Conni Ponturo Of Absolutely Grounded On How Pilates Can Improve Your Health and Wellbeing
An Interview With Maria Angelova
You feel good after your workout, and you have more energy: Between the focus on your breath and the release of feel-good hormones you feel a boost after your classes in a low impact way.
Pilates was invented around 100 years ago, and it is becoming an increasingly popular form of exercise. What exactly is Pilates? How is it different from other modalities like Yoga or Tai Chi? What are the benefits of Pilates? Who can most benefit from it? In this interview series, we are talking to Pilates professionals & practitioners who can talk about how Pilates can improve your health and wellbeing. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Conni Ponturo.
Owner of the highly regarded, Absolute Pilates Upstairs based in Woodland Hills, California, Conni serves as an innovative transformational movement and lifestyle coach and her membership site Absolutely Grounded is where people from all over the world can connect to her virtual classes. With over 200 videos online you can choose from Pilates mat, foam roller, weights, myofascial release techniques, Pilates ball and yoga nidra sleep based meditation.
Her latest book “Listen watch what you say, your body is listening” is a bestseller on Amazon, she travels the country teaching and speaking about easy to do techniques that allow you to connect with your body in a deep and lasting way.
Her expertise in rehabilitative training makes her highly sought after by the medical community for her ability to create a safe environment for recovery from hip replacements, spinal fusions, knee replacements, and other serious injuries. Conni holds multiple certifications including those from Pilates Method Alliance, Balanced Body, Physical Mind Institute. She is a certified Breast Cancer Exercise Specialist with The Pink Ribbon Program.
Conni Ponturo knows that the answer to pain-free living is within us.
Pilates was invented around 100 years ago, and it is becoming an increasingly popular form of exercise. What exactly is Pilates? How is it different from other modalities like Yoga or Tai Chi? What are the benefits of Pilates? Who can most benefit from it? In this interview series, we are talking to Pilates professionals & practitioners who can talk about how Pilates can improve your health and wellbeing. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Conni Ponturo
Her expertise in rehabilitative training makes her highly sought after by the medical community for her ability to create a safe environment for recovery from hip replacements, spinal fusions, knee replacements. Conni Ponturo is a leading authority in the field of pain-free living, which includes the power of creating a harmonious connection of mindset, emotions, and body.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
I started my career as a dancer and was derailed by osteoarthritis. I was lost after my dance career ended early but the good news is it sent me on an investigation of the power of mindset, movement, and mindfulness over pain and I found Pilates.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
I started my Pilates career when I was 43 and because of that I had a good sense of who I was and what I wanted. I worked with the clients that were the most difficult and had pain. That is how I honed my skills for rehab and dealing with chronic pain. Showing these clients how even through pain you can gain wisdom and turn that into moving your body in an appropriate way and feel better in your body.
You are a successful leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Number 1. Empathy: You need to understand your clients pain points and be able to understand their discomfort or inability to move forward and finally hold space for them. I have lived through the pain of osteoarthritis and the feeling of being stuck in that story, and finally moving to an even better and stronger place in my life.
Number 2: Consistency: On a personal level you must make movement part of your life so when you share with your clients it’s coming from an authentic place. I know my clients appreciate when I say I was working on this new combination earlier today and that they understand I am also evolving and doing the work too.
Number 3: Passion: You must love what you are doing and as teachers that really applies. People must feel the passion you have because it is contagious. I get so excited about how my clients are growing and changing and when I point it out how they are growing and changing, they get to feel that passion for themselves.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Last year I released my best-selling book Listen: Watch what you say, your body is listening, and I turned it into a masterclass Listen: Watch what you say, your body is listening. The class is a 10-week course with journaling, movement, and mindfulness. You can choose to take the course and do it on your own or do it with coaching on zoom in a group setting. I also have an app coming out as well, and that will have free content as well as my membership site and my masterclass. So, you can access everything through your phone, tablet, or computer.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview about Pilates. To begin, can you tell our readers a bit about why you are an authority on the topic of Pilates?
I’ve been in the Pilates world for over 22 Years, I started out as a dancer and with Pilates I found a holistic mix of mind body movement. My expertise and authority come from my time working with different bodies and issues over all these years, and to be able to facilitate pain-free movement in diverse bodies.
Let’s start with a basic definition so that we are all on the same page. What exactly is Pilates?
Pilates is a series of exercises developed by Joseph Pilates and it was originally called Contrology.
Joseph Pilates felt that this series of mat exercises were appropriate for men, women, and children. The exercises have a specific focus as you are working with them, and that is the principle of concentration, control, centering, flow, precision, and breath. Pilates aligns the overall body, and it allows you to focus on the deeper stabilizers of the body the muscles we might not be targeting as well as the larger muscles, so you obtain an overall workout.
How is Pilates different from other movement modalities that you have practiced?
I love the pace and focus that Pilates gives me. I love all movement but when I discovered Pilates, I felt like I had come home. Maybe because I had practiced lots of Pilates’s exercises in New York University Tisch School of the Arts and I didn’t even know it. It is thoughtful movement that feels good on my body, allows me to feel strong, flexible, grounded, and energized after I work out. Plus, you don’t need the equipment you can do the mat exercises anywhere.
On a personal level, what are the biggest benefits that you have gained from regular Pilates practice?
The biggest benefit that I have gained is I am 67 years old, and I feel great in my body. I make sure I practice so I can keep moving my body well into my 100’s.
Who do you think can most benefit from Pilates?
I truly feel it is wonderful practice for everyone but especially seniors. My clientele is mostly older and to see how easily they negotiate working on balance, mobility, and strength is beautiful.
Pilates can sometimes be expensive. Can you share with our readers your perspectives on why Pilates is worth its costs?
I feel that most teachers have spent the time on education and experience plus continuing education and that is what you are paying for. Especially with a teacher that has been in the business of teaching for a long time they are worth spending the money on to save you time on your body in the long run. It’s not like they have done a weekend course, rather they have the training from working with many clients over the years.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Ways That Pilates Can Improve Your Health and Wellbeing”?
- It increases body awareness: Pilates is a mind-body practice and with that comes attention to how you are feeling in your body. You notice what is working in your muscles and how you are moving through space, and that helps the body to prevent injury and falls.
- It improves your posture: As we get older through both neglect and gravity our posture gets poor. The focus on body alignment and working the back of the body as well as well as the front develops much more body awareness.
- It decreases back pain: The exercises focus on core strength and that is deep abdominal work with the pelvis floor. These muscles working together and form a brace that helps to stabilize the lower back and ultimately reduces pain in the lower back.
- You feel good after your workout, and you have more energy: Between the focus on your breath and the release of feel-good hormones you feel a boost after your classes in a low impact way.
- It improves your balance: Balance is important for any age but especially as we get older. Most people say, I have terrible balance and that is because they never focus on balance. As we spend time on balance your balance improves.
Based on your experiences and research, what are your thoughts about why precision is important in Pilates?
In my own Pilates practice, I stress the importance of precision in Pilates.
Precision allows you to focus on the present moment. It is so easy in exercise to be everywhere else worrying about your laundry list of to-dos, by keeping it to that simple focus of precision in your body it becomes about the movement and the moment.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
My mission is to inspire over 1 million women to move their bodies more. This is passionate and deep to me and comes out of the inability to help my mother, who became increasingly immobile and developed Alzheimer’s. I am committed to spread the word to the world, so women realize how lifechanging movement and life lengthening movement can be.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
Subscribe to my YouTube station Absolutely grounded, absolutelygrounded.com, on Instagram Conni Ponturo,, Facebook Conni Brunner Ponturo
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
Thank you for the amazing opportunity!
About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.
