Knowledge is baseline
Many Pilates studios and teachers are bent on convincing everyone that their services stand out because of their superior knowledge of exercise science principles or proximity to a lineage. Our foundational knowledge - and the ability to apply it - should be inherent, dare I say required, to hold the title, "Pilates teacher." Our focus should be turned toward serving each client with sensitivity rather than proving credentials to everyone else. Moreover, holding knowledge is different from being able to share it in a studio setting in real time while keeping clients excited, empowered, and returning for more.
Pilates teachers should expect to spend a lifetime studying and evolving with nothing to prove. Time and real-life application require patience and the realization that we can't fast-track things...we may have to switch tracks! This is a passion pursuit.
We should take movement education seriously. Pilates instruction can be a full-time, profitable and immensley fulfilling career - I know this because I've done it. Students can choose their teachers, and teachers can choose their certifications. Niether party does so with ill-intent. Pilates stylistic differences matter far less than fostering the ability to make adaptations within the repertoire for the needs of the student in front of us. To be clear: I do not say I teach Pilates and instead teach something else. A shared expectation for Pilates teachers to know the origins of the work - without implying hierarchy - elevates our ability to understand and adapt it, and gives us common ground upon which to resolve conflict, unite, and shape the future of Pilates education.
Until some of these things are considered, people will continue to churn out aggressive and argument-provoking content that doesn't actually serve students seeking our engagment or newly minted teachers trying to develop their confidence. The conflict only serves the platforms on which it's hosted, rather than the people we teach and mentees we train. Most of us don't want to carry that energy and ire with us on the studio floor.
We have one chance, one lifetime to do this work well. It can only happen if we keep ourselves fully present, hour-by-hour, learning alongside our students. Can we stay creative enough to move forward?
