The Art of Evolving as a Teacher
After twenty-five years of teaching Pilates, I've come to realise that evolution is not something that happens in a single moment. It's an ongoing journey through every class, every cue, and every client we teach year after year after year. Our teaching grows and changes because we do. The experiences that shape our lives, including injuries, aging, pregnancy, successes, challenges, and even moments of doubt, all find their way into how we show up for our students.
When I began teaching, I believed there was one "right" way to do an exercise, one "correct" way to teach the work. I clung tightly to what my mentors taught me, fearful that if I strayed from their structure, I would somehow be "less authentic." However, through time, experience, and thousands of hours with clients, I've come to realize that there isn't one right way. There are many true ways, each revealed through curiosity and lived experience.
The Art of Adaptation
The Pilates landscape today looks nothing like it did when I started teaching in the early 2000s. Back then, there were no Instagram tutorials, online memberships, or virtual mentorships. We learned through long days of practice and observation. We watched bodies move, learning from mistakes, and repeating exercises again and again until the concepts landed in our bones.
Now, education is everywhere. Teachers can access workshops, tutorials, and masterclasses from all over the world with a few clicks. It's inspiring and empowering and AMAZING, but it can also feel overwhelming. The sheer volume of information available makes it easy to lose sight of what truly matters: the connection between teacher and student.
I've learned that adaptation doesn't mean throwing out the old and adopting every new trend. It's about discerning what supports your teaching and what distracts from it. It's all about staying true to myself because I will teach with passion what I'm connected to. For me, that means filtering new ideas through my core values: integrity, movement quality, and connection.
Integrity reminds me to stay honest about what I know and what I don't. Movement quality keeps me grounded in precision and intention rather than fancy choreography or trends. For me, connection is the most important value of all. It ensures that regardless of how the industry evolves, the heart of my teaching remains rooted in the human experience of movement and relating to the person standing in front of me.
Letting Go of Perfection
When I mentor instructors, I often hear a version of the same worry: "I feel like I'm not doing it right." We live in an era where perfectly executed Pilates sequences flood our social media feeds. It's easy to internalize the message that good teaching means perfect teaching. But the truth is, perfection can be the enemy of growth.
Real teaching lives in the moments between the plan and the execution. When a client surprises you with a movement breakthrough, when you adjust on the fly, or when you throw your choreography out the window to meet your students where they are, those are the moments when teaching becomes art.
Allowing yourself to evolve means releasing the need to be flawless and embracing the practice of being present. It's in presence that we notice what our students really need. It's in presence that we reconnect with why we teach in the first place.
Avoiding Burnout by Staying Curious
There have been times in my career when I've felt drained and uninspired. Often, it wasn't because I'd fallen out of love with Pilates; instead, it was because I'd stopped growing. I had gotten caught up in increasing my client base, keeping the studio tidy, and returning client emails.
When we stop learning, we lose access to the creative spark that first drew us in. For me, the antidote to burnout is curiosity. Taking a workshop, revisiting a classical sequence with new eyes, or simply getting back on the Reformer for my own practice always reignites my teaching.
I firmly believe that maintaining a consistent Pilates practice is essential to prevent burnout. You have to do Pilates to stay excited about Pilates. My personal practice doesn't always look like a perfect 55-minute session. Sometimes it's 15 minutes before my clients begin to arrive for the day, but I make sure to move my body and get excited about teaching movement that day.
Holding Onto Your Roots
With all the evolution, it's easy to lose sight of our foundation. I often remind myself to come back to what first drew me to Pilates. For me, it was the feeling of strength, control, and grace brought back into my life after a career-changing dance injury. Pilates gave me purpose again. It offered a language for healing and expression when I needed it most.
Every teacher has some version of a story like this. A moment or feeling that first connected them to the work. Reconnecting to that story grounds us in authenticity. When we teach from that place, our voice becomes unmistakably our own.
The Balance of Change
Evolution doesn't mean starting over or abandoning what you've learned. It means circling back to what matters most with deeper understanding and renewed perspective. My teaching today looks different than it did twenty years ago. There's more softness, more humor, more grace, and more humanity in it. I still hold the same respect for the classical work, but I allow it to breathe, to live in the bodies in front of me rather than in the rigidity of my memory.
So if you're feeling uncertain, uninspired, or like your teaching is shifting in unexpected ways, take heart. It's supposed to. That's the beauty of this career. It grows with you and in you. Let yourself evolve. Stay curious. Hold onto your values. That's where the magic lives.
For over two decades, Carrie Pagès has dedicated her career to sharing the transformative power of Pilates through teaching, mentorship, and creative programming. She is the owner of In Balance Pilates Studio in Wilmington, NC, founder of CarriePagesPilates.com, and a sought-after workshop leader and teacher trainer who supports instructors worldwide.