Tips for teaching a great Pilates class →

TIPS FOR TEACHING A GREAT PILATES CLASS by GERI TAYLOR

 Have you been teaching Pilates for a while now and need some extra inspiration? Or are you new to teaching and wondering how to make your clients want to come back for more? Whether you are teaching privates, small group studio, or big mat classes, you’ll succeed if you consider these guidelines.

 1) Be professional

•  Show up on time, well groomed, with a smile and a positive attitude

•  Be well prepared and set up your space before participants arrive.

•  Observe all current guidelines for workplace health and safety.

 2) Designing the class

•  Follow the principles of Pilates with every class:  Alignment, awareness, balance, breath, centering, control, concentration, elongation, flow, precision, and commitment.

•  Write programs to give your class a full body work out that is safe, fun effective and educational.  Make them happy they came to class! 

•  Include exercises for flexion, extension, rotation and side bending.

•  Balance the exercises between standing, supine, prone and side lying. 

•  Set a theme for the class.  Focus on one of the Pilates principles, or on a part of the body like the buttocks or shoulders, or an exercise principle such as fascial release. 

•  The body and brain love novelty, so add new exercises, variations and imagery.  Bring other modalities into the class like Feldenkrais or Somatics.

•  The brain and body love repetition.  Do the same exercises often enough so clients can improve and learn the subtle nuances.

•  Successfully teach complex exercises by dividing them into parts. Try it with “double leg stretch.” Teach the chest extension one week, the leg bends the next, then add the flow.

•  Prepare for clients with issues or injuries by having modifications and regressions built into the program. 

 3)  Teaching the class

•  Greet clients personally.  My go to greeting is “Hi Susan - how’s your body?

•  Control the class by starting and finishing on time, asking the class to turn off phones, and reminding them to modify the exercises for their safety. 

•  Set the scene by advising what the class will focus on. 

•  Create a positive vibe and get them in the Pilates zone with the warm up. 

•  Make them happy they came to class with exercises that are fun, challenging, stimulating and relaxing.

•  Provide information about the intention of the exercises, the function and muscles involved.

•  Change the breathing patterns to bring awareness to the breath, and its effect on the movements.  

•  Vary the pace of the the class with long stretches, short bursts of intense activity, and precise flowing Pilates.  Add pauses to focus on technique.

•  Mix in some full body exercises to make the class work harder, create a challenge and release fascial lines.

•  Praise the class when they do well, and acknowledge their improvement and achievements.

•  Wrap up the class with a definite ending point, or finish with relaxation to send them home refreshed.

 4) Your teaching style

•  Great cueing is the key to good movement.  Use verbal, visual and tactile cues with confidence and creativity to teach your clients.

•  Your voice is a great asset.  Use it wisely.  Instruct your clients with as few words as possible, making them precise, specific and useful.  A great Pilates teacher once said “to be terrific you must be specific."

 •  Change your tone & volume, using gentle, softer tones for stretches and louder instructions for the harder exercises.  Simple one or two word      commands such as “great work”, “keep going”, “exhale, inhale” are useful    when the class is working hard and can’t process long instructions.

•  Use imagery to get more precise movement.  One of my favourites is to imagine balancing an espresso martini on the knee as the other knee opens to the side.  If you are after great imagery check out any of Eric Franklin’s books.

•  Provide visual cues to give the class something to focus on. They can be as simple as demonstrating the exercise, or moving the arm in a circle to show   the size and pace of “side lying leg circles”.

• Move around the room as you teach so everyone can see you from different       angles, and as the class changes positions, move with them to keep the flow. 

• Relate the exercise to a task to add meaning and context.  For example,     explaining how “archer” will help with tennis or golf by strengthening the thoracic rotators.

• Make it personal and add some humour. It is always interesting to hear what a teacher’s favourite exercise is, or one they find challenging.  Humour  lightens the tone of the class, and laughter is good for the abdominals.

•  Have fun and smile.  If you are enjoying yourself, your class will have a good  time and come back for more. 

 If you have other suggestions for teaching a great class, please let me know. Contact me through the APMA and at vivapilates@bigpond.com.  Cheers, Geri Taylor 

Becoming a great Pilates teacher

BECOMING A GREAT PILATES TEACHER

by Geri Taylor

If you are reading this article it’s likely you are already a good Pilates teacher, part of a professional organization and interested in enhancing what you do. You will have had the best education possible, learned the repertoire on your own body, practiced on friends and family, and gained teaching skills. You must also be passionate about Pilates and have a desire to help people get the best from their bodies and stay healthy.

But it takes a bit more to be a great teacher.  A great Pilates teacher is inspirational. They teach Pilates and also help people transform their bodies.  They are 100% focused on their clients and always want the best for them. Great teachers often have a large and loyal following of clients and colleagues who want to learn from them and share the Pilates journey with them.  And they are always learning, generously sharing their skills, knowledge and experience.  Following are some of the things I have learned from spending time with great Pilates teachers. 

1. STOP, LOOK & LISTEN.

From the moment your client walks in the door, clear your mind and focus on them. Stop what you are doing and give them your full consideration.  They are paying for your time and deserve to be the centre of your attention. Observe the client as they enter the studio.  Are they limping, do they look fatigued or energized, what is their posture like, are they smiling or frowning?   You can often tell what a client needs on that day by how they look.

Then, listen to what they have to say.  The first question I always ask is “how is your body?”  That gives the client the chance to tell me if their back, shoulder or knee hurts, or if they did boot camp the day before and their quads are sore.  It also gives a clue to their attitude.  If they say “not bad”, or “OK” that is a lot different to “terrific” or “ready to work hard.”

During the class keep watching and listening.  Last week I watched a client having trouble with leg alignment on the Caddy. When I asked her what the problem was, she remembered that she forgot to tell me, that she fell off her horse on the weekend. 

 2. THE ALL IMPORTANT WARM-UP

An effective warm-up is as important as any other part of the Pilates hour. The warm-up should wake up the body and introduce it to many of the movements it will be doing during the session, including flexion, extension, lateral work and breathing.

This is also your opportunity to attend to the client’s specific needs, remembering what you saw or heard at the start of class. This also allows you to assess the problem and decide if you need to change their program.

 3. BE FLEXIBLE

As a Pilates teacher you have to keep your body flexible, and you also have to keep your mind and teaching methods flexible.  You may have programmed an advanced class, then the client comes in with a sore back.  You have to be flexible enough to change everything, making sure they still get a full body workout that is safe, effective, good for their body, challenging enough to make it worthwhile, and helpful so they leave the studio feeling better than when they arrived. And be creative.  If an exercise is not working, feel free to modify it so you get the best results for your client.

 4. ENDLESS PATIENCE

To be a great teacher you have to love your clients as if they were your kids or pets.  You can’t play favourites and you have to have endless patience.  

Have you ever had that client that can’t remember anything?  Cultivate patience.  Sometimes when clients enter the studio they just want to empty their mind and be told what to do.  They don’t want to think or make decisions.  It’s up to you, as a great teacher, to patiently give them instructions, patiently remind them of the starting position, the breathing, the alignment, etc.  They will get it, someday.

 5. CLEVER CUEING

Clever cueing can make the difference between getting precise, controlled movement from your client, or just a blank faced confused stare.  Just like people learn from watching, doing or listening, cues come in three types; verbal, tactile and visual. And with all types of cues, use imagery, like “feel magnets at your knees” to improve the clients understanding of the exercise.  

Tactile cueing is often the most efficient.  It’s easier to gently lower a shoulder, elongate a leg, or lift a breastbone while the client is doing the work, than to stop them to explain what is necessary. However, in this time of social distancing it’s not always possible. 

It’s more important than ever now, to make verbal cues as efficient and effective as they can be.  Start by eliminating unneeded words.  Instead of saying, “would you please lengthen the top leg for me”, just say “lengthen your top leg.”   And use positive language - “keep your knees together” instead of  ”don’t let your knees come apart”  

Visual cues can range from gestures, like opening your arms wide, to full demonstrations. Often adding a visual cue when explaining an exercise, helps to teach it.  Demonstrations are good for the client who learns by doing.  They often want to jump in and do the movement, without listening to the specifics.  If you demonstrate the exercise, then ask them to do it, they will have more success.

 6. KEEP LEARNING  

You can’t teach something you don’t know well.  Always keep learning and refining your teaching skills. This may be in the form of courses, videos, books or self practice. Being committed to your learning means you can offer more well informed and interesting classes to your participants, and keep things more interesting for yourself.  It also gives you the opportunity to observe other great teachers.

 7. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Make sure you maintain your own Pilates practice! Being clear on the exercises as you do them will make you clearer when you are teaching, and you will look like the absolute pro that you are when you demonstrate them.  This is the time to understand the movement on your own body, to learn the intention behind the exercise, and the strategies involved to do it well.   It is also the time to enjoy doing Pilates, to keep yourself fit and flexible.

8. LAUGHTER ALWAYS HELPS

When teachers share a laugh or a smile with clients, it helps them feel more comfortable and open to learning. Using humour brings enthusiasm, positive feelings, and optimism to the class.  Every teacher’s goal is to be effective in the classroom and inspire students to be engaged and eager to learn.  Moreover, laughing is good for the abdominals, and enhances rapport between teachers and clients.

 9. BE PROFESSIONAL

Be proud that you are a Pilates professional and act the part.  Turn up to work on time, prepared, well groomed, with a positive attitude.  Keep all personal problems out of the studio.  Make sure all client notes and paperwork are legible, precise and complete. Ensure that all your requirements such as insurance, first aid and continuing education credits are up to date. Whether you work for yourself or for someone else, be fastidious in all that you do.  And remember, you are the boss of your studio or your class.  You set the pace, you control the clients, you make the rules. 

10. BE YOURSELF

No one else can do what you do as well as you can.  Embrace all your quirks and idiosyncrasies and enjoy every moment of being a Pilates teacher. No matter how much you may love another teacher’s style, they aren’t you! It’s great collaborating with and getting inspiration from other instructors but never compare. Be yourself and embrace your individual style. There is nothing better than a genuine and authentic personality. There is only one you – own it.  Smile and have fun because you have chosen a great profession.

 Cheers, Geri Taylor

Thanks for reading this.  If you have any thoughts about what else should be on this list, email me. vivapilates@bigpond.com

Workshop Reviews - Australian Pilates Method Association by Wendy Larsen

What is Fascia? Why is it important? Fascia’s functions and how it is related to Pilates.

Pilates and Fascia - Fit Together

I was lucky enough to attend Geri Taylor’s Pilates and Fascia Workshop on Saturday 4th May 2019. Coincidently this coincided with National Pilates day - what a way to spend the afternoon, immersed in knowledge surrounded by inspirational Pilates women.

Geri lists the goals of the afternoon workshop as follows:

Learn about fascia.

Practice Pilates with a different focus.

Assess clients using fascial lines.

Have fun and meet new people.

We began the workshop with a roll down. I’m thinking…..”Hmmmmm OK, love a roll down but what has this got to do with fascia?” Geri then gets us all to roll our our feet with a pinky ball. Here i’m thinking “Oh my, this is heaven”, and whilst I’m sure we all could have done that for four hours, Geri asks us to do yet another roll down, but with the thought process of what has changed, what restrictions are now unrestricted, how does your body feel this time? For me, there was definitely less restriction in my lower back and also my right hamstring. LIGHT BULB - It’s all connected, the fascia from under the feet travels the length of the body toward the top of the head. As Oprah would say, and “AH HA Moment!”

Geri then took us through a fascia focused workout on the mat. so far this is the most practical workshop I have been on.

Following this, we discussed what is fascia, why is it important, fascia’s functions and how it is related to Pilates. We looked at the Fascial Lines ( if you are not familiar with these check out Thomas Myers Anatomy Trains) and how to use these fascial lines when assessing a client; what to stretch and what to strengthen.

We then moved onto the equipment, looking a the functions of Fascia; Stretch, Spring, Revive and Feel. Finding new way of stretching on the Wundachair and Cadillac, Feeling on the Reformer, Wundachair and Cadillac, Springing on the Jumpboard and finally Reviving with release work on the roam roller, pinky and squishy balls, before being shown some Bowen Therapy techniques to soothe and relax ourselves.

Concluding our workshop was the Inclusive Circle - eight women and eight therabands around a magic circle. The feeling of connectedness to the group of women standing around me and knowing that at that moment we all had to work together to hold each other brought the workshop home to me.

If you ever get the chance to take a workshop with Geri Taylor I suggest you must. I know that the education committee is looking into getting her onto the 2020 calendar. Want to know more about Fascia, Pilates and Bowen Therapy? Get in contact with Geri via email at vivapilates@bigpond.com.

Are You really Doing Pilates?

Pilates involves so much more than turning up and going through the motions.  In a true Pilates class you learn as much about mind and body as exercise.

Here are 5 ways to know if you are really doing Pilates.

1.  Can you feel your core working?  Centering is one of the main principles of Pilates, where all movement is initiated from a stable, centered space.  It takes awareness, concentration and control to move this way.  If your workout seems erratic and lacks the core connection, you are not doing Pilates.

2.  Is there a focus on breathing?   In Pilates it is essential to focus on the breath along with the exercise.  Pilates movements help to improve breathing, and Pilates breathing can make the moves easier or more challenging.  If the breath is not part of the exercises you are doing, it's not really Pilates.

3.  Is it continually challenging?  Doing Pilates well takes work.  Mental and physical effort are required to keep all of your body parts working efficiently to create specific movements.  If you are not being fed details to continually improve your practice, you are not doing Pilates.

4.  Why isn't my instructor doing the class too?  Pilates teachers don't work out with you so they can watch you, and correct your movements.  These corrections and modifications can bring great benefits to your body.  If you are not your instructors focal point, nope, not Pilates.

5.  Is it supposed to hurt this much?  No!  Pilates is not meant to over fatigue muscles, and quality is more important than quantity.  After a Pilates workout you should feel energised, and function well for the rest of the day.  If you find yourself exhausted or in pain after a workout, you're not really doing Pilates.

Thanks to Brielle Brown, The Pilates Project Blog, for the inspiration.