Unlocking Strength & Confidence Through Movement with Kira Lamb – ANEW Body Insight Podcast Ep 59

In this episode of ANEW Body Insight Podcast, hosts Dr. Supatra Tovar and Chantal Donnelly sit down with Kira Lamb, a certified Pilates instructor, former professional dancer, and former licensed massage therapist with over 20 years in the performing arts and movement therapy industry. Kira shares her inspiring journey, from training in ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance to performing with top artists like Missy Elliott, Puff Daddy, and Gloria Estefan, and ultimately discovering her passion for Pilates, aerial arts, and injury recovery.

Kira takes us behind the scenes of her experiences as a dancer, aerial artist, and movement specialist, detailing how consistent practice and structured progression in Pilates can feel like unlocking superhero abilities. She explains how mastering the basics builds strength for advanced movements, how Pilates supports aging powerfully, and how the mind-body connection influences resilience, confidence, and overall well-being.

Listeners will gain insight into:

• How Pilates helps prevent injuries and enhances performance for dancers and athletes.
• The difference between classical and contemporary Pilates and why it matters.
• The importance of movement in aging powerfully and maintaining independence.
• How self-discipline, mindset, and consistency lead to personal and physical transformation.
• The healing power of movement and how Pilates can be adapted for injury recovery.

Kira’s journey from overcoming injuries to helping others strengthen their bodies and minds offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to enhance their physical health, mobility, and resilience. Whether you’re an athlete, a Pilates enthusiast, or someone seeking a stronger, healthier body, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical tips.

To get to know more about  Kira Lamb here is her social media channels https://kiralamb.com/,  https://www.instagram.com/kiraslamb/,  https://pilatesology.com/instructor/kira-lamb/,  https://www.pilatesanytime.com/instructor-bio/256/Kira-Lamb-Pilates-Teacher 

🎧 Listen now – Link in bio!

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Thank you for joining us on this journey to wellness. Remember, the insights and advice shared on the ANEW Body Insight Podcast are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine. To learn more about the podcast and stay updated on new episodes, visit ANEW Body Insight Podcast at anew-insight.com. To watch this episode on YouTube, visit @my.anew.insight. Follow us on social media at @my.anew.insight on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads for more updates and insights. Thank you for tuning in! Stay connected with us for more empowering stories and expert guidance. Until next time, stay well and keep evolving with ANEW Body Insight!

Transcript

0:01

She believes that how we move our bodies reflects how we move through life. And she tailors her Pilates and massage programs while former massage programs to empower clients to live with confidence and vitality at every stage of life. Kira, thank you so much for joining us. I mean, I think I really am interested in, you know, you've done a lot of different movement. You were a professional dancer, you are a Pilates instructor, uh, you were doing, um, some aerial type, um, entertainment.

Kira Lamb: 0:03

Um, well, when I was a kid, my parents put me in everything. I did everything from gymnastics to ice skating, piano, violin, and ballet. And, um, ballet is what stuck with me the most. Um. I stuck with it because for some reason as a kid, I liked the discipline of it. Uh, I love the structure. I studied, um, through the Royal Academy of Dancing, RAD training, so it was leveled system and we would get, we'd have adjudicators come from England every single year to kind of assess our progress and grade us. So I just love that because I feel like discipline. Taught me, taught that I was capable of doing some really cool stuff if I put my mind to it. I think that's what it was. It was very satisfying and confidence building. And then there was the artistic element for me too that was really appealing because it was an opportunity to express myself in a unique way. So it was the combination of both that structure, the discipline, and also the creative self-expression. And when I first went to New York City when I was 13 years old, I trained at Dance Theater of Harlem. And when I was there I was like, I wanna move to New York City when I grew up and be a professional dancer. um, my parents were not supportive of it. Um, but I did it anyway. But I waited until I was 23. I kind of just like escaped my hometown and I moved to new York City because I went to an audition one summer just on the fly and ended up booking the job, and so I was like, okay, so maybe there is something to it. And then I just stayed in New York ever since.

Dr. Supatra Tovar: 0:04

Wow, that is. You know, I think a lot of little kids' dreams that don't necessarily always come to fruition, and you had to go against the wishes of your parents and move out there. That must have been really hard. And so it was like that one random summer where I was like, I just wanna see what an audition would be like. I just wanted to test I had no idea I would book the job. And that was like my window of opportunity because it paid my bills basically. So it allowed me to leave my hometown and, um, start my life in New York City. I had no plans after that gig ended. I didn't know what was gonna happen after that, but I just went for it because inside that's what I knew I had to do.

Kira Lamb: 0:06

I, I will age myself a bit. So I started my professional dance career in 93. That first gig that I booked was a tour with, um, Freedom Williams of CNC Music Factory. So if you remember that, everybody dance now. um. So I went on, I went on that tour with him. Yeah, that's the song. then, um, after that I came back and I started dancing for the New York Knicks. I went on tour with Marky Mark, remember him and Lizette Melendez. And then later on I started dancing with, um, bigger artists. Um, well now I don't even wanna say his name, but like Puffy. I was on, I was on his tour. I toured with, uh, Missy Elliot. Um, Gloria Stefan. I did a lot of music videos in the nineties. yeah, it was fun. And then I got into theater, so I got into, um, off-Broadway theater and that's when I was introduced to Aerial Arts In 1998, I broke, I booked, um, de La Guarda Visha Visha, which was um, like an immersive show in a black box theater in Union Square. And that's when I started Aerial Harness and that was just my favorite job in my whole life. It was awesome The crazy thing is I was actually introduced to Pilates when I was 13 years old at Dance Theater of Harlem. I had never heard of it before, but when I studied there before my ballet class with Carl Shook, we would have to take Pilates mat. Never seen it before. I was such a bun head. I wasn't getting the overuse injuries, I should say. I still got injured, but I wasn't getting overuse injuries. Every time I would stop my practice, that's when I would start getting injured again. I was like, there is something to this. And that's when I knew that one day I wanted to get, um, become certified. And so I did all the prerequisites to go through the teacher training program there with Romana. So I had to do like 75 private lessons there. But it was at that point that I ended up booking de la Guarda I was like, okay, that can wait. And I started my show and then when I was in the show is when I started my massage school. And then I knew I was gonna get certified in Pilates afterwards or that was the goal. And then after that, that's when I went and I started working with you all. So I was, so I trained with Maria and then I started working at Tracey's Studio I started working at other boutique studios in the Valley. And the more I was working, I. I like what I'm doing, but this is not what I did in New York. Like it feels different and I don't know why. And so I started investigating and that's when I found out that what I had studied in New York was something different called classical Pilates. And so then I started looking for classical Pilates in LA and that's when I got certified through Power Pilates next. And so then I studied with, um, Bob Leeken, Susan Moran. Um. Sherry Berkowitz and Carrie Macy, who's now Carrie Macy Samper. And so then I worked for, um, power Pilates and Equinox for the whole time I was in LA. Um, basically that was my, and then I got certified later on. I ended up getting certified through the New York Pilates studio where I was originally gonna get certified way back in 1998. I did that training when I returned from Turks and Caicos, so that was my, the last certification I did, I've been all over the place. So that's when, that's when Pilates started to proliferate a little bit more, even though it already existed. There was people who were trained by other, like disciples of Joseph Pilates and, and, they were teaching it around, um, around the country. It was because Pilates was associated with Joe's business the trademark was with Joe's business. That's what, what happened. Yeah, or just understanding the why, like why are people making this choice? Like, I know what the foundation is, I know what the root is, so why are you going in this direction? Like, oh, okay, that makes sense. I get it. It helps someone understand that exercise better, They're going, um, they're going out late night for like, you know, events. Like, they're just always active. And the reason why they're drawn to Pilates is because it helps them stay mobile and it helps them stay independent and they can keep up with the grandkids. Um, and so to me, I prefer the idea of aging powerfully like they are versus aging gracefully or just kind of letting age take over. It's like you don't have to stop moving. You don't necessarily have to slow down if you just keep moving your body and keep training it to work as efficiently as you possibly can. So I feel like that was inspired by my own students. First of all, it makes you intrinsically strong. So it's like you're training your body from the inside out. You are learning how to move always from a strong and stable center. So for say older people, it helps you stand taller instead of surrendering to the weight of gravity. It helps you balance better. It helps you to be able to like go up your stairs still and not have to like hold onto the railing. up with your upper body strength. Still You still power in your center and in your legs. The other thing that I think is just as valuable as the physical strength and the flexibility and like the mobility is seeing what your body is capable of. If you are always training with focused and intention and consistency and time. So the more you keep showing up for yourself and the more me, like as a teacher continues challenging your body based on having a strong foundation and then progressing you throughout the method, those people become empowered. Not just physically, but also mentally. You realize you can do anything that you put your mind to if you are consistent with it and if you're dedicated to it. So I think it's, it's, it's a physical thing. It's a mental thing, it's an emotional thing because it's also confidence building. And so it just makes you resilient in life. And so I feel like life can beat you down. But when you understand, when you start to build up your own self-efficacy, it just makes you stronger in every single area of your life. So everyone who starts, whether they are an Olympic athlete or my 80-year-old student, they come in and they learn the most foundational exercises because it's like learning a new language. It's like learning ballet. You wanna learn your ABCs or you wanna learn how to do your plies, your tondus. And once you have that foundation, then I can challenge your body with more complex movement patterns across all the different apparatus in different relationships to gravity and different levels of spring resistance. And that's how your body becomes strong and resilient to do anything in your everyday life. It feels so good. I'll never stop doing Pilates. I will never, ever stop. It's like, it's like the baseline for everything. So like I love Pilates and I will do Pilates forever because I love it, but I also do Pilates because. It enables me to continue doing aerial arts. You know, I'm like the O, like the oldest person in my class, but I'm strong enough I have controlled strength because of Pilates and I can do all like the crazy stuff because of Pilates. I know that Joe didn't just do Pilates either, you know, he did his system of exercise. We was also a boxer. He also did martial arts, you know, he, he did strength training. So I do Pilates and or I do Pilates, so I can do this. I can explain it from my perspective. I feel like there's a clear definition of what classical Pilates is because classical Pilates comes from Romana's lineage, but I think contemporary Pilates encompasses so many different um, styles. So I can't really say, but I will say from my experience, um, when I came outta my teacher training program, I felt like I had but I didn't really know how to develop a program to teach each individual student. So every single night I would be at home, like making up a whole workout program for each client. So I would be teaching, say, six to eight hours a day. And I'd go home trying to figure out, okay, like how do I start? How do I, well, like what's the middle part of the workout? What's the end part? Whereas in classical Pilates, we have a beginner, intermediate, and advanced system. When you come in for your beginner, for a first time, I'm gonna teach you the beginner system On the reformer, I'm gonna teach you beginner mat. I'm gonna teach you two exercises on the Cadillac. I'm gonna teach you two exercises on the high chair, and I'm gonna teach you some exercises against the wall. That is my opportunity to assess your postural habits, your movement ha habits, and then from there, as I continue to progress you, I'll be like, this person could really benefit from, if we go over to the Wunda chair and try this. That'll help them find better spine articulation, or if they need more stability in their shoulder girdle, let's try doing arm springs on the Cadillac. So it's like I have a template that I can work from, and then I can build upon that template and be creative within the system and tailor the workout to every single individual that I work with. But I have a template to work with instead of kind of just like walking in blindly like doing like feet and straps, 10 exercises, you know what I mean? I can explain it from my perspective. I feel like there's a clear definition of what classical Pilates is because classical Pilates comes from Romana's lineage, but I think contemporary Pilates encompasses so many different um, styles. So I can't really say, but I will say from my experience, um, when I came outta my teacher training program, I felt like I had but I didn't really know how to develop a program to teach each individual student. So every single night I would be at home, like making up a whole workout program for each client. So I would be teaching, say, six to eight hours a day. And I'd go home trying to figure out, okay, like how do I start? How do I, well, like what's the middle part of the workout? What's the end part? Whereas in classical Pilates, we have a beginner, intermediate, and advanced system. When you come in for your beginner, for a first time, I'm gonna teach you the beginner system On the reformer, I'm gonna teach you beginner mat. I'm gonna teach you two exercises on the Cadillac. I'm gonna teach you two exercises on the high chair, and I'm gonna teach you some exercises against the wall. That is my opportunity to assess your postural habits, your movement ha habits, and then from there, as I continue to progress you, I'll be like, this person could really benefit from, if we go over to the Wunda chair and try this. That'll help them find better spine articulation, or if they need more stability in their shoulder girdle, let's try doing arm springs on the Cadillac. So it's like I have a template that I can work from, and then I can build upon that template and be creative within the system and tailor the workout to every single individual that I work with. But I have a template to work with instead of kind of just like walking in blindly like doing like feet and straps, 10 exercises, you know what I mean? You do a lot of, um, help with clients who have injury, and I know that you recently had your own injury that I, I'm sure you are working through. Um, you, you are really in interested in the body's capacity to heal. So how do these experiences helping your clients through injury or helping yourself through injury, influence how you guide people through their physical challenges? I know like the protocols or whatever, but I know what injury feels like almost in every single joint, and I know that what the process of recovery feels. So I feel confident in that. And also my background as a massage therapist gives me even more confidence, um, because through my schooling we were taught how to assess muscular, I'm sorry assess postural and movement imbalances and how to treat them. So like I can take those assessment skills and bring them into the Pilates and because I've been injured so much, I also understand not how to treat the injury. 'cause that's not what we do in Pilates, I know how to work around the injuries in order to support the joint I have, this is me, I have my air boot. Yes.

Chantal Donnelly: 0:23

You, you do to me. It's not something that I could do. So I'm impressed every time I see you do it.

Kira Lamb: 0:24

Um, I think of it a lot about how we approach skill building. what is your approach when you learn something new? How do you treat yourself? Like if you're not doing it perfectly, the first time you learn something, are you beating yourself down or does it make you more curious? Does it make you investigate and wanna play around and try different? Play around with different cues or different ideas so that maybe you can do it. And then when you do figure out how to do that, are you willing to celebrate yourself or is that still not good enough? So I think that the act of skill building in Pilates or dance or whatever also affects how you approach life, like when you are approached with the challenge. Do you suddenly feel defeated or can you stand up to the challenge and say, oh, if I, I approach it with focus intention, I have a specific goal in mind. I also like to use visualization. If I can visualize myself doing it, and I give myself the grace to suck at it at first and give myself the grace to keep practicing and fumbling and just like play around and explore, eventually I'm gonna get it. if I don't get it perfectly, I'm definitely going to improve., I and when I improve, that feels so gratifying. It's so satisfying. So I apply that to even like building my business. Building my business is not easy. It's super hard. Um, there's challenges all the time, but it's like I just take one step at a time and know that if I have my goal, if I focus on the goal and keep chipping away at it, I'm gonna get there. You know, even if I'm failing some of the times, I'm gonna learn from those failures and I can improve from there. So I think that's how I look at it in terms of how do you approach, um, Pilates how you approach life, and also how do I approach Pilates or how do I approach life? You know, it's a very different mindset and also a physical shift too. Um, I think of it a lot about how we approach skill building. what is your approach when you learn something new? How do you treat yourself? Like if you're not doing it perfectly, the first time you learn something, are you beating yourself down or does it make you more curious? Does it make you investigate and wanna play around and try different? Play around with different cues or different ideas so that maybe you can do it. And then when you do figure out how to do that, are you willing to celebrate yourself or is that still not good enough? So I think that the act of skill building in Pilates or dance or whatever also affects how you approach life, like when you are approached with the challenge. Do you suddenly feel defeated or can you stand up to the challenge and say, oh, if I, I approach it with focus intention, I have a specific goal in mind. I also like to use visualization. If I can visualize myself doing it, and I give myself the grace to suck at it at first and give myself the grace to keep practicing and fumbling and just like play around and explore, eventually I'm gonna get it. if I don't get it perfectly, I'm definitely going to improve., I and when I improve, that feels so gratifying. It's so satisfying. So I apply that to even like building my business. Building my business is not easy. It's super hard. Um, there's challenges all the time, but it's like I just take one step at a time and know that if I have my goal, if I focus on the goal and keep chipping away at it, I'm gonna get there. You know, even if I'm failing some of the times, I'm gonna learn from those failures and I can improve from there. So I think that's how I look at it in terms of how do you approach, um, Pilates how you approach life, and also how do I approach Pilates or how do I approach life? You know, it's a very different mindset and also a physical shift too. They would give us like structure, so there's no like storyline, but they would give us structure to the acts that we were doing. They weren't like nitpicking along the way, telling us exactly what emotion they wanted to see or how they wanted us to be able to like express ourselves and move authentically. And they gave us the space to play around with that and find ourselves in the movement. And to me that was invaluable at that time in my life. I think that's what helps me also to be patient with a teacher too, is like give people the time and space to figure it out. And is everyone gonna look the same, doing a freaking teaser?

Chantal Donnelly: 0:27

Stay tuned for the second half of this wonderful interview with certified Pilates instructor and former professional dancer Kira Lamb