Expectations: It’s About Growth – Not Perfection

Expectations:  It’s About Growth – Not Perfection 

Our expectations when we teach are everything.  Everything.  If we expect our clients to be able to achieve more than they are able, then we have set our client and ourselves up for destruction.  The Pilates session has to be about achieving growth and positive change, not about attaining perfection. 

Perfection is unattainable.  Have you ever been perfect at anything?  Have you?  No.  You have not.  You can bash yourself all you want for not being perfect and work within that cycle for the rest of your life or you can choose to stop it now.  Hence, if we as teachers expect this unattainable perfection from our clients, then we are remarkably rude asking for the impossible.  Nothing can ever be perfect.   

It absolutely makes me laugh at the absurdity when I see a teacher asking too much of her client!  It cracks me up!  Your client comes to the studio 1 -3 times a week for a mere 55 minutes and you’re expecting perfection or anything close to it?  Please!  Your client is not a “Pilates Professional”!  Your client just wants to work out and make positive changes in her body.  And you are working on this material all of the time and can’t seem to get it perfect (because it’s impossible to attain perfection), but you expect your client to be able?  You’re asking for the impossible.  It’s unkind. 

While nothing can ever be perfect; striving towards growth and greater achievement is absolutely attainable.  It’s even greatly challenging.   

Then striving towards growth and greater achievement…that’s our goal!  Striving to make positive changes within an exercise and therefore throughout the entire workout is our goal.  From repetition 1 to repetition 5 we must see a positive change!  So, it is our job to figure out what is the most important and appropriate cue to give to make the appropriate change! 

How do you do that?  You have to understand this work better than you already do.  You have to keep studying it.  Keep your mind alive when you teach.  Observe your client’s body as a whole.  See what works and what doesn’t work.  Try to figure out the goal of each exercise.  Find the through line challenge of the entire workout; the one missing link that is showing up in most exercise.  Find the root of this challenge.  That root is where you have to look to help your client grow; progress. 

We’ve got 3 to 5, sometimes 10 repetitions to make a positive change in each exercise.  Look carefully at repetition 1 of an exercise, support it with the information you’ve gotten from the exercises that have preceded and then cue appropriately.  Use your words; try different words if needed; if that doesn’t work, get your hands on and then get out and let your client do it on her own! 

Help your client attain positive physical growth.  This is what it’s all about! 

***As always, if you would like to share your thoughts and/or comments, please do!  And if you have any requests or ideas for a blog from me, please let me know!  All the best!  Enjoy!***