Licensed Acupuncturist & Classical Pilates Teacher Trainer
Brooke Bergdahl
I believe Pilates is a way of moving through the world.
I started practicing and studying Pilates just after college, where I played all four years of collegiate basketball and thought I knew all about strength and athleticism….
When I discovered the intensity and subtlety of Pilates, I was intrigued by the challenge. Pilates is not about muscling through, powering through, or pushing to the point of fatigue and breakdown. Pilates calls on small muscles, deep strength, balance, and coordination. Pilates calls on us to develop ease in every moment.
Pilates calls on freedom instead of force.
Pilates is core work, and work that involves the whole body. Pilates invites the practitioner to do deep work, to listen, to practice often, and to adapt and adjust. It also invites us to integrate the work into our daily movement patterns.
And I loved this! It made sense, and it felt good. Here was exercise designed to build whole body strength, nourish my sense of self within the movement, and that also helped me find a truer athleticism, one that improved my performance in all of my other favorite sports and hobbies (like biking, running, and skiing.) The thought and intention that Joseph Pilates put into his exercises is deep and far-reaching, and I was hooked.
Pilates is simultaneously structured and orderly AND creative, artistic, and liberating. This duality can apply to life as a whole, because there is an element of "being" Pilates, not just "doing" Pilates…
In 2003, I completed my classical training in an intimate mentorship program with Dorothee VandeWalle, who studied in the direct lineage of Joseph Pilates and Romana Kryzanowska.
Two years later, I began my studies in a four-year master's-level program to become a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. Just like Pilates, Chinese Medicine is a cornerstone of my life.When seasons change, so do our bodies - what they're expressing, what needs to rest, what needs to move.
Bodies are intelligent, and if we bring our own mindfulness to how we're exercising, we can enhance the power of our workouts on the mat, and how that translates into life off the mat. One of my favorite parts about teaching is helping you figure out how to listen to your body’s language; through mindful movement, you can decipher what your body is telling you.
Bodies come in different shapes and sizes, with differing skills and challenges, but all bodies share this: all bodies are beautiful and remarkable. All bodies are capable of growth, comfort, healing and transformation. We celebrate it all at CoreSelf.
To me, exercise isn't about forcing change onto our bodies; it's about allowing our bodies' strength to unfold. Pilates is exercise - sweaty, fun, dynamic, safe, challenging, transformative exercise. Ultimately, CoreSelf is about how you feel in your body. How you connect – first to yourself through your workout, and then to the world through your movement in it.
After my years of practicing and teaching, I can promise you this: you are stronger than you ever imagined, and with this work, you can astonish yourself.