Why Pilates?

I began Pilates in August 2024, after injuring my ankle while running. It was not the first time. I had tight calves for a while. I am also hypermobile, so have dodgy knees, hips, elbows and so on.

I had joined a new gym with a pool, as swimming was the only exercise I could do on my newly injured ankle. Why not rest? You ask. Because I do exercise more for my mental health than my physical health. I needed exercise in the same way I needed my antidepressants, it was – and still is – a prevalent part of maintaining my mental health.

Naturally, at my new gym, I took a look at classes. Being injured, despite knowing I needed exercise to keep the depression at bay, I was not motivated to exercise alone. A way to make exercise easier is to take classes. Someone else has to do the thinking. All I have to do is turn up and do what I’m told.

And on my new gym’s timetable was Yoga, BodyBalance and Pilates. None of these were high impact. None involved jumping or landing or straining my healing ankle. So I signed up.

I had done Yoga before, and to this day find my enjoyment of it very dependant on the instructor. My current understanding is that Yoga is a spiritual practice alongside the exercise. But for me, a non-spiritual person, it did not feel like a space for me, that I was intruding into this space of spiritual people. This did not stop me from going to sessions, the instructor was good, and did not fill the class with the spiritual aspect, but the feeling was still there.

BodyBalance is supposed to be a mix of Yoga, Pilates and stretching. It did not have the spiritual aspect to worry about. But as it was a branded routine, each section was repeated for several weeks before the class moved on to a new routine. For a while, this was not a problem, as I enjoyed the routine we were doing. Then it changed. And I cannot remember which bit of this new routine that I did not like, but I remember finding it boring. I was waiting for the sessions to end. And if its boring? Then I am not going to want to go back.

That left Pilates. The instructors were lovely. And I never once felt like I was bringing the class down for not being as good. In fact, I had no awareness of what everyone else was doing during the session. The instruction had me focused purely on my own body, my own movements, and working within what I was capable of that day.

I later realised that this was the closest I had ever come to “mindfulness”. Mindfulness is something you may be familiar with, if you’ve looking into anything to do with stress or improving your mental health. Often to “do mindfulness”, you’re encouraged to “clear your mind”.

This is impossible.

When attempting this, the more I tried to clear my brain, the more my brain filled with the fact that I could not clear it. But in a Pilates class, I was not clearing my brain, but I was focusing on one thing; the sensations of my body.

So not only was the exercise aspect doing something for my mental health, so was the mental aspect. And the gentle exercises helped my ankle recover.

As I recovered physically, and found myself being capable of doing more and more in each class, my enjoyment of the class increased. I gave up signing up to Yoga and Body Balance, and focused on going to Pilates where possible. Did this mean sneaking into lunch time classes and turning up to work half an hour late? Yes. Do I regret it? No.

Then, some time after Christmas 2024, I got an advert on Instagram: Do Mat and Reformer Flex Teacher training in the town where I live!

Now by this point, I followed a bunch of people on Instagram that did Pilates. I knew a little about Reformer. But Teacher Training? Me? No.

I ignored it. For a while. The advert persisted, however.

So I sat down in my cafe of choice, and researched Pilates Teacher Training. See, it wasn’t as initially crazy as it first seemed. I had done Martial Arts previously, and I had helped teach it. I enjoyed the technical aspect of Martial Arts and focusing in on good technique.

But Teacher Training was a lot of money. So I pushed the idea aside.

The advert persisted.

So I decided to take some Reformer classes. There was no point in learning to teach it, if I myself did not enjoy it. So at the end of March, I took my first Beginner Reformer Class. And I loved it. How could I not? It was fun! It was everything that was fun about Mat Pilates but with a moving carriage and springs and a foot bar! The studio I went to did a discounted pack of three for new clients. And so I decided that if I still liked it after those three sessions, I would do the Teacher Training.

Lo and behold, I ended up signing for Teaching Training.

But why BASI?

BASI were the first to advertise to me. And I know that is not a good reason to pick something. I also did some research into what others thought of their teaching training programme, and the reviews were positive. I got the impression from my research that quite a few of the main Pilates organisations are good, just have their own highlights. So picking between BASI in my town, or STOTT somewhere further away? Well closer was more accessible.

I also considered Online Training. They were cheaper, like a lot cheaper. And I wonder how much of my decision was snobbery against these online courses. The in person element felt valuable to me. And having an actual organisation, instead of a Generic Level Three, also felt… Well, it felt like picking Heinz over Tesco’s own ketchup. No offence to Tesco, their Ketchup is fine, but it is not Heinz.

It was only after I started my teacher training that I fully appreciated how right this choice turned out to be for me, but that is a story for another day.

So takeaway’s from this blog? Find a form of exercise you like. Be brave and put the entire cost of teacher training on your credit card and then avoid looking at it. And if you haven’t, try out Pilates.

p.s. Want a class? Send me message!