50 Hours Down, 550 to go!!

When I put it like that, it sounds like I've barely started!  Morgan and I have been enjoying the first two weeks of training.  We are studying the foundational work for the first month.  We've learned, in detail, almost 40 exercises on the mat, reformer, tower, and high chair.  We have been observing these exercises being taught, we've been doing these exercises, and we've been teaching them.  We are living in the foundational work, or beginner systems.  Morgan even dreams about it, but I'll let her write about that.

We are also studying, studying, studying!!!  There is so much to learn that we didn't have to learn in our first certification.  We have to have all the exercises, the order of them, the number of reps, and the form memorized, which you would expect of us, but that's not all.  We need to know the basic bones of the body and the muscles.  We need to know the principles of Power Pilates teaching.  In other words, lots of memory work.  But this is GOOD!!!

It is amazing to me how even though I've been only doing the beginner systems myself for my own workouts, I've still managed to feel that I've been working out (ie - I'm a little sore!).  There is so much rich material in this work.  In observing Julie, our instructor, teach this system to clients in her practice, it's amazing to see how she can even push an advanced student hard in the "beginner" system.

In my own teaching, I've noticed that this is a challenge for both brand new clients and clients who have been working out with pilates for months.   I had the pleasure of teaching this work to a client I've been working with for four months.  Prior to today, I had only worked with this client in the more contemporary form of pilates, so it was fun to challenge her with this work in the order Joseph Pilates intended ... well to be technical for beginner systems ... Romana's order.

So what's the big deal about order?  Pilates is a method.  It's not designed to be a bunch of separate exercises performed in any which way you want.  It's not designed to isolate various muscle groups as if they all work separately.  No.  Pilates is meant to be a sequenced order of movements that integrate the body to work as a whole.  In this way pilates transforms the body creating improvement in posture, strength, stamina, flexibility, and an overall feeling of wellness.

In only 50 hours, I have become a better instructor.  I am still teaching a little, but I am practicing a lot.  I am working out a lot.  And I am observing a lot.  I have taken a step back from teaching so many hours per week to teaching only a few so that I can focus on my own education as an instructor.  On days like today when I work with clients instead of practicing on other instructors in the training program, I wish I wasn't taking this step back because my passion is in helping others progress through their practice, but I know this will benefit me and my clients alike.  If I didn't have this passion for teaching, I would be happy right where I am.  Pilates was life-changing for me (maybe sometime I'll tell you about that, but the short version is on our website), and I know that it is life-changing for others as well.