b'Moving Back HomeA Q&A with Pilates instructor Brigitte (Bee) Garten on how bringing clients to her home studio space reignited her teaching!Can you give some pre-pandemic background onHow did you come up with doing live and hybrid at the you as a teacher?same time?I have been teaching Pilates since 2001 where IIt came out of necessity. I enjoyed working from home mostly taught group classes and privates at smalland I wanted my students to stay healthy and move in a boutique Pilates studio, as well as a high-end sportsspace where they felt comfortable. I had some students club. I started a home studio in my garage in 2011come back to my home studio, and some that werent and after moving, transformed our second bedroomready, so I created this hybrid of one person online at into a studio and slowly started teaching privateshome and the other at my home studio.and duets.Some of those who no longer have a studio say they When was your uh oh moment (when you knewdont miss it. What are your thoughts?things were really going to change)?It is a catch-22. I miss the energy of the studio and Pretty much the first week of the shutdown. I gotfeeding off/learning from other teachers. But, Im a call from the sports club that I wasnt coming inlucky that where I live, I have many opportunities to Monday morning and the studio shut down thattake classes and learn from my peers either online or day. Still not exactly sure what was happening, Iin person. I enjoy the peacefulness of my home studio, continued seeing privates at my home studio thatthe variety of teaching in-person and online, and the week and then everyone transitioned online. personal connections with my students. In the summer of 2020, I started developing MOTRDo you think this whole experience has made you a classes and my students loved it! The next thing Ibetter teacher?knew, my students were buying MOTRs and I startedAbsolutely! Talk about teaching outside of the box and teaching a weekly online MOTR class and privates.learning how to do things completely different. Im not a When did you decide to go full time at home? savvy technology person and I had to learn quickly how In the beginning of 2021. The sports club and studioto teach an online class and how to record, edit, and both asked me to come back, but I was already busyupload classes to send to students later. Im more of an with home privates, duets, and online classes, so Iintrovert, so I had to learn how to market and promote had to say no. I think a lot of my students felt moremyself, which I didnt do before. All in all, its been a huge comfortable coming to my house and having thelearning and growing experience, with many ups and online option better than going back to a big spacedowns. But I feel very fortunate Im able to bring Pilates to with a lot of people.so many more people and continue doing what I love.What were the biggest challengeshow did it change your teaching style? About Brigitte (Bee) Garten The internet, as well as working the microphoneBrigitte Bee Garten is a certified Pilates teacher and feeling like I was only talking to myself! I finallyand holds certifications for BASI (Body Arts and figured out that using my phone was better than myScience International), A-Line Technique, NCPT, laptop and using earbuds helped people hear me noBarworks, and TRX Suspension Training. She matter where I was moving in the room. The MOTRcurrently teaches Pilates and MOTR online and at changed everything for me too. Im very gratefulher home studio in Orange County. You can find that this wonderful piece of portable equipmentfind Bee on: @beespilatescame into my life and my students. 71'