You Are A Pilates Teacher - But Can You Feel It?

Large numbers of Pilates teachers complete their teacher training every year and one assumes they begin to look for work. Where to find it? I see a rising number of teachers
who are becoming frustrated with the quality of employment being made available.

Recession seems to be the only word some businesses know at the moment, yet very many successful businesses were started during major periods of recession, for example Pizza Hut, Whole Foods, Disney and Microsoft.

The main reason people thrive at any time in life is when they have passion for what they do. Drive and the sincere belief in themselves allows them to move forward whatever the financial climate or forecasts from doom and gloomers (not sure if gloomers is a word).

Although you might not consider yourself in the same bracket as these huge companies - passion, drive and self belief are still very relevant to your success.

Pilates training can take many forms from simple one or two day introductory workshops to a fully comprehensive training that requires many hours or practice and supervision before you can hold your certificate in your hand. With the advent of the Pilates Level 3 accreditation in the UK, now being introduced throughout Europe - it has become clear what is required to be a qualified Pilates matwork teacher.

Fusion Pilates

It’s quite a new phenomenon for teachers to use Pilates as part of a series of various training programmes they supply - some teachers are offering fusion Pilates sessions and this month in the Idea magazine there is an article about applying the Pilates Principles to any type of exercise or group fitness class.

I see nothing wrong with this application of principles or the fusion style classes, my concern is that with all this variety it will be easy for those new teachers who are not fully immersed in the Pilates technique to lose their way, lengthening the process for them to become confident with their new skills.

Novice Teachers

It is a common trait with newly qualified teachers when they feel lost or get distracted as they start to teach Pilates classes to revert to what they know best - sometimes this is body conditioning, or stretch classes and unless they are pulled back from this their “Pilates” classes can drift into one that could be any body conditioning session, it is not clearly recognisable as a definite Pilates class.

You might feel that as long as it is taught safely what’s the harm, but this attitude just goes towards diluting the technique in the eyes of the general public, who over time may have quite a distorted view of what Pilates is. One of the reason Pilates has sustained for more than eighty years is down to passionate teachers who have a strong connection to the work.

Student or Teacher?

The other element to this melting pot of "everything Pilates" is another new situation which has become noticeable - students coming to train to teach the technique who have never been a student of the technique in the true sense of the word.

Speaking to some of these trainees they consider, with their sound background in fitness, some have been teaching for many years, it doesn’t matter too much that they have not been a student of the technique. They feel they have an advantage with their teaching experience alone.

Student Teacher or Teacher Trainer?

Of course teaching experience is a benefit, but my personal opinion is that equally useful is being the client of a good Pilates teacher. My experience teaching student teachers is that students who may have limited teaching skills but have been students of the Pilates technique for a time can become better Pilates teachers than those who have been teaching exercise for some time but lack an in depth knowledge of the repertoire in their own body.

When I first began taking Pilates sessions, I did so purely for my personal enjoyment. I had no intention at that time of teaching the technique, I was too busy teaching aerobics and step classes as well as running my gym. Pilates allowed me to switch off from my everyday fitness activities.

It was only many years later when I wanted to change careers that I thought about training to teach the Pilates technique. The background and familiarity I had with the repertoire has definitely allowed me to understand how clients struggle with some aspects of their workout, and enables me to offer them some insight into how they might improve their skills.

Perfect Practice

This is the reason I am so keen that as Pilates teachers we all continue to do our own practice. For those of you who may not have a strong background in the technique it will help you to understand the feeling of the practice and stimulate better understanding for your clients. I strongly recommend that whenever possible you find a teacher and take some time out to be the client. When you do this leave your teacher's head at the door and immerse yourself in the role. You will be surprised how different this feels from being the “client” on a course when practicing drills.

I appreciate that many of you will be isolated in a community, maybe you are the only teacher in the area - in this case make sure that you get continued education and take advantage of personal training if it is available to you at any time.

Lay a Firm Foundation

In closing this article I would like to reiterate my feelings about mixing Pilates with everything. I don’t want you to think I want us to just teach Pilates as some think Joseph Pilates would be teaching it today - what are the descriptive words some schools use - True, Authentic, Real, Classic, all words designed to imply that their particular brand and style is the real deal.

I am convinced that if he was alive today - Joseph Pilates would be taking advantage of all the new research and information available. What I am endorsing is that we are clear about what we are teaching. Pilates is a definite system as designed by Mr. Pilates, and although you may want to add stability balls, foam rollers and such like to your programming, hold back offering these accessories until your clients fully understand the basics of the Pilates technique.

By making sure your clients are familiar with the fundamentals of the Pilates system before you add the challenge of a piece of equipment they will be less likely to just see the accessory as the challenge but the application of their Pilates principles together with the challenge of the small equipment will lead to better understanding.

This is similar to the school of thought that says that when in training you only take classes from someone who is trained in the same style. I agree with this sentiment to a degree. When you are learning Pilates, it is a complex and challenging exercise. If you are not fully conversant with every aspect if you take instruction from a teacher from another school at this point it may only confuse you.

Once you are happy with your foundation education of course experience as many style as possible to enable you to become a well rounded teacher, but whilst you are still getting to grips with your essential knowledge take care.

Making sure you have a firm foundation of knowledge that you adhere too, will allow you to add the new ideas as an additional layer to create a strong base of understanding. Your Pilates training should stand firm and not become submerged by any complementary styles.

When you are clear about what you are offering as a service and present yourself as a specialist who can offer specific results, you will stand out from the crowd of generalists which will enable you to work in a style that you prefer and not have to take anything that is offered. When you are establishing your new business or re-launching an existing one you need to let everyone know why working with you will be worth it.

As usual your feedback is appreciated. Send any comments here

Nuala Coombs

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