Women In Wellness: Lia Bartha of B The Method on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
I would say the biggest mistake I made and continue to make is the inability to delegate responsibility. As my business grows, it’s difficult to separate myself from B The Method and ask for help. Since the actual method is an evolution from my over 10 years of training and teaching plus so much of the growth of my business has come from my Instagram page, sometimes it’s tough to let go of control. Thankfully I have a partner who pushes me to think outside of myself.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lia Bartha, B The Method.
Lia is a beloved fitness personality who created B The Method, which is a mix of highly unique pilates-based, low-impact movements, with inspiration from dance and swimming, to strengthen, restore and protect the body.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I was born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii where I spent most of my childhood either at the beach or in a dance studio. My dreams of becoming a professional dancer were made even more difficult as my scoliosis and injuries worsened. So I took the natural next step and moved to California to study mathematical economics at Scripps college. After college, I got an office job at Lionsgate and then HBO where I was making solid money but just wasn’t happy. Also, the office chair, cubicle life was making my scoliosis unbearable. A friend recommended Pilates and my life was changed forever. I started taking extra long lunch breaks to get my Pilates certification and eventually quit my cushy office gig to teach full time. After meeting my husband and having my first child, we moved to New York City and I stopped working to be with my daughter. The problem is, if I’m not exercising, I’m not feeling great. With no room for a Pilates reformer in our East Village apartment, I grabbed my favorite prop: a small, partially deflated ball. And that’s when B The Method was truly born. Three years and thousands of hours later, I developed my method of specialized curated cues creating a flowing exercise connecting the entire body, while inducing a meditative state for the mind. My private clients loved it and encouraged me to create a class version, which I did, and the rest is B The History.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I would say the most interesting story has to be launching B The Method online during covid. My husband and I had been developing the app months before the pandemic hit. In the early days of 2020, I was still teaching my group class in the city and at some point Justin turned to me and said, “It’s too dangerous to go to work. Time to stop.” I was resistant at first. This was in March, before the actual lockdown, and I had hundreds of clients who counted on me. So when the lockdown happened and that dark cloud rolled over the country, I knew I couldn’t just sit around in that darkness. We live in an area of Brooklyn which, at this point, had the highest death rate in the entire country. It was flat out terrifying. My clients would reach out and tell me how badly they needed to turn off the news, get moving again and how much they missed the community of the B The Method classes. So I went on Instagram and announced that I would go live and teach…every single day. What started as a way to connect with my clients and maintain some shred of sanity grew into a community of people connecting through my method of meditative movement. So, I would say the main lesson I learned was to really listen to what my community needs and trust that they will take care of you when the time is right. I taught for free almost every day for five months and on the day we finally launched the B The Method app, my community couldn’t wait to support me.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I would say the biggest mistake I made and continue to make is the inability to delegate responsibility. As my business grows, it’s difficult to separate myself from B The Method and ask for help. Since the actual method is an evolution from my over 10 years of training and teaching plus so much of the growth of my business has come from my Instagram page, sometimes it’s tough to let go of control. Thankfully I have a partner who pushes me to think outside of myself.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Well, “a big impact on the world” is a big claim but I will say that so much of the philosophy of the method comes out of what I see as negative trends within the health and wellness industry. After years of trying out the latest fads and machines and seeing those fads fade and those machines create more injuries, I created B The Method to protect and to last. When we look to distract ourselves while we exercise, we’re missing an opportunity to be aware of our own bodies. Now, I’m not saying I don’t love to listen to a great playlist or play a fun game while working out now and then, but the older I get, the less time I have to shut off the noise and screens and take stock with how I really feel, body and mind. Also, the number one complaint I hear from B The Method community members who have switched from other types of exercise is INJURIES. I truly believe that with exercise if you distract, you destruct. These injuries not only cause physical harm but also take a mental toll. That mental toll spreads to our families, our work and our communities. Make an impact on your own community, make an impact on the world.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Piggybacking on my last answer, I think being honest about what you’re willing to actually do for your own wellbeing is the first step. An example of this for me has to do with meditation. Years ago, I tried to incorporate mindful meditation into my daily wellness routine but at a certain point I had to be honest with myself that I just wasn’t going to sit down twice a day for 20 minutes. This honesty not only freed my mind of some bullshit idealized version of myself that wasn’t real but also inspired me to fold in the meditative aspect while developing B The Method. Now I feel the flow-state effects of meditation while doing something that I love. By accepting that a specific version of transcendental meditation wasn’t for me, I improved my life by pushing myself to find out what exactly was for me.
I would say one more example would be to not be too hard on yourself. There seems to be an orthodox trend in wellness where people are so strict on what they can and can’t eat. I would say, unless you have an actual medical allergy to a certain type of food, allow yourself to enjoy what you love. For example, I love dessert. I could eat dessert instead of an actual meal. Do I know that refined sugar is awful for me? Of course I do. Did I make a delicious batch of brownies this weekend with my kids and eat half the pan with my family as we played Jenga after dinner? Of course I did.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
It would be B The Method and that’s what I’m trying’ to do! Thankful that you are helping me spread the word. But, more specifically, I talk a lot about the pelvic floor and how it’s the secret to a more fulfilling sex life. I do a monthly newsletter and that was the focus recently and I can’t tell you how much positive feedback I’ve gotten from my community. So many fitness professionals talk about healthy food but so few talk about healthy sex. So much of my method is focused on strengthening the pelvic floor and I can tell you from experience, your orgasms will never be better.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
1. Believe in your vision. (If you have a vision, you are already ahead of the pack) 2. Take it slow (It takes time to build)
3. Don’t follow trends (Follow what’s missing. There’s always something missing.) 4. Get on Instagram (I’ve only been active for 2 years and it’s a great tool) 5. Be yourself, save yourself (Create boundaries within public spaces like IG)
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
By far, mental health. I’m not saying that the others aren’t important, especially the environment, but B The Method was created as a way to connect your body and mind through movement. Exercise and community are the only scientifically proven ways to improve one’s mental health and we have thousands of people showing up for each other week after week to move together. The feedback I get from every single one of our community members, including me, is consistent: I’ve never felt healthier…inside and out.
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Lia Bartha of B The Method on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.