| Rael and BASI, Australian pioneers

Rael and BASI, Australian pioneers

By Sally Anderson

A slice of history laid out in The Pilates Journal issue 21. I am delighted to read this history described from the man himself.

I started Pilates with Rael, as outlined in this article. Having sustained an ankle injury in the final days of Melbourne season of ‘Lend Me A Tenor’ Australian tour, and upon relocating to Sydney I headed straight to rehab by going to my first Pilates session at McDonald College with Rael. One deep, life-changing, incredible session done … I was hooked.

I love that in this article Rael gives a brief insight into those early days of Australian Pilates, the profound impact of Rael in this country, and the development of BASI Pilates International; all from our Aussie shores.

Looking at the photos in Rael’s article you can see so many inspired, keen, passionate Pilates instructors who still teach today. Legends all. It’s been a long road in Pilates industry development and they have been there the whole way. Shauna Hall, Karen Beattie, Kerrie Murphy, Renae Blackmore, Paul Cini, Stacey Hanson, Nicole Svencis, Catherine Magill .. and missing from the photo are some Pilates icons who must have been on the mat when this was taken 😉 like Lanette Helene for instance. And of course, my dear friend and colleague, and Aussie tv star Megan Williams, who in herself was a key pioneer of Pilates in Australia and, as Rael writes, one of his first trainees and BASI grads. We lost Megan to breast cancer at the age of 46 and she is forever missed. I promise I will get to publishing her story one day for everyone to understand her great influence.

BASI formed a brilliant foundation for Aussie career professionals as well as a very high standard of practice in this country.

Not to mention that we had an incredible opportunity to undertake Teacher Training in these very early years, thanks to Shauna Hall and her beautiful studio Pilates Plus at Runaway Bay. From there we were able to work through all curriculum in her dedicated comprehensively outfitted studio on the marina, and travel back in the evenings to Couran Cove eco island where we all stayed and hung out together for weeks at a time. There really has been nothing else like it since!

Have a read of Rael’s article and enjoy the extra images I’ve posted for you here, recognising this key pioneer and time in Australian Pilates history. I, like many others, are forever grateful for having started my career with Rael and to have been able to help him develop BASI in the early years.

Congratulations on all you have achieved since Rael and thank you for the article Rael and TPJ.