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January 2017

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Teaching Emily Pilates (Part 2)

After last week’s mess, I was sure that I wouldn’t see the same people in class again. That they’d skip Pilates at the club this week and join something else. Maybe wait for the regular weekly teacher to be back again next week. I was wrong!

I received a second chance and saw familiar faces this time. I made sure to correct all the mistakes I made last week, so I asked for everyone’s mats to be vertical to mine and checked in with them on their bodies. That made all the difference.

Because I knew that the gym had Pilates magic circles available, I had learnt to incorporate them for our exercises. I found them useful as a device to help them activate their muscles.

I’m still improving on making modifications and progressions in a group setting, and looking back now I would probably make them do more isometric work because they were slower to make changes in their positions once they were set. But the class felt so much more manageable today and I’m thankful for that!

The amount of knowledge surrounding the human body in motion is just so incredibly vast. I felt like being humble about it was the key to today’s class being great. I don’t have all the answers and they don’t expect me to.

While packing up, two ladies thanked me and we chatted a bit about their private Pilates sessions which I was excited about because I do think private sessions and machine work are so much better for people with injuries and for people over 50. The lady who had commented last week about the exercises being strenuous to the knees mentioned that the class was challenging but manageable! I was so relieved.