A Conversation with Lolita San Miguel

Join Michael and Lolita as they talk about her life long journey teaching Pilates and discuss the experience of working with Joseph Pilates in the original studio. We have heard so many stories about him and the development of his method, much of which is from people who never met him and certainly never officially were certified by him. So come and listen to the stories from one of the very few who can share how it really was.

Lolita is a Pilates Elder and the only person still living certified by Joseph Pilates. She received her first certification from Carola Trier, and became Joseph Pilates’s first disciple to have opened her first studio. She then trained and apprenticed with Joseph & Clara Pilates, and is one of the only two known Practitioners to have been officially certified by them and awarded degrees by the State University of New York to teach the Pilates Method. Lolita has become one of only the four “Distinguished Elders” of the Pilates Method Alliance, she has also been Certified by Polestar Pilates Education and was awarded a PMA Gold Certificate.

After a distinguished career in Dance with several companies, Lolita became a soloist with the Metropolitan Ballet for over ten years, and ballet mistress for Ballet Hispanico for three years. Lolita moved with her husband to Puerto Rico in 1977, where she founded Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, now Puerto Rico’s finest ballet company – and was its Artistic and Executive Director for 28 years. Ms San Miguel also founded Pilates y Mas, Inc. in Puerto Rico in 2000 to teach, train, and certify teachers in association with Polestar Pilates Education. She retired from Ballet Concierto in 2005 to dedicate more time to teach, train, and give conferences and seminars on the Pilates Method.

Lolita created a Pilates Master Mentor Program, a 500 hour comprehensive Pilates Program designed and written by her. She also began a Teacher Educator Program called Lolita's Legacy. In great demand throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, Lolita created DVDs, amongst them, a brisk seller called Lolita Shares Her Pilates, Mat I. She has since added seven additional DVD's to the series: Reformer I, Reformer II, Lolita’s Pilates Body Walk, Pilates Mat Repertoire Workout, Cadillac, The Pilates Chair and most recently, The Pilates Arc and Barrels.