Sara Ortlip—How Pilates Builds Strength For Real Life.

Most people think they’re doing Pilates. They’re not.

Sara Ortlip built one of the most respected Pilates studios in Columbus by doing it differently and actually doing it right.

We get into what Pilates really is vs. what’s being sold, why “the burn” is misleading, and how breath work changes everything, from performance to trauma response.

She also opens up about building her business through divorce, loss, and starting over without a safety net.

It’s not about trends. It’s about doing the work the right way.

Watch the full episode and see what you’ve been missing.

Recorded in Columbus, Ohio with one of the city’s most sought-after movement coaches.

Transcript

Sponsor Messages And Local Partners

SPEAKER_02 0:00

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SPEAKER_00 1:35

I'm trying. Yeah, doing my best. You know we're all trying, aren't we? We're all trying.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

You know, but you seem to be a crusher of life, especially on your Instagram. You've always inspired me on the gram. You're like the pinnacle Pilates, where I'm like, oh hell, athletic, muscular, like real. But like you got some shit going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah. Yeah, that is for sure. You definitely do. Pilates has helped me regulate my central nervous system. So all that life throws at me, I just really use it as a metaphor. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

So let's go way back to when we first met. So when the universe connected the dots for us was back at SOS.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Who actually told you to come try out? How did that happen? You're gonna try out to be a trainer.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, you guys reached out to me and you were like, I like what you're posting on Instagram. And it wasn't even necessarily, you know, it was probably at that time like a mixture of Pilates, Ido Portal, like some kind of like Israeli Brazilian kind of like mixed martial arts movement mixed with yoga and handstands. And anyway, you guys were like, hey, I love your style. I want you to come and audition for us. I want you to work for us. And I was like, ah, all right. Um, but I was kind of like in the process of starting my own studio at the time. I wasn't really sure what that was gonna look like. But I went in and talked to you guys and you liked us, but I think we were more of a, we we weren't pure enough.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Like it was gonna be, you were gonna be, you know, I mean, let's be honest. Like, you're like, okay, this isn't real Pilates. This is kind of their own foster clock of what Pilates is.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Well, it's funny because like at the time, you know, I um, you know, Pilates is a discipline. It's very strict. And, you know, I was working in group fitness as well as small, more boutique-style Pilates studios. And I was really starting to have a problem with group fitness because it's really hard to wrangle a crowd into moving with control and like the essence of Pilates and the principles of Pilates. So I was starting to like kind of step out of that world anyway. But I was really starting to merge like more strict classic Pilates with more of a contemporary, and contemporary, I don't mean biomechanically contemporary, which is what that means, but um more of like a modern spin on Pilates. So infusing more um like ballroom dance and stuff I was doing at the time, more yoga, more gymnastics, more flair, I think, and and not just a way to like perform on the equipment, but really a way to showcase how the practice has developed the strength and precision that allows me to do those other things. So it's not necessarily that yoga has made me a better yoga student or participant, but rather Pilates is the foundation for the strength that I've built. Pilates is the foundation for the tensioning I've gained to be able to lift heavy weight, et cetera. Yeah.

Snowboarding Speed And Hard Lessons

SPEAKER_02 4:43

But you've always been an athlete.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Go back, go back when you were little.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

You've done a lot of like athletic shit. Yeah. So I was not much of an organized sports kind of kid. So I'll just put that out there right now. I was always very, very active. Um, my dad just always kind of inspired me to push the limits. And my dad was the one who was like throwing me up in the air and flipping me backwards in the pool, or I dare you to do this, or taking me to a BMX track and like letting me rip up and down these ramps and helping me build ramps and all that kind of stuff as a kid. So I was always into things that like pushed the boundaries. So I grew up on a lake primarily from like third grade to eighth grade, and we lived at the end of a cul-de-sac, we had woods around us, we had canoes, we had friends, we were just all these feral children. We're still pretty much all friends today, which is really cool. We would just be out until dark and pushing the limits, like whether it was swimming and diving, um swinging from rope swings, like climbing trees, building forts, like we were just active, like always pushing the boundaries. So I started playing tennis when I was in middle school, and that was just kind of like, eh, whatever. And then played soccer, made the travel team right away, like after playing for just like a summer. We moved. Um, was in high school. I had really had a strong foundation of diving. Like I just loved that feeling of flying. So whether it was like jumping bikes, skateboards, whether if it was diving or whatever, like I just loved that feel of flying. You're a snowboarder too, right? And I'm a snowboarder, yeah. So I started snowboarding like eighth grade, ninth grade. And I loved it so much and really didn't have many people who would go with me. So I really started going by myself a lot. Um, and it was just something I could do on my own. And um, it was just a really great way for me to just like connect. And I just love the way it felt. I love that lactic acid burn in my legs. I love pushing the boundaries. I loved getting to that point where, you know, I could hit a half pipe, hit a jump, fly through the air. Like it was just exhilarating. And so a lot of my college, um, especially like first three to four years of college, I would spend a lot of time either traveling with friends, um, mostly East Coast or up in Michigan or even by myself and going and sometimes driving home, I'm sure, solo with a concussion. Um. So had a lot of injuries from snowboarding, just from pushing the limits.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Um were you like a were you were you somebody who would like go in the air and like do wild shit? Yeah. Like snowboarding?

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah. Like on the diving and gymnastics background too. It's just like, yeah, I I set a school record in diving. Um and yeah, I just loved to kind of push those limits. And you're petite.

unknown 7:50

I'm fine.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

So you're you're a little package. So you can probably like, I mean, you could, I could imagine you on the slopes, just like were you doing like triple blacks, like just oh yeah, wild animal?

SPEAKER_01 8:00

And that's the other thing. Like with snowboarding, like one, if you could find a mountain or a hill that was a a black diamond or a double black diamond or a triple, whatever, like you usually weren't allowed on those. And like snowboarding really wasn't it wasn't really like moguls weren't like really like a thing for snowboarding. It was like, oh, you accidentally got off the path at that point, and then you were navigating around the moguls, and you just had to learn. So, and then we started, you know, like parks started sh popping up and like half pipes and spines and ramps and all this fun stuff, and you know, you could kind of you were doing all that doing that kind of stuff. So cool. Yeah. But I loved the speed of it too.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

So were you wearing wild racy outfits too?

How Pilates Found Her Early

SPEAKER_01 8:48

No, no, that's the thing. I mean, there was like a little bit kind of like right before my time, because like snowboarding, gosh, like Jake Burton basically created it in like 1977, which was when I was born. So, like there was some history before I even went out. Like, I was like, you know, in my teens when I started snowboarding. Um, so no, all the fun wild colors kind of was like pre my time on the slope. So it was more like subdued nature. Like actually, it's cute. My son still wears one of my snowboard jackets that I kept. That's he loves it. It's a vintage like Burton pullover. Um, but no, they were, they weren't really like all that exciting. I think skiing was still kind of like neon or whatever, but it was kind of like, oh, you're such a knob. Like, what are you doing wearing that? Right. Like, so snowboarding was just kind of this understated, it was still like a mix of like grunge, like you could wear a flannel and car hearts, or you could wear like the tricked out, like, you know, cool tech Burton or whatever, you know, company. Yeah. When did you meet Pilates? So I was about it's right around like 10 to 12 years old. So I was born in New York. Both my parents were born in New York. Um, their parents were immigrants, essentially. And um Joseph Pilates and his wife moved to New York City in the 1920s and opened their first gym. So Pilates was really synonymous, not just with New York City, but also dance just because of the close proximity and the you know work that they did with the New York ballet. So my mom had exposure to that at a younger age, and my mom was very into fitness and working out and health and nutrition and all that kind of stuff. So that's the type of household I grew up in. So she had books, and we moved around a ton growing up, and um, you know, I spent a lot of time, you know, if I wasn't out like pushing hard, I was like studying. Like I was I love to research, I love to read like reference books and stuff. And I fell in love with a book about Pilates and just about the breath work, and that's that was so transformative to me as a kid, and utilizing that breath work. It was like my secret weapon, is what allowed me to like fly and just like defy gravity. And I started applying these principles to my diving and my gymnastics as a young kid, and just like I mean, I guess I was kind of like meditating and breathing at that time too, and just like really harnessing this power. So it's always something I went back to. Um, so even as an adult, like after I had children and was repairing after C-sections and diastasis recti, I was utilizing the breath to gain back my abdominal control and to help repair and restore like what had been damaged. So yeah, Pilates I was exposed to as a kid. It was more matte Pilates and um my gymnastics coaches, diving coaches, like we were doing Pilates as part of our warm-up. Now it wasn't necessarily like classic Pilates, but it was like definitely the original exercise, some of the original exercises. The emphasis on the breath may have differentiated slightly. It wasn't until I was 21 I took my first reformer class and just fell in love with it. And from there on out, like I would just continue to take reformer. I started um taking with other instructors and other studios and other cities, um, utilizing the different apparatuses. And it was just something that was so second nature to me. And it wasn't until my daughter was born I was like, this is gosh, I just have this like desire. I had I had spent years just kind of figuring out like what is it that I really want to do, like with my life, with my career. Like it was just something that was just like eating away at me, you know, and I was just like, God, I'm so lucky to be able to stay at home with my kids. And you know, I've went to school for fine arts. I love that. I love making things, I love creating things. Um, I worked in real estate for a while, marketing. Anyway, I was taking Platties and I was like, you know what? I'm uh helping other instructors like understand some of the foundational breath work or movement patterns or you know, breaking down an exercise, how I'm able to achieve it. And I was like, oh I I really like doing this. So I got my first certification, I started teaching, and I just really started gaining um a level of trust with people because I myself had had a lot of injuries and I was helping people with injuries. And I think you know, when you experience different movement patterns or different sports or activities, you're able to relate right a little easier. So um that's the cool thing about Pilates. It's not just like about dance, it's about horseback riding and swimming and boxing and gymnastics, and then you've got the whole central nervous system component by way of the breath and understanding all those mechanisms.

Megaformer Versus True Pilates

SPEAKER_02 14:16

So that's just it's a great foundation for like it. You can kind of parlay into a lot of other things from Pilates. What do you think about the megaformer though? Well, it's not Pilates, so but but I guess here's my question. Yeah. Because I'm a okay, so I've done plenty, but I but I am by no means a Pilates, you know, uh guru. So isn't the megaformer just like a souped-up version of the reformer?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Yeah, I mean, like, so right around the time, like I would say like 2010, 12, somewhere around there, like I don't actually know when they came out, but a man named Sebastian Legris created them. He was actually a Pilates instructor, but he wanted more time under tension, which time under tension is not Pilates, it's kind of the antithesis. And a lot of people, like modern Pilates, really get that messed up.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

I actually wanted to create a megaformer studio before there were any in Columbus. When I was dreaming up, ooh, I want to have a studio. Like I thought that was the direction I was gonna go in. And I didn't, clearly. I waited a little while after I had my first certification to open a studio. Um, but I remember taking a class and just being like, yeah, I've got foundation for this, but it's it's not whatever. I've taken a lot of classes. I think they're a great class. I think they've come a long way in terms of education. Um, again, it's just not Pilates. Pilates is honoring the spine, honoring posture, not just neutral, but any position where we're looking for length and strength throughout the entire powerhouse. They're focusing a little more on like arms and legs, yes, and some core, but like there's a big difference.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Question then Could you put mega formers in your studio, but then still teach the way you're teaching?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I it would be totally flipped on its head. It's the machine that's different. It's the machine that's different, but keep in mind too, the reformer isn't just Pilates. Pilates is a system. So if you think of like a system of strength, right? Like you got all sorts of facets that complete this one goal, right? Pilates, you have the Cadillac, which is the first inception. Yes, the Cadillac. And it's great for people who are doing more rehabilitative work all the way up to like really strong, like more gymnastics aerial like strength. Um, the chair, which is a great apparatus originally designed for in-home use, and there's so many inceptions of the chair. You have the barrel, the ladder wall, the tower, and the reformer. And then, of course, you have some props and things like that to help to access certain muscle groups or to create, you know, boundaries, or you know, yeah. Anyway, so it's not that the reformer is it's just one part of it. It's just one part of the system. Yeah. Matt is actually the hardest. And what's cool right now, it's March. So every March in the Pilates world, we do something called March Mattness. I've seen this. And I love it, right? So my studio has, I've always participated in it, and I've been posting, you know, like every day, like what exercise we're going over for the day. So mat is really the highest expression of the strength that you gain from the apparatuses. And the funny thing about modern Pilates like Pilates today is it doesn't require a lot of overhead, right? You don't have machines, you just have a mat. You could do it anywhere, you can fill a room, right? And so we're seeing all of these studios opening up with mat Pilates with very little education or certificate, like real credentialed certification, and trying to take people into a form of exercise that most people cannot achieve, and they've not really gained the strength to achieve these exercises. So then they create more of a watered-down approach, more of a time under tension, more of the burn, which again is not Pilates. It's a great workout, it's fun fitness, it's pop fitness. It's not Pilates. Um, that doesn't mean there aren't classic matte studios doing it correctly. But when you're really looking at the original work, yeah, it's freaking hard.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Yeah, no, because I I mean I used to do the actual Pilates, and I would do a private. This is back like Pilates innovations. Yeah. The Cadillac, the chair, the barrel, and it's a very different experience.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Totally. Very different. So the conversation is always with the instructor, right? Like think of Pilates as a conversation. And so if somebody can't achieve the mat work, you take them to an apparatus to build that strength.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah. So it and that's the thing. It's like modern humans, right? Like one of the things that I worked work so much with people on is undoing text neck, like forward head protrusion, rounded shoulders, traps taking over, pecs taking over, right? Like that kind of slouch from being at a computer or on a phone. People need to build in the backbody. So when they're wondering, like, why does my head keep popping up? Why do my shoulders keep popping up when I'm trying to, you know, roll my spine down, you know, they don't have the posterior chain strength, and not just posterior chain as in glutes. I'm talking like back muscles, you know, rhomboids, triceps, um, neck strength. So just pulling them back into alignment is really the goal of Pilates. Well, postural.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Before we wrap up the Pilates conversation, I will say, and I mean this very sincerely, there's not a lot of people in this city specifically who like I look to as like the guru or whatever. But I mean, even back, like, I mean, it's been years since I've been sort of watching your Instagram, and I absolutely love it because it's like your body is very muscular and you are you do come in this like small package, but you pack such a strength. Um, and but what I also love about your your posts is that they just feel very much like filled with joy. Like I feel like a lot of people are contrived. It's like, oh, what should I put? I I feel like every time I watch your video, it's like it's coming from a place of like, ooh, playfulness, like what am I gonna do today? And then also show people like, and it's just very athletic, it's real. Yeah. And so I appreciate having you, you know, in proximity where I can actually go to your studio on fifth and kind of feel that in real life. It's really great. Thank you. Um anything to add to that before we go, we're gonna go a little deeper into Sarah as a person.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

No, just in terms of the videos that I post, you know, like when I started out, like Instagram really kind of gave me this platform. And I didn't start off with Pilates. I started off more just like with day-to-day stuff and then cooking, like wellness is a big part of my background. And when I started posting my Pilates stuff, it just really became a portfolio. Like I went to school for fine arts, so I'm used to having a portfolio, something to showcase my work. So it was really me just cataloging my work. And I've always wanted to show up very authentically in my work and in my practice. And so I don't really plan anything. I do what's inspiring me in the moment because that's my most authentic self. Yeah. So that's just how I've always approached it. And I think people could take a page out of that book.

Food Toxins And Whole Ingredients

SPEAKER_02 21:27

You know what I'm saying? It's like you show up what feels good, what feels playful, what's real. Yeah, yeah. I just think you can't lose with that. Thank you. You know, so speaking of wellness, food, I didn't even realize, I guess, until I had you in the garage the garage, the cold ass garage. I love it. And we had a great workout together when you were talking about the whole food thing and how that's like a huge passion of yours. Yeah. But you're a real holistic kind of gal. Yeah. In general. Like the plastic, the you're one of those people where I look at and I'm like, I need to do better.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

I mean, everybody can do better. I know, but you Really doing some things. Oh gosh, I can always do better. That's that's the thing. You know, it's just like everything right now is toxic, right? Yeah. I mean, even everything I'm wearing, right? Like, you know, I I do my best with like products that I'm putting on my skin, things that I'm ingesting, the quality of the water I'm taking in. But yeah, no, this this stems from my mom. Like, thanks, mom. Um, but yeah, she just really primed me. My mom cooked like every meal for for us, like growing up. And I went vegetarian when I was in middle school. So really young. And I'm almost 49. So that was like before anybody was like a really vegetarian or anything, you know, other than like hippies, yeah, my parents' generation. And my parents were supportive, which was really cool. Um, we ate a lot of ethnic food, as I mentioned. Like I was born in New York. I didn't really grow up there, but I grew up going back there to visit family all the time. But in our household, everything compared to New York. So it's like if we went out to eat, it was just like, oh gosh, this is nothing like New York, right? So, like that's kind of how I grew up. So food was always like a big part of my family, and it was just like a way to connect, right? And so we ate a lot of ethnic food because that was usually better food, like made with love, no matter what city we lived in. And I moved around a lot growing up. So coming back to like middle school, I became a vegetarian and so I started cooking a lot. I took like, I was like really into home ec, really into industrial arts, really into sewing. I mean, I'm like the DIY before it was a thing. Um took all these food courses, like loved to cook. So I just loved to experiment and make things and produce things. It was just something that really brought me joy. So I went vegan in college. Or no, wait, hold up. No, like vegan in high school. And it's I was like vegetarian for like 20 years or whatever. And a lot of that I was vegan. Are you still vegan? No, God, no. What are your thoughts on that now? Oh my gosh, that's like a whole nother topic. Like, give us the high level.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Because I I have like a I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

It's like the vegan thing to me is so wild. So much of it is so processed, it's essentially like eating plastic. And even when I was vegan, right? Like so much of it was like plastic, like eating Vaseline, right? Like if you're eating tofu di and you know, it's a vegan ice cream or whatever, there weren't many choices. So you had to be really careful, like what you were ingesting. And a lot of people did it incorrectly. So some people would just eat like carbs and carbs and pasta, and you know, like they weren't getting the right nutrients. I was, and you know, Columbus was cool back then because like we had some really cool vegan and vegetarian restaurants, and like the farm to table kind of movement was like really starting to like, you know, emerge like before it was like farm to table. Um so I just had exposure to all this stuff. And um, but yeah, like nowadays, like I you can do it correctly. You know, you want to make sure you're getting the right amount of nutrients.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

And you know, the novelty foods, the mock meats and stuff, like you gotta be careful of. Now there are some incredible mock meats and mock cheese. I love mock meat. I know it's fun. No, I'm just saying the name mock meat meat.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

It's uh what is it called? The what was the one, the big one, the burger. Um garden burger? But the one that had the name to it. Boca burgers. No. That burger that everybody now or then? It was like maybe a couple years, it's still popular, but it it was better than burgers? It's there's a name we're missing. Okay. I'll think of it. Shoot. Some kind of burger. I'm gonna look it up. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Look it up. Yeah, so a lot of that stuff is like overly, overly engineered, like vegetable proteins or wheat gluten. And you know, we know so much about wheat gluten now, right? That we didn't. Impossible burger. Impossible burger. Okay. Yeah, no, I mean that's basically extruded plastic. Yeah. I mean, and think about the quality in which you're the source, right? Is it organic? No. What other oils and binders and fillers are in there? Is it all like cellulose and gums and gels? Like some of the stuff isn't even food. So, like it's buzzy, it's packaging, and that's the thing nowadays. You less is more. Like eat real food, eat whole foods.

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SPEAKER_02 26:41

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SPEAKER_01 28:05

Um, so do you remember that restaurant, Elena's?

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Okay. Sounds free. She was amazing. Elena Shock. She's still cooking, she just lives in a different city now. But um I was a very um frequent patron of the restaurant. And she would always make vegan food, but she was always bringing in like, this is the catch of the day, this is what we're serving tomorrow, come back tomorrow, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, she was just always like bringing food around. And I remember what broke me was cheese. Like my ex-husband and I would like go and hang out for hours and whatever, and shut down the restaurant with them and like eat and drink and whatever and just have a great time. And she brought out a cheese board one day, and I was like, oh God, what have I been missing? And then it was like seafood, and then before I knew it, I was like, I think I was, I mean, I was in, oh God, I would think I was like 29. Yeah, because I was pregnant and I ate beef, um, beef wellington. So you're thinking about the beef train. Oh, I went right for it. You're on the animal protein train. I oh, I am very much a carnivore. And and I my body has probably, you know, I've looked good as a vegan. I've looked defined and muscular and lean. I've, you know, I it I would say energy-wise, et cetera. And I did vegan the right way. I did vegan really well. Um, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Do you feel the best with animal protein?

SPEAKER_01 29:40

I do, yeah. But I mean, I'm again, consider the source, right? Because not all animal protein is the same. Yep. And like what's being shot up into the animal, how it's grown, what it's eating, you know, is it pasture raised? Is it in a farm? Like, is there sunlight? You know, those are all things that I think, you know, are really what we need to look out for.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yeah, and I think that's a great point because regardless of what's trending or the marketing that's thrown at you, you have to peel back whether it's vegan, whether it's vegetarian, whether it's Mediterranean, whether it's carnivore, where is the source?

SPEAKER_01 30:16

I think that's the most important thing. Like consider the source. Less is more.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

So, okay, so ex-husband, you have been divorced for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Oh, yeah. So, I mean, that's another thing about my Pilates business, right? I started it, I wanted to start it while I was still married and my kids were really young, and I just didn't really know that it was the right timing, you know, that they were gonna be taken care of as best as, you know, they could be with me. And you realize I have realized that there are signs that the universe sends me, God, source, whatever, at certain times in my life. And it's like, it's go time. Everything's here. If you don't take this, you know, so knowing when to break the cycle, I think is a good way to put it. And stars aligned, and I had been teaching for a while. Well, get into my whole like Pilates background, like how that all came to be. But yeah, like I acquired my little studio that I still have on Grandview in 5th, and yeah, took my business, you know, from the beginning, like got divorced right after I opened it. And you know, that was like jumping off the edge of a cliff.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Um was the was you wanting to start this business a part of the problem, or do you think a little bit, a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

I mean, I think it was like a little bit of me kind of coming back into my own. So, like people who knew me really well, like my parents, my brothers, like childhood friends, are like, oh my God, you're back. This is awesome. You're doing what you love to do. This is what you're supposed to be doing. And at the time, you know, I think there was a lot of um me putting myself out there doing Pilates on a social platform look to be, I don't know, maybe too provocative or too like, ooh, what is this? What is going on? But, you know, that's not ultimately what that's a symptom. I feel like that's a just a divorce, right? I mean, this this is something that goes on for a long time, but you know, we do a really great job raising our kids. That's the most important thing. I've had some incredible memories. I'm so grateful for our time together. And that was that was then, this is now. And um, wow, yeah. It's uh yeah, I mean, taking my business like through a divorce, not knowing, oh my God, like my parents are my parents gonna need to co-sign for an apartment. I didn't want to stay in the house, you know, like what's that gonna look like? Like how, you know, the universe, God, source, whatever, just like supported me through that. And my clients, like, I mean, this was like the infancy of my business. I had moved from like having more of my business mostly up in the north end of Columbus to like a new area. And it's just yeah, I don't know. I just had the benefit of having a social media presence. Like people have been paying attention. I think like social media is really just starting to like become a thing. I don't know, maybe right place, right time, just like what I was putting out there. And I built my business and I built my business on referrals, you know, I didn't pay to advertise, I didn't have the marketing budget for that. I just kept being consistent, not knowing what that was gonna lead to or what that was gonna look like. I just knew that this was uh like a song inside me that needed to be sung, you know, and it was just like finally what I was like meant to do. So I just let the universe support me in that way, and I just kept plugging away.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Do you listen to Rick Rubin at all? Yes. So it reminds me of um something that he says that I think is so true and important for people to know or hear is like you're not doing this for other people. And you never were. And I think with the with the way that people start things, you know, a lot of times like, okay, I have this end result in mind and I want to make X, Y, and Z. And it's all very out here. And it's you're whatever you're doing, this artful thing that's coming from you, you're doing it for yourself. And if someone else notices, yeah, amazing. Yeah. But it's coming from you for you by you. Yeah. And I love like that's what I feel like when I think of you. It's like that's why people were attracted to it. It's just something that came from who you are, from years of, you know, all the things you just talked about in the beginning of this podcast. And it was, it was coming out, and it was a culmination of all that. And and people who saw it and wanted to get along, you know, go along for the ride can go along for the ride. That's how amazing things start and I think last. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

And I think, I think for me, it was a test of like, well, if this is really meant for me, then it will work its way out. And I don't need to throw money at it. No. But if I'm not meant for this, then so be it, I'll step away and I'll get like a regular job or whatever. Like I was just like, this just needs to be here. Yeah. So yeah.

Loss Grief And Staying Calm

SPEAKER_02 35:26

So you're a big believer in the universe and the source and all these things. Um, which I am too. Yeah. Which I love. It's like you're kind of like speaking my language. Yeah. Let's go into Michael. Yeah, your boyfriend, who you were dating for a while and he passed away. And I know that was like sent shock waves through, you know, you, the community, everything. Um, what is it that you do want to like, if anything, say about it?

SPEAKER_01 35:56

No, I I think he was like uh a protector in my life at a very significant time. Um, we started dating right before the pandemic hit. Um, who's somebody I felt very safe with, and I never worried about the pandemic one bit. My business actually continued to grow and flourish during that time. Um, but I was able to navigate, navigate my intuition throughout that time and have somebody who supported that. And um yeah, when he passed, um, you know, we had had probably a year of really um like a bit of a roller coaster relationship. Like, is this gonna work? Isn't this, isn't this not gonna work? You know, just kind of what direction are we going with this? And um yeah, that was definitely a significant time where he he passed away on my birthday, and I had to work on him to try to revive him. And that isn't like my worst fear, you know, just like having to watch somebody pass, you know, hearing those sounds, feeling all of that, you know. And yeah, I mean, it was a significant time, and working through that, I just remember like, wow, what is this, you know? But you know, I had already been on a path of like understanding and like going deeper dives into like consciousness, spirituality, like meditation, consciousness, like all these things, like working with esoterics, working with practitioners, so and he had two, and he I think was just like really infatuated with this like other side, you know, of what the world we live in. And I think he just kind of had one foot out anyway, and I I think he knew he had suffered from some uh pathological some some um health issues and were a little more significant than we th than I had any idea. And um yeah, it's kind of crazy, but I took three weeks off of work, I spent some time with his family, my family, you know, it was a really beautiful way to like exit all of that, and then when I re-emerged back into the studio, just really all the love and support from my community, from people around me, you know, just it's just wild how that all worked.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Do you do you have like PTSD from that? And like no, because I feel like when you see something like that, that's only something you like have a nightmare about.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

Yeah, no, it's weird because like I would think old old Sarah, yes, definitely some PTSD for sure. I worked with the most incredible practitioners um after that. I've gone through every nook and crane in my brain. I think one of the things that really I thought I would struggle with is like having to take a CPR test or something or see somebody um, you know, close to death again. And I remember I saw a car pull over on the side of the road, and there was a gentleman in the front seat. His wife had walked around to the side, and the ambulance was coming up, like he was suffering a heart attack, and I was like the paramedics were there, so there was nothing I was gonna do. But I was like, no, I can lean into this. Like I could take a CPR test again, I could work on somebody, and I know I'd be fine. Yeah, and I had a client not that long ago, um, was forced in the situation where he thought he was possibly having a heart attack, and I had to call the squad, and so I had to go through all that, and I was very level and calm. We did our breath work, we did all the things we needed to do, and it ended up being, you know, he didn't have to go to the hospital, thank God, you know. But so I was these little tests have been put in front of me, and yeah, I would not have been able to handle that like five, ten plus years ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

So God, and like speaking of having somebody in the studio like that too, that's something I always lived in fear of at SOS. I was like, someone's going to fall over here.

Acupuncture Reiki Mediums And Discernment

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Yeah, no, I feel like I'm the type of person who can step in like a hundred percent. But I will say, like, with all of this, like it all comes back to the breath. You know, when Michael passed and we got the word and I'm hyperventilating, um I started calming myself with the breath. You know, it works. When I work with clients who are just coming in and they're just frenetic energy, right? Like getting synced up with the breath, calming your central nervous system. If somebody's feeling their heart racing, right? Like getting into the breath work, like maybe adding some coughs in there to like save the heart, right? Like it all comes back to the breath. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like it's so powerful. Like, it's not just a state of calm, it's a state of being able to act and react and like function calm under pressure. So it's a breath breath work that fighters use, you know. It's, you know, you're able to see clearly in a room full of chaos, and you're able to act and react appropriately.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

When you say practitioners, what like go, what does that mean? Like what kind of what kind of work were you doing to like process all this?

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Um, so anything from my herbalist, um, who I've known since I was 21. She's like a mom to me. Um, she put in some ear seeds and pressure points with acupuncture to help calm my central nervous system. Um, esoteric practitioners, um, another esoteric acupuncturist was incredible at like resetting my grid. Um Reiki practitioners and um mediums.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

How did that okay? Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

Um so I'll just touch on that for a moment. Yeah, I mean, I think that's that's an intimate thing, but being able to uh and uh uh uh speak with somebody af after death, right, is a really uh special, unique, um interesting thing. Um but yeah, being able to communicate, get signs, know that everything's okay. Everything's okay. That just gave me so much strength. And never I and I I grew up, you know, going to church, like you didn't talk to mediums, you didn't go to a psychic, you didn't, you know, uh have a crystal or whatever, right? And so being able to feel and experience something like for myself was really groundbreaking. And that gave me a lot of peace and strength to move forward.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

So how do you find like if somebody has lost someone, how do you because there are I'm sure there's a lot of mediums out there that are like great and then some aren't so good. How do you feel like anything?

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Anything, right? Yeah. Um, you know, like it's interesting. I think my business and just like The energy work I do has just I think your vibe attracts your tribe, right? And like I hate that saying, but it's it's very true. It's very true. And sometimes, like, I've had to check myself, like, oh my God, that person, I should not have leaned into that person. Like, my, I need to check myself. Like, that was off. I've I've been taken advantage of in some ways, like when it comes to energy work or whatever. So yeah, I think just like being really cautious, don't just jump in, talk to people you trust who've worked with practitioners because you know, they're not all created equally. Right. You know, so I'm fortunate where you have a good community, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna plug Tira Ridgeway. Is that who it was?

SPEAKER_02 44:47

Yeah, she did a lot of lot of work for me. Is she here in the in the city? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

I should have her come in and like do a thing with me.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Yeah, yeah. I've never done it before. It's it's cool. Yeah, and I don't I don't know what your experience is gonna be. And from what I'm told, like if you're communicating with somebody who's deceased, there's a small window before you can't do it anymore. Yeah, and that's okay. I mean, that was all the closure I needed. And that really prepared me to move forward. Again, I used an esoteric acupuncturist, and that was like a cleansing of my body and my home, and yeah, just time to move forward, right? You know, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Okay, so let's talk about your studio you have on fifth. I have been yes, okay, which one? Which which one, right? So your new one that is down by what do we say, Jimmy V's? Yeah, um, it's so cute. Thank you. So great. And then you still have the one that's a little bit my speakeasy.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Yeah, it is your speakeasy. Yeah, I love that. I literally have a DBA for it. It's so good. Yeah, that's my OG studio, the little garage. Um yeah, so my new studio, I had been looking at other spaces for a while, like years actually, and it just couldn't find the right fit. And again, this is one of those the universe speaks and you just gotta know when to jump. And of course, there's like a full moon and all this other stuff that, you know, kind of came into play with getting this space. But um, I'll give another shout out to my friend Kara Unru, who owns Wild Root Yoga. Um, she was like, oh my God, that place is gonna be available. You gotta, you gotta reach out, you gotta find out what's up. And it used to be yoga on high. So I have a lot of, yeah, I have a lot of clients who either used to practice there or teach there. And it just has so much great energy. And um, it was a mess when I acquired it. And I worked in design, I worked in like home design and furniture design and all that kind of stuff. So this was my like self-expression to kind of pull in my background in real estate, my background in design, um, creating in an environment. Like I was able to really kind of create what I wanted to. And it's still a work in progress. So, like, my goal is that there's more to come. Well, so yeah, speaking of goals, what are your goals?

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Like, for that you can share for like is we could you call it so Pilates?

Launching The So Sara Idea

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Yeah. So like I've got a lot of DBAs. So Ortlip is my ex-married last name. It just so happened that my LLC was created before I was divorced, and so that's just how I settled on my the name for my studio. And it's the the last name of my children, and it's gotten me name recognition and whatever, so people know me. Um, but you know, the studio has grown to be a lot larger than myself. So I have a lot of employees and instructors, instructors who I certify. That's something I've been doing for the last seven years. We're coming up on we're uh uh eight years of my little studio, which is crazy. So yeah, so I have all these other instructors and soon-to-be other and you know certified instructors. So it's more than just me, it's more than just my name. It's the umbrella, it's the you know, but I have so Pilates and I have the speakeasy. And yeah, I'd like to continue to have more facets of my own business, but I am really passionate about mentorship and education. Like that is where it lies. I've always held lectures and workshops to really get people to understand how it is to move your body appropriately, what is going on in the inside, how these muscles and fascia and all this stuff relates. So I want to keep training my clients and teaching some classes, but like I really want to cultivate the new breed of instructor. And I work very closely with my mentors on that. Um, I've created my own alliance. I want to keep working that direction. I don't want to work for another alliance. Um, I bring a lot of education from different realms of movement in terms of biomechanics to make the Pilates practice more accessible. The original classic repertoire is amazing. It's like my favorite, but it's not accessible to a lot of people. So you need to adapt, you know, so they can really learn to tension their bodies appropriately. So those are that's kind of like one of my next steps is like really continuing to grow that for myself and for, you know, the Pilates community, not just in Ohio. And then continue to let my instructors grow their careers within my studios. So to be able to teach classes, be able to have room and uh peak times that they can teach private classes as well or private sessions as well. I love that for you.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Yeah. I mean, I'm smelling growth left, right, up and down. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so before we wrap this conversation, we should talk a little bit about this so Sarah that we're gonna be doing. Just this little, this little experiment. You came in. Well, let me let me give a little background on this. So you I came in to see you with Chef Nikki. Yeah. The first time I've been in any group fitness since my SOS days. And it was so great to see you again, to connect with you again. Then you reach out to me and said, Hey, can we kind of have a chat? I'm like, absolutely. You come in, we have a chat. And as I'm sitting there, I'm like, God, you really should do a pod. Because I I do think, you know, somebody could say, Oh, there's so many podcasts out there. Why a podcast for someone like you or someone who has a business where you can increase your intimacy with your community, is like, go run, go to the store, go to Amazon and get the mic. Like the this whole idea of like starting a podcast, you just grab a microphone. I mean, you can do it very low budget, right? But for someone like you, who, as I said before, I see you on Instagram, I'm intrigued, there's this allure to what you've got going on, right? But if you're then doing a podcast where someone like me could get more intimate with you around all the things, you know, it's huge. It's it's like it's just another chain in the link of your marketing. And so for you, I think it's a no-brainer. So as we were sitting there talking, of course, I'm like, hey, let me take this, let me take this a step further. Do you want to do like a little episode just like we do ask Amy? Yeah. Um, and then we're like, okay, we'll call it so, Sarah. And so we're just gonna do that. And we're just gonna see like what happens. And then, you know, if it's good, it's good. If you're like, this is dumb, we don't do it. Like it's as simple as that.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

I love it. I think this is such a cool platform because there's so much that goes into every facet of this business, whether it's running the business itself, or like if you're gonna do a deep dive, excuse me, on the diaphragm and the pelvic floor, or if you're gonna do a deep dive on like energy and auric fields, or if you're gonna do a deep dive on eye movement desensitization and how that, you know, you're helping to corral clients into moving at the correct pace. Like I can pull so many different guests in who can, you know, just help explain all of these other concepts that I use. Oh yeah.

Merch Unboxing And Closing

SPEAKER_02 52:19

Um it's just it's a it's a great way for you to continue to build and market this incredible thing that you started. So I'm like, it's a no-brainer. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm here to just grab the low-hanging fruit. That's what I do. Thank you. That's what I do. Yeah, what's that? And so you're gonna do that after we decided. After we wrap this, you're gonna do your first episode. And so everyone stay tuned because you're gonna get more of Sarah. So much of Sarah. Um, anything else before we call it a day? Um, no, but you should open you guys. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's open this. I feel like this is very strong. Ryan, let's open this. Let's see what we got here.

unknown 52:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 52:56

Wow. There's some heavy doll. This is for real. You came to play. We got the branding, which I love. I love the colors. Colors are very unexpected, which I think is great. They're very calming. We love some merch. We love some merch. Hint hint. Oh, and it's a crop. Yes. Come on now. Come on now. I'll be wearing that in my garage. Thank you. Oh, is this a candle? It is. Oh god, I love a candle.

SPEAKER_01 53:35

So I designed three different candles designed. I don't know. Like, get your get your ass to class. I worked with a really great candle maker on what does that smell like a some kind of flower? It says it on there. I don't I think one might be patcheoling peach. Oh, it's good. But oh, peach and rose. Peach and rose. Okay. Yeah, rose is infused into all of my candles.

SPEAKER_02 53:58

And I love how it literally is like the colors peach and rose. Like how they kind of um Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

I have two other brains. Yeah. So we have like a pelvic florin more. I love this. It's and like another one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

I'm always looking for a candle to light it there, too. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Um, note to future guests. Come bearing gifts. Did I start a dream? People actually dream. They do more often than not. I mean, it's not, you know, it's fun when they do. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. You're welcome. Loving people. I've never heard of that before.

SPEAKER_01 54:39

Is that a brand? Or did you put it on? You know what? I think with those, like I'm a huge fan of Bella Canvas. Yeah. Um, I think we got those off of Fair. Oh. Do you know about that? I know Fair.

SPEAKER_02 54:51

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

That's been like a good little app to use.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

Well, thank you for that. That was very kind. Sarah, I appreciate your time. This has been lovely. I can't wait to get back in the studio. Um, if you're still out there following your girl, follow me on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. And until next time, go visit Sarah on 5th. And if she likes you, you might get access into the speakeasy. If she doesn't like you, you're probably not coming to the speakeasy. And keep moving, baby.