This Mat & Chat was hosted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2020 on Instagram Live. The chat followed a 25 minute mat workout.
Victoria: So, everybody thank you so much for tuning in! For those of you are tuning in now, I’m Victoria and below me is Mor Vestler out of Tel Aviv, her studio is called More Pilates Tel Aviv. I wanted to start today by telling a little bit about how Mor and I met. I think you said 2016.
Mor: You were just finishing your training.
Victoria: Ok, so yeah- 2016. I was doing my teacher training at Real Pilates and Mor came to our SoHo location, which is no longer open, but she had a session with Juan Estrada, who kicked off our Mat & Chat series. I jumped in to their session, I did a little semi with Mor and it was so fun.
And then…oh! So here’s how it all reconnected. A girl in my teacher training program graduated and decided she wanted to move to Israel. And I was like: “Oh my God, I know this amazing instructor that owns a classical studio in Tel Aviv!”
Mor: Oh, you told her?! I did not know this!
Victoria: I told Jannah about you! Yes!
Mor: Omg, that’s so funny to me! You made that connection.
Victoria: And she did work with you for a while, right?
Mor: She worked for me for a long time, actually.
Victoria: Yeah, she started working at Mor’s studio, but now she has a full-time job there doing something else. Regardless, it then inspired me to keep in touch with Mor, and so I went to Israel this past summer because Mor brought Kathi Ross-Nash to the studio for a weekend-long workshop, which was incredible. And I love to travel, so I was like: “I’m using this as an excuse to go to Israel.” So I booked it and joined, and it was an awesome time! So yeah, Mor and I go way back! So that’s why I thought of her to join our Mat & Chat today! I also love that we can go around the world, which is so cool.
So, you brought Kathi Ross-Nash to Tel Aviv last summer, and it was incredible. Obviously Kathi is a mentor of yours. Talk to us about your relationship with Kathi first, and then we can back up and go into the other trainings you have.
Mor: Well, actually all of the teachers I’ve gotten to know are through Pilatesology, actually. In Tel Aviv, we’re in this little bubble, and I do get to travel, but travel is so expensive that I limit myself. Pilatesology was my connection to the outer world, and back then- I think it was 2016, or maybe a year before that- she was actually in Greece doing a workshop, and we were messaging each other on Facebook for a while. She mentioned to me that she was going to be in Greece, and I couldn’t resist the temptation of hopping on to a plane for a flight so close and meeting her! I fell in love with her- I hope it’s mutual- and I’m doing the training program now and we’ve been in contact ever since.
Victoria: I’m sure that it is. I feel like Kathi’s the kind of person where if she doesn’t like you- you would know. *laughs* So, I think it’s mutual.
Aside from Kathi, let’s go back and discuss how you started training. Where did you start?
Mor: Well I was living back in New York back then, and I was doing mat Pilates for years at the studio right by my house. I don’t like to talk badly about other types of schools, but when I did my training program, they sell themselves as a classical studio, so I went through the training and I started learning all of the equipment as I was going through the teacher training, which now I understand is so bad. Like, if you don’t have experience training on the equipment before, how are you going to learn it? It was a training program where I felt like- all they were interested in was your money. They didn’t even have an audition; they didn’t care what your background was or anything. They just took your money, printed out a certificate, and on you went.
Luckily, the first studio I started working at was on the Upper East Side, and it was an all-Gratz studio, and they were all trained at Power Pilates. I had no idea what that school was yet back then, and they all started talking to me about that school, so I started taking classes there, and workshops there, and then I did a bridge program through them. That’s how I actually know Juan!
Victoria: Was Juan one of your teacher trainers at Power?
Mor: Yeah, he and Susan Moran. It was the two of them, Bob [Liekens] was teaching classes but he wasn’t doing the training program anymore.
Victoria: What year was that?
Mor: Two thousand- well, I was taking classes when I still lived there, but I moved back to Tel Aviv in 2009. Then I started my bridge program, which took forever. I think I finished in 2012, because I kept flying back-and-forth, back-and-forth. I did beginner, then intermediate, you know.
Victoria: Right, because you have to go for all the seminars and stuff. Wow! Good for you! That takes such dedication to travel between Tel Aviv and New York!
Mor: Well, it was really hard to- and it still is pretty hard to find classical Pilates in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv.
Victoria: That’s literally my next question! It said, what is the Pilates scene like in Tel Aviv? I felt like it was really classical when I was there, but I think that’s just because I was fully engaged with this special group of people who were there for you and for Kathi. I know people even came from Jerusalem! So for me, I was like “Wow! Israel must be so classical.”
Mor: That’s so funny, because as I said I moved back to Tel Aviv in 2009, and when I moved back here I actually lived at my dad’s house in a different city, it was like 30 minutes to an hour away, depending on traffic, which was awful. But when I moved back here and was looking for classical Pilates, it was really hard to find. I found only two studios in Tel Aviv that were teaching classical; one of them didn’t have the equipment, so I wasn’t interested in training there. There was only one that did have Gratz equipment, but I didn’t have good chemistry with the teacher- let’s put it like that. As a compromise, I found myself going on drives once a week, or sometimes twice a week to take classical Pilates even though the equipment wasn’t classical. I think throughout the years, non-classical equipment rubbed off on me and I became okay with it. But it was so obvious to me that when the day would come and I’d open my own studio-I’d have to have Gratz. It’s not even a compromise.
Victoria: Right. One of our instructors at Real Pilates has a beautiful studio at her house in Long Island, and I just saw that she had an order in with Gratz, and it just happened to be ready during quarantine, so they did deliver it. So she traded all of the Balanced Body out, and now she’s all Gratz. I’m like “Oh my God, I’m so happy for you and so jealous of you at the same time!” Because it makes such a difference. I remember my first time on a Gratz reformer, I was like: “What the f.” It was so much harder, and so real.
Mor: Yes, that’s exactly what I felt. When I started working at that studio in the Upper East Side after I finished my original training, I was like: “What’s up with this equipment?” That’s what got me to do all that training, and moving in to Power Pilates and doing that whole other program after my first- because I was just overwhelmed. It felt like a whole different system. If you don’t train on the classical equipment, it’s not really what Mr. Pilates meant. It is so hard to get it if you’re not on the right equipment.
Victoria: I worked at a contemporary- well no, I don’t even know what you would call it, it was sort of just a mish mash of: “Bring what you want and teach whatever,” which was just so dangerous, but, we had Balanced Body- and whatever! I don’t have anything against Balanced Body by any means, but you know, you memorize the springs, you memorize, red, blue, yellow, whatever. At this point, I felt like a robot. I’m teaching and I’m like: “Okay, take off one red, add two blue” or whatever, I don’t even remember anymore. I had been teaching for so long, and one night there was a client who was running so late, like 30 minutes late. And I had nothing to do, so I decided: “Well, I guess I’m going to lie down and I’m going to do this.” When I got to short spine, I was like: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. These are the springs I’ve been telling people to use?”
Mor: For anybody listening, by the way, for anyone working on the equipment and it’s not the original equipment, and you know it’s supposed to be two springs, don’t just guess colors. Get on the machine, feel it on your body, know what it feels like- and then you can teach it.
Victoria: I mean, I knew, but I had started working at Real Pilates at that point, so I was used to working on Gratz. And then when I got back on Balanced Body, I was like: “This is so different…what are these people even getting out of this?”
Mor: Apparently something, because for many, many years I did work on contemporary equipment, and I did enjoy working out. But it’s just- I can’t even put it in words. It’s the feeling in your body that tells you like: “Whoa, something is happening.”
Victoria: Totally. And I’m definitely not trying to knock it, it’s just very hard to compare the two, when you’re used to working on one and then the other.
Mor: It’s true- it does do the work, but in such a completely different way. It’s not that it doesn’t- I don’t want to diss any company or any manufacturer. It’s just, when I tried to understand what Joe meant in his exercises when I went through my classical training, I only understood it when I got on the classical equipment. These companies that manufacture all of the little accessory apparatus…Wow, I feel like this is a Gratz ad, but it’s not- they have it all. So, why not just get everything that he built? They have it.
Victoria: Since we’re in your studio, talk to us about when you opened it and how that’s been going.
Mor: Well, it’s been 3.5 years since I opened this studio.
Victoria: And it’s so beautiful, by the way.
Mor: Thank you! I opened it in October of 2016, after two years that I had a little room in my apartment with a reformer and a chair where I was teaching privates. After a while I just realized, it’s time to expand. I need more equipment, I need more stuff, and something that I think is more particular to Tel Aviv than New York, but group classes here are thing. When I say group classes, I’m not talking about tower classes or mat classes, which we have everywhere. People here would rather do a reformer workout in a group than in a private session. It took me a long time to get down with it, but I realized that if I want to get down with it, if I want to have a business and have it be a successful business, I have to go with the flow. So, I have a lot of reformers.
Victoria: Good! There’s nothing wrong with that. It seemed to me that you had a really great core group of clients when I was there for the workshop with Kathi. It seemed like there were a lot of people there with a passion for Pilates.
Mor: Yes. For the workshop, there were a lot of people who came, but mostly teachers. Like you said, Jerusalem, and different cities. A lot of them are also studio owners, and some of them do train with me once in a while, and sometimes I go train with them. It’s so important in my opinion to have different eyes on you once in a while, another set of hands on you. When you can touch someone- ah! I’m dying to touch someone.
Victoria: I know! I’m so hands-on. It’s killing me to just be so verbal.
Mor: I don’t mind being so verbal, it’s awesome, but sometimes I just want to grab something and put it in place.
Victoria: I’m in the same place as you right now. It’s interesting, so you have the same sort of lockdown/quarantine that we are experiencing here in the states?
Mor: Actually, yes, and two nights ago, our Prime Minister actually came out with the declaration that from tomorrow, studios can actually open but under really strict restrictions. It seems like we will be able to teach privates. I got all of this cleaning stuff and sterilizing stuff for the studio, I decided that I’ll open on Sunday for privates and see how it goes. I’m a little scared, I have to say. It’s been two months!
Victoria: I know. I remembered when I first graduated the teacher training program and would go on vacations, I was always so nervous that if I went on vacation for a week, that I would come back and forget everything.
Mor: Well, it’s not just that. I know I’ll be okay teaching and talking, but I have been in my house for two months now. Leaving my house to come to the studio is one thing, because it’s a five-minute walk from my apartment, but having the traffic of people walking in and out of the studio now is a little scary. I’m going to do everything according to the restrictions, I’ll measure everybody’s fever, but I don’t know- it’s just scary. I’m the one responsible for everybody else.
Victoria: Yeah, and everybody I’ve had on here pretty much, with the exception of Juan, has their own studio right now. Everybody will be going through this same sort of thought process when they reopen! I think you’re probably the first one I’ve had that can reopen and start seeing clients, so it’s interesting to get your perspective because everybody is going to start dealing with that shortly, I hope.
Mor: Talk to me after Sunday, we’ll see how I feel.
Victoria: We should do a follow-up! Mat & Chat 2.0.
So, as far as classical Pilates is concerned, your mentors are Kathi, Juan, Susan Moran, right? Many people. Why don’t you tell me what your biggest takeaways are from the three people that you find to be the most influential in your training.
Mor: Well, for now it’s mostly Kathi.
Victoria: Okay, so let’s talk about Kathi.
Mor: I could talk about her forever. She’s not listening right now, but. As I said, I’m doing her advanced teacher training right now. We were supposed to go through the second segment at the beginning of April, and it was just so frustrating. In Israel, I think we were the first ones to go into lockdown and we were one of the first countries to close our airports and we couldn’t fly out. I was talking to Kathi like: “Listen, I think we can’t come to the second segment.” And she’s like: “No, you’re fine! Brooke is coming in from Europe!” but, obviously we weren’t fine, and that didn’t happen. But even just from that first segment that we did get to do with her- my mind was like, blown. She has this amazing way of looking at the system- it is a system. It’s not just exercises; it’s not just equipment, like we were saying before. It’s not just bodies- it isn’t just: “This is crooked, this is bad, my shoulder isn’t-“ it’s not just stuff. It’s everything- it’s looking at the big picture. Once I got why she called it the “Thread”- it’s because it is a thread. Everything is connected. And it is red! Because we have our blood stream going through everything. It is mind boggling to think of how she looks at it, and learning how to look at the body and teaching with a whole different perspective, is like learning Pilates all over again. So it’s really fun. I feel like she got this passion back into me. Not that I was missing it, but now it’s burning.
Victoria: So how do you think you view things differently now that you’ve been working with Kathi for so long?
Mor: Before we started this training program, I hadn’t done an actual training in a while- since 2012, I think. I’ve been doing workshops here and there, and a lot of workshops- which are always nice, but it’s not the same. I feel like I got into a place where I was in a routine, and I would look at the bodies in front of me, I would give corrections, I would teach. But I feel like I got into this automatic routine where I would do the reformer, then do the mat, and I would have a certain thing I would go through. I feel like I had goggles on and I wasn’t really looking, and now I’m really looking. It’s like I have a microscope now, and I’m really looking in to the body- looking way deeper. I use so much more equipment now. I used to do reformer, mat, maybe cadillac, and now I really find that I understand the equipment more better and i’m using it a lot more.
Victoria: Good! And that’s what people are going to want when they come back into the studio in a day!
Mor: Yes, I hope so!
Victoria: You’ll be totally prepared to kick their butts.
Mor’s Speed Round!
City or beach?
Sweet or savory?
Cat or dog?
Adventure or comfort?
Books or movies?
Nights in or nights out? (the earlier the better)
Piercings or tattoos?
Summer or winter?
Tea or coffee?
Early bird or night owl?
Pizza or pasta?
Europe or Asia?
Spring or fall?
Breakfast or dinner?
Spicy or mild?
Lululemon or Alo?