Updates!/New Title :)

It has been a WHIRLWIND past few months. Between my Pilates and artistic studies, academics and work, it's been difficult to maintain a consistent sense of balance and calm (as is evident by my sporadic posting ;)) HOWEVER, I am excited to announce that I have passed my certification exam and am now officially a Classical Pilates Mat Instructor!

After taking four tests, (Three practical beginner, intermediate and advanced mat classes and one written exam in anatomy and physiology) I am now able to practice and teach varying levels of mat with more confidence and know-how than ever. For my final test, I tried to be as connected as possible to my own body and the bodies of clients taking the class, as well as choose my words more carefully, as part of my never ending quest for precision! (six principles apply here, right?). Because of such concentration, I received my personal best score on any practical test I've taken so far.

Moving forward, I will continue to teach mat in my daily regime, with a greater focus now on learning and practicing the Apparatus. I still have a long way to go before I can test on the equipment and daresy maybe even graduate from the program, but it feels good to have made this big step forward. Look for more updates in the near future :)

Tease On like an instructor,

Ian

The Morning After

Today is another day and I've officially passed the beginner/pre-Pilates mat certification test! Going into it, I obviously felt nervous, yada yada yada, but confident enough to do it comfortably and professionally.  Trying not to be too critical on myself, I'll break it down for ya where it comes to details. Where I succeeded: I think years of public speaking, performance and tutoring helped to give me a good energy and competence as a teacher--also, I had the actual mat portion of the material DOWN and was pretty good about all of the necessary details. 

My instructor gave highest marks to me for my explanation of each exercise, which is a skill that definitely came from multiple different experimentations with explaining motion through imagery and precise instruction. 

Oi. What I need to work on: keeping track of reps! I didn't realize until the exam started how difficult it is to meld being an informative and energized instructor, while remembering rep numbers and key points about the importance of each exercise. That being said, I was able to keep the flow of the routine. I also need to make sure I'm not being too cordial with my classes, aka apologizing or second guessing myself. Many of the people who take these mat classes--especially beginner ones--have no idea what the details of the routine are and it's best to keep an air of authority and competence, otherwise students will start to second guess the instructor! We don't want that.

The other challenge that presented itself to me was the appearance of two clients over the age of sixty with prevalent injuries. Once I addressed what needed to be modified for them, I may have obsessed a bit too much on them, more than other students. It was a bit stressful as I had the largest class of all the students in the certification course and my hands-on work was not just for show, but actually necessary!

All in all, I am happy this first step of my journey has been completed, but of course I am always looking to do better and have to do my best not to be too much of a perfectionist when it comes to scores. I know one thing, after doing the routine seven times for other students, my inner thighs are feeling that Pilates stance!

Tease on!

Ian

FIRST CERTIFICATION EXAM...TOMORROW! Pre-Pilates Beginner Mat

....AT 9A.M.

Don't get me wrong, I feel very prepared to use the knowledge of instruction and fundamental Pilates information that I've learned in conjunction with the six principles, five elements of the mind, etc...but doing all this in about fifty minutes under the supervision of my peers and mentors is, to say the least, nerve-wrecking. 

It's a whole different thing imagining what it would be like to instruct a client, versus actually doing it  using clear cues, helpful hands-on encouragement, while maintaining a positive energy. The four other new apprentices I've worked with have all been so supportive, committed and diverse and I really hope we are all able to perform well tomorrow even though we live hectic and varied lives. 

I volunteered to go right at the beginning of the day, so I don't have to wait around nervously while others go. At this point, I just need to be confident in my cues and actions and that's the best I can do until I receive feedback afterward. 

I promise to let you know soon afterward how I did and how I feel, regardless of the outcome. Okay, gonna go study a bit more! 

Tease on!

Ian

Mat Certification in Full Swing...Test Coming Soon!

Hi Pilates-ers!

Last night I completed the second of my beginner pre-Pilates mat classes--this means that in about a week I'll be taking the exam! I am responsible for memorizing a beginner mat and weight routine, along with routines using the theraband and magic circle! There are about 5-6 of us in the class and we're all pretty nervous, but I've really liked how helpful and supportive everyone's been to each other regardless of age or experience!]

I have a feeling we're all going to do pretty well :) (At least I hope so since I volunteered to go second!)

Today, I'm gonna go teach my friend who has never done Pilates before! Hopefully I'll be able to cue her in the right direction!

Below is a link to a verrrrry important piece of the Pilates *method* (I have to keep reminding myself to say "method"). Regardless of what studio you may attend, knowing the SIX PRINCIPLES OF PILATES is integral to becoming a great student and informative teacher!

Have a good day everyone. Do a teaser for me!

http://www.bodylinespilates.com/principles.html

(**note: I have no personal association to the website of which the above content is displayed)