ABOUT BROOKE BERGDAHL
Brooke has a fully equipped Gratz apparatus studio in Asheville NC and works online around the world mentoring, training and connected with Pilates instructors of varied trainings and experience. In addition Brooke trains professional athletes online and in studio. She’s brought classical Pilates to the WNBA in a way that these professional female basketball players are gaining strength, flexibility, stamina on the court, resilience through long seasons and injuries, and truly elite performance.
Since 2003 Brooke has been teaching Classical Pilates and the Core Self teacher training now focuses on more customized mentoring for Pilates instructors, rather than training apprentices as she did for years at Clasique Acupuncture & Pilates studio. Teachers come to Brooke to feel stronger and inspired in their own practice, get curious and dive deeper as an instructor, and on the whole level up and grow through this movement practice that really becomes a way of living.
website : https://www.yourcoreself.com/
email : brooke@yourcoreself.com
What is your process for evaluating a student’s progress and making adjustments to their routine? How is training athletes and performing artists different due to the extreme physical demands?
My Pilates work with athletes spans from high school baseball players to high-level professional athletes. The truth is, athletes at every level require Pilates powerhouse work, good form and alignment in motion, and an understanding of recovery, along with training hard, smart, and sport-specific. I really began focusing on training professional athletes in 2018, starting with the WNBA team, the Seattle Storm, and placing a special emphasis on talented players like Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart.
Playing at such a high level, and year-round as most professional female basketball players do to earn a living, takes a toll on the body. They need Pilates for active recovery as much as they do for strength, stamina, and power. With such high physical demands from sport and career, they incorporate Pilates mat work with me daily through videos. They utilize short stomach series sequences before every game and every practice – we call it 'activation' work. This prepares them to step onto the court with their powerhouse engaged, hips and spine more flexible just from that quick series, mind focused on the body and breath, ready for dynamic lateral movement, quick explosive bursts, and impact in a physically demanding sport.
They also need Pilates for slower active stretching and range of motion work, especially the side kicks, as often as possible. This is crucial on travel days, recovery days, and when they feel sore and tired. When their sport demand dips seasonally, our Pilates routine shifts into building full advanced mat exercises with solid transitions, extensive range, harder planks, additional balance standing work, and lots of flow on the mat.
So, my athletes follow my videos daily, and then we have live 1:1 online sessions. In these sessions, I can clearly see where the spine is tight or the hips are stuck, identify areas needing more range or rest, determine if the legs are rooted in the waist or gripping in the quads, and assess whether the lats are firing to find the upper ab connection or if they're just shouldering the movement and stuck in the traps – a common occurrence among strong athletes. I am constantly returning to assessing both range and strength. I consistently work with them on 'legs into waist' and 'arms into back' as integrated strength, emphasizing understanding their powerhouse.
I aim for them to find ease of movement in every plane, preventing injury always and in all ways. At this point, I work across many sports, but the truth is, every athlete needs to first understand what the powerhouse is, grasp the idea of integrated strength rather than isolating legs/arms/back, establish a mind-to-body connection to truly know where their body is in space, and learn to balance training hard and recovering harder. The range of Pilates makes all of this possible. Learning how to listen and avoid overtraining is key. Pilates serves as their best mindful active recovery, assisting them in-season and throughout life beyond sport. In fact, some prominent names in women's sports who recently retired are more active than ever, maintaining their classical Pilates practice with me through video and live sessions. Because now they know that this way of exercise is how they feel good in their whole body, just for daily living!
"I love it for athletes because so much translates to sport inviting strength in a greater range of motion, and greater range for strength. I have taught Wunda Chair classes for years and years..."
Which Pilates equipment fuels your passion for teaching, and why do you find it indispensable in creating dynamic and engaging classes?
You know I'm wild about all of it. Daily, I touch most apparatus in my studio; certainly, weekly, I have worked out on everything and taught clients on all as well. All said, the Wunda chair always has my heart and brings me home to myself. I love it for the simplicity and clarity. And then I love messing around and playing! I think I love that it's an endless journey and never a place of arrival. It never gets easy, and the spring settings ensure that the challenges are constant and varied. At the same time as being loaded with exercises we never really perfect or master, it is, in fact, an apparatus I use as a benchmark for progress and successes.
There's a real play between power and grace on the Wunda Chair. Especially, as say, you change up the spring settings and do Mountain Climber on one top spring instead of top + bottom. Now find the ease, rhythm, power, and precision without a spring! I love it for athletes because so much translates to sport, inviting strength in a greater range of motion, and greater range for strength. I have taught Wunda Chair classes for years and years. Clients progress into huge successes on the Wunda Chair... in fact, last week an online client for years showed up at the studio for a visit, told me her goal was to do a handstand before she turns 60 (6 years away). Well, she's strong and has a killer Pilates practice already; she does Chair + Mat + Chisel online with me weekly plus my video subscription in between (all as a client ensuring she can do her farm life hobbies, work, and horseback riding). Well, we collectively decided to build towards handstands/pushup-3 in Chair class that day, and so I gave her an assist during the Pushup-3/Elephant variation from her hips and up she floats. Nailed it. Handstand success right then and there off the Wunda Chair.
The Chair is just like that. When the baseball team trains with me, we always work the Wunda Chairs - they know to do their single leg variations too with every set of Tendon Stretch, Table Top, Pull Ups, etc. They know that the near hip cramp when they activate their lower powerhouse is actually of benefit for stealing bases and hitting homers. And Mountain Climber will humble the fiercest of us any day of the week!
There's a real play between power and grace on the Wunda Chair. Especially, as say, you change up the spring settings and do Mountain Climber on one top spring instead of top + bottom. Now find the ease, rhythm, power, and precision without a spring! I love it for athletes because so much translates to sport, inviting strength in a greater range of motion, and greater range for strength. I have taught Wunda Chair classes for years and years. Clients progress into huge successes on the Wunda Chair... in fact, last week an online client for years showed up at the studio for a visit, told me her goal was to do a handstand before she turns 60 (6 years away). Well, she's strong and has a killer Pilates practice already; she does Chair + Mat + Chisel online with me weekly plus my video subscription in between (all as a client ensuring she can do her farm life hobbies, work, and horseback riding). Well, we collectively decided to build towards handstands/pushup-3 in Chair class that day, and so I gave her an assist during the Pushup-3/Elephant variation from her hips and up she floats. Nailed it. Handstand success right then and there off the Wunda Chair.
The Chair is just like that. When the baseball team trains with me, we always work the Wunda Chairs - they know to do their single leg variations too with every set of Tendon Stretch, Table Top, Pull Ups, etc. They know that the near hip cramp when they activate their lower powerhouse is actually of benefit for stealing bases and hitting homers. And Mountain Climber will humble the fiercest of us any day of the week!
(Naomi Corti, one of Brooke's clients)
Naomi is a young, talented, powerful, professional ballerina. She found me over three years ago, and we've worked together ever since. We connect 1:1 online, always fun because she has access to various apparatus with her company facilities in NY (though they do need a Gratz Wunda Chair up there, I have to say!). She joins live classes often as well, from Mat to Chisel to Wunda Chair class when she has the space between performances and rehearsals.
*Naomi Corti, member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet
Her power and range areincredible, as you might expect. I'll always remember that when she cameto me, it was upon the recommendation of an older principal dancer whotold her that if she wanted longevity as a professional ballerina, shemust find a Pilates teacher she trusts! And so here we are. She's acomplete joy to work with and to know. So dedicated to her Pilates andher body care... you know, she pulls out her toe corrector as part ofher warm-up routine daily :) I'm so proud!
(Naomi Corti, one of Brooke's clients)
Naomi is a young, talented, powerful, professional ballerina. She found me over three years ago, and we've worked together ever since. We connect 1:1 online, always fun because she has access to various apparatus with her company facilities in NY (though they do need a Gratz Wunda Chair up there, I have to say!). She joins live classes often as well, from Mat to Chisel to Wunda Chair class when she has the space between performances and rehearsals.
Her power and range are incredible, as you might expect. I'll always remember that when she came to me, it was upon the recommendation of an older principal dancer who told her that if she wanted longevity as a professional ballerina, she must find a Pilates teacher she trusts! And so here we are. She's a complete joy to work with and to know. So dedicated to her Pilates and her body care... you know, she pulls out her toe corrector as part of her warm-up routine daily :) I'm so proud!
*Naomi Corti, member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet
On the left: WNBA player Sylvia Fowles, Brooke Bergdahl
Could you share a transformative client story that highlights the power of Pilates in their life?
So hard to share just one, so maybe I can touch on a couple. Here's the thing with how I approach teaching Pilates to clients of all walks of life—there is integration, and they are empowered to really own it. I think this way of teaching Pilates stems from the fact that I'm a practicing acupuncturist, and Chinese Medicine/Daoist philosophy guides my whole life. Additionally, the reality that I am fiercely dedicated to working on my Pilates practice daily. Pilates is integrated into all aspects of life; I just know no other way. Pilates is something I embody—as a student, teacher, teacher trainer, and video maker. So for my clients, this is simply what we do today and every day—for daily life and competitive sports both. And if this is my truth, it becomes true for us as I teach you and true for you as you walk out the door and into your dynamic life, owning it, and then transforming as you do.
But I'll share a couple quick stories, all with athletes of range. Sylvia Fowles, professional basketball player with the Minnesota Lynx - just look her up, there's not enough print space to list her accolades on the basketball court. We've been working together for years in person and online, and her physical shifts in how she feels in her body are phenomenal. Years of battling in the paint, as we say, she has dedicated to Pilates mat work and Chisel classes with me, and the amount of range and freedom she has gained in her hips, her spine, her shoulders is simply incredible. And here's the thing, she feels so good. Like soooooo goooood. She embodies incredible power and masterful ease. And it's been a real blessing to witness, to teach her and be trusted, to watch her physical transformation and to share in her joy in loving her body and the way she feels in it. She once told me, "You prolonged my career by 5 years and helped me discover and move my body in ways that I never thought I could.
I started training players of the Asheville High Baseball Team in 2012, I think it was. From the get-go, we were working on all the apparatus and talking about the benefits of Chinese Medicine for pain management, injury prevention, and recovery. Season after season, there has been a dedicated group, usually consisting of 8-12 guys, who come weekly or twice weekly to the studio and work on all the springs, the mat, the standing Chisel work; they know all the apparatus, and they groan when I mention the side kick series. They beg for cupping treatments and gua sha scraping, and we do that too (all pain/muscle tightness methods we use in Chinese Medicine).
Here's the success and transformation from my perspective: these teenage boys go from high school ball to college ball, and they come back. They come back for Pilates when they're in town; they come back for acupuncture treatments and cupping sessions; they come back to check in and share stories. Pilates gives them a leg up as athletes and in life because of what they gain in self-awareness, core connection, correct alignment knowledge they can take to the weight room, whole body strength, how to actively stretch and why they need to, and most of all, the skill of tuning in rather than tuning out. You cannot show up in my studio and check out, and certainly not if I'm trusting you to work the different apparatus with independence. I'm proud of all of these guys, season after season, and I was glowing this week because, as it was a holiday week, the big brothers were all back in town, and I had three generations in one class— one currently in high school, another a college freshman playing ball, and another a college senior being scouted to go minor leagues— and here they are, all doing Mountain Climber on the Chair and rocking it.
Here's the success and transformation from my perspective: these teenage boys go from high school ball to college ball, and they come back. They come back for Pilates when they're in town; they come back for acupuncture treatments and cupping sessions; they come back to check in and share stories. Pilates gives them a leg up as athletes and in life because of what they gain in self-awareness, core connection, correct alignment knowledge they can take to the weight room, whole body strength, how to actively stretch and why they need to, and most of all, the skill of tuning in rather than tuning out. You cannot show up in my studio and check out, and certainly not if I'm trusting you to work the different apparatus with independence. I'm proud of all of these guys, season after season, and I was glowing this week because, as it was a holiday week, the big brothers were all back in town, and I had three generations in one class— one currently in high school, another a college freshman playing ball, and another a college senior being scouted to go minor leagues— and here they are, all doing Mountain Climber on the Chair and rocking it.
Lastly, I'll say this: I think I don't always get to see and know the transformation that comes for my clients and friends from their devoted Pilates practice because the transformation is indirect. What I do know is that this work gives us all a more solid, clear, centered sense of self. We know ourselves better through our ever-evolving practice. We have tools to come home and ground, and skills to uplift and navigate whatever comes. A solid knowing of our centerline and how to come back to it means that we do so when life throws us in loops and tosses us off balance. This is profound really. To continue moving, connected, restoring, stretching, working, and consistently showing up to our movement practice is empowering. And so from this place, our lives become more authentic, easeful, powerful, and transformation is happening all the time. I feel it's true for me, and I know it is for many of y'all.
Las Vegas WNBA player Alysha Clark (Pilates client)
Alysha Clark has stayed dedicated to her Pilates practice since we metin 2019 when she was playing for the Storm. She has a beautiful practiceand keeps it up in and out of season, even finding studios and teachersin her hometown as well as when she plays in the European league.
Las Vegas WNBA player Kelsey Plum (Pilates client)
What role does mindfulness play in your Pilates sessions, and how do you encourage your clients to connect with their bodies on a deeper level?
Throughout this whole interview, I've emphasized mindfulness and the deeper connection because it's a truth. Long ago, I set the tone in my studio space that we tune in here; we don't tune out. This expectation for my clients, I think, was subtle and easy to set because I have always been an acupuncturist and Pilates teacher, both. My studios and brands have consistently offered and integrated both. In both realms, this is your (the client) workout, your healing, your journey, your craft, your practice. I'm not doing this for you, and I cannot heal you. You heal you. You own your workout and take it into your life. I will be here and be very present, teaching and guiding, creating a treatment plan, a workout today, and holding the space in this moment.
One of my favorite ways to encourage clients to connect with their bodies on a deeper level is to simply ask questions that lead them there. I ask about roots instead of branches. I ask what makes you feel better, what makes you feel worse. I might openly ask, what else do you think is going on related to your physical pain? Or where else in life are you having posture patterns that are contributing? I might crack the window open, but you have to feel the breeze. And when you do, it's all so very exciting because the realizations, the knowings, the inspiration to change or let go... when the client owns it, then the body responds, and pain patterns drop, and movement mechanics shift. It's incredible. Honestly, and I guess I say this as an acupuncturist who sees many athletes and pain, of course, that I rarely meet a physical ailment that doesn't have an emotional or spiritual root.
One of my favorite ways to encourage clients to connect with their bodies on a deeper level is to simply ask questions that lead them there. I ask about roots instead of branches. I ask what makes you feel better, what makes you feel worse. I might openly ask, what else do you think is going on related to your physical pain? Or where else in life are you having posture patterns that are contributing? I might crack the window open, but you have to feel the breeze. And when you do, it's all so very exciting because the realizations, the knowings, the inspiration to change or let go... when the client owns it, then the body responds, and pain patterns drop, and movement mechanics shift. It's incredible. Honestly, and I guess I say this as an acupuncturist who sees many athletes and pain, of course, that I rarely meet a physical ailment that doesn't have an emotional or spiritual root.
What are some lesser-known benefits of Pilates that you often observe in your clients but are not commonly discussed in mainstream fitness circles?
Honestly, I don't pay any attention to mainstream fitness circles. Long, long ago, I ensured that my brands and studio spaces never promoted Pilates workouts for body image goals like weight loss, a beach body, or especially 'get your body back after babies'. I think mainstream fitness probably still does that with marketing messages. I understand marketing to pain relief; it is stunning how much pain people have and live with. And Pilates relieves people of so much pain in their entire bodies; we know this. I think the maybe less talked-about truth is the simple fact that Pilates helps us be our best selves. I really believe this.
Life is hard, the days are not always up and joyful, we have such little control of so much, and the amount of noise and stimulation coming at us is enough to ensure we're never in our centers. So to stay connected to a practice, on the mat or in the whole studio if you have it, is like a moving meditation—a mindfulness practice. It is that for me in so many ways, and I ensure I do that nearly every day. It's a place to feel things and work through feelings, to work hard on exercises or transitions but never actually arrive at perfect or complete, to talk to the springs and listen when they talk back, to feel really strong and playful and capable, and to feel really held and supported. From the familiarity of the Leg Springs to powerful fun Cadillac flipping tricks, to solid quiet Ladder Barrel stretches... I find myself in here, again and again, and I am so grateful.
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