What fun it has been to spend that last week or two writing about what is so special about the teachers at The Pilates Studio. It has given me the time to reflect on why I love to come to work, and the fabulous people that I am fortunate enough to see everyday. I’ve been able to remember the stories that I get to hear and everything else that is wonderful about the people that work at The Pilates Studio. Writing about Jenni Sussman has been no different!
I have known Jenni for just under a year and a half…and I have become amazed by her gentle nature, with an underlying killer sense of humor. Jenni understands every joke and can see the humor in any situation. Jenni is an Artist and as an artist she is an observer of the world. She sees funny and she sees sad with an eye that is different than the rest of us. This makes Jenni an amazing Pilates Instructor because she also sees the body with a different eye. She can take any Pilates concept (no matter how dry) and create a visual image that communicates the idea to the client.
I remember during one course that I was teaching. Jenni described the hamstring in a way that left us all speechless. She was able to capture the strength and beauty of the muscle without including all of the negative feelings that people can have about their hamstrings. I can’t remember her words, and I don’t know if she will either. It was a magical moment in which everyone in the class just paused and said, “Ya…that’s it”
These magical moments are interspersed with Jenni’s gentle and subtly hilarious sense of humor. I can’t tell you how many times I have been sitting at the desk listening to Jenni’s classes and had to leave the room to keep from laughing out loud. She is funny and lighthearted and this nature makes people feel comfortable in her class.
Jenni’s commitment to growth as an instructor makes her students lucky to learn from her. Jenni takes every Mat class that she can. She is always asking for suggestions on class plans, and she attends every Mat Chat ready to learn something outside of Pilates. Jenni understands the way that growth happens and because of that over the last year and a half I have seen Jenni Grow exponentially as a Pilates Instructor. Jenni is currently learning all that she can about scoliosis so that she can design a specialized class for participants that might have some curvature in the spine. Stay tuned, it promises to be fabulous!
I admire Jenni’s artistry, and am happy to have her paintings on the wall of the studio. I want to leave you all with some links to her blogs that showcase even more of her art, and I want to also quote her artist statement here…Because it says a lot about Jenni and her ability to explore the abstract in ways that make the world a better place.
“My work focuses on the physical self as an integral part of the entire self, displayed through drawings and paintings of invented body systems. The ability to believe in the functioning and processing of the body’s systems, without actually understanding or witnessing the systems, is a uniquely human ability. This invented biological imagery is an expression of the blind trust and inherent skepticism that forms the disconnect between the self and the physical self.
If I could lift back the skin on the top of my hand and see my heart beat and my tongue move then I wouldn’t have to wonder. I wouldn’t have to constantly imagine what is going on in there. I would be a witness to my own systems. There would be physical evidence of the stories we hear. A way to connect identity with physicality, but that is not an option so I am forced to invent body systems. To create for myself the forms and spaces and processes that keep us alive.” – Jennifer Sussman
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