Charting a New Course for Pilates Continuing Education…and Beyond

Focused on teaching excellence, cooperation, and equity, our contribution to pilates professionalization is to offer our signature teaching process and techniques that inspire personal transformation - through the exploration of “mental and physical balance”* during pilates practice. Our Somatic Movement Approach advances the pilates profession beyond current classical and contemporary repertoire protocols that have borrowed concepts from other fields, such as Fitness & Physical Therapy. This mindset shift requires “un-learning” of the mental conditioning caused by over-complication and commercialization of the method that has led to overwhelm for professionals and confusion for the public. Most importantly, BMA’s Continuing Education defines a Scope of Practice and Code of Ethics that meets the needs of a growing, diverse community of professionals eager to participate in its community of dialogue and camaraderie.

* Our birthright, as stated by Joseph Pilates in his book, Your Health, 1934.

Applying the Groundbreaking Language of AIM

• It’s time for a common language that is specific to the pilates practice profession which recognizes the full scope and potential of pilates practice, enabling a larger, more diverse and inclusive audience to experience the work of Joseph H. Pilates.

• It’s time to learn our pioneering first-person theory on pilates, as well as the framework for communication upon which it was built: AIM - The Amend Integrative Model for movement analysis, pedagogy, and practice.

• It’s time to understand the integrative nature of movement practice, and how AIM, since 1993, has been breaking ground on how we communicate as teachers who are committed to helping people to fully inhabit their bodies.

• It’s time to fully realize the balance, health, understanding, and acceptance that embodying the concept of “complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit”** can bring to human relationships.

• It’s time to integrate across disciplines towards advancing the fields of kinesiology, biomechanics, and, especially neuroscience, to, finally, move beyond expert-driven health-care and educational systems to a client-centered approach.

• It’s time to recognize and connect with an educated global community of teachers across many disciplines who are committed to bringing this peace, empathy, and lovingkindness to the world.
  The Amend Integrative Model is a simple, yet profound way to bring recognition to these standards.
  
  Scroll down to read more and connect with us about our mission and vision for Continuing Education in the field of pilates - and beyond - via The AIM Conversation and The (New!) Pilates Thinker Blog.
  And stay tuned…All of this soon is to be hosted in one place: The BMA Forum. Our community of dialogue will keep your mind moving as you continue on your personal path of transformation in body, mind, and spirit!
  There’s so much more to come!
  
  ** Joseph H. Pilates’ definition of “Contrology” from his book, Return to Life Through Contrology, 1945.

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At Bodies Mind® Academy, our commitments are to:

• to bring awareness to the history, development, applications, and potential of the Amend Integrative Model (AIM) towards advancing the fields of kinesiology, biomechanics, and, especially, neuroscience.
• support, preserve, and evolve the work of Joseph H. Pilates and its original philosophy for healthy living, happiness, and personal transformation. We believe this embodiment practice is for every body and everybody, and in its capacity to enhance respectful communication between humans.
• honor each person’s unique and creative path to wholeness, while informing, engaging, and encouraging the public to be self-responsible and disciplined in developing and deepening its awareness and practice of the pilates method.
• shift the dominant mentor-student dynamic of the hierarchical, expert-driven, pilates teacher-training model by building our academy of reciprocal learning to expand our sustainable, equitable, and collaborative community structure with fellow pilates colleagues.
• define "pilates" in its fullest scope from a technical vantage point, bridging the gaps between and uniting current pilates perspectives through the spirit of cooperation, thereby advancing academic merit and creative excellence through the “radical research” inspired by the Pilates by AIM Curriculum.
• herald the BMA Professional Training Tracks (AIM, Pilates by AIM, and SME ), which contribute to the evolution of pilates and somatic movement practice professional standards and recognition, through our services of accessible and effective self-care principles and protocols for the public.
• support, validate, and inspire our grassroots community of compassionate faculty members, tutors, teachers, and lifelong enthusiastic learners committed to all of the above towards professional advancement for all, utilizing interactive Online and hands-on Onsite Education.
• create conscious collaboration and new research bridging schools of thought across multiple movement and embodiment disciplines towards societal change through The AIM Conversation. 

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We are excited to introduce you to our unprecedented Curriculum Overview, our Online & Onsite Courses, Free AIM Conversation Gatherings, and more. Decades of dedicated practice and study have led to discoveries about human movement and consciousness that further articulate the principles of Contrology, already intuited by many fellow pilates teachers. We are here to joyfully support and validate your innate bodymind genius and “aim” as we grow together with you in professionalism.
If you seek to articulate your teaching approach to pilates towards simultaneously simplifying, refining, and elevating pilates practice and culture, you’re in the right place. Our interactive Curricula will keep you inspired, confident, and successful in your pilates practice and beyond.
If you are a multidisciplinary movement professional, you will also benefit from learning BMA’s perspective on Somatic Integration. Bodies Mind® has been a proud ISMETA Associate Member Organization since 2009.
Connect with BMA and let us know your interests. We look forward to hearing from you!

Carole Amend, BMA Director
Somatic Movement Educator & Pilates Specialist