This Mat & Chat was hosted on on Instagram Live on Sunday, February 7th, 2021. The chat followed a 25 minute mat workout.
Victoria: I am with Teresa Shupe, she owns Atlas Pilates in Seattle, Washington, where she is- are you there today?
Teresa: Yes. Well, this is our back office. We have all of our computer setup and where Lori [Coleman-Brown] teaches her workshops back here. We have a big giant screen and lights and everything.
Victoria: Awesome. I’ve been there once, when I was filming for Alo. I filmed in Seattle, and before I went, I asked Alycea [Ungaro] if she knew of any good classical studios in Seattle and she of course recommended Atlas. So it’s a semi-familiar space for me. And it was a great workout of course. So Teresa is in Seattle. Talk to us about how long you have had Atlas Pilates- when you opened it, etc.
Teresa: I’ve had Atlas Pilates for about 12 years- I started in a really small space- it was like a work/live loft, just me all by myself. Then a couple years later, we moved just about 5 blocks away. We’re right under the Space Needle- so if you’ve ever been to Seattle- well, not right under, but we’re very close to it.
Victoria: I was about to be like, really?! I didn’t think I got that close to the Space Needle.
Teresa: Well if you walk out the door and look up, the Space Needle is right there.
Victoria: I had such a wonderful day that day. I walked there from my hotel, and it was far- it was like three miles, but I had never been to Seattle before, so I wanted to walk around and see the sights. When I left, I walked straight down to the water and then I walked south and then did the most touristy thing. I went on that thing….
Teresa: The Wheel?
Victoria: Yup. I went on The Wheel. It was a weekday, and it was beautiful day, and there was no one there- but I had a little day. And I loved it. It was great. I actually really, really loved Seattle. I had never been before, and as much as I am pro climate, and believe in the ever-changing climate and those issues, I actually think Seattle might be benefitting a little bit from the climate change that’s been happening *laughs* because it was a beautiful, sunny five days that I was there. Everyone was like: “This never happens!” So I got very lucky.
So, the pandemic has hit every city a little bit differently. Obviously I’m here in New York- we’re here, we’re open again. You’re open in Seattle now too, correct? How long did you have to close? Did you have to close? What did that look like for you guys?
Teresa: We closed in March. It was in Seattle first, and they shut us down. I laid everybody off and it was horrible. I put everybody on furlough. We went to online that week- we just didn’t know what was going to happen. We very quickly went online and slowly got teachers coming back and teaching online. We were closed for quite a while- I don’t remember anymore.
Victoria: Good! I’m glad it’s a distant memory.
Teresa: We opened in the summer for a period of months, with all the stuff- masks and everything. But we shut down again over the holidays. October, November, and then we reopened just three weeks ago.
Victoria: Oh wow, oh my goodness. It’s been different everywhere, obviously. Of the United States, I think California really has it the hardest. They’ve been closed for so long. Regardless, it’s been a very interesting time, it’s been very challenging. There’s a whole rollercoaster and wave of emotions when it comes to this pandemic and how it’s affected business and especially small business. What are some ways that you guys pivoted? You said you went online right away. Are there any silver linings you’ve found?
Teresa: Lots of silver linings. I’ve always had a love for the mat work, so I was like: “Ha!”
Victoria: *laughs* “This is great!”
Teresa: I was also so happy to see how much benefit- I resisted going online. People have asked us, and Lori [Coleman-Brown] was already teaching a few people online. The thought of that was just like “Ughhh that just sounds horrible. I want to give up. I want to move. I don’t want to sit and look at a screen.”
Victoria: Oh, so from your perspective as a teacher, you thought it sounded horrible.
Teresa: Yeah, oh gosh yeah. I could see the benefit of Zooming in for a lesson. So anyway, our clients were able to support us but we were also able to support them. For a lot of them, they were like: “This is how I mark my week- this is how I know what day of the week it is, because I have Pilates today.”
Victoria: I know. I heard that a lot- especially in the beginning. Because really, in the beginning when it was a total shutdown, every day was exactly the same. Nobody knew what was coming next. So yes- to have that marker like: “Okay, every Tuesday I’m taking this 9am private or group class” really made a big difference for some people. I had so many clients telling me: “You’re the only thing keeping me sane!” Locked at home with kids, or significant others, kids, animals- or even by yourself. It was just tough.
Teresa: Yeah, so that was amazing. It kept our business alive and it fed me and it was mental health and physical health for the people.
Victoria: Will you keep your online offerings now that you’re also open?
Teresa: Yeah. I don’t think anybody’s going back, not 100%. Now that everybody’s familiar and set up and knows how to do it- it’s always going to be an option. I prefer being in the studio. I prefer to put my hands on people and stand up.
Victoria: I know. These are kind of interrelated comments, but what I was going to say first is that from an instructor perspective- and it sounds so awful- but it feels almost like we’ve lost the late cancel. You know what I mean? *laughs* Instead, people who may have been coming in to the studio but couldn’t make it, are like: “Oh, but I can be here at home and just roll out a mat and go virtual.” I’m very grateful that people are so dedicated that they want to do that, but sometimes I’m like “Grr!” *snaps fingers* “It would have been so nice to have that little hour!”
Second of all, in keeping with that switch, or maybe in keeping your online offerings and doing both- I’m back teaching in the studio and the other day I had 4 clients in a row that were online. I had in-person people too, but I was sort of like: “Ah! I have to get up and stand!” It’s something I think we took for granted as Pilates instructors- you’re active all day long when you teach. Now that you’re doing this online stuff, you just sit on your butt. For hours! I’m like: “Wow this is what it’s like to work in an office? This is horrible!”
Teresa: It’s horrible! We knew that right? Like, I’m remembering this client sits a lot at work, so we need to do certain things. But having that experience in my body-
Victoria: My back!? There was a snowstorm here last week and we closed the studio for two days because it was just crazy. A lot of clients switched to online, and I realized on Tuesday that my back was killing me, because I had just been sitting in this same position on my couch- it’s not very ergonomic anyways. In a sense you’re right- it does allow you to relate to those clients who do sit at a desk and work in an office all day long and you’re thinking: “Oh, maybe these are things I should pay more attention to” because you forget how much it can really affect the body.
Teresa: Yeah. I sit on the floor when I teach online. It took me a while to get where I could do 4 in a row, or whatever. I would sit on the spine corrector, then I moved to a box, and now I’m on the floor. It took a while- it was uncomfortable, but I weaned myself down. I think that’s way more healthy if you’re sitting.
Victoria: Yes- you can utilize the whole studio: “Oh- there’s the baby chair.” I am sitting on the box right now- so I’m a little elevated. It’s definitely been an interesting experience and this is the way of the Pilates world moving forward- we’re online and we’re in person. It’s great, it makes it more accessible. I would never be speaking with you or working with you from Seattle if not for this pandemic, so it’s another silver lining.
Lori [Coleman-Brown] just said that your beginner and intermediate online mat classes are a silver lining. Are those classes that you teach weekly?
Teresa: Yeah- I teach Pro class, which is for teachers, on Mondays at 9. And I teach a beginner’s class.
Victoria: Elizabeth just said: “I get to take Teresa’s class from Baltimore, and it’s a silver lining for me for sure.”
Teresa: Thank you!
Victoria: It could be Elizabeth Ahearn or someone who’s working her social media for @pilatesatgoucher. But see? It’s really cool, it’s really cool. I teach a little Wedding Workout class- I’m getting married in June- and I taught the class yesterday, and we had someone from Massachusetts, Georgia, Chicago, New York, Connecticut it’s just really cool to see everybody join in from all over. It’s really great.
I want to go back to something you said during the workout- and it will kind of tie in to your background and your training, but during my double leg kick on the mat, you said a phrase that was a “Romana-ism.” What was that phrase you were saying?
Teresa: Just sometimes she would say: “Come up and see me sometime.
Victoria: Come up and see me sometime. So if you weren’t lifting your head enough?
Teresa: I don’t think it was very specific. My interpretation- she elevated you. She would just say these things that changed your mind. If you got too serious and worked too hard, she would just say these things that would make you laugh, or smile- things that changed your mind, right? It’s a very open-ended phrase, and you can interpret it however you want, but it’s one I find that I’ve been saying lately. We talked about Romana yesterday, so-
Victoria: Oh, yeah. We’re going to talk about Romana more! Are there any other phrases that you remember that she used to throw around?
Teresa: Oh, gosh! Lori might remember more.
Victoria: I’m sure there are so many that they are just all crowding your memory at once.
Teresa: I can’t think of anything *laughs*
Victoria: It will come to you. For those of you who don’t know- well, it’s interesting. I had Lori on Mat & Chat a while ago, sometime this summer. Lori works at Atlas, she’s the Director of Education, correct? Now of course Teresa owns Atlas, so it’s this fun circle, because actually Teresa was certified by Lori when Lori had Pilates Seattle International. It’s just so interesting how the tides turn and twist. It’s very cool. Lori certified you, and that was under Romana. So you are a Romana- trained instructor.
Teresa: Yes, Romana certified me and tested me. It was at Lori’s studio, but they ran a huge program there.
Victoria: That was the first one on the west coast, right?
Teresa: I believe. There were people teaching on the west coast, but I believe it was the first one.
Victoria: Right, which is so cool. So that was in the 90s, right?
Teresa: Yeah.
Victoria: Like 1996, I think I read. Something like that. I’ll fact-check later, it doesn’t matter. So it’s been a while. Do you find that your teaching from when you started with Romana has changed over the years?
Teresa: I find that I continually return to the basics, the fundamental principals. It’s all in there. And if you don’t think it is, it’s maybe not for you. Or maybe you’re not spending enough time with it, or it hasn’t been long enough. It has it. I am definitely a better teacher, and I have a much bigger skillset, but I go back to these really fundamental simple things.
Victoria: Which is what you said in the beginning- you love the mat work and you were kind of excited when we all had to go back to just the mat, right? I do think for me personally, a result of the pandemic that I did not expect, which is a cool by-product, is that having spent so much time away from the apparatus and then coming back to the apparatus after so much mat work, I found so many new connections between exercises that maybe I hadn’t remembered or realized before. I think I had a brand new appreciation for the cadillac again, or the high chair- things I didn’t have access to during my time in Montauk. Seeing these clients especially who have been working on just mat work for the past 6 months come back to the studio, I was so amazed at the connections they made- and they’re still making.
I had this girl come in the other day and we were doing this exercise…I cant remember what. But she said: “Oh, like elephant on the reformer?” And I was like: “Yes!” It’s so cool. What has improved in my teaching over the last year has just been my ability to really utilize everything that’s in front of me, which I think is a really important skill when you’re a teacher and you never know what might come next.
Teresa: I always try to remember that the mat came first. Joe didn’t just dream up the apparatus like: “I want to make all of these crazy things.” He said: “The mat work is the work.” And for the people who couldn’t do the mat work, he said: “Oh, well maybe if you do this…” and that’s an example of one of those fundamental ideas that we can always return to.
Victoria: Exactly! Return to life! Every time I hear “return to” I always think “return to life!” It’s really incredible, and I think we’ve all gained a new appreciation for Pilates that we didn’t have before. It has guided us through this time and that has been pretty amazing.
So you certified, and previous to becoming a Pilates instructor, you come from a dance background- like many other Pilates instructors. I also read that you have other interesting movement backgrounds. You do a derivative of karate, right? I don’t remember exactly what it’s called, but you’re a black belt!
Teresa: I haven’t been- it’s Kung Fu, it’s Kajukenbo. It’s a Hawaiian art, eclectic work. I did that and taught it for maybe 11 years. It coincided with my Pilates training and the first few years of my teaching. And then I had a kid and I had a business, so I’ve pretty much given that up. But it’s a love of mine- fighting- and it’s an amazing art. It’s really good for women, because it’s for smaller people trying to fight bigger people, and it’s based on street fighting. There’s not a lot of fancy, pretty moves. There’s a lot of really powerful and devastating moves.
Victoria: How would you say that modality and Pilates are related? Is there anything you think?
Teresa: Well, I mean, there’s only so many ways the body can move. The elbow goes like this-
Victoria: Right. It can flex, and it can extend.
Teresa: There are only so many ways to move. So it’s related in that way.
Victoria: You said you were doing that right as you were doing your teacher training.
Teresa: Yeah, I had already been training for a while, but then when I started teaching Pilates, I also started teaching that, so I was developing these two different, or teaching in these two different modalities.
Victoria: Cool. It sounds pretty badass to me. A black belt in anything is pretty impressive. You also said, the reason you had to step away is because you had a kid- you have a child, and that informed your ability to teach mothers! Is that still a focal point? Do you still really enjoy working with clients who are postpartum?
Teresa: I do. You know what I’ve found, which is really horrible, is that new moms do not have the time to come in to the studio to work out. It’s just the reality. I think about it and I tried to solve that, or make offerings for postpartum women, but I haven’t solved it. It’s a real challenge.
Victoria: Right, because they have to be at home with the baby.
Teresa: Yeah, so I don’t really get to be with those people. Those people are not coming to the studio.
Victoria: That’s interesting. We have a lot of new moms that come to Pilates here in the city, but I think perhaps they are just fortunate enough to be able to have somebody that can watch their child. That’s really the difference. It’s also a very competitive city, and I’m sure getting your body back is at the top of most new mom’s lists here. It is a very interesting clientele, or population to teach, because every pregnancy is different and every body is different, and then when you combine those two, you might be picking up from zero- literally. Or, some people bounce right back, and you’re surprised the things they’re able to do when they’re given the ok to work out 6-8 weeks later.
It is very interesting, and I also really love working with pregnant women. I don’t know if you feel similarly, but I think especially when you have a client who you’ve worked with for a long time who then becomes pregnant- so you’re able to work through the pregnancy and still keep them challenged because they know the system- that’s the ideal. It’s hard when someone walks in to the studio 4 months pregnant who has never done Pilates before. You’re already starting from so much less in your toolkit, but I do think it’s really fun to keep a pregnant woman fit and excited during pregnancy.
Teresa: I think it comes down- it’s a similar skillset. You’re just teaching the person in front of you. It’s so different for each woman, like you were saying. You can’t anticipate what will happen. The super fit person before pregnancy might hate working out while they’re pregnant. Or they might work out all the way to the day before, and then afterwards their body might be devastated, so they take a long time to recover, or whatever. You just can’t predict it.
Victoria: You’re right, yes. Someone could walk into the studio and they could have just had a knee surgery, their knee was reconstructed- and yes, in a sense it’s the same thing as a pregnant woman walking in. There’s always going to be something to work around and some way to think: “How can I make this the most effective session for my client?” But, I do think- especially because I just find that pregnant women just don’t really know a lot their first pregnancy.
I was talking to a client the other day, and she’s 19 weeks pregnant, we stopped rolling up- you turn to the side and help yourself up. I have a lot of clients who tell me: “Oh my doctor said I need to start rolling on to my side when I sit up” but then there are doctors who don’t say a word at all! She had no clue, and it’s her first, so I said: “Yeah, no! We don’t want to do that anymore” and it’s just interesting, because you’re really informing them. Even as far as any separation- some women have never even heard that that’s a possibility and I feel like I’m somewhat of an educator in that sense. Like: “By the way!” Not that I’ve been there in that sense, but I do have experience with it and it’s cool. I feel like I’m a guide.
Teresa: Yeah, it’s so great. It’s such a gift you give to those people, because the information is not out there. And even women themselves don’t necessarily talk about that stuff. I mean you are, and I am, but it’s like it’s a secret or something.
Victoria: Yeah, I know! I think it’s the weirdest thing. I hope that normalizes over time. I think with the internet and the culture that we’re in now that everything is free and we can talk about it. I think that will come, that will change.
As you know, sometimes people submit questions to ask you. So I saw this one like a second before we went live, so I wasn’t able to write it down so I’m trying to remember it from memory. Part one- the easy part- if you could be any animal, what animal would you be?
Teresa: Oh my gosh! I guess a tiger!
Victoria: Oooh, I like that! Why? That was quick.
Teresa: They’re really strong and flexible and they’re soft and cuddly but really fierce and incredible.
Victoria: Yes. Beautiful but also fierce. I like that. And then the second part to the question I’m totally going to butcher- but do you have a dog? Okay, I think it was in relation to your dog. What’s your dog’s name?
Teresa: Stella.
Victoria: Okay. I’m trying to go on my computer so that I don’t get it wrong: “Is Stella full dog or part hippo?”
Teresa: Oh, she’s a velvet hippo. She’s a pitbull mix.
Victoria: I think that was a fun tongue-in-cheek kind of question they tacked on, but I do have to acknowledge it because they sent it in.
Teresa: If you go look at pitbulls online, they do look like hippos!
Victoria: Totally. Is she grey?
Teresa: She’s actually fawn colored.
Teresa’s Speed Round:
City or beach
Sweet or savory?
Cat or dog?
Adventure or comfort?
Books or movies? Middle
Nights in or nights out?
Summer or winter?
Tea or coffee?
Early bird or night owl?
Pizza or pasta?
Europe or Asia? For food: Asia, To visit: Europe
Spring or fall?
Breakfast or dinner?