A Conversation with Regina Santos

“My strengths as an instructor are my intuition and my capabilities in meeting students where they are, encouraging them to explore their individual strengths and capabilities” 

- Regina Santos

What do you love most about Pilates? What frustrates you most?

That's a hard question to narrow down, but I love how Pilates reorganizes my body so that I feel free and strong at the same time! I love that Pilates goes deep because I love going deep! Sometimes I can expect a lot of myself so when I am not connecting the way I wish, it can be a little frustrating - but that helps me with empathizing with my clients, so ultimately the frustration is helpful to grow!

What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses as a Pilates student? How about as a Pilates instructor?

My strengths as a student are that I love being upside down and taking on challenges. Jay says that I need to do those crazy things to grow, and he is right. Sometimes I get lazy to focus and I muscle through instead of allowing my breath to flow through my body. My strengths as an instructor are my intuition and my capabilities in meeting students where they are, encouraging them to explore their individual strengths and capabilities. My weakness could be that I am always cutting deals and being lax with my cancellation policies!

Looking back on your Pilates career, what are you most proud of? What would you say is the best thing about being a Pilates instructor?

I'm proud of my dedication and commitment to my practice. My relationship with Pilates is the longest relationship I've ever been in! The best thing about being a Pilates instructor is that we get to live out our purpose, embody the work and share our joy!

How did Pilates change your life?

It connected me to my body. It connected me to my Center's strength. Pilates helped me build resilience to manage stress and anxiety. It allows me to love my body, to harness my wild ways and to create even more energy and vibrance in my life.

What other jobs and/or hobbies do you have? Has Pilates affected your performance in these areas?

I teach meditation as a Chopra Certified meditation teacher. I also have been doing more commercial modeling work and am creating a space for myself as an age and body positive model so Pilates is very much part of my identity for castings! I also love practicing Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). Of course Pilates has affected my performance with my FMA as I get to move with my whole body. I have always said that Pilates is a movement practice that takes us to inner calm and steadiness and meditation is a practice in stillness that connects us inner calm and steadiness - both connect us to the Center, the deepest part of us that is confident, calm and courageous.

What’s your favorite and least favorite Pilates exercise?

My least favorite is breaststroke on the reformer, I can really feel the tightness and imbalance in my shoulders. I always say it's so humbling (or dare I say humiliating? haha). So many favorite exercises, so I guess I'll go with the double leg stretch because I can do it anywhere anytime and we get a lot of bang for our buck with it - the two way stretch, the strength, the length, the connection...

What do you like the most about Westwood Pilates?

I love the structure and warmth of the Westwood Pilates community - I feel like I belong with others who love to be strong, joyful and who have committed to a very deep level of practice and studies. I love that you have every single piece of classical equipment that we can imagine and a great bonus is that everyone loves dogs!!