Women In Wellness: Sarah Brooks Of Brooks Pilates On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
The best feedback I have received from multiple clients is how I’ve been able to change their perception of fitness. So many workout methods actually increase inflammation and stress on the body, whereas my method of Pilates promotes pain reduction and mobility so you can do it even when you are 8 months pregnant or suffering from chronic pain. Instead of feeling so sore you can’t move a muscle, you feel elongated and strong, so you can work out daily.
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Brooks.
Sarah Brooks is the founder, owner, and operator of Brooks Pilates. Brooks developed a style of Pilates that incorporates modern cardio while lengthening and sculpting to deliver optimal results.
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 in the Bronx, NY and was raised between Queens and Westchester. I started practicing Pilates when I was 16 years old with a trainer at Gold’s Gym. We had been lifting weights for about a year before she introduced me to Pilates. After that I never looked back because I just loved how it made my body feel!
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 started Pilates in high school and knew when I graduated I wanted to move to Miami to become a Pilates instructor. I spent the summer after high school getting my certification, and when I was 19, I moved to Florida all on my own. I decided not to go to college and self-studied anatomy, kinesiology, as well as Pilates. After over 800 hours of practice teaching, I got a job at Equinox and then began my career as an instructor. I think that was a pretty bold move being I was so young and was the only person in my high school to not go to college. My takeaway is that college is not for everyone and I found something I am passionate about and made a career out of it!
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?
I have worked for corporate gyms and many different studios, but I always wanted to open up my own boutique studio so that I could fill in all of the gaps I saw missing from the method — one being building a community. I am very grateful I have been able to do this with Brooks Pilates. Having opened during a pandemic I have had to pivot many times to make things work, and it’s taken some time to gradually build.
The best feedback I have received from multiple clients is how I’ve been able to change their perception of fitness. So many workout methods actually increase inflammation and stress on the body, whereas my method of Pilates promotes pain reduction and mobility so you can do it even when you are 8 months pregnant or suffering from chronic pain. Instead of feeling so sore you can’t move a muscle, you feel elongated and strong, so you can work out daily.
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.
- Celebrating your successes daily.
- Feeling and expressing gratitude.
- Be kind.
- Get enough quality sleep.
- Focus on your breath for 5 minutes each day.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
As a pilates instructor, several clients have escaped wellness and simply accept feeling slow or blow it off to aging. That’s why I envision a movement where people feel good, live their best life and receive incentives to meet goals. Proper food and nutrition, along with other lifestyle behaviors, can help make this change. Because when individuals have the tools and incentives to get back on the path of wellness they would never want to go back.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- I knew entrepreneurship was all about taking responsibility for your own results; I just did not know that involved many individual decisions. They can really wear you out at the start. So, I wish someone would have told me to learn how to make my best decisions quickly and then get the confidence to stick with them.
- Also, I wish someone would have told me before that I am now the person to give myself the permission to do things and waiting on someone else to tell me what to do is not going to work from now on.
- Everyone will always “know it better” but you are the one doing it. Don’t take criticism from anyone you would not even be willing to take advice from.
- Really start valuing self-care, a schedule, offline times for family and friends as well as going outside is a major point in keeping you with enough energy to keep going.
- You don’t have to figure out everything by yourself. Crowd source and hire others to help you.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health hands down. Joseph Pilates said “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness” and I couldn’t agree more. I feel as though your physical health directly impacts your mental health. All I want is for my clients to be happy, healthy, and pain free!
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
You can find me on instagram @sarahbrookspilates where I share my love of pilates!
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Women In Wellness: Sarah Brooks Of Brooks Pilates On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.