One year ago we closed the physical doors to our in-home Pilates studio and moved our private and duet sessions online. We had been following the surge of the pandemic around the world and knew that it was only a matter of time before our Governor in Iowa took some action regarding businesses. (It turned out that we closed mere hours ahead of her order to close at noon on the same day.) At the time, we really thought we were looking at being closed for 3 weeks or 2 months. After that March 17 closure, here are some of the other things we tackled last year:

• April: taught first virtual group class
• June: launched our second annual Summer Pilates Challenge
• September: introduced our first virtual Pilates Workshop
• November: finalized our Northwoods Pilates Online Prop Shop where you can find clothing, grip socks, props for at-home Pilates, virtual classes, and more // launched our online group class scheduling system, available at booking.appointy.com/northwoodspilates — use promo code “firstclassfree” to try a class on us
• January 2021: launched the 30 Day Pilates Reset, a series of 30 at-home 30-minute Pilates workouts
• March: hosted our first virtual corporate wellness series of Pilates classes for a local business that prioritizes its employees’ health and wellness (to inquire more about corporate wellness opportunities, contact Cassie here)

New skills. Here’s a short list of some of the skills the pandemic gave me the opportunity to develop:

• Lighting: you might have noticed that our lighting has progressively improved over the last eight months.
• Contrast: before the pandemic, I thought a lot about making sure I looked the part of a Pilates instructor. But teaching through video taught me the importance of wearing clothes that had a high contrast with my mat and the background, so that people could see what I was doing.
• Video production: from investing in new hardware for better sound/video to editing to doing voiceovers in front of a real-life microphone, we’ve upped our game.

Lemons and lemonade. As much time and expense and fear as the pandemic brought on in terms of my business, the upside has been learning to put these new skills to use in ways that will serve well into the foreseeable future. Even as everyone starts getting vaccinated, and I start putting in place a plan to bring people back into the studio physically (look for an announcement on that soon), I’m genuinely thankful for the new ways of providing Pilates that I’ve learned this year.

Perpetual renewal. We crossed many items off of the business’s “someday” list this year. We’ll be able to bring back some of our other favorite things — like in-person Pilates — soon. Until then, I’m really excited for some of the online offerings we have coming up. Today marks one year since we first closed down the studio, and all of the work and learning on the technology front comes to a culmination April 1, when we offer Round 2 of the 30 Day Pilates Reset.

We also started, in the last month, going out to other organizations to present (virtually) on Movement as Self-Care. One of those presentations will even count as continuing education for a local conference. If you know of any businesses that might be looking for similar work, let me know!

My deepest thanks. During the past year each and every person I’ve encountered has had to make big and lasting changes to the way they are living their lives. To every one of you who continued to support small businesses, whether that was through Pilates, independent book stores, or local restaurants, I’m here to tell you that it made a difference. You made a difference. You made a difference by signing up for class, by taking a session, by sharing a post, or by forwarding an email to your friend. You have my gratitude on the deepest level. I cannot wait until we can be physically together again. Until then, I think the 30 Day Pilates Reset is calling your name.

One year ago we closed the physical doors to our in-home Pilates studio and moved our private and duet sessions online. We had been following the surge of the pandemic around the world and knew that it was only a matter of time before our Governor in Iowa took some action regarding businesses. (It turned out that we closed mere hours ahead of her order to close at noon on the same day.) At the time, we really thought we were looking at being closed for 3 weeks or 2 months. After that March 17 closure, here are some of the other things we tackled last year:

• April: taught first virtual group class
• June: launched our second annual Summer Pilates Challenge
• September: introduced our first virtual Pilates Workshop
• November: finalized our Northwoods Pilates Online Prop Shop where you can find clothing, grip socks, props for at-home Pilates, virtual classes, and more // launched our online group class scheduling system, available at booking.appointy.com/northwoodspilates — use promo code “firstclassfree” to try a class on us
• January 2021: launched the 30 Day Pilates Reset, a series of 30 at-home 30-minute Pilates workouts
• March: hosted our first virtual corporate wellness series of Pilates classes for a local business that prioritizes its employees’ health and wellness (to inquire more about corporate wellness opportunities, contact Cassie here)

New skills. Here’s a short list of some of the skills the pandemic gave me the opportunity to develop:

• Lighting: you might have noticed that our lighting has progressively improved over the last eight months.
• Contrast: before the pandemic, I thought a lot about making sure I looked the part of a Pilates instructor. But teaching through video taught me the importance of wearing clothes that had a high contrast with my mat and the background, so that people could see what I was doing.
• Video production: from investing in new hardware for better sound/video to editing to doing voiceovers in front of a real-life microphone, we’ve upped our game.

Lemons and lemonade. As much time and expense and fear as the pandemic brought on in terms of my business, the upside has been learning to put these new skills to use in ways that will serve well into the foreseeable future. Even as everyone starts getting vaccinated, and I start putting in place a plan to bring people back into the studio physically (look for an announcement on that soon), I’m genuinely thankful for the new ways of providing Pilates that I’ve learned this year.

Perpetual renewal. We crossed many items off of the business’s “someday” list this year. We’ll be able to bring back some of our other favorite things — like in-person Pilates — soon. Until then, I’m really excited for some of the online offerings we have coming up. Today marks one year since we first closed down the studio, and all of the work and learning on the technology front comes to a culmination April 1, when we offer Round 2 of the 30 Day Pilates Reset.

We also started, in the last month, going out to other organizations to present (virtually) on Movement as Self-Care. One of those presentations will even count as continuing education for a local conference. If you know of any businesses that might be looking for similar work, let me know!

My deepest thanks. During the past year each and every person I’ve encountered has had to make big and lasting changes to the way they are living their lives. To every one of you who continued to support small businesses, whether that was through Pilates, independent book stores, or local restaurants, I’m here to tell you that it made a difference. You made a difference. You made a difference by signing up for class, by taking a session, by sharing a post, or by forwarding an email to your friend. You have my gratitude on the deepest level. I cannot wait until we can be physically together again. Until then, I think the 30 Day Pilates Reset is calling your name.

One year ago we closed the physical doors to our in-home Pilates studio and moved our private and duet sessions online. We had been following the surge of the pandemic around the world and knew that it was only a matter of time before our Governor in Iowa took some action regarding businesses. (It turned out that we closed mere hours ahead of her order to close at noon on the same day.) At the time, we really thought we were looking at being closed for 3 weeks or 2 months. After that March 17 closure, here are some of the other things we tackled last year:

• April: taught first virtual group class
• June: launched our second annual Summer Pilates Challenge
• September: introduced our first virtual Pilates Workshop
• November: finalized our Northwoods Pilates Online Prop Shop where you can find clothing, grip socks, props for at-home Pilates, virtual classes, and more // launched our online group class scheduling system, available at booking.appointy.com/northwoodspilates — use promo code “firstclassfree” to try a class on us
• January 2021: launched the 30 Day Pilates Reset, a series of 30 at-home 30-minute Pilates workouts
• March: hosted our first virtual corporate wellness series of Pilates classes for a local business that prioritizes its employees’ health and wellness (to inquire more about corporate wellness opportunities, contact Cassie here)

New skills. Here’s a short list of some of the skills the pandemic gave me the opportunity to develop:

• Lighting: you might have noticed that our lighting has progressively improved over the last eight months.
• Contrast: before the pandemic, I thought a lot about making sure I looked the part of a Pilates instructor. But teaching through video taught me the importance of wearing clothes that had a high contrast with my mat and the background, so that people could see what I was doing.
• Video production: from investing in new hardware for better sound/video to editing to doing voiceovers in front of a real-life microphone, we’ve upped our game.

Lemons and lemonade. As much time and expense and fear as the pandemic brought on in terms of my business, the upside has been learning to put these new skills to use in ways that will serve well into the foreseeable future. Even as everyone starts getting vaccinated, and I start putting in place a plan to bring people back into the studio physically (look for an announcement on that soon), I’m genuinely thankful for the new ways of providing Pilates that I’ve learned this year.

Perpetual renewal. We crossed many items off of the business’s “someday” list this year. We’ll be able to bring back some of our other favorite things — like in-person Pilates — soon. Until then, I’m really excited for some of the online offerings we have coming up. Today marks one year since we first closed down the studio, and all of the work and learning on the technology front comes to a culmination April 1, when we offer Round 2 of the 30 Day Pilates Reset.

We also started, in the last month, going out to other organizations to present (virtually) on Movement as Self-Care. One of those presentations will even count as continuing education for a local conference. If you know of any businesses that might be looking for similar work, let me know!

My deepest thanks. During the past year each and every person I’ve encountered has had to make big and lasting changes to the way they are living their lives. To every one of you who continued to support small businesses, whether that was through Pilates, independent book stores, or local restaurants, I’m here to tell you that it made a difference. You made a difference. You made a difference by signing up for class, by taking a session, by sharing a post, or by forwarding an email to your friend. You have my gratitude on the deepest level. I cannot wait until we can be physically together again. Until then, I think the 30 Day Pilates Reset is calling your name.