This is the first episode in the Mind/Body series.
I wanted to start this series with my own life-changing story. In my thirties, after two babies and a lifetime of bad eating habits, I didn’t even know how disconnected I had become from my body until a series of physical and mental ailments sent me looking for answers. It wasn’t something you could see on the outside, my clothes size stayed the same, my mental health patterns weren’t that different. But I just knew something was off.
I saw doctors and a therapist, and on the advice of a friend I decided to try a personal Pilates class. This was so outside the norm for me, I don’t like exercise and I’m self-conscious about my posture and my own movements. What I learned in just the first few sessions - like how I distribute weight when I stand, and how to align my spine in a way that eliminates aches and pains - set me on a path that has transformed my body and my brain.
The Pilates teacher behind this transformation is Kerri Campbell, the owner of the Pilates Body Shop here in Los Angeles. Under her instruction and friendship, I’ve become a Pilates evangelist, roping in my husband and friends to take classes. I learn something new every week from Kerri about how my body is affecting my brain and vice versa. Talking with her is exactly how I wanted to start the mind/body connection series.
Kerri began her Pilates practice over seventeen years ago. While working towards her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she had a debilitating car accident. On the journey to heal her body she was introduced to the Pilates Method.
After completing several teacher-training courses with some of the most respected names in the Pilates field, Kerri came to the work of Master Teacher Ron Fletcher. She discovered her most profound body transformations with Fletcher Pilates® and through the rigorous and demanding study of his lineage she finally found the depth of knowledge that she had been seeking. Kerri completed the Ron Fletcher Program of Study in Tucson Arizona with Kyria Sabin, Program Director. She has gone on to study and work with some of the best known teachers in the Pilates community, and is now a Fletcher Pilates® Faculty member.
Bringing Fletcher Pilates® back to Los Angeles, it’s birthplace, Kerri opened the first Fletcher Pilates® Studio in Los Angeles fully dedicated to Ron’s work, thirty years after original studio in 1972. Her first studio was a converted horse stall in a riding facility which catered to professional equestrians.
To meet a growing demand for Fletcher Pilates® she expanded and opened The Pilates Bodyshop. Since the opening of the business Kerri has been featured in Horse and Rider Magazine, has been voted one of the top ten Pilates teachers in Los Angeles, taught the first full Fletcher Pilates® Teacher Training Program in Los Angeles, lead multiple licensing courses, has presented at The Fletcher Pilates® Conference, has been photographed as part of IC Rapport’s Pilates Pilgrimage, and has been on Pilates Anytime and Pilatesology. She is currently working on a re-release of Ron Fletcher’s seminal book “Every Body is Beautiful” bringing it back to print for the first time in nearly forty years.
She is deeply committed to teaching others to move well and achieve their highest level of physical health. It is her privilege and honor to be teaching this work, which has evolved directly from Joseph and Clara Pilates and to be a member of the Fletcher Pilates® community which is dedicated to sharing and preserving the work of Ron Fletcher.
Books that are mentioned in this episode:
Return to Life by Joseph H. Pilates
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko