Pilates Thoughtful Tuesday: What Is Mentorship in Pilates?

Pilates teachers sharing ideas and feedback — mentorship begins with open conversation and shared experience.

Recently someone asked me, “What is your mentorship programme?”It made me pause, not because I did not have an answer, but because the word mentorship can mean so many different things in Pilates, and it is worth unpacking.

When I began my own Pilates journey, I did not enrol on a structured course like we see today. My training was more of an apprenticeship, side by side with Alan Herdman. I taught alongside him, watched him closely, listened to his words, and observed how he worked with clients. That was my mentorship. It was not packaged or branded, but it was formative, and it shaped how I teach to this day.

That is why, for me, mentorship is not about ticking a box or following a set syllabus. It is about

• Being observed while teaching and receiving real time, constructive feedback

• Discussing the 'why' behind your choices, from movement selection to sequencing

• Refining your cueing, both the content and the tone

• And most importantly, it is about developing your voice as a Pilates teacher

Many teachers I work with have done multiple trainings but still lack confidence in how they are delivering the method. That is where mentorship can make a real difference because it is not about learning more movements. It is about how you are teaching the movements you already know.

In my own mentorship support, I encourage teachers to

• Invite feedback on what is working and what is not

• Stay connected to the Pilates principles

• Understand how to adapt, not just instruct

• Recognise patterns in clients and respond with skill, not habit

It is easy, especially with experience, to fall into a rhythm. Familiar cues, default progressions, routines that work. But mentorship challenges you gently to ask

• Is this still the best choice for this body in front of me?

• Am I really teaching the client, or just the exercise?

So when someone asks me about my mentorship programme, I often say it is a conversation. It is not a course you complete, it is a relationship that evolves. Sometimes formal, sometimes informal. But always with one goal: helping you become the most effective, authentic, and confident Pilates teacher you can be.

Because we all need someone who can help us see what we are too close to notice.

Even after 45 years of teaching, I still do.