In this episode of the Pilates Association Australia Podcast, host Bruce Hildebrand sits down with PAA President Robyn Rix to explore a question every instructor has seen play out in real life: why do clients often arrive feeling “heavy” and leave looking lighter, calmer, and more confident? Robyn shares the thinking behind her recent writing on posture and mood, introducing the concept of embodied cognition—the idea that our posture, movement and sensory input don’t just reflect how we feel, they actively shape it. In other words, the body is sending the brain a constant “status update” about safety, readiness and confidence, and Pilates can meaningfully change that feedback loop.

Bruce and Robyn then unpack the evidence in a grounded, teacher-friendly way, including research showing that people who maintain an upright posture during stressful tasks report better mood and self-esteem than those who are slumped—and that a collapsed posture can bias attention toward negative self-focus and even make negative memories easier to access. Robyn offers a simple, powerful demonstration instructors can try with clients: sit slumped and attempt to think happy thoughts, then sit tall and attempt to think sad thoughts—revealing just how tightly posture and emotional state can be coupled. Importantly, they avoid hype and keep the conversation evidence-informed, noting that popular “power posing” hormone claims haven’t held up consistently, and that the more reliable mechanisms sit in nervous system and respiratory changes.

The episode closes with clear, responsible application: Pilates is not positioned as a treatment for mental illness, but as a highly accessible and low-risk method that can support emotional regulation and resilience through physiology—especially breath mechanics, ribcage mobility, and parasympathetic support. Robyn also introduces interoception (the sense of internal body signals) as a missing piece in many client conversations, and suggests ways teachers can explain it simply while staying within scope. For instructors, the takeaway is both validating and practical: what you’ve observed for years is real, and with the right language you can articulate the deeper value of Pilates as movement education that supports holistic wellbeing—without overclaiming.

PAA Course Competency Criteria standards

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This episode of the Pilates Association Australia Podcast introduces newly elected committee member Kimberley Garlick, studio owner, senior Polestar educator and long-time industry leader. In conversation with host Bruce Hildebrand, Kimberley traces her journey from ballet and human movement into Pilates, layering in decades of additional study in neurolinguistics, bioenergetics, kinesiology, massage and yoga. She speaks candidly about what motivated her to “put her hand up” for the PAA committee after nearly 30 years of teaching — a desire to stop waiting for someone else to create change, and instead step directly into the process of shaping the industry’s future.

From there, the discussion moves into Kimberley’s aspirations for her term on the committee. She identifies membership growth as a top priority — not as a vanity metric, but as the foundation for a strong, representative industry body that can advocate effectively for Pilates. She talks about engaging the younger generation of instructors (including those she mentors through Polestar and even her own daughter), lifting education standards across diverse training organisations, and working instrumentally rather than emotionally to bring coherence to a fragmented training landscape. Rather than criticising individual providers, she wants to help create clear, shared benchmarks so that all education pathways support a credible, respected profession.

Kimberley and Bruce also explore broader themes: listening deeply to clients instead of assuming based on appearance; nurturing vulnerable new teachers instead of “crushing” them; and protecting the subtle, mindful nature of Pilates in a culture addicted to intensity and quick fixes. They reflect on how the method has exploded into the mainstream — sometimes in diluted forms — and why the reinstatement of health fund rebates and clearer industry standards are such pivotal steps. Kimberley is optimistic that, with collaboration under the PAA “umbrella,” the industry can move from merely adapting to survive toward truly thriving, building an organisation and a profession designed to last not just 10 years, but the next hundred.

PAA Course Competency Criteria standards

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In this episode of the *Pilates Science Podcast*, hosts Bruce Hildebrand and PAA President Robyn Rix explore how simply changing the **angle** of the body can dramatically alter muscle activation in familiar Pilates exercises. Robyn begins by sharing her studio experience with the Total Gym Gravity Training System—initially assuming that a slight incline would make chest lifts easier, only to discover that they actually felt more challenging through the abdominals. That curiosity leads into a discussion of research examining how working on a flat surface, an incline and a decline changes what’s really happening in the trunk muscles during key Pilates moves.

They unpack one particular study looking at the high plank and a modified teaser performed at different angles. For the plank, erector spinae activation stayed low across all conditions, while the rectus abdominis was moderately active but reached its highest activation on a **decline**, with the external obliques jumping to high activation levels in that position—valuable for anyone wanting to seriously challenge the front and sides of the core. For the modified teaser, the pattern flipped: rectus abdominis and external obliques both showed a clear increase on an **incline** and decreased on a decline, suggesting that tilting the body can be used either to ramp up difficulty or to create smart regressions that keep the exercise accessible without losing core intent.

Bruce and Robyn then bring it back to the studio floor with practical, equipment-flexible ideas: using a box under the feet for decline planks, creatively setting up on the reformer with hands on the floor and feet on the footbar, or employing push-up handles to protect the wrists in angled work. Throughout, they stress that stability and safety of any inclined surface is non-negotiable, and that the goal isn’t just to make things “harder,” but to understand how gravity and body position can be manipulated to better target specific muscles. The episode closes with an invitation for teachers and practitioners to experiment thoughtfully—try chest lifts and rotations on a slight incline, feel the difference in your own body, and use angle as another intelligent tool for refining and individualising Pilates practice.

PAA Course Competency Criteria standards

Visit the PAA website
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Email us at support@pilates.org.au