My Pilates Anytime Trip- Day Three

Now we’re getting to the business end of this adventure! I caught the Airbus from LAX to Santa Barbara- such a great way to travel. Gia gave me a lift from my hotel in West Hollywood and I got a taste of LA traffic. I know I’m used to Sydney traffic but this was a different level.  Once we got moving the view from the bus was lovely. Ocean on one side and amazing landscape on the other. Of course my photos don’t do it justice. (I’m too slow to get the good shots!)

Luis picked me up and took me to my hotel the Montecito Inn. Such a gorgeous place to stay, Charlie Chaplin was actually part of the group of investors that had it built. 

It was great to be able to get to my room straight away because I only had a little over an hour before going over to Pilates Anytime headquarters for a class with the beautiful Carrie Pages (last year’s Pilates Anytime winner)!

It was so wonderful to have an opportunity to be in a class before my filming- for that class to be with Carrie was even better! I must stay it was pretty emotional to finally be at the studio. Luckily for me it seems that the Pilates Anytime family are also empathetic criers too! 

I got to be part of Carrie’s reformer class along with Jackie from Good Citizen who was so lovely. By the way, Carrie’s class was so great- you have to take it when it comes online!

It has been unseasonably hot here in Santa Barbara- today was about 35 degrees Celsius (about 95 Fahrenheit) but we went out- over those famous train tracks and did a photo shoot right on the water’s edge. It was fun and I think we (Jeff the photographer) got some great shots. After some more photos in the studio while the sun set over the Pacific (so wonderful to see) it was home time. 

I got to end my night with a light dinner and drink with Carrie. My Mediterranean (super S L O W) drinking style got a bit of a laugh too. 

Of course, we didn’t take a photo together! But it happened- I promise 😊

My Pilates Anytime Trip- Day Two

After a great sleep (on a real bed!!!) I was ready for my final day in LA. Since I didn’t have much time the day before to regroup from my flight I decided to take my time in the morning. Between waking up at around 9:00am, doing my stretches, replying to emails for the studio, showering and getting dressed for the day I was finally out the door by 11:00am and starving! When the Uber arrived I was greeted by Keisa. I had decided to take up my client Fleur’s advice and check out the Farmers Market. It’s quite the institution in LA, set up way back in 1934. Keisa was extremely excited and immediately suggested that I go to Du-Par’s Restaurant and treat myself the short stack of buttermilk hot cakes. Now seeing as though Du-Par’s was established in 1938, I believed Keisa when she told me these hot cakes were something special. I was willing to put aside my reservation of eating a sweet breakfast (I always come off the sugar rush hungry). 

Served with home made boysenberry syrup these things were amazing- and huge. I got through two out of three. I was pretty pleased with my efforts actually. 

Completely stuffed I figured I should get the body moving and proceeded to wander around The Grove, the great little shopping centre (center) right beside the Farmer’s Market. A great time was had by all- including the MasterCard... I left The Grove with a birthday present for Ben and a little number by Diane Von Furstenberg. 

Thanks to my accomplices Sally Anderson and Lanette Gavran for the aiding and abetting (and for letting me come Barbie shopping).

The gorgeous Gia from Pilates Anytime and I had dinner together at Gracias Madre, an amazing plant based Mexican restaurant. It was so wonderful to sit and chat to Gia especially considering that Gia was first point of contact for the competition. One thing that we both had in common is that neither of us are naturals at the whole social media thing- so we forgot to take a photo together. But we both looked amazing (of course).

While I packed my bags for my early start I subjected myself to a disaster of a television show 90 Day Fiancé. Treat yourself to a snippet here... 

More from my trip tomorrow x

My Pilates Anytime Trip- Day One

Well my first full day in LA happened! It was a big one. The flight landed just before 7:00am. I had managed to get some sleep on the plane so my challenge to myself was to stay awake all day.

Once I dropped my bags off to the hotel and freshened up my first task was to set myself up with an US SIM card. Danny from AT & T sorted me out and before I knew it I was on my way to... somewhere. Now I just had to figure out what I wanted to do next.

A quick phone call to Olive and June the nail salon featured in my Wallpaper* guide and my appointment was made. Based on my wonderful experience I have decided that I will always get a pedicure after a long haul flight. It felt so good (P.S. don't mind my bunion)!

With a whole afternoon to myself and no plans I decided to wander around Beverly Hills. I quickly realised that I was not dressed quite as well as I would like to be but I just let it go and enjoyed myself. It was lovely to just have the afternoon to explore and I ended up at the Beverly Hills Art Show. I restrained myself but I did see some beautiful ceramics that I was very tempted to bring home.

I was so pleased to be able to get into my room, have a shower and feel like I was set up. Staying only two nights at a time at any of my booked accomodation it was going to be a struggle to create a sense of home that us introverts crave. I’m staying at The Grafton Hotel. It's a great little hotel with a pool, a really great sized room (at least mine is) and friendly staff. I was keen to get in the pool but since I've been struggling with eczema on my face for a little while now I didn't feel comfortable exposing my skin to chlorine before the filming. I was nervous enough!

I figured it was surely time for dinner. When I sat down at Pono (I had this great warm salad with a home made quinoa salad) I realised that it was only 5:30pm. While I wasn't too tired yet I really wasn't sure what to do with my time in such a sprawling city. I had walked around the city enough to know that I wasn't going to be able to potter from one small store to another for a few hours- everything was so spread out. Oh dear.

This was going to be tough... what was I going to do to stay awake until my childhood bed time of 8:30pm? After chatting to some friendly retail staff I decided to make my way to Melrose and discovered the Hollywood Improv Comedy Club. Success! A 7:00pm show! I decided that alcohol probably wasn't the best idea for a jet lagged body so perched up on a bar stool, I ordered myself a house baked choc chip cookie (which was huge and there were two!) and enjoyed the comedians up on stage switch it up between squirming and smashing it up on stage.

This place was great and I only started to doze off on my bar stool during the last 10 minutes- lucky those things are sturdy. Thank goodness for Uber to get me home.

Getting home was such a relief and I slept like a log... 

The Pilates Anytime Adventure Begins

In just over 24 hours I will be on an aeroplane on my way to Los Angeles. In addition to keeping everyone up to date with my adventures overseas I thought I should start at the very beginning... what made me enter this contest in the first place? This was actually my second time entering the contest, I also entered in 2015. At that time I was going through a period of fairly intense anxiety. Imposter syndrome was at an all time high and I felt quite paralysed in any attempt to create any forward movement in my Pilates career. I started seeing a psychologist and in a move that surprised both her and I, I decided to enter the 2015 Pilates Anytime Contest. As my self-confidence started to grow I felt that really putting myself out there in front of my peers would be a major step forward for me. That year I didn't make the top ten. As a pretty self-critical person I was surprised to discover that I was actually still quite proud of myself. The process of recording and sharing what I do each do each day was so confronting that simply going through the process was hugely rewarding.

Part of the assessment process for the Australian Polestar Pilates mat and studio course is to record yourself teaching and complete a self critique. When the 2017 Pilates Anytime Contest was announced I reflected on my previous experience and how gratifying it was. I thought that I should go through the process again. I could speak of my experience recording myself to the students that I mentor.

This time it would be different though. After submitting my video in 2015, my very good friend Carrie gave me the following feedback: "It was good, but I was wondering where JoJo was. You didn't seem like yourself". When I reflected on this Carrie was absolutely right. I didn’t seem like myself because I wasn’t present. I wasn’t teaching the person, I was teaching the exercises. I was so nervous that there wasn't any room for my personality. I was too busy comparing myself to others- a reflection on where I was at as a person at the time I guess.

Recording in my own studio seemed to make things more comfortable. With the help of Dani who donated her time to be my body on the mat and my ever supportive husband Ben, I managed to cast the nerves away and record MYSELF. I didn't watch any other entries, I didn't over plan, I just tried to do what I do every day. My goal is to make the Pilates movements make sense for the person in front of me, not just their body but their whole person. I had fun!

When I received an email from Gia from Pilates Anytime I was actually at a Polestar course weekend. I opened it thinking that it would be a repeat of the 2015 email but to my surprise and delight...

We are so pleased to inform you that you have been selected to be a potential finalist in the 2017 Next Pilates Anytime Competition.

I am pretty sure I could feel my pupils dilate at that moment. My palms were sweating and the room was a blur. A finalist? What? I had to read it over and over to make sure I wasn't making anything up! After speaking to Gia, the next step was simple just a bit of self promotion. Not exactly my strong point. I signed up for self-growth and here it was presented to me on a silver platter S E L F  P R O M O T I O N. Looking for ways to get an introvert out of their comfort zone? Try social media!

If I was going to do this I was going all in. Here am I Pilates world, warts and all! Here's my eclectic taste in music, here are my ridiculous dance moves on the Pilates equipment, here I am teaching, here I am putting myself out there and asking for you to believe in me while I do the same...

And then it happened. On my birthday. Gobsmacked.

Once the voting had closed I proceeded to teach the worst two and a half hours of Pilates ever. I was the most distracted teacher I had ever been. Thank you to my gorgeous, very understanding clients for not giving me a slap.

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The ride so far has been amazing. The support not only from my friends and family but also the other finalists and the Pilates community worldwide has been beautiful.

I have read comments saying that this contest has the potential to be divisive, that we shouldn't be competing with each other. Of all the things that I am passionate about, creating community within the Pilates industry is paramount. I am so happy to say that the experience so far has been the total opposite of divisive. The sense of community that this contest has made me feel is wonderful. I can't wait to meet the other finalists at the PMA conference and thank them for being part of this with me. I agree, we shouldn't be competing with each other but for me this wasn't about competing with others it was about challenging myself.

So, next time I tap away on this keyboard will be in Los Angeles. I'll have two days there before making my way to the Santa Barbara area to film my two classes. I'm nervous but in a good way. I'm excited for the next chapter!