We chat with Pilates instructor from BodyMindLife Yoga and Pilates studio in Sydney, Chelsey Cameron, on why she decided to become a Pilates instructor.
There are many reasons why someone would want to change their career from a fast-paced, stressed, high end lifestyle, to one more humble. And the one key factor which influences most people to make that change, is happiness. That was the influence behind Chelsey Cameron’s decision to become a Pilates instructor.
For the last five years, I have spent some considerable amount of time interviewing a variety of different personalities who made the switch from being a famous DJ, a music producer, television personalities, and now a television producer.
All of whom have ditched their high end, glitzy and what seemed like fabulous lifestyles, for one more unpresuming, like a wellness coach, lifestyle coach, yoga teacher, a nutritionist, a dietician, and a Pilates instructor.
Thirty eight year old Chelsey Cameron, who was born in Melbourne, and has called Sydney her home for six years, has been teaching pilates for ten years, after leaving her life as a well known television producer.
She was a corporate, in the PR and entertainment industry. Working for channel 9 in Melbourne as a tv producer and publicist, Chelsey moved onto greater things in London, where she was working for Warner Bros. Entertainment and managed the international marketing department in movie promotions and distributions. She was even involved in many red carpet openings, including the final two premiers of Harry Potter.
However, moving back to Australia, after continuing her career in movies, Chelsey felt unfulfilled. She had been practicing Pilates for several years and found that when she was practicing, she was in her happy place. Every time she attended a Pilates class, she admired and envied the instructors, and how happy they seemed. This was when Chelsey realised she needed to make a change. She wanted to become a Pilates instructor.
“I was in a place where emotionally, I wanted to help people. To brighten at least one person’s day, every day. I was attending a studio in Melbourne and told them I wanted a job and they told me to get qualified.
After becoming qualified I basically demanded to be hired by them. I’m guessing the tenacity helped as I’ve been working full time in the industry for almost ten years now.
Teaching Pilates is what I would consider my calling and even after this long in the industry, I still love it. More recently, I have also become involved in teacher training. I am a teacher’s teacher I guess. This is what fills my cup.
I started teacher training with another company where I re-wrote their manual – this is where I got the taste for it.
Once moving to BodyMindLife the owner gave me full autonomy to create my own reformer Pilates Teacher Training. That was three years ago and now we are a fully accredited industry leader in Pilates teacher training. So many students have come through our doors (and hearts) already and we have an exceptionally high success rate of students becoming teachers in the industry.”
BodyMindLife was established in 2004, co-founded by yoga teacher and entrepreneur, Phil Goodwin. Today Phil and his wife Ferique run BodyMindLife from their Byron Hinterland home. Almost two decades later, Phil and Ferique have cultivated a community which supports students’ connection to their physical and emotional wellbeing through movement and education.
The ethos of BodyMindLife is simple. As teachers and a community, they want to empower each person who walks through the doors, to become completely integrated human beings.
And how rewarding is that? To help someone gain the ultimate happiness in body and health and wellness, everyday.
“Pilates is a unique synergy of connecting the body and the mind. It encourages joyful movement which is grounded in science with an evidence based approach to the body. Physically speaking, it has the ability to simultaneously lengthen and lean muscles while creating strength and balance. Pilates on the reformer works against springs tension, which adds an additional complexity to every exercise, working not just with gravity and body weight. I might be biased, but I genuinely believe Pilates should be practiced by every ‘body’ no matter what your goals or gender is.
Pilates at BodyMindLife is going to continue growing in 2021, with an additional three teacher training offerings. Before the end of the year we will be rolling out a Mat Pilates course, Pre Natal Pilates teacher training as well as advanced reformer pilates course. Big things happening at BodyMindLife, so make sure you watch this space.
Click here to book a class now.
