Highgate Pilates in Quarantine
As for everyone this has been an extraordinary time for us. I remember a colleague talking about Zoom a couple of weeks before lockdown and thinking that there was no way on earth I’d be doing that. And yet here we are over 2 months in and I’m running 21 classes on Zoom!
I am a complete technophobe and managed somehow to bluff myself through 5 years of being a Director of Studies in a Comprehensive school without so much as opening my laptop. And yet thank goodness for Zoom.
It’s not the real thing of course. I miss my clients coming in, the banter, the atmosphere and the contact. It’s very weird as a teacher to be faced with a screen of clients and not get the feedback you are used to. But Zoom means we can be transported into your living room, garden, bedroom (or bathroom – Karen!). It means you get to see your classmates and have your teacher who you know and trust. As however hard it was to close the doors to my studio in March, I am grateful that I can continue running my business and we can transport ourselves through cyberspace and ensure you keep your practice up and the hard work you have put in previously doesn’t go to waste.
I am especially grateful to my hard working Instructors who ran into my studio as lock down loomed and shot a video for our clients in case Zoom didn’t happen and who adapted so easily and well to teaching online (I’m hoping to still offer a video library on my website to showcase these). But I am grateful also to my wonderful clients. I have been quite overwhelmed by how caring you all are and I have so appreciated all the positive feedback to our change to remote teaching and how important our classes are to you, maybe even more so right now!
For some of you, the convenience of being able to stay at home, but still get expert tuition, has been a positive one. Also lovely for all of us teachers is that old clients who have moved away have been able to rejoin in this period and even my darling student Isabel is transported virtually to my studio each Thursday from Sweden. And maybe there will be an opportunity to continue with some online classes for those who actually quite like doing it at home and in their jimjams 😉
As for me, I still hate technology and my classes haven’t always worked so well, but it’s proved that I can adapt my business and I’m more comfortable in front of a camera. I even did a Live Pilates class on Instagram for an Indian swimwear and gymwear company. Who’d have thought! It’s also been a period of having to slow down a bit for all of us and to really consider what is important, so who knows how that will change us all and what Highgate Pilates may offer in the future.
Thank you for your loyalty and sticking with us when there is a wealth of online classes on offer right now. I don’t know when we can go back to how we were, but I’m certainly looking forward to the day I get to see my students properly and I can give you a hug.
But for now, I’m sending you a virtual hug and look forward seeing you on the screen until then.
With love Naomi x