Stacie Fisher - Pilates for Power

Christina chats with Pilates instructor Stacie Fisher about transformation.  Stacie lived with crippling depression for about 10 years and now offers transformative  classes with Pilates for Power, an online and in person pilates training.

Stacie trained at internationally renowned Merrithew Corporate Training Center in Toronto and is a Stott Certified Pilates Instructor. Her passion is working with people who are experiencing challenges with mental wellness. She is also very excited about using movement to optimize health so her clients can enjoy life to the fullest. Stacie teaches groups and private sessions both online and in person at her home studio in Port Howe, NS.

Book your online or in person session with Stacie!

Chapters

• 0:00 Greetings from Christina
• 0:30 Theme Song - Talk About It
• 0:56 Introduction by Christina
• 3:23 Tramp Pilates
• 5:47 Stacies background
• 7:00 Living with depression
• 16:27 Pathway through depression
• 19:42 Love yourself
• 21:56 You don't have to like everyone
• 23:24 The gift of time
• 28:26 The benefits of excercise
• 30:54 What are Pilates?
• 34:06 Favorite anatomy words
• 35:27 How long does it take to become a Pilates instructor?
• 39:18 The power of group exercise to motivate
• 41:31 Fake it til you make it?
• 45:35 Meeting Pablo
• 47:26 The future of Pilates for Power
• 58:43 Heartbeat Hotline 1(902)-669-4769
• 59:16 Podcast Credits
• 59:39 Support the Podcast on Patreon

Transcript

S2E20: Stacie Fisher - Pilates for Power

Christina: [00:00:02] Welcome to a Chat with Heart Podcast. I'm your host, Christina Martin. I'm here to help guide heartfelt conversations with new and old friends I've met from just being alive or touring my music around North America and other parts of the world. I chat with people I feel a kinship with and that I genuinely believe we can learn from. Our personal stories have great power to heal, influence and inspire. All we have to do is show up for the conversation.

Podcast Theme Song 'Talk About It': [00:00:30] If we just talk about, we could shine the light, we can break a dark day. If we just talk about it, we can cut a way, we can make a brighter day.

Christina: [00:00:56] Hi. Hey before I introduce my delightful guest, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my cold steel heart for listening to a chat with her at podcast. I hope you'll keep listening to all the episodes on Season two and season one and share them with people you love who you think might benefit from these chats I've had. This is episode 20 of Season two, and that means, well, 20 episodes is all. Any season I think should really have. It's time for me to take a break from recording with guests. I have to go away for a while. I have a new album coming out. It's called Storm and I'm heading out on tour. For a while, but I'll be back. If you want to keep in touch with me while I'm away, you can follow my travels on my Instagram @XtinaMartinMusic. That's usually where I I'm most active on social media or join me on my Patreon. I send messages every month to my patrons and I'd love to have you on board. And another way you can keep in touch is to call my Heartbeat Hotline one 902-669-4769. And maybe I'll use your message on a future episode. Okay, We're going to wrap season two on a super high note. This is going to be transformative, y'all. My guest today traveled ten minutes by car to record in our home studio, and she's worth it. Stacie Fisher. She's my Pilates instructor. She brings out the best in everyone who crosses her path. Something I was really missing came back when I started taking in-person Pilates classes with Stacie. I'm so grateful that in this chat that you're about to hear, Stacie shared her experience living with depression and the transformation that happened when she discovered Pilates. She's not afraid to shine her amazingly bright energy across the land. I love this person so much. This is a chat packed with wisdom. Thank you, Stacie. Yay.

Christina: [00:03:23] Is this your first podcast episode?

Stacie: [00:03:25] Yes, it is my very first. I'm so delighted. Thank you so much. I'm really absolutely honored to be with you. So thank you.

Christina: [00:03:31] This is a privilege and a pleasure and my little heartbeat listeners are going to want to know. Who the fuck is this? How did you meet? Where is she from? What are her pivotal moments? You know, all this stuff. So, like. We'll get to it all. This is exciting for me because, I mean, I know you in a certain capacity, which I'm so privileged to know you as my Pilates instructor. You are state certified mat and reformer Pilates instructor, right. 

Stacie: [00:04:04] The full shooting match. All the equipment. All the equipment. It's called like a full cert, but it doesn't matter.

Christina: [00:04:09] Full cert?

Stacie: [00:04:10] Well, yeah,

Christina: [00:04:12] Full certification.

Stacie: [00:04:14] Yeah, I do it all.

Christina: [00:04:15] It's incredible. I did your tramp class today. Tramp Pilates. That is.

Stacie: [00:04:21] That was a fun time, wasn't it?

Christina: [00:04:23] It's super fun. And when I say hard, because it is. It's not hard. Like. Like I feel like a lot of people can do the moves, and it's very. It's challenging, which is what you want. Like, it's it pushes you. You feel like at the end of that hour you're like, this is so worth my time to get to come to, you know, leave my house, leave the comfort of my house, um, and get dressed up and put my sticky socks on and come down there and you walk in and Stacie, you make everybody feel like they are a champion when they walk into your studio.

Stacie: [00:05:03] Cause they are, because they are. It's a big deal just to come into the class. Like getting there is the hardest part. Once you're there, I take care of the rest, but getting there is the big deal.

Christina: [00:05:13] Yeah, you know, people sometimes stay at home or don't go to these things. Well, there's a number of reasons, but like, sometimes it just comes down to like, I don't want to leave the house. But then once they do and you're like, I think it's scientifically proven that being around people, especially people with positive energy and attitude, is so good for our mental health.

Stacie: [00:05:37] Oh. 100%. 100%. So good for us.

Christina: [00:05:39] That's how I feel with your classes.

Stacie: [00:05:41] So good. Excercise is so good as well. Like it's just it's no fail equation.

Christina: [00:05:47] It really is. So you have, there's so much about you that, like, I'm excited to learn more about. And I have heard a little bit about your story and how you discovered Pilates. Um, so can you tell my little Heartbeat listeners first and foremost where you grew up? And then what the heck happened? How did you get into Pilates? Because it wasn't something that you always did, was it?

Stacie: [00:06:14] No, no, no. I was on the accounting path. So I grew up in Springhill, Nova Scotia, which is about 35 minutes away from here. And I went to university. I took accounting in university, and I got married. We had children and I was working as an accountant. And then, as I say, I had a spectacular meltdown that I had a very big, very, very big, debilitating depression when I was 33 years old. Wow. And that really sidelined my career. I was working at EY in Toronto in tax, which was, I sort of had everything going on career wise. I had two small children at the at that time are now children. They're very big now. My kids are now 25 and 27 now, but they were small. So Carmen and Castile.

Christina: [00:07:07] Carmen and Castile.

Stacie: [00:07:09] When they were small, like when they were four and six, I had a very debilitating depression. Very, very bad. I was in bed for an entire year crying. And if it weren't for the grace and help of all of my neighbors and family support, I don't know exactly how things would have worked out because they just kept the family going. Yeah, people brought casseroles and took care of the kids and, you know, they were really quite amazing. And I have a lot of people to be very grateful for. So I had a very challenging depression. And then when I was 43 years old, one of my friends came to Toronto to study at Stott or at Merrithew. So she was we grew up together in Spring Hill and she was living in Florida at the time, and where she came to train was at the corporate training center, which it's very internationally renowned and people come from all over the world to train there. So she came up from Florida and it happened to be just five minutes walk from my house. And we ran in together into each other. And I at that time, I was very, very heavy. I was very unhealthy. I had been depressed for a good, solid ten years. I had been on long term disability and I was just not in a good place. I was very unhealthy in every way that you can think of because I had high blood pressure, I was heavy, just everything was work and everything was hard. And I told her I'd watched a movie called Hungry for Change. I don't know if you've ever seen Hungry for Change?

Christina: [00:08:46] No, I don't think I have, but I will now.

Stacie: [00:08:48] It's it's an amazing movie that I really recommend that the concept is you don't diet. You just eat the healthiest food you can eat for nutrition. Once you fill your body with good nutrition, then everything else will fall into place. I love that. Yeah, because diets, I've been on a thousand diets in my life and diets always make you feel like you're a failure because they're all about what you can't have and the forbidden fruit. And when you've got all these rules, you're bound to set yourself up for failure. And then when you're depressed, you feel even worse. So this Hungry for Change concept, I really bought into it and I still live by that to this day. So I eat the healthiest food that I possibly can. And if I want to have a treat, if I want to have I don't know,

Christina: [00:09:38] What's your treat?

Christina: [00:09:40] I do love the Lay's potato chips, those regular Lay's potato chips. I do love them.

Christina: [00:09:45] Yes. Lay's salt and vinegar. Oh, vinegar. Did I say vigener or vinegar? It's a thing. It's a thing. But yeah.

Stacie: [00:09:54] So I do love the salt. And if I want to have that, that's okay. But I just can't make it my lifestyle because I know that that's not, you know, healthy, nutritious food. Anyway, so I was telling Deneen, I said, you know, things have been bad for a long time. I've got to find a way out because I'd always been trying to find a way out. I could buy a boat and a car and what I've spent on therapy, I we had considered the, what is it, electric magnetic therapy. EMT, like we had looked at everything. I'd taken every type of medication for years at that point. And she said, Stace, listen, I'm learning how to be a Pilates instructor. I need somebody to practice with You come over and you be my body and I'll practice with you. And I didn't know it at the time, but it actually cost money to go and be somebody's body. But she actually paid all of my fees for me. Oh, wow. Yeah, I know. Incredibly generous. Incredibly generous. So she removed every possible barrier there would have been. And I started practicing with her and I started doing it three times a week. And I loved it.

Stacie: [00:11:05] And then I was doing it five times a week and so on. And then it became a way of life. And my life changed through all of these different things, through eating better, breathing better, sleeping better, Pilates. And also I started to think differently because the important thing to know is that, well, depression is it's a disease of distorted thinking, because I had a very distorted way of thinking. And anybody who's depressed has a very distorted way of thinking. And once I realized that my thoughts were really what was poisoning me, and I actively put it in a place to counter those kind of thoughts with something better and more positive, I found my way out. So how I became a Pilates instructor was because I decided that this was really positive for me. And if I can help one other person or two other people, or however many other people who are in my who are in my situation or the way that I was, if I can help them find a new life, then that's what I want to do. And that's how I became a Pilates instructor. Amazing. So from CPR to Pilates instructor, here we are.

Christina: [00:12:20] That is incredible. And I can definitely feel I don't know what you were like before because I've only known this positive Stacie, who's a champion for for everybody and everything. And as what did you call yourself? An Uber extrovert?

Stacie: [00:12:35] I'm an I would say, I'm an extreme extrovert.

Christina: [00:12:38] Extreme extrovert.

Stacie: [00:12:39] Because I want to be with people all the time.

Christina: [00:12:41] And has that always been your personality, like when you were younger, before you were diagnosed with depression, or is it something that, you know, through working with Pilates and eating healthier, that you were more of an extrovert? It kind of gave you that, opened up, things up for you?

Stacie: [00:13:02] Well, I've always liked to be around people, except when I was in my depths of depression, I was very, very isolated. I self isolated. And that was, I think, part of the thing because I felt so embarrassed to be around people. I thought, you know, everybody thinks that like what has happened to me, they're going to ask me like, why am I not working? Or what has happened or.

Christina: [00:13:28] Or give you pep talks when that kind of thing where like or say things like, well, were there people in your life that were like, what have you got to be depressed about? You know?

Stacie: [00:13:38] Well, and you know what? That would make me feel that much worse because in all ways, I had a perfect life, because I had. All the things that anybody would ever want being you know, I had a great family. My husband, Pablo, was a wonderful guy. We have two we had two wonderful small children at that time. I had friends and I had a great job. And I had all of the kind of things that people generally like to have. And we were living at like sort of in downtown Toronto and we had a nice house and all the things that one would be happy to have. But it it makes it feel even more empty when people say, Now, what have you got to be depressed about? And it's like, well, you know, you're absolutely right. Nothing at all yet. I feel like crap.

Christina: [00:14:28] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Interesting that. Did you see that? Did you see it coming? The Depression?

Stacie: [00:14:36] No. No. What happened is so I was working very, very hard and I was sort of all in with both family and all in with my work. And then when I was 33, one of my very good friends took his exit from the world on his terms. I'm sorry. And that just really kind of broke me because I thought we had grown up together and we'd always been very close. And I thought, how did I not see that was going to come? Like, how did I miss that? What should I have done differently? How could I have played a different role? And I blamed myself for a very long time for that happening. And it was just kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will, because everything I had so much stress in my life, both family and work. And then that was the one additional piece that I just couldn't manage. And I believe that the way that our brains are wired is that we can all handle a certain amount of stress. It's natural to handle stress. I believe we all have a capacity. And when you hit that capacity, that's when things start to break. And for me, that's when things broke and broke spectacularly. And I. I didn't know anything about depression. I had no idea that that's what depression looked like. I first thing that I did is I withdrew from everyone. I didn't have any. I stopped taking calls from my friends and family and I just wanted to be by myself. And then it wasn't right away that I started crying. That came later. And I was completely shocked by the whole by the whole thing that somebody could, you know, change so rapidly.

Christina: [00:16:27] Sneaky little bugger.

Stacie: [00:16:29] I know, right?

Christina: [00:16:30] The depression. Yes, I know it. I know it. I know I know it, too. But, you know, we are resilient. That's something that I always like. That was fun to learn, really? Like just how we can come back from, you know, we can find a way to come back from from these, well, from mental, from the depths of mental crisis really not without a lot of work and help but. Uh, that's one thing I'm excited and happy to share with people is, is that it can happen to anyone. Um, the good news is there's lots to learn about it. And then there's, there's things we can do to, you know, move to a better place. What would you tell young Stacie? What would you like to tell young Stacie who could be listening right now?

Stacie: [00:17:28] Do you know what? It's funny that you say that because when I look at pictures of myself back at that time, because if you saw a picture of me, like my eyes are just so dead and I'm so lost, I always feel very sad for the young Stacie at that stage. And I'd say that there's a pathway through it, that you have magic and strength within yourself. So not to give up that the answer is inside of you, that you have strength. So my concept with Pilates is that you have power within yourself, and when you make your body strong on the outside, people can make that connection and they can see that they're capable of way more than they thought. So if you're capable of lifting a heavier thing than you ever thought that you could, you're also you also can make the connection that you are stronger emotionally, that you can challenge yourself just a bit more. So I focus a lot that I work a lot with people who have challenges both with depression and anxiety. And it's really quite amazing when people make that connection, when they can see, particularly with anxiety, because in Pilates we're grounded largely. There's a large part of grounding in the breath, of course, like yoga is. And when people are able to make that connection that their breath they can control with their breath, their heartbeat. You can slow your heartbeat by breathing in a particular way so you're not out of control. You have control. You can control your heart rate. What else can you control? You can control your thoughts and you can get yourself, you know, in control because anxiety feels like it is a runaway train. Out of control.

Christina: [00:19:26] When's this going to end?

Stacie: [00:19:27] Yeah, but you got control. We all have control. We all. I believe that by the fact that we have the power to love each other, we have magic inside of us. And we can turn that love on to ourselves.

Christina: [00:19:40] I love it.

Stacie: [00:19:42] You can love yourself just as much as you can love somebody else.

Christina: [00:19:45] You know, the loving yourself thing is really interesting to me because it wasn't something growing up that you know, we were coached on like any in any setting, really, like you've got to love yourself. It's and it's important to love other people and be kind and whatnot. But what about loving yourself? And I mean, I grew up with so much shame and not liking myself and stuff. Even to this day, I have to remind myself that I like myself. I'm a good person. And, you know, it's it's just so interesting that we don't if you don't grow up, you know, with that kind of in mind that, you know, you got to love yourself. You got to like the person who you are. And if you don't, well, what's going on there? Let's figure it out.

Stacie: [00:20:34] I'll tell you what I do. So what do you do? We all do embarrassing things like we talk about it. We always we do. We make we say silly things, and we have those awkward moments. And. 

Christina: [00:20:50] I almost just puked. Almost. Just literally, like. Like t just almost came out of my nose in front of you. Okay, Sorry. Go ahead.

Stacie: [00:20:59] But, you know, these are beautiful things. But I used to get all upset, and if I felt embarrassed that I may have said something awkward or wrong, I used to just beat myself up and I used to agonize over it. Yeah. And now when I say something. That I shouldn't have maybe said or whatever. I forgive myself. And then I say, I love you, I love you, I love you. And I repeat to myself that I love myself. And I remember, you know, I'm a good and lovable, loving person. Everybody says a wrong thing once in a while. That's just human. It's human. We do. We're not we're not supposed to be perfect. And I just chant. I say, I love you. I love you, I love you. And I'm drive it home to myself just because I made a mistake, that doesn't make me a bad person. And it's the same for everybody. You can make we can make mistakes. It doesn't make us bad.

Christina: [00:21:56] Now, is there a is there like a, if somebody you knew were to make repeated mistakes and not altered? Let's say I'm like, uh, like, I don't know, not quite murder, but like, something. Oh, I don't know, like a bully or something. At some point, like, do you ever get pissed with people? You're like, Oh, yeah. I don't think they're a good person. Like, like sometimes I'm like, I really try to practice compassion and like, you know, I've been through this with a couple people where I was able to go like, have the most compassion for them. But then after a while, I'm just like, you know, I don't really like that person. Actually, they really aren't.

Stacie: [00:22:42] And you don't have to like everybody. You don't have to, but you also don't have to have everybody immediately in your life that there. That's true. Actions impact you. Yeah. So if it's impacting you, then you need to speak up and say, you know I don't I think there's an issue here or whatever. Yeah.

Christina: [00:23:02] Or let it go and just don't be in their presence anymore. 

Stacie: [00:23:05] Just let it go. Yeah, because we can't change another person. We have no power to change anybody but ourselves. So if somebody does stuff that just drives you, you just have to step away. Like it's it's up to them to change.

Christina: [00:23:24] Your story is so relatable for me anyway. Um, you know, and. Depression, anxiety, obsessing over things I've said in hindsight, looking at that, going, what was the big deal, you know, and uh, and having to do a lot of work, like a lot of personal work and therapy and reading and just, and also like, I think getting older like is that's one thing I'm happy about getting older is just this the gift of time and wisdom and hearing other people's stories and knowing that I'm, you know, you're not alone. We're not alone in our experiences because you can feel so alone sometimes and like finding the examples of people and their stories that, um, you know, those people were able to over overcome or at least, um, you know, find a way to live with a better quality of life. Um, and when they face the challenge again, because I still have down days, you know, as I'm sure you do too, actually, maybe you don't Stacie, I don't know. Do you still have down days?

Stacie: [00:24:43] Not, not like depressive days. I don't have depressive days, No. But there are days when I feel tired for sure, that I do feel tired. And then I know that I just need to rest and spend a little time just being kind to myself. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't have that depression sort of feeling anymore. There was a time it was really hard. It's funny when you are very depressed, so I was diagnosed as being depressed. Treatment. What do they call it? Treatment resistant depressive. I was.

Christina: [00:25:19] Oh, that's a nice title. Yeah, that's very good for the self-esteem.

Stacie: [00:25:23] Treatment resistant depressive. So I had actually been fired by two psychiatrists because they said, I don't know what to do with you. Like nothing is working because I tried every medication.

Christina: [00:25:37] Were you exercising at that time?

Stacie: [00:25:39] At that time, no, I wasn't exercising at that time. I was just going to appointments and taking medication. And I was, you know, reading and taking therapy, doing these sort of things and sort of just hoping for the best. And I was probably eating bad. I was eating terrible food as well. But at that point in time, I had the idea, despite the fact that I really, really wanted to get better, I sort of was getting the feeling that there was no pathway forward at that point. And then even after I got better for years later. So it's been now, it's been, I'm going to say so it's been about 11 years now since I started doing Pilates and I'd say a solid seven eight that I've been really well and for the past five that I haven't taken any medication because I used to take a ton of medication and then I was able to come off all my medication. And for the first probably five years, well-meaning family, well-meaning friends would always say, Well, what if you relapse? What if it comes back? And sort of not to make too many plans because it all might unravel again, because they'd seen how spectacularly it had unravel? And I found that that was a little tough early on because how do I prove to people that I really am okay now that this is not something that is just temporary, It's not a blip. Because on top of that, on top of being treatment resistant depressive.

Christina: [00:27:16] Right.

Stacie: [00:27:17] One of the psychiatrists said that I had pharmaceutically induced bipolar disorder, meaning it was something that they'd never seen before. The advent of the what is it, SSRI? Yes. So I'd been on SSRIs for a long time. Effexor was something that I was taking. I had taken for 16 years. And before that they didn't used to see this, but they would elevate it. The mood and then the mood would crash. So I used to cycle through and have these sort of manic episodes. And so the first thing that people would ask is like, well, are you just manic? Yes. Well, it's like, you know, I've been manic for ten years now, like, you know, so since I got better, I have been better and I haven't looked back. But it is something that always wears at the mind because people are always kind of looking at you. They know how spectacular I had been broken and they're kind of waning, I think, you know, wondering if that's going to happen again. And I say, Hell no, it's not Hell, no.

Christina: [00:28:21] Yeah, Hell no.

Stacie: [00:28:22] Yeah. No way. Onward and upward, my friend.

Christina: [00:28:26] I love it. Bipolar disorder runs in my family. And it's something that just always trying to keep an eye on my own mental health. I've wondered at times whether that was something I needed to be concerned about. I think. I think it's just something, it was a reason for me to exercise every day, you know, at least moderately, and to try to stay on a healthy path, you know, not not only because it was it did come up in my family, I suppose, just, um, although that did freak me out, but I just felt better. I always felt better. Exercise was I've never not felt better after exercising or doing yoga or meditating. Like I've never felt like God, I regret doing that. I feel worse. And so it was like the one thing in my life, um, that I could count on, you know.

Stacie: [00:29:30] 100%. Yeah.

Christina: [00:29:32] Um, and it's the one thing, you know, there's lots of things I love to do and or wish I did more, habits that I wish I, you know, practicing music more and all this stuff. Exercise is the one habit that I'm, like addicted to that I don't have to worry about, like, reminding myself. It's like, have you gotten to that point with it where you're just so passionate about it and you're just like, I know this works, I love it. It feels good to no brainer or does it work? Does it feel like work to you? Sometimes?

Stacie: [00:30:01] So a little bit of both. I love it so much and it's been transformative for me that it is solid that I wouldn't give it up. Does it feel like work? Sometimes when I teach a lot of classes like online that I'm exercising and doing the class. So if I've done, let's say, 4 or 5 hours that I've been doing Pilates, does it feel like work?

Christina: [00:30:32] That would be.

Stacie: [00:30:33] Yes, it feels like work.

Christina: [00:30:34] I'd say an hour is enough.

Stacie: [00:30:36] Can I lift my legs now? Barely.

Christina: [00:30:39] No wonder you want chips.You need chips it sounds like, salty chips like.

Stacie: [00:30:45] But no, I love it so much. And for me it's been absolutely transformative that it's given me so much. And I'm so very, very thankful for that.

Christina: [00:30:54] We should mention, we should. You should, because I'm I will fumble through this, explain to some of my little heartbeat listeners what is what are Pilates? Because I think some people may not know.

Stacie: [00:31:07] Oh, so Pilates is sort of a fusion exercise. It is resistance training, using either your body weight or using the tension of a machine like a Pilates reformer. That's spring tension or a Cadillac, which is, again, spring tension, a chair, spring tension. So there's some resistance involved in it. It was developed by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s. It used to be called controlology.

Christina: [00:31:40] So control.

Stacie: [00:31:41] Control ology.

Christina: [00:31:43] Contrology why didn't they call it that?

Stacie: [00:31:46] How do you say, maybe that's how you pronounce it? Contrology, control ology. Anyways,

Christina: [00:31:51] That's cool.

Stacie: [00:31:51] Yeah, that's what it used to be. And so the concept is your mind is controlling your body. Nothing is random. Nothing is just, you know, haphazard, that everything is very controlled. And it used to be very popular largely with ballerinas, so very big in the dance community, a lot of stretching and flexibility. Not dissimilar to yoga, but in Pilates it's all dynamic stretching. So we stretch, but we don't hold a stretch. We move through it, and that gives you a better response to the stretch. And there's a lot of strength in it. It's very, very core centric. So it fuses a bunch of things together. It has some influence of ballet. It has yoga, scuba diving apparently to give us the breath because Joseph Pilates did scuba diving. That's where he got the breath work from. And, gymnastics all together. And there you have Pilates.

Christina: [00:32:55] So that's a really good explanation. I would not have said that's not how I would describe it. I would have just said, it's fucking awesome. And I love that combination of like all the fun things in aerobics and yoga and but your explanation is far more precise and appropriate for sure. Yeah.

Stacie: [00:33:16] And it's a full body workout that you're.

Christina: [00:33:20] Oh yeah.

Stacie: [00:33:20] So something that I didn't realize is how much Pilates instructors know about anatomy. Like, you have to know a lot about anatomy in order to work the entire body and hit a lot of all the functional movements. It's also very functional. So I was attracted to it. When my friend offered this to me, I was attracted because I thought, I'm not aging well. I was 43 years old and it was an effort to get up the stairs and I thought, yeah, and I thought, this is not a good trajectory to be on. So I was motivated to do it then so that I could perhaps age a little bit better.

Christina: [00:34:00] How are you with stairs now?

Stacie: [00:34:02] Oh, baby.

Christina: [00:34:02] Okay.

Stacie: [00:34:03] Piece of cake. Piece of cake. Yeah.

Christina: [00:34:06] You have sometimes in class, you. You tell us some of your favorite anatomy words, and I can never remember them. Do you have some that you want to share right now with my little listeners?

Stacie: [00:34:18] I think the cutest one is that the hip socket, the bone where the pelvis is, comes together to form the hip socket is called the acetabulum. That I love, and it means vinegar cup in Latin, and the femur just glides within the acetabulum.

Christina: [00:34:38] Acetabulum,

Stacie: [00:34:39] Acetabulum. Doesn't that sound musical?

Christina: [00:34:42] It does. And I feel like you should do voiceover work or some, you know, you have a very relaxing.

Stacie: [00:34:48] Oh that is so funny.

Christina: [00:34:50] Voice Yeah. Do you feel that way too? Dale.

Christina: [00:34:54] Dale is passing out. He's like, really into, Yeah. I mean, you never shout in your class as an instructor, but you don't. You have a different instructor voice. It's it's like it's exciting. It's excited.

Stacie: [00:35:09] Yeah. You know, it. It, it depends. Like if we're still not reaching our toes up to the ceiling and we're on Rep ten, it starts to get a little more intense, you know, toes right up there at the sky. Right up there. Right up there you go all the way up there. 

Christina: [00:35:27] I mean, I guess this takes practice, but like, how long until you as an instructor, Pilates instructor, got your wings? Because, I mean, we walk in there and there's some chatting before class as soon as it hits the the top of the hour that the class begins. And I mean, you just it's you're just so focused for that entire hour and you bring us back down and land us safely and it just looks so effortless like. But I know you work so hard to get to that point. Where did that take you to get your wings?

Stacie: [00:36:02] You know it's funny. The first like six months, I would have said would be would have been my hard point that for the first six months, everything was work. Yeah. And then after that, like you train very hard to, to do the program that I did because you have to train in the like apprentice and study and you have to do a big exam. And because you mentioned you said that I was like mad and reformer certified. That's true. But I actually took a three year program at this because I did Mat one year and then I did the exams and then I did came back and I did Reformer and I did the exams for Mat and Reformer, And then I went back and I took all the other equipment and then I did the exams for the third time. So like, you've done it so many times. By the time that you finish and you do your exams that you become comfortable. And I don't plan my classes out.

Christina: [00:37:02] Really, I would have thought you were. 

Stacie: [00:37:03] Nothing is planned, nothing is planned because I know the things that I want to cover. But I look and I see who is in the room with me. And I'm I'm early on. I used to have plans, but then I would be crushed by the fact that if the people in the room weren't up for the plans that I had for them, I had to completely throw out that plan and start something new. And so now I've got enough in my head that I don't need to have something planned out. I just do it for whatever, whoever's there and try to match what I think that they need. So if I see that people have lots of energy, then I want to give them something that's really going to challenge them. And if I have people that are totally melting, I know that I have to even it up so that they consider. 

Christina: [00:37:50] That's me.

Stacie: [00:37:50] not at all.

Christina: [00:37:52] That's me in the class going, This is hard, but I love it.

Stacie: [00:37:56] You're very strong. Yeah. So those people will consider coming back to me again.

Christina: [00:38:03] Yes. That's really a great approach, one that I should take to my live shows. But I actually, in order to relax and leave room for spontaneity, I like have a set list, you know. But then if I have my set list and I remember just be yourself and like know your intentions while you're here. And it's, you know, people want to come here and have a good time and feel they want they want connection, too. So that's my that's my job. But I need like somewhat of a plan to then relax. Do you know what I mean?

Stacie: [00:38:43] Oh, and because I planned for many, many classes, I know what a plan looks like. And so that I have a framework in my mind. But at the same time, I just go by how people are feeling and what I'm getting from them. But you've got a lot of words to remember. I don't know how you remember all of those words. 

Christina: [00:39:05] I don't.

Stacie: [00:39:05] And all of those notes. And that's that's an awful lot to remember.

Christina: [00:39:09] There's only three notes really in my, for my songs.

Stacie: [00:39:12] And like it just makes my mind burst when I think of remembering all that.

Christina: [00:39:18] It's funny we're in awe of what you know, what you do is so fascinating to me and I just think it's just so important and wonderful. The other thing, the other observation, I was, you know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately because I come to your class, it's an hour long. I love it. It's hard. If I were doing it at home by myself, I would quit because I don't challenge myself enough in in that way. But just being in a room with you and other people that are challenging themselves and like all in it together, um, like that makes the difference. And that's what I missed. I hadn't been in group classes in so many years like I used to do, you know, team sports and go to the gym when we lived in the city. And I was just so grateful to have that back in my life. Um, when I can come to your class. But do you, do you find that yourself or you just like that, you, you know, having people in the room or in the Zoom classes, um, kind of keeps you in check? Or do you even need that anymore in your life? Or are you just like, I'm just going to I'm doing this.

Stacie: [00:40:31] Because I always want to get better. I am motivated enough to do hard things even when people aren't watching. But that's because I want to be a good instructor for other people. And if I don't put the time in, you know, behind closed doors myself to be comfortable in an exercise and know how everything feels, then I wouldn't be good at offering that exercise up to other people. So yeah, I still am trying to be better all the time and I spend my time trying to figure these things out. Now, having said that, there are the occasions that I'll put on a video and I'm like, I'm doing it, I'm doing it, and I'm like, Oh. That looks great. I'll just watch that for a while now.

Christina: [00:41:16] Yes.

Stacie: [00:41:17] But the thing is, is that I don't remember the stuff when I just watch it and I don't do it. I need to do it. And to teach it, you have to feel it in your body in order to be able to offer it to somebody else.

Christina: [00:41:31] Oh, well, that's the same as singing. There's so many parallels between what you do and what I do. Um. Yeah, it's, uh, I guess my little heartbeat listeners, uh, if you want to get great at something, you just got to put in the time behind closed doors and before you offer it out in the world. I don't think there's any way around it. What about fake it til you make it? What do you think of that? I don't know if I buy into it.

Stacie: [00:41:58] Well, I think in some ways I think it's a positive idea that, for example, for in depression and I think earlier, early days of coming out of depression, in some ways I was faking it until I made it and forcing myself to get out of the house and which was really, really positive for me to get myself out there. So some of that fake it til you make it. But I'm a I believe that I have to be very authentic to myself. And if I'm not being authentic, I don't feel right about myself. Like I can't ask somebody to do something that I haven't done myself, so. Or and yeah, so I don't think in Pilates you can fake it til you make it. Maybe you can. In other things. I think it's pretty good for depression, not for Pilates.

Christina: [00:42:50] It's good to go through the motions if you're not feeling like if you I mean, I have had times where I wasn't, you know, mentally at my best, but I knew that I should I didn't want to do the I didn't want to do the, let's say, go for a walk or I didn't want to. I said earlier that I never had a problem. I would do the walk. I might not feel like it always feel better after like like if you can muster up the strength and if you can't, that's where you mean it. Maybe you need additional help, like to get to the point where you can physically go through the motions until and that then can have an effect on your brain and your breathing and your heart and all that to get you to a better place. It's sort of part of the big work. Just one part. What am I? I'm not a doctor. I don't know what I'm talking about other than lived experience.

Stacie: [00:43:44] Do you know what? And honestly, I think that lived experience is incredibly, incredibly valuable. It is incredibly valuable. Yeah. You know, honestly couldn't. So I'm 54 now and I would dearly love to go back and talk to my 30 year old self. I would dearly love to have conversations and say, Listen. Get things in perspective. Some things are just not worth worrying about because I've spent a lot of time in my life worrying about things that really just don't matter that much. I wish I could have that time back. That'd be kind of cool.

Christina: [00:44:14] Yeah. Yeah. I hear what you're saying for sure.

Stacie: [00:44:18] Very, very little actually matters. That is really worth our energy to worry about.

Christina: [00:44:24] Yeah.

Stacie: [00:44:25] No, I think, like, this isn't a dress rehearsal. This is the real deal. We don't get a take two with this.

Christina: [00:44:32] So not in this bod. Not.

Stacie: [00:44:35] Which gets better and better every day every day.

Christina: [00:44:39] I must say, isn't it interesting that, like, we're all. So I turned 44 next week and you're 54?

Stacie: [00:44:45] 54.

Christina: [00:44:46] And I mean, I'll ask you this because I do I feel physically and mentally stronger than I've ever felt in my entire life. And I mean. Yeah. Is that is that ring true with you?

Stacie: [00:44:59] I absolutely absolutely. Yeah. I feel better than and every year I have felt better and better that I, I feel like I'm I know myself more and I'm more at ease, more confident. Life. Education is very, very valuable.

Christina: [00:45:18] Yeah. Would you want to be 20 again?

Stacie: [00:45:24] I'd like to be 20 if I could know what I know now, because that would be kind of cool and just. If I could go Bback to be 20 with now. Yeah.

Christina: [00:45:35] When did you meet Pablo?

Stacie: [00:45:37] I met Pablo when I was. I guess I was 22 when I met Pablo. Yeah, 22.

Christina: [00:45:46] He seems really nice.

Stacie: [00:45:49] He's super, super sweet. He is really, really sweet. Yeah. He's. He's the full. The full catch. He's great cook and he's darling, and he's a great dad, and he's very supportive. And he never gets excited or flustered. He's always, always calm.

Christina: [00:46:11] And he sounds like someone I know.

Stacie: [00:46:13] He's lovely. Yeah.

Christina: [00:46:14] I mean, Pablo.

Stacie: [00:46:16] Maybe Dale's a bit like that, too.

Christina: [00:46:18] Yeah, he definitely is. And Pablo is good at growing tomatoes, I hear.

Stacie: [00:46:23] Yeah, he's very good just tomatoes. He loves, because he loves to cook so much. So he loves to cook. And so that's what motivates him to grow his own tomatoes and herbs because he really takes a lot of pride in the cooking that he does.

Christina: [00:46:37] Oh, yeah, I love it. Yeah. Well, it's, you know, when you go through something like a mental health crisis, the people around you, you know, it makes a big difference when when they can we talk about support and sticking around and listening and that, you know, all those like that kind of person is really important.

Stacie: [00:47:02] So for him, you know, he was single handedly raising the children for a couple of years. We had small children and and also trying to help me as well and also had a job. So he had a very full plate back there. And for sure. For sure.

Christina: [00:47:21] Good job, Pablo.

Stacie: [00:47:22] Good job, Pablo. Well done. You.

Christina: [00:47:24] Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Stacie: [00:47:25] Yeah, it is.

Christina: [00:47:26] So, um, what is your. Do you have, like, a a vision? Dreams for Pilates for Power. I mean, to me, just did something really cool. You. You got these new reformer machines that I've just. I'm in love with in your studio here at Heather Beach in Nova Scotia. That's a North Shore, Nova Scotia, for listeners who are over in Europe or over in Asia or wherever. You're listening from South America. Um, so it's pretty cool. This is a big jump this year. This is like a big investment. Is there, is there more? Are we going to get, um, like a facility?

Stacie: [00:48:13] Well, that is of course my hope. So last year, it's a very rural area. Here it is, as you know. Yeah. And before I started offering Pilates here, people are like, Are you kidding me? People in that area, they don't know what Pilates is. They're maybe yoga, but they don't know what Pilates is. Nobody's going to come to your Pilates classes and then I.

Christina: [00:48:36] Huh. Interesting.

Stacie: [00:48:38] opened up a home studio and I started offering mat Pilates last year. And then what do you know? People came. Yeah, and I got them hooked. And they actually stayed on line with me and took Pilates over Zoom when I went back to Toronto for the winter time. And then when I came back, I came back and I brought bought five like beautiful professional reformers with cardio tramps so that we can have cardio classes. And that was a big deal because it was a huge investment. And there were a lot of naysayers that said like, that's really a big investment for such a very small people or very small place. Like how are you going to, you know, get your money back out of that? And so my attitude is always like, field of dreams, build it and they will come. So I started offering classes. Nobody had ever touched a reformer before they came in. I didn't I didn't get any clients at all that had been ever on a reformer in April.

Christina: [00:49:45] It was a dream of mine to be on a reformer.

Stacie: [00:49:48] Never. And then I since I have had maybe 1 or 2, but it hasn't been the mainstay. So they have learned, everybody's learned reformer exercises from scratch. And my husband even said, tastes like these people have never done reformer. How are they going to know what to do? And I said, don't worry. They didn't know mat Pilates before they met me. They're going to figure out reformer. We're going to get there. And now I look throughout the room and I watch people doing everything they're supposed to be, and my heart just leaps because I'm like, They can go to any reformer studio now and they can just fit right into a class. They got this.

Christina: [00:50:25] Yeah. It's not scary anymore.

Stacie: [00:50:27] Yeah, it's not scary. So that's really, really exciting in terms of what I want to do next. I do want to have I would like to have a stand alone studio because right now these five reformers are on the lower floor of our house and I would like to have, be more accessible. So move into, let's say, Pugwash, a community of what is it, 756 people from Heather Beach. That is what maybe, I don't know. A hundred people, 50, 150 people.

Christina: [00:50:55] During peak summer season.

Stacie: [00:50:58] Yeah. Yeah. So I would like to move out into a standalone area. What I think what my big goal is though is that I want to do a class called Transformation. So I want to offer a class that incorporates all the things that helped me get better out of depression. And I want to have people who are challenged by depression and feel just generally stuck and unable to make headway. I want those people and how I want to base this is I don't know if you've read atomic habits. .

Christina: [00:51:32] Yes

Stacie: [00:51:32] Oh, my gosh, what a great book, right? Yeah, what a great book. So concept is, you know, in atomic habits is that if you make a bunch of tiny little changes, you get a cumulative large impact. So by making a bunch of tiny little changes, tiny changes in how you eat, how you breathe, you know, fitness, obviously this is Pilates. Yeah. How you sleep. Sleep is a very big part of it. Yeah. And also how you talk to yourself. So if we put those five pieces together, package it up, I think, well, I feel quite confident that I can turn this into something that can help other people follow that same kind of pattern. Because I know that when you're challenged by depression, at least for me, I was trying everything, just reaching out. Is there aromatherapy? Is there a new diet? Like we went to a market yesterday and somebody was selling drinks. It was called, you know, the mental health drink that that was going to help you with your depression and anxiety. And I thought if only, if only if it were just that simple to make a drink. Yeah. Take a drink. That would be great.

Christina: [00:52:52] Was it alcoholic?

Stacie: [00:52:53] It was not alcoholic.

Christina: [00:52:55] Because I was like, that's if it was alcoholic, I'd be like, Oh, someone needs to maybe get them to rebrand this.

Stacie: [00:53:03] No, no. It was some sort of I don't know what was in it. I didn't actually stop to look. There was a video playing about how it was going to change your, get you out of depression. And that's wonderful. Like, and maybe what people need is they need a little bit of hope and they have to think that there is going to be some cure. My challenge was, is I used to think this is going to help me. This is going to help me another let's do Wellbutrin now. Wellbutrin is going to help me. How about Paxil? One of these things are going to help me. And then every time that they didn't, I felt deeply disappointed and it actually made me feel worse. Yeah. So I, I believe that, you know, if you create better health in your body, that that transcends to better health in your mind. Yeah. And our breath is so incredibly important. Our sleep is so very, very important because when you're exhausted, your mind just can't function well and you need to be well rested.

Christina: [00:54:05] Totally.

Stacie: [00:54:06] Yeah. So I've learned a lot about those things. So I want to share those things. So my big goal is to do transformation both online and in person. I fell into doing fitness. Fitness just it was never my goal to end up teaching fitness. It's just something that happened because, well, that's what you do in Pilates. But my ultimate goal is always just to focus on transformation and work with people who are looking for a pathway out of wherever they feel that they're stuck.

Christina: [00:54:42] Oh, a lot of people are. This is very exciting to me, and I'm happy that you're on this path with heart.

Stacie: [00:54:47] Yay!

Christina: [00:54:48] And where do you want people to find you online because of your zoom lessons, if they aren't in the immediate area and can't access the in-person classes, they can find you online and how.

Stacie: [00:55:02] This is it, so I have a booking app where people book, which is PilatesforPower.janeOh. Oh gosh.

Christina: [00:55:14] You know what, I'm going to make, I'm, don't worry everybody. I'm going to post a link in the description of the podcast, but I know actually.

Stacie: [00:55:22] That would be great.

Christina: [00:55:23] I wasn't sure. I was found the website earlier and I was like, Oh, there's a lot of like letters in this. So listen, little Herbie listeners, if you're looking to get in touch with Stacie to talk to her about anything you can and you can't find her, just write to me and I will direct you. I'll point you in the right direction. Awesome. How about that? We'll work together. 

Stacie: [00:55:42] Love it. Love it.

Christina: [00:55:43] Because I think your story is a I didn't say this to you earlier, but I did in the card. But these stories have healing power, and that's why it's important to share. And a lot of people question that. You know, should I share my story? Well, you don't have to, But if you're in a position and you feel comfortable doing it, know that, you know, someone might listen to that story, your story, and it might inspire them or give them the hope that they need to then find the tools to change their own life 100%. I mean, I like not neither of us would be in the position we are today without having read a book or heard someone else's stories or somebody offered us, you know, gave us an offering, an opportunity to change our lives. Like so we do the work. We have to do the work ourselves, but we can't. We also rely on other people, you know? Um, yeah, it takes a village.

Stacie: [00:56:38] I'm so very, very thankful to my friend Deneen. Who,

Christina: [00:56:42] Hey, Deneen.

Stacie: [00:56:42] Hey, Deneen, who she's now teaching in Nassau. She's. Yeah, she's still teaching Pilates, and she's a transformation unto her own because she had severe arthritis and she rehabilitated to being this very strong, powerful woman.

Christina: [00:56:58] That's a big one arthritis, amazing.

Stacie: [00:56:59] She's incredible. Well, she'll have arthritis forever, but if you looked at her, you would never know because she is so powerfully strong. And she did that because a physio recommended that she do Pilates. So it's I'm forever thankful to her. There's been a lot of people in my life who have, you know, picked me up, dusted me off, held my hand and helped me along my way. And I think that that's an honor for me now to help other people along their way. And because I know what kind of a challenging place that can feel like. But there is a pathway forward. If you're challenged by depression, you don't need to be stuck there. There really is a pathway for it and you can find it.

Christina: [00:57:45] It's going to sound so cheesy, but the gift must continue to be given and that's what you're doing. Thank you so much for sharing and caring and being a kick ass Pilates instructor and all around human being. You've been very supportive to what I do and I love you for it. I think you're amazing. I'm glad we met.

Stacie: [00:58:06] I'm so glad we met. And I love you back. I think you're so amazing. You are. You're you are so incredibly talented.

Christina: [00:58:15] And here's where we play the music. And then drifts off. And then. 

Song 'I Don't Want to Say Goodbye to You': [00:58:28] I don't want to say goodbye to you. I don't want to say goodbye to you.

Heartbeat Hotline: [00:58:43] Welcome to the Heartbeat Hotline. 1-902-669-4769. I'm the host of A Chat With Heart Podcast, Christina Martin, and I'm so excited you called. Leave me your question, suggestion for the podcast or a comment about this episode. Please be aware your message may be used on the podcast and social media. Tell me your name, where you're calling from, and it's also fine if you want to remain anonymous. Thanks for listening. Have a great fucking day.

Christina: [00:59:16] Thanks for listening to A Chat with Heart Podcast produced and written by me, Christina Martin and co-produced and engineered by Dale Murray. Check out Dale's website DaleMurray.ca. The podcast theme song ' Talk About It' and 'I Don't Want to Say Goodbye to You' were written by me and recorded by Dale Murray. You can find my music on Bandcamp and all the places you stream music. Visit my Patreon page to become a monthly or yearly supporter of this podcast and my music endeavors. If you're new to Patreon, it's a membership platform that helps creators get paid. Sign up at patreon.com/ChristinaMartin. I would love it if you had time to share, rate, leave a review and subscribe to A Chat with Heart on all the places you listen to podcasts. Wishing you, my little heartbeats, a great day.