My name is Barbara Tobisch, and I am from Austria.

I come from a martial arts background (Taekwondo). Core strength, as well as stretching and mobility training, are major parts of my regular training routine. Starting with Taekwondo in 1995, I was always searching for an additional training program that could help me to improve my shape to be able to perform better in my national and international championships.

After I took some Pilates classes, I decided in 2010 to participate in a Pilates mat teacher education at a local fitness trainer institution. After three weekends of education, I felt that this wouldn’t be enough for my desire to dive deeper into this method. I started to teach Pilates and was always searching for an internationally accredited Pilates teacher program. I found BASI Pilates and decided to participate in the CTTC to learn more about the studio concept and the whole range of exercises to expand my knowledge. So mat and studio teacher training was the perfect fit.

In 2014, I started my BASI education (CTTC) in Salzburg, Austria, under the direction of Natascha Eyber with the assistance of Sara Canini. It was the perfect decision to take part in this course. In addition to my Taekwondo trainer education, the BASI course helped me in a further way to dive deeper into movement, anatomy and it also helped me to think outside the box. Natascha showed us perfectly how to do the exercises and always had ideas to find modifications to make the exercises suitable for our future clients, or even if we needed some modifications for ourselves. It was an absolute blessing to learn from her.

That’s what I absolutely love about the BASI concept that there is an open mind to include new insights of body mechanics, sports, and movement science.

For my thesis, I decided to write about the benefits of Pilates for a Taekwondo athlete who competes in national and international championships. The work with my Taekwondo student showed that she could improve her Taekwondo techniques because of the bespoke Pilates exercises I practiced with her.

I got in contact with some other pilates teachers from around the world through the IG account I started and had the chance to be featured in short articles in Pilates Style Magazine twice.

With the combination of Taekwondo and BASI Pilates, I started this year budopilates (and am still working on it) that combines Pilates mat exercises with special martial arts exercises for strength, stretching, and mobility.

I hope I was able to convey a small impression of how BASI Pilates has changed my life.

Stay safe and healthy! Kind regards,

Barbara Tobisch, Bakk.phil. MA