Teaching Matwork Well: An intensive for taking your Mat class teaching to the next level!

Learn techniques for teaching group mat classes beyond simply demonstrating exercises in front of the room. Use a greater range of verbal cues to facilitate a richer movement experience for the group, and free yourself up to "work the room," giving support to individual students.

• Create balanced class formatting to strengthen all parts of the body in an integrated fashion.
• Integrate cueing for the "inner unit" into your teaching.
• Incorporate different approaches to breath into every class.
• Teach a range of levels of intensity for each exercise to accommodate all levels of students.
• Create graceful transitions between exercises, including additional movements to stretch and release muscles so they keep functioning well throughout the entire class.
• Maintain the class pace

Ashley educates Pilates teachers for the ITT Pilates teacher training program. She has been teaching Pilates Mat work to groups and individuals for over 10 years. In addition to having a private practice as a Pilates teacher and movement consultant, she is the coordinator of the Pilates program at the University of California San Francisco’s Millberry Fitness Center where she has taught group mat and reformer classes for the last 7 years.

Ashley has extensive knowledge of anatomy of movement, neuromuscular training, ideokinetic facilitation, and movement problem solving. In addition to her study of Pilates, primarily with Madeline Black, she has studied neuromuscular training extensively with Irene Dowd and Jean-Claude West. Her work is informed by a variety of dance techniques, and modalities such as the Alexander Technique, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Breathing Coordination, yoga, and Feldenkrais. She is also a certified massage technician.