and the ease of use was just better than everybody else's.

What we're using today is the women webinar features within Xu for pretty much everything you want to do with polarities. It's really good to do it with the meetings and you can get some of the meetings done for free. Yeah. Yeah. One-on-one. You can do it for free. And if it's, um, sometimes like for the classes you can do like a half hour class and that'll be free for more than two or three people. Uh, anything under 40 minutes. Yeah. And even if you, if you do find that you need more than the third 40 minutes, you have a group, uh, in us dollars. It's about $15 a month for paying for that. So it's not a huge amount of money. Mmm.

Well worth it. Hopefully that helped. Yeah, everybody's going zoom crazy. I think it's the same. Rachael's, Rachel has a question here. I use zoom but struggling to be able to record classes for future use without filming participants to, uh, my suggestion to that is if you know that the participants are going to be in it as well, then they have to sign a waiver. Um, but there are some options in terms of how you can set it up to record and um, uh, for instance at the moment that you can just see Georgia and myself, you can hide some of the other participants and you know, just just have whatever is the, um, really, you know, filming something live and filming, filming something highly produced. Georgia has been to our studio a number of times and she knows we stopped the action. So can you do that again?

He didn't quite get that we need to put the camera here, we need to do that. So doing things for recording is a lot more effort than doing a live class when it's live your clients, they're kind of happy with the fact that the dog just walked in or whatever's just happened. But if it's edited and you're being charged a subscription, there's an expectation of a higher kind of quality there. So that's when you begin to get into, I need to edit this, I need to reshoot this, I need to do these other things. Um, it gets more expensive, more time consuming and higher quality. Uh, that's the, uh, you offer 30 minute online classes. Do you think there is an optimal length of time? Is one hour or two long online? [inaudible] Mmm, I like to do, have our classes and then people can choose to double them up if they want to.

I think that half hour for me, when I'm at home, I have three kids. I have my dog, I've got to make dinner. I am, I'm good to do a half hour. And then if I happen to have a bit more time, second one on it goes do a little playlist. To me, that's the most efficient way to build up my library. And from my experience, I feel like people will focus on something for about half an hour. Um, and if it gets to be a bit longer than you kind of run the risk of missing part of the workout, ending it early, something happening. So you can always put on another one if you need to, but you can't really like shorten it out and keep it that like cohesive class, you know, where at the end you feel like, Oh my whole body is together and proper. Yeah. My, my thoughts on this when if you're streaming something live as long as the person that's at the other end of it knows, am I signed up for 30 minutes or 60 minutes, it's up to them. It's whatever they wanted to buy that day. And I think it's an experimentation.

What is your client base one? So you try put a 30 minute one on the schedule but a 60 minute and if nobody signs up for the 30 minute it was too short. Everybody signs for the 30 minute and nobody for the 60 minute, you kind of say, I'd experiment. Is there a time where we can play with so much stuff here? Uh, Lindsey asked about security measures on zoo. Yeah, we've probably all read some of the stories about people bombing, uh, zoom sessions and taking them over and all of those things. My, our view on that is if you follow the instructions that are in the zoom, um, zoom website last, I'm a really good, uh, self help videos and they have some great articles there. You should be pretty safe.

But if you share to the planet what that ID is do to get in on here and um, it kind of exposing us, it's kind of like leaving the key to the door outside so everybody can kind of see it. So, uh, I B I've just followed the rules on it and try and be careful, perhaps talk to a teenager. Um, I was going to say I didn't know any of this. I haven't heard about the, the zoom like bombing thing. So now I'm, I'm going to have to go and read all of the tutorials. Ah, I got to rush here cause I got to try and answer as many as I can. Um, does [inaudible] stream handle payments through Stripe, Stripe or, okay. Yeah, it's all connected. Mmm. Do you do anything special for older adults? Do you focus on that client base? I do. Um, in fact, I do so much rehab, uh, that a lot of my clients are dealing with very specific issues.

So I do something that's called the daily dose. You guys actually do a daily dose as well. Um, so I do a daily dose for sciatica. I do on for scoliosis, things that are just very, very, um, kind of protocol to deal with certain conditions in the body. Um, especially things that older adults start to, to see. So I, I have very specific classes for, um, Parkinson's, ms for spinal, a thesis for forward head posture. I have a list of these quick 10, 15 minute classes that can be done every day that are very, very spines safer, have that older population in mind. So, um, that's a huge passion of mine. I'm just so interested in how the body moves through different life stages, how it changes through pregnancy, through age, through, it's through breaking bones. I, I'm just so fascinated by that. Yeah.

I have a whole series on. Mmm, cool. Oh, I, I'm, I wish I could answer all these [inaudible] forever and ever. I mean Pilati is talk ongoing, you know, we'll be back on Monday and uh, for, you know, for the, I'm sorry ladies, a vassal, these you can email us, Jay is going to put in the chat support at is anytime common. If you want to email us, say we'll do our best to respond to all the questions. Um, but I'm respectful of everybody's time and we said we'd be here for 60 minutes and that's what we're going to try and do. Um, so if we haven't answered your question and I can see this a lot, we have answered, I will be back on Monday with Leslie Logan and uh, just email us and on those things. Do you have a closing thought Georgia? I just encourage everyone to check in on the people in your life, your clients, your boss, your friends, your brothers and sisters. I just, the more you can share with people, the easier the, um, the stages of trauma in our own bodies will, will heal. So checking on people, keep calling people.

Just understand that everyone is in this place of stress and fear and give a lot of space for that. And you know, we can't take anything personally. We just have to be supportive for them, so it will mutually beneficial. Thank you Georgia. Thank you to everybody that came and joined us today. Um, our thoughts are with you. We support you, the people who have lost ones through the Corona virus or a suffering. Mmm.

We are here for you and thank you for joining us today and thank you so much, Georgia. You're amazing. No, thank you, John. I will see you again. I look forward to being back in Santa Barbara soon. I hope so. I want to be there to love everybody. Thank you. See folks on Monday. We'll have another live stream then. Thank you.

Thanks Georgia. Bye.