BECOMING A GREAT PILATES TEACHER

A great pilates teacher needs a good training as the foundation. There are still some teachers alive that have learnt directly from Joseph Pilates. I had the great privilege to meet and learn from Romana Kryzanovska, one of Joseph's best students. She was a vibrant person full of energy and I could feel the spirit of the true method from the very first second. But then you go back to normal teaching life with your clients and specially at the beginning of your pilates career you encounter many questions and insecurities. So how to keep evolving and learning on your own? I am going to share some suggestions out of my own experience.

1. First of all I highly recommend to subscribe to pilatesology.com as the source of the authentic pilates method online. They have hundreds of video lessons with very experienced teachers.

2. Then I highly recommend to practice pilates daily with a mirror, so that you can watch yourself from the side and with as little clothing as possible to really see your muscles and bones. In doing so you will develop an eye for correct alignment and what you learnt from watching yourself you will then apply later to your clients even without thinking about it.. Joseph Pilates used to workout almost naked as you can see in most of his archival videos and pictures. So I tried this for myself and I was surprised how much more subtle but vital information and feedback I would get from my mirror.

3. Then a third recommendation is to practice slowly and to stop where there is the most effort and watch what you can correct. At the moment of most effort all our bad habits become visible. So watching great teachers online and watching yourself in the mirror can become a great source of ongoing learning that not only you will benefit from but also your clients as you will always discover new variations and insights.

Francisco Benitez

The Authentic Pilates Studio Marbella

www.marbellapilates.com