Pilates Technique Thursday: Back to Our Roots

Woman standing in perfect alignment, showcasing elegant Pilates posture and balanced body awareness.

Today I want to bring us back to the roots of what we do as Pilates teachers. At the heart of everything, whether it is Matwork, Reformer or any other piece of apparatus, is one simple goal. To get the body moving better, working better and yes, looking better too.

It is easy to get caught up in the repertoire, the cues and the principles, but let’s remember why Joseph Pilates developed this method in the first place. It was not simply to give people a workout. It was to restore function, balance and efficiency to the body.

Here is the reality. Up to 80 percent of the population will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. And if we are honest, even 80 percent of us as teachers have had moments where our own posture or movement patterns have caused issues. Modern lifestyles are not helping. We sit more, we move less and the body pays the price.

This is why our work with breath, our principles and the full repertoire of exercises must have a purpose. For me, after teaching for many decades, it always comes back to one key question. How do I get this body to work better?

I often tell my clients that my job is not just to get them moving. It is to find the muscles they are not using and get them to switch on again. Take someone who is very flexed forward. Their chest is likely tight and their back muscles weak. That is where we come in. It is not about doing every exercise in the book. It is about selecting the right exercises to open what is closed and strengthen what is weak.

In a one to one session, this is where we shine. We can design a program tailored to their posture, their movement habits and their needs. In a group class it is more challenging because we are dealing with many different postures at once. But even there, our role is the same. Choose exercises with the most general benefit for the room and use cues that encourage individual awareness and corrections.

So today, as you teach, remind yourself that the exercises are your tools. It is your observation and decision making that bring them to life. Every movement has a purpose. Stay focused on helping your clients and yourself find better posture and more efficient movement.

That is the technique. That is the Pilates method.