What to Focus on as a New Teacher
Congratulations, you’ve made it, you're a Pilates instructor.
I’m sure many of us seasoned Pilates teachers can remember the time we first stepped into the world of teaching. It may have felt exhilarating, daunting or both at the same time. With so much to learn and master, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. To help you navigate this journey, I’ve put together some tips on what to focus on as you begin your teaching career. Everyone’s journey will be different and some of these tips may resonate more with you than others. The below ideas are designed to be a guide and to give you a sense of what can come next for you in your teaching career.
1. Mentorship Matters: How to Find the Right Mentor
When I first completed my certification, the resources and support available to new instructors were not as abundant as they are today. Beyond my initial teacher trainers who guided me during my observation hours, I had to navigate my early career independently. It wasn't until seven years into my journey that I found the right mentor, someone who truly understood my needs and aspirations as a Pilates teacher.
Finding the right mentor requires research, conversations, and tapping into channels of expertise specific to the areas you want to develop. I sought advice from established teacher trainers who could see not only the guidance I needed but also the ‘fit’, the personality, touch and delivery that would resonate with a teacher like me.
Here’s some advice in seeking the right Mentor:
A Mentor Should Meet You Where YOU Are At: It's crucial that a mentor tailors the experience to your current knowledge level and career goals. A mentorship should be customisable to your qualifications and experience level, ensuring that you acquire new knowledge and skills relevant to your specific needs.
Balanced Integration of Teaching and Career Development: Look for a mentor who offers a harmonious blend of theoretical concepts, visual demonstrations, auditory instruction, and kinesthetic application. This comprehensive approach will give you a well-rounded understanding of the skills being taught.
Amplifying Your Best Attributes: A mentor's role is to help you build on your strengths while addressing areas for growth. It's a partnership based on mutual respect, where both the mentor and mentee share responsibility for honoring the unique dynamic. This involves staying committed to timelines, tasks, and assignments, ensuring accountability, encouragement, and support are always present, all while focusing on forward-moving career goals.
2. Beyond Initial Training: Continuous Learning is Key
An initial Pilates certification provides a foundational understanding of the Pilates method. However, it often falls short of equipping instructors with the full range of skills needed to succeed in teaching. Many contemporary certifications offer only a brief overview of the Pilates method, with limited anatomical background and a focus on specific postures. What I mean by this is ‘most qualifications are teaching you how you to ‘do’, not how to ‘teach’.
To truly succeed as an instructor, it's important to deepen your understanding of each posture and where it fits within the broader Pilates repertoire. By gaining a thorough understanding of what is happening in each posture, you can better communicate with your clients, build sequential programs, and help clients achieve their goals.
3. Fundamentals vs. Fancy: Master the Basics First
As a new instructor, it can be tempting to add complexity to your classes out of fear that you're not doing enough for your clients. However, the phrase "Forget the fancy, focus on the fundamentals" holds true for a reason.
Confidence in teaching comes from competence. If you are a new teacher, your focus will be with building competence in your client and in your instruction and delivery. If your client is new to you, they are building a relationship with your competence and confidence, “a trust”.
Your primary focus should be on building competence in both your instruction and your client's ability to execute the exercises. The basics have a powerful way of creating intention, direction, and progression, allowing both teacher and client to deepen their Pilates practice.
If you find yourself introducing a complex movement that lacks clarity or purpose, it's important to step back and question why you're teaching it. The fundamentals will always provide a solid foundation for growth.
4. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: Building Confidence
Many new instructors struggle with imposter syndrome, feeling like they don't belong or aren't good enough. Building confidence as a teacher requires time and practice, but there are strategies you can use to overcome these feelings.
Focus on mastering the basics, as discussed above, and remember that confidence comes from competence. Additionally, seek feedback from your clients and peers, and don't be afraid to ask questions. The more you engage with your students and the Pilates community, the more confident you'll become in your abilities.
5. Core Values for Instructors: Upholding Integrity
As a new Pilates instructor, it's important to define the core values that will guide your teaching practice. Some key values to consider include:
Service: Remember that your role is to educate, support, uplift, and challenge your clients. Everything you do should be in service to your client's movement experience.
Boundaries and Balance: Establish clear boundaries to maintain balance in your life outside the studio. The Pilates industry won't create these boundaries for you, so it's important to take charge of your well-being.
Passion and Curiosity: Stay curious and be willing to constantly learn and grow. Embrace a beginner's mindset, and be open to exploring new connections that can enhance your personal practice and teaching skills.
6. Learning from Clients: Staying Open to Growth
One of the most valuable aspects of teaching Pilates is the opportunity to learn from your clients.
So what can you learn from your clients?
You can better develop your ‘teaching eye’ - i.e. your ability to visually see movement and individual pilates postures across varied anatomy, asymmetries and skill level. By observing their movement and responses, you can refine your teaching eye and adapt your instruction to better meet their needs.
Further develop your ‘Learning style’ - think about your ability to create variability in instruction in observation of client’s movement response and energetic frequency, hear, look, touch.
And finally create client ‘trust and intimacy’ - by communicating with playfulness, intention and vulnerability allows clients to ‘try’ with you and experience a present pilates practice without the pressure of perfection, be it client or teacher.
7. The Importance of Asking Questions: Growing Through Inquiry
Asking questions is essential for growth as a Pilates instructor. Whether you're seeking feedback from clients, guidance from a mentor, or insights from peers, asking the right questions can help you deepen your understanding and enhance your teaching skills.
After seven years of teaching, I ask clients during and after both classes and private sessions for feedback on their movement practice. It is an essential requirement in my eyes in building and sustaining connections to practice and client engagement. Ensuring clients feel safe, respected and valued to be heard and seen in any given practice is a part of the service role. If you’re not doing it, you’re not teaching, you’re instructing, and hey, that might be your level and capacity at the moment, in that case, not a problem. If not, know the difference.
Don't be afraid to ask for help or clarification—it's a vital part of your development.
8. Making an Impact: Defining Your Unique Contribution
As you gain experience, consider what unique impact you want to make in the Pilates community. Whether it's specialising in a particular area, such as trauma-based teaching or working with elderly clients, or simply bringing your unique personality and passion to your classes, think about how you can contribute to the field in a meaningful way. Your impact will grow as you continue to learn, teach, and share your passion for Pilates.
Starting out as a Pilates instructor is a journey of continuous learning and growth. By focusing on mentorship, mastering the fundamentals, and staying open to learning from your clients and peers, you'll build a strong foundation for a successful and fulfilling career in Pilates, I just know it.
Anthea Maclean is a traditional and contemporary Pilates Teacher from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Anth has been teaching for six years and studied Pilates initially through Elixr School of Pilates (ESOP).
Anth created the Master Your Class workshop almost a year ago now, after she felt lost within her career and wanting more from the industry. Her MYC course helps teachers to quality control their own teaching skills and toolkit in an effort to encourage refinement, beyond their qualification. To find out more visit @repertoirepilates