We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heather Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heather below.

Heather, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I have been an independent contractor or business owner almost my whole life! I have so many ideas that it is really fun for me to be in a place to implement them. Yes, I absolutely have days that I wish I wanted and had a ‘regular’ job so I did not have the concerns of retirement, sick leave, and a steady paycheck. However, I have been doing this so long that I might feel like part of my being was cut off! There are definitely challenges as a small business owner, but part of the beauty is pivoting and creating a new and more amazing business. So, yes. I am happy. Small business is a place you can create and apply what you learn. The success of the business does not always look like what society deems as successful and you do get the opportunity to dig deep within yourself and really find what you want and what you stand for. It can humble you, empower you, knock you to the ground, and test every ounce of faith in yourself. In that, we as small business owners have the great opportunity to grow, to change, to love ourselves, to believe in ourselves, and to trust that no matter what we will be ok. In this, my faith has absolutely become stronger.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi! I’m Heather. I have been teaching Pilates for over 24 years. I began in college and my mentor, Adylia Roman, was my Kinesiology professor! Many of her students looked up to her as a role model and wonderful professor. Half her class ended up getting certified in Pilates. I loved her dearly and kept in touch with her for years after I moved from California. I was in musical theatre performance for over 10 years and decided that while I pursued this passion, I would teach Pilates. Little did I know then how much I would fall in love helping people feel better about themselves., Not only did I get to perform and help people smile and enjoy life, I got to help people alleviate their pain and move more freely!

I taught with Adylia for the first part of my teaching career and she was amazing to learn under. I was able to help people recovering from a stroke, MS (one particular client I still love and keep in touch with 24 years later), major accidents, and fibromyalgia. It was a training skill set I could have never learned from continuing education alone. Adylia was patient, kind, and an extremely great mentor. She sent me to obtain my certification through Romana Krysanowska, one of the Pilates elders, whom took with Joseph Pilates and taught along side he and his wife, She was a passionate teacher and provided a solid base of education on the foundations, progressions, and history of Pilates. Since then, I have learned from so many practitioners on both the classical and contemporary sides of Pilates and have appreciated all the perspectives this has brought to me. I also have certifications in Crossfit, AIS stretch therapy, and Rossiter coaching. I am currently exploring Mobility training and can’t wait to dive into this more.

Throughout my career, my clients have nicknamed me sunshine or sunflower anywhere I have taught. I always thought this was a fun nickname and the I realized that clients came to me not only because I could help their pain subside, but help them find their own light. It was a fun discovery and I hope that I an continue to provide this to my clients and teachers.

I am currently working on a mat certification program and hoping that this can help future teachers not only teach them the skill set they need to teach the method to each individual body, but also help them find their voice and passion in teaching. When you have your own business or teach Pilates, we can all get drawn into the idea that we ‘have’ to teach a certain way or be a certain way to become successful at what we do. There are many people in the world that need the gift of movement and we are not in competition with each other. We need to foster our own value system and teach what is in our own hearts. Then we attract the clients that serve us as much as we serve them.

I have another business that is near and dear to my heart called Mama Care Complete. This started brewing after I had my first kiddo in 2013. My boys are now 9 and 11 and I just love them. After I had my first, the training I had through Pilates helped me repair my core and pelvic floor for my second pregnancy. After my second pregnancy, I was 40 and also doing CrossFit and learned quickly that I needed a lot more education in loading properly after a pregnancy for my core and PF health. So I grabbed some CrossFit mamas and created a system that helped both them and myself get a stronger core, better resting muscle tone, and heal our Diastasis Recti. Since then, I have studied and completed Sarah Duval’s Pregnancy and Postpartum Exercise Specialist Certification and am working on Alison Marsh’ Pregnancy Pilates Impact Certification.

I met my business parter Clare at my studio a few years back when she called and said ummmmmmm…..My baby is 5…. Am I still Postpartum? Yes!!!!!!! You are a mom!!!! You did not repair your core and your back is hurting! Let’s do this. So, we began our work together.

Before Clare and I started working together, Clare had a compromised back and she was in hospital bed rest for several weeks. We were able to strengthen her core and back so she could have a successful third pregnancy while playing tennis right up to delivery!

Clare is a functional nutritionist and was also getting into helping women in the prenatal and postnatal capacity and we decided to join forces to create Mama Care Complete! This platform helps moms before, during, and after pregnancy stay healthy and strong. We include nutritious recipes for the whole family, quick core and pelvic floor workouts that can fit into a busy moms day, as well as mindful tips to stay present in your day to enjoy the beautiful, although sometimes challenging, small beings we have created. We are both busy moms trying to make life happy and absolutely are also creating this to organize our own crazy lives. We all need help remembering that in our imperfect selves, we are wonderful and perfect. Is this easy???? Nope…Nada.. NOT AT ALL!!! This is why we have this. We want a positive community of women to share our experiences and we can help each other. become our best selves. We also have a speaker series where we get to interview industry experts in everything mom! From When to see a pelvic floor PT to how to keep your marriage strong, we will have it! We also add content all the time and can’;t wait to share it!

Movement has been a part of my life from the beginning. What I teach and how I teach will always change according to the season of life I am in and my current clientele.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I love the people I work with with. Before I had an online scheduling system, I would contact all my reservations the day before. I really loved this because it gave me an extra way to connect with my clients. I will call new clients the day after their sessions to see how they felt and also make notes if they have injuries, are coming back from surgery, or anything else that may help me make a better connection with them. One of the reasons I love teaching so much is the community and connections we can foster with each other. We can all help each other to grow.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am in a current pivot! I decided to expand my business from a small single owner business to engaging with a business partner and creating a bigger version of what I do in order to help more people and give them more variety. It has presented challenges that quite honestly have challenged my core values. This challenge opened up an amazing array of insecurities, anger, frustration, and well you name it, I probably felt it!, But this challenge helped me see what I truly want out of my business, life, community, and relationships. It has helped me be a better communicator (project still underway,,,), and has helped me see what I truly value for myself and my family. For me, I felt I helped more people when I was smaller so my challenge is to find ways to continue connecting to my clients while I am in a bigger space. We create wellness weeks, workshops, and provide other educational resources so the clients that would like to dig deeper have that opportunity. So, I am in constant pivot finding ways to stay true to myself (sometimes figuring out what that is again) and providing a solid space for people to move.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coremobilityfitness.com; www.mamacarecomplete.com
• Instagram: @coremobilityfitness. @mamacarecomplete
• Facebook: @coremobilityfitness. @mamacarecomplete
• Youtube: @coremobilityfitness @mamacarecomplete

Image Credits

Headshot: Local Source Magazine

Other photos taken at the studio.