Pilates Thoughtful Tuesday: Humility in Mastery

A thoughtful teacher reflecting on how experience shapes learning and the humility of mastery.

After years of teaching, it’s easy to slip into certainty. You’ve seen hundreds of clients, corrected thousands of spines, and heard the same questions a hundred times. Yet somewhere in the comfort of experience hides a trap. It’s called the Dunning–Kruger effect.

The Dunning–Kruger effect describes how people with little knowledge often overestimate their ability, while those with deep expertise tend to underestimate theirs. In Pilates, that plays out every day. A new teacher fresh from certification feels invincible, convinced they’ve got the method down. The teacher who’s been guiding clients for twenty years often questions everything. The irony is that both are doing exactly what human nature does when faced with learning.

Humility in mastery is about recognising that true expertise isn’t loud. It doesn’t insist, it observes. It asks questions. It understands that each client’s body rewrites what we think we know. The more years you teach, the more you realise that the method is bigger than you, and that’s the point.

If curiosity stays stronger than certainty, your teaching stays alive. The teacher who listens, watches, and keeps learning will always serve their clients better than the one who thinks they’ve arrived. In Pilates, as in life, mastery isn’t about reaching the end. It’s about realising there isn’t one.