At Ismini Pilates and Body Movement Studio our philosophy is that all clients are students and we teach rather than instruct. These two words, ‘student’ and ‘teacher’, have such a different psychological effect on how a person perceives the classes they attend with us. If you are a student, you are learning to take control of yourself and how you move; if you are a client, you are almost relying on someone else to ‘fix’ the part of you that ails you. Learning from a teacher who guides and shows you how to move your joints correctly will have much further reaching results, rather than just following the moves of an ‘instructor’.
Personal input from students
When one thinks of a ‘client’ in terms of physical activity, it almost implies that the client is seeking for someone to ‘fix’ them, thus absolving them of any responsibility to help themselves by putting in the extra work in terms of homework exercises. All too often, I see ‘clients’ and ask how they are feeling and whether they have been following their exercise programme, only for the answer to be “no”. Remember, if you only attend one class a week then that’s just one hour out of 168, so some input from yourself is needed in order to speed up the healing process.
Becoming a Pilates student
Pilates and bootybarre have been shown to help many musculoskeletal issues, from back pain, to hip and knee pain. They both help with alignment – Pilates is always a good place to start if you have not done any exercise for some time as it helps you to understand your skeleton and how the muscles can move correctly (when your bones are beautifully aligned). bootybarre is a great add-on to your Pilates practice as both complement each other and bootybarre will add the cardio element that Pilates lacks. As much of the bootybarre programme is in standing and it is based on Pilates and ballet, it is particularly good for cardio, bone health, balance and flexibility.
Find out how it feels to become a Pilates student – come along to a class.
