Last weekend I continued the progression of gaining my Pilates instructor certificate by completing the Movement Principles Workshop through the Balanced Body Program. The Movement Principles workshop entails learning about the ways our body moves, how to instruct and observe movement, and most importantly ways that we can move better. Each of the movement modules will focus on in-depth details of these topics: “The essential anatomy, kinesiology and training principles for each area.”, “Foundation exercises to illustrate each principle in movement.”, “Optimum form and common corrections for each exercise.”, and last “Coaching, Cueing and teaching tips for successful communication.” These tools and instructive materials will provide you with the skills needed to progress your movement knowledge, allowing you to teach whole body, upper body, lower body, and restorative movement.
The Movement Principles course is led by a single teacher through the Zoom platform. The instructor has another trained pilates teacher to use as a model to show movement and corrections through the camera. Zoom is a very valuable resource as we are able to all have conversations through the chat box, through the microphone, or within our breakout rooms. This was a great way to run the course as there were very minimal resources required… all that was needed was a mat, foam roller, and pilates ball.
This course entails an immense amount of information about the importance of the connection of mind to body. Without this connection, specifically as a teacher, it is hard to understand the benefits, safety, and meaning of the movement. A mind-to-body connection is not only the integration of positive movement and encouraging thoughts, but instead the understanding of where, what, and how we move. Having this knowledge will make you a successful and universal teacher.
One of the aspects of becoming a teacher I was most worried about was that I had very little knowledge of the inner systems and how they connect to our movement. Due to my lack of knowledge in this area, I began creating more doubt in myself surrounding correction, knowledge of injuries, and modifications. After completing this course, I developed so much knowledge through doing the movements myself, instructing the movement to my peers, and asking the instructors questions.
In conclusion, this course is a very important integration into this training process. This course is developed in a strategic way to incorporate the understanding of both the outer and inner body movement which will support your learning as well as your future students. Knowledge of safety, foundational movements, and how the body works as one is a collection of understanding which will be extremely beneficial to bring into your teaching.
