ABOUT BROOKE SILER
Brooke Siler began her Pilates career in 1994 under the tutelage of Master Instructor Romana Kryzanowska. After receiving her national authentic Pilates certification in 1996 Brooke Siler began training famous friends on floor mats in their homes. Clients immediately were taken by the positive results of Pilates and by year’s end Brooke had begun the business of training from her home.
Many more famous clients were quick to refer their friends to Brooke, and before long word of mouth had spread to the press about this extraordinary fitness method being embraced by models and celebrities. It was a matter of months before Brooke’s business grew too large to continue in her living room. So, in 1997, she created and opened re:AB, which grew to become one of New York City’s most successful studio for authentic Pilates.
Introduction: About Tavis Bohlinger
Hi, my name is Tavis Bohlinger and I’m the new European Correspondent for Gratz Pilates. In the coming months, I will be conducting interviews with some of the biggest names in Classical Pilates in the UK and Europe.
A Legacy of Pilates: Second-Generation Expertise
In this first interview, I had the rare opportunity to sit down with Brooke Siler (before the quarantine!). She is one of the most renowned second-generation teachers to come out of Dragos in NYC. Brooke is full of vitality and insider information on the history of Pilates. That knowledge, and her candid personality, made for a stimulating conversation that we’ll be publishing in a few segments, of which this is the first.
Introduction: About Travis Bohlinger
Hi, my name is Tavis Bohlinger and I’m the new European Correspondent for Gratz Pilates. In the coming months, I will be conducting interviews with some of the biggest names in Classical Pilates in the UK and Europe.
A Legacy of Pilates: Second-Generation Expertise
In this first interview, I had the rare opportunity to sit down with Brooke Siler (before the quarantine!). She is one of the most renowned second-generation teachers to come out of Dragos in NYC. Brooke is full of vitality and insider information on the history of Pilates. That knowledge, and her candid personality, made for a stimulating conversation that we’ll be publishing in a few segments, of which this is the first.
Share Your Thoughts and Suggestions
Please leave comments below, and let us know what other teachers you want interviewed and questions you want asked!
BROOKE
Thanks for coming all the way down from London!
TAVIS
Of course, thanks for sitting down to talk with me. Let’s talk about your first book, The Pilates Body. What led you to write in the first place?
BROOKE
I come from a writing background. Writing is just how I express myself. I knew I had a book in me, but I just never thought it would be this book. While learning from Romana, I realized there was a gap between what Romana said, and what we as the apprentices understood. I started taking notes, and coming up with all these different analogies. Every time I did an exercise, my brain was going, “Oh, this is kinda like an alligator snapping its legs together.” Or, “This is like a rocking chair.” In The Pilates Body, I put both visual metaphor and verbal metaphor together. I fought very hard with the publishers to make sure that the pictures, not only the photos but the actual drawings, were as large as possible. Despite my initiative, however, that first book really came from Romana. I was at the studio every day listening to things she was saying, and then afterwards going home, doing the exercises again, and writing down what I was feeling and seeing.
TAVIS
So, of course, writing requires your hands. But you're also known to use your hands in your teaching, on people's bodies, directing them, helping them feel the work. Do you think the success of your career is due to, not just having the passion for Pilates, but acting on that passion through an intimate, hands-on relationship with every individual that you teach?
BROOKE
I enjoy the experience of getting to know someone's body, and my hands are a real help to me. I get a lot of information through my hands- I just feel things. What I try to do with my hands is to get you to feel something that you might not be able to feel without my hands. Then, my goal is not to have to use my hands anymore. I am trying to get you to feel something, because once you feel it, you can chase it. But if you've never felt that before, how are you ever going to know what you're trying to achieve?
However, I always tell people: “First of all, you have to be the teacher you would choose to have for yourself. If you're not good with your hands, please don't use your hands, because bad hands are bad.” I don't just touch for the sake of touching; it is with pure intention that my hands go on to somebody. That said, there are plenty of amazing teachers who don't touch at all!
TAVIS
Can you tell us just a bit about your experience working with Romana, and how you found her?
BROOKE
I was working at a small, little gym in the West Village while still doing post grad classes in writing, and I needed money. One day the front of the gym was cleared and in came this big Cadillac! I didn't know what it was called at the time, and I thought, “What the heck is that?”
"I could do hundreds of sit ups and push ups, but I couldn't do Open Leg Rocker; I couldn’t rock back up!"
The teacher who brought it to the studio invited me to her next Pilates class. When I went, I couldn't do it! I didn't have the flexibility or the strength, and I was trying to use just my limbs. I could do hundreds of sit ups and push ups, but I couldn't do Open Leg Rocker; I couldn’t straighten my legs nor rock back up! I literally left the class in angry tears of frustration. After that, I watched the Pilates teacher at my gym teach classes for a couple of weeks, and then I began taking her classes every day. One day she suggested I go meet Romana, so I went up to Dragos and I instantly fell in love with her. I spent the next 10 years learning from Romana.
TAVIS
So why did you move all the way to London from New York, when you were literally at the height of your career?
BROOKE
My original intention in moving here was to be with my family, with my boys. I have been in the Pilates business since I was 26 years old, half my life.I actually never wanted to really be a business owner, I just never wanted to work for anybody else. What I really wanted was to teach. The business side of things was getting in the way of my teaching. Sure, I had built a huge studio that was social, that was physical, and where we had amazing times.But life was changing. I met my husband, we had two kids and priorities shifted. The needs of the studio seemed to pale in comparison to my family. My proverbial baby, the studio, suddenly became a burden and I didn't know how to extricate myself from it.
TAVIS
How long did you keep the studio going after the birth of your first son?
BROOKE
10 more years.
TAVIS
Wow! That’s a long time. How did you stay motivated?
BROOKE
I don't know that I was always motivated. Sometimes the studio was salvation for me, it was a place I could go and be listened to, where I had a voice, where I could exert influence. But you can’t get away from the business side of a studio. When you are a sole owner it all falls on you. I had a minimum of 15 teachers at any given time, plus five additional staff with management and front desk. That’s 20 people relying on me to make sure that this business keeps going. I was also running a training program from 2005 on, when Romana moved out of NYC. While she was in the city I never wanted to do that, because obviously she's the one I would send people to.
"I finally got to a point where I realized that I was failing myself. I was miserable, I was unhealthy. That realization was the impetus for me to change direction."
BROOKE (cont.)
So I had the training program going, and I had the clients at the studio going, I had the teachers, so that means payroll, taxes, etc. And then on top of that, I had family and kids. I didn't want to let people down. I do not like to disappoint people, so that was really a struggle for me. It was hard for me to get out of bed. And this was all at around 44 years old when hormonal changes are happening in your body; it was a perfect storm.
For my own health, sanity and happiness I needed to make a change. I finally got to a point where I realized that I was failing myself. I was miserable, I was unhealthy. That realization was the impetus for me to change direction. I love where I am right now and I mean that in every sense of the word. I love my emotional state. I love the quiet time. I like who I've met here. But I also love Pilates, and so that's why I'm doing it again; I couldn't stay away.
For my own health, sanity and happiness I needed to make a change. I finally got to a point where I realized that I was failing myself. I was miserable, I was unhealthy. That realization was the impetus for me to change direction. I love where I am right now and I mean that in every sense of the word. I love my emotional state. I love the quiet time. I like who I've met here. But I also love Pilates, and so that's why I'm doing it again; I couldn't stay away.
TAVIS
So how did you come back to Pilates?
BROOKE
I created my home studio. When I first moved here, I went through a rebellious phase where I didn’t talk about Pilates, I didn’t even want anyone to know my name. But I started letting it creep in a little bit, because at my kids’ school the teachers asked me to come and teach a Pilates class. So to your side you see this board with all of these quotes of Joe and pictures of Joe. I was going in and once a week, doing mat classes with them.
I would bring this board in so they would understand who they were emulating, who they were studying, what he had said. Teaching, however, wasn't enough for me. After doing classes for the school teachers I realized that I actually needed Pilates back in my own body, so I set up the little studio in my house. Initially, I just brought a couple of pieces into the room. I took two of everything, sort of like a little Noah's Ark. So now I have friends who come, with no money exchanged. I need to work out, and I'm more motivated to work out when I have someone to work out with.
TAVIS
Do you feel a sense of obligation to carry forward the things you’ve learned from Romana, and taken out into the world through your teaching and writing?
BROOKE
I feel a sense of obligation that if I'm teaching someone Pilates, I'm teaching them about Joe Pilates. I don't ever teach or even workout with someone without talking about Joe and Romana. It's not mine; I'm passing on a story, more than a story, a methodology, a legacy that I'm a part of. Pilates is something that you feel in your body. This has been beautifully proven to me, especially because we have the Gratz equipment that makes such a difference. We are just moving our bodies on great equipment in this amazing method and things are happening.
TAVIS
Speaking of equipment, I heard you have a story about the straps Joe used in his first reformers...
BROOKE
Yes! I grew up horseback riding and needed some tack, or riding equipment, for a trip with my sister-in-law. In New York City at that time there were only two tack shops, Kauffman's and Miller's. I called up Kauffman's, and when Mr. Kauffman picked up the phone he asked me what I did. So I told him, “Oh, well, you’ve probably never heard of it, but I teach this thing called Pilates.” And after a pause he said, “Pilates? Pilates?? Does that have anything to do with Joe Pilates?” And I said, “Yes, it’s his exercise technique.” Then Mr. Kauffman asked, “Whatever happened to that guy? He used to call me up all the time and ask me for long leather straps, which I gave him. But I never knew what it was for. What were those things for?” And I said, “Mr. Kauffman, I can't describe it to you, but, it's an exercise technique. And thank you so much for providing those straps to Joe!”
"You can't escape from it. I'm not paid by Gratz, I'm not sponsored by Gratz, my loyalty or my love of the Gratz equipment is due to the fact that it works. It is based on Joe's original designs. Gratz does what it's supposed to do."
TAVIS
So Joe originally used horse riding tack for the reformer; who knew? This reminds me of Gratz’s recently released Archival Reformer, that tries to bring back some of the original design.
BROOKE
I actually love these Gratz “archival” pieces in my studio, even though I know it's not with the new archival material that David has created. But these pieces you see here are archival because I've had them for 20-something years. Look at my reformers; there's magic in these springs, they’ve been worked for years. I love all of the metal and the wood together because it reminds me of the hooks and straps and bridles and halters from riding horses. The noises and the clinks, these all have a visceral appeal to me. Gratz just puts you right into your powerhouse. You can't escape from it. I'm not paid by Gratz, I'm not sponsored by Gratz, my loyalty or my love of the Gratz equipment is due to the fact that it works. It is based on Joe's original designs. Gratz does what it's supposed to do.
TAVIS
How would you advise new Pilates teachers to go about building their business with Gratz?
BROOKE
Number one: It’s not like a car, where you drive off the lot and it depreciates in value. I’m never getting rid of mine, not even for Amazon stock. You will always be able to sell on a piece of Gratz, if you need to, for about what you paid for it. Number two: if you are planning to teach clients, you just have to do the math.
How many students do you need to teach to make back the money that you paid? Once it's paid for, it's paid for. It really just depends on how much money you have, how much space you have, and how big you want your business to be.
TAVIS
So to bring this to a close, I want to ask you one last question. When are we going to see another book from Brooke Siler?
BROOKE
Well, I have four in my head, and one that is a manual. I created a Pilates manual from the training program I created in 2005, and then honed over the next 10 years. But creating and publishing a manual is a bit of a beast. So although mine is done, it sits on a shelf not helping anybody right now. I have to figure out a way to let that out into the world, but I want to be responsible about it. I have three others in my head, as well. Next year I'm gonna try to take the time to reflect and refresh myself.
TAVIS
Sounds like a good plan, and I’m sure there are many people eager to see more Brooke Siler books on the shelf soon, but especially a full-blown Pilates manual. Most important, however, it seems like you’re in a good place here in England after such a busy life in New York.
BROOKE
I love it. I'm really happy in this space, I love my equipment, I love my little studio here. I'm very, very lucky.
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