Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Welcome back to the Deep Dive. You know, when you look at some careers, they seem like a single straight road.

• Speaker #1

  Very linear.

• Speaker #0

  But the subject of our Deep Dive today, Caroline Berger, the feminine, her path is something else entirely. It's like she's intentionally created this complex tassage, a weaving, really.

• Speaker #1

  That's a great word for it, tassage, because our sources today, they don't just map out a life story. They show a deliberate strategy almost. most.

• Speaker #0

  Okay.

• Speaker #1

  We're looking at an identity built across different continents, different disciplines to Pilates, dance, idiopathy. And it all seems geared towards this one big ambition, which is making conscious movement accessible globally. You see it clearly in her daily podcast, Bio Pilates Deep Dive. It's multilingual, quite ambitious.

• Speaker #0

  Right. So the mission here is to kind of unpack how someone with this incredibly diverse background, French, Tunisian, Swiss, and influences from, well, all over, creates this... Single focused philosophy. She calls it just this.

• Speaker #1

  Just this. Yeah. I mean, sort of exactitude or rightness, precision in the body, but also, you know, in the mind.

• Speaker #0

  That sounds intense. But what really jumped out at me from the start was this idea that her work, her body even, has to speak several languages. That's a direct quote, I think.

• Speaker #1

  It is. And it's the perfect frame for understanding her. Let's dig into that foundation first, her identity. She's got these three nationalities, French, Tunisian, Swiss. Now, those can be seen as three very different worldviews, right? Yeah,

• Speaker #0

  definitely.

• Speaker #1

  But for her, they seem to align on this core ethic of just S. She never felt like she had to choose one. Instead, it was always about building bridges between them.

• Speaker #0

  And despite being so global, the sources point to Tunis as her main anchor, her axis is the word used. It's where she returns, weekly apparently, to connect all these different parts of her life.

• Speaker #1

  Right, it's this anchor point. And it really embodies her philosophy in a practical way too. Like. in tune as she connects with her mother, but also with her horse, Gandor.

• Speaker #0

  Ah, yes. The horse. Tell us about that.

• Speaker #1

  Well, it's not just, you know, riding for fun. She actually rescued Gandor from the racing circuits. And then she retrained him using methods inspired by Pilates.

• Speaker #0

  Really? Pilates for a horse?

• Speaker #1

  Kinda, yeah. Focusing on proprioception, that deep sense of body awareness and conscious movement. Stretching. It's fascinating.

• Speaker #0

  So she's applying these principles of human movement, this justest, directly to rehabilitating an animal. That really makes the philosophy concrete, doesn't it?

• Speaker #1

  It does. So Tunis is the axis, the anchor. But then her roots, they just spiral outwards. The sources mention ancestry from something like 17 different countries.

• Speaker #0

  Wow, 17. She calls it having a memory without borders.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly. And we don't need to go through all 17, obviously. But looking at one specific thread. Helps show how this inherited memory works for her, like the Russian connection.

• Speaker #0

  Okay, what's the story there?

• Speaker #1

  She's never been to Russia, doesn't speak the language, but she feels this really deep connection. It comes from her great-grandfather who left Russia way back in the late 19th century.

• Speaker #0

  And he brought more than just his luggage, presumably?

• Speaker #1

  Oh, absolutely. He brought letters, a sense of culture, art, even apparently a knack for business. And through that line, she feels she inherited these values, appreciating beauty, respecting knowledge. Even the intensity of silence.

• Speaker #0

  So this idea that profound influence can be inherited, felt, even without direct experience. It shows that things like rigor or appreciating beauty, they don't need a passport to travel through generations.

• Speaker #1

  Precisely. And while these roots spread wide, it's interesting that her sources mention her adopted lands where she really lived and worked extensively were primarily in Asia. She says Asia gave her internal drives another language, another breath. So you have this global foundation, this complex root system, and that becomes the engine for her teaching or pedagogy.

• Speaker #0

  OK, so that's the perfect pivot then. Let's talk about the technique, the methodology, because it's not just a random collection of certificates, is it? It feels very synthesized.

• Speaker #1

  Highly synthesized. You see it in her core choices. She adopts Stefoki Pilates, which is known for being very precise, almost clinical as her philosophical base. The emphasis is on listening, anchoring, that exactitude again.

• Speaker #0

  Right.

• Speaker #1

  But then she layers that with advanced training in charitonage and gyrokinesis. These are known for being more fluid, more three-dimensional, circular.

• Speaker #0

  For structure meets flow.

• Speaker #1

  You could say that. One gives the solid foundation, the other brings in this like energetic spiraling movement. It's a smart combination. And she uses this blend to train instructors all over the world.

• Speaker #0

  But that pursuit of justess, of rightness. It doesn't stop at movement mechanics for her, does it? This is where the idiopathy training comes in. That seems crucial.

• Speaker #1

  It really does. Her advanced training in idiopathy in Paris, I mean, that's a really rigorous manual therapy. Its whole focus is finding the original cause of a problem, not just chasing symptoms.

• Speaker #0

  Well, it's about getting to the root.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly. It takes that principle of exactitude and applies it right back to the origin point. It feels like a perfect intellectual parallel for her whole approach to life, actually. Instead of picking one thing, one nationality, one discipline, she's always looking for the coherence, the underlying cause that connects them all.

• Speaker #0

  And all this, the rigor, the philosophy, the global perspective, it all comes together in her studio, BioPilates Paris. How is that described?

• Speaker #1

  The source is painted as a very human space. She calls it her house. It's apparently non-judgmental, focused on connecting back to oneself through sincere breath and what she calls healing silence. So less about performance, more about interconnection.

• Speaker #0

  That mention of breath connects back beautifully to what you said earlier about her nationalities. Ah,

• Speaker #1

  yes. She made this incredible statement. She said, I don't have three nationalities. I have three ways of breathing. And she explicitly links that feeling to the three-dimensional breathing technique taught in Stop Pilates.

• Speaker #0

  Wow. So French rigor, maybe Swiss efficiency, Tunisian warmth, all somehow expressed through the breath.

• Speaker #1

  That's the idea. Using the body as this ultimate cultural translator. It's like building her lineage intentionally through movement and breath.

• Speaker #0

  And that act of translation, that's really what makes her podcast, The Biopillats Deep Dive, such a potentially powerful tool.

• Speaker #1

  It really is quite something. It's daily, it's multilingual, and apparently listened to in over 80 countries. That's significant reach. And it manages to combine that really high level anatomical rigor with what she terms the poetry of gesture.

• Speaker #0

  High level teaching straight to your ears anywhere in the world. Let's pause on the language choices, though, because they seem very specific, very strategic. German makes sense, right? A nod to Joseph Pilates.

• Speaker #1

  Yes, respectful nod.

• Speaker #0

  But Kiswahili Hausa, Afrikaans, the sources say she hasn't actually visited the countries where these are primarily spoken in Africa. So. What's the thinking there? Why those languages?

• Speaker #1

  It seems to be purely about access and connection, not market size. She apparently developed admiration for the cultures through instructors she met or worked with globally. And she wanted to support them to provide resources in their languages. So the strategy is driven by perceived need and, well, admiration rather than commercial opportunity.

• Speaker #0

  And that connects directly to what feels like the real heart of this project, doesn't it? The humanitarian goal.

• Speaker #1

  Absolutely. This is where you see the mission really crystallize. She started noticing downloads coming from places like Afghanistan, Yemen, places where women's public lives and educational opportunities can be severely restricted.

• Speaker #0

  Right.

• Speaker #1

  And this became her second main goal for the podcast, providing educational access specifically for women in these situations.

• Speaker #0

  That's incredibly powerful.

• Speaker #1

  Her insight was, and this is a key quote, if you are forbidden to speak or go out, you are not forbidden to move nor to listen.

• Speaker #0

  Wow.

• Speaker #1

  So her aim became explaining mat work, you know, the foundational Pilates exercises you can do anywhere with art equipment in as many languages as possible for them.

• Speaker #0

  It transforms Pilates mat work from just exercise into, well, into a tool for self-possession, for private freedom of movement, a quiet act of resistance almost.

• Speaker #1

  Precisely. A quiet revolution, as you say.

• Speaker #0

  Okay, so we've seen the foundations, the methodology, the mission. To really get the full picture, we need to look at the specific... Cultural lenses she seems to use. The experiences that shaped her approach.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Her life reads like a master class in embodied learning. Take Spain, for example. She had this profound connection, an Andalusian awakening at age 14. She was in El Rocio, fell in love with the horses, learned Sevillanas.

• Speaker #0

  The flamenco dance.

• Speaker #1

  That's the one. And she says she doesn't really speak Spanish much anymore or dance it, but she understands it in her body. So when she creates the Spanish language podcast now, she describes it as a... Joyful, carnal return. It's a felt memory.

• Speaker #0

  Oh, that makes sense. And then Asia seems to have taught her a lot about discipline and strategy, Japan specifically.

• Speaker #1

  Yes, Japan comes through strongly. Through karate, shatouken, and kendo, she absorbed principles like rigor, precision, breath control, staying centered on your axis, things you can directly see influencing her Pilates work. And she has this beautiful summary of Japanese arts. Strong without noise, precise without rigidity. That really captures it, doesn't it? The external form reinforcing that internal justice.

• Speaker #0

  It does. And China, what did she draw from there?

• Speaker #1

  Strategy and balance.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  She was apparently fascinated by Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Not just reading it, but internalizing his ideas. Observe, adapt, turn obstacles into advantages, prepare for victory. Applying it way beyond just conflict.

• Speaker #0

  Interesting.

• Speaker #1

  And also balance. She practiced Tai Chi Chuan during her studies, seeking clarity, finding peace in action. It connected her to that whole philosophy of yin and yang, qi, the flow of energy you find in traditional Chinese medicine and thought.

• Speaker #0

  So strategic thinking and flowing balance. And her artistic side, where did that find nourishment? The sources mention Persia and Aleppo.

• Speaker #1

  Right. Ancient cultures providing artistic fuel. When she was younger, in her 20s in Paris, she spent a lot of time within the Persian community there, immersed in the music. Tombaq drum, the daff frame drum, the timbre lute. Experiencing the Norwichoos Festival, the New Year celebration. She says she adopted their motto, joy of living and sharing.

• Speaker #0

  Lovely.

• Speaker #1

  She was also a regular at the Teatro de la Ville and the opera. She even learned Farsi for a while, though she says she's forgotten it now. But the imprint is there.

• Speaker #0

  And Alep. In Syria, that sounds like a very... different sensory experience.

• Speaker #1

  Totally different. She actually lived for a time in a 14th century Mamluk palace there. Her memories are all sensory, the smell of jasmine, spices, the sound of the kwanun, that stringed instrument. But the detail that really stands out in the sources is this contrast she observed, a life that was simple, very refined, yet at Christmas the decorations were incredibly abundant, golden everywhere. She said it felt like living in Santa Claus's village. It's such a specific, unexpected memory.

• Speaker #0

  It is. So you have these deep roots in ancient cultures like Persia and Syria. But her approach isn't stuck in the past, is it? There's this very modern connection mentioned with Korea.

• Speaker #1

  Oh, yes. The Korea connection is fascinating because it's entirely contemporary and based on, well, popular culture, K-dramas and the music group BTS.

• Speaker #0

  Seriously, BTS?

• Speaker #1

  Absolutely. Apparently, her mother, who is over 80, is a huge BTS fan. A dedicated member of the army, as they're known, plays their music, dances to it, waits eagerly for the long K-dramas.

• Speaker #0

  That's amazing, an octogenarian BTS fan.

• Speaker #1

  Isn't it? And it's become this shared family joy. Her sister is learning Korean, her niece is into Korean skincare, her piano teacher in Paris is Korean. So this whole culture permeates her environment through music, beauty, family connection, even though she hasn't physically visited Korea.

• Speaker #0

  It's another perfect example of that memory without borders idea, but this time it's a chosen contemporary cultural adoption.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly. And all these artistic threads, ancient and modern, eventually found a more formal outlet when she founded her own contemporary dance company, La Valle Al Malika.

• Speaker #0

  Right.

• Speaker #1

  And one of her significant works was apparently a piece celebrating seven influential Arab Muslim women using dance, gesture, the body as a way to express poetry and honor their legacies.

• Speaker #0

  So if we just take a step back and look at this whole spiral. From Alep's ancient sensory world to clay pop rhythms, all underpinned by the rigor of etiopathy and Pilates. It really is a life dedicated to synthesis, isn't it?

• Speaker #1

  It truly is. I think her real success, what the sources highlight, is her ability to translate all this deep, complex knowledge, the multidisciplinary training, the cultural memory into pedagogy that's actually accessible, delivered daily even.

• Speaker #0

  She manages to hold. hold on to that uncompromising internal precision that just deaths while simultaneously pursuing this mission of maximum global outreach and connection. It's quite a feat.

• Speaker #1

  It really is. The coherence is remarkable. A spiral, like you said, not a straight line, uniting territories, disciplines, bodies.

• Speaker #0

  And that coherence, that very intentional weaving you mentioned at the start. It brings us back to this interesting tension between inherited memory and chosen curiosity. She feels Russia living inside her, having never been. And the sources also mentioned her love for Portuguese literature, Pessoa, Saramago, despite not speaking Portuguese herself. She relies on a collaborator, Jessica Cruz, to help create those podcasts.

• Speaker #1

  Right. Another chosen connection mediated through collaboration.

• Speaker #0

  Exactly. And it leaves us and maybe you listening with a really interesting question to think about. Where do your own most profound connections, your deepest influences actually come from? Is it the places you've physically been? Or is it the memories, the cultures, the ideas you've inherited, or maybe deliberately chosen to explore and embrace through your own curiosity?