Pilates Soulful Sunday: When the Method Teaches You

Michael guides a teacher through the Teaser, emphasising precision and flow in the movement.

Today is the last day of our summer school here in Athens. It is an important day because I have clients coming in for the teachers to work with. This gives me the chance to see them teaching real clients before they go away to start practising in preparation for their final exam. I am surrounded by a group of inspiring teachers, new teachers for the apparatus, though each of them already teaches Matwork. Over the past days, we have been moving through the full repertoire. That is the important part, of course, but as I keep saying to them, it is not the most important part.

What really matters is learning how to make things work for each client and understanding how the method teaches. As we go through the training, I find myself reflecting deeply on my own teaching. I am explaining again and again the difference between teaching the method and simply teaching movements.

Teaching movements is about getting clients from A to B. Teaching the method is something more layered. It is about using cues to connect them to the principles, centring, breath, control, precision, flow, and concentration. It is about educating them to embody Pilates rather than just perform it.

The Pilates Method as a Mirror

Every time I teach a group like this I am reminded how much the method also teaches me. It holds up a mirror not just to how I move but how I explain, how I listen, and how I adjust my approach for different bodies and minds. Teaching, I have realised over the years, is an ongoing journey. We never really arrive. Instead we keep reflecting, refining, and rediscovering how to do it better.

The Lesson Within the Lesson

What I have noticed here in Athens is that the more I focus on explaining why we do things a certain way, the more the teachers light up. It is not about memorising exercises. It is about understanding how each movement fits into a bigger picture, how it connects back to the principles, and how it educates the client beyond the studio walls.

As I guide them, the method guides me. It reminds me to stay curious, to question, to keep learning. Not just new exercises but new ways to inspire and empower the people we teach.

An Invitation for This Week

This Soulful Sunday, I invite you to reflect on your own teaching. Are you teaching movements or are you teaching the method? When you step into your next class, consider how you can bring more of the method into the room. Not only for your clients but for yourself.

Because in the end, teaching Pilates is not something we finish learning. It is something we grow into again and again.