When you take a mat class, especially in a fitness setting, what is your expectation? I have spent many years refining and creating what I teach. I still think on it, tweak it and change it daily.
In my role as Regional Pilates Manager for Equinox in SoCal I am constantly auditioning instructors to teach privates as well as mat classes. The mat classes are closest to my heart. They are my favorite format. It may be because of my dance/performance background…. or that it was the format I started with. But how far is too far with variations and like anything else, what makes a class worth going back to again and again?
I am consitantly encouraging instructors to think outside of the box and bring creativity back to training…
and then I take class and there is no semblance of flow or continuitiy.
So how far is too far to think outside the box? The markers of pilates are; flow, breath and core focus….okay, so if we start there, where does that take us?
My opinion is that if you stick to the classical ORDER then tweak the variations within that structure, you’ve got a sure winner. Variation is where the creativity and personlizing come from. Perhaps your class in a fitness facility needs more hamstring stretches because they tend to spend more time on cardio equipment….
Things to be leary of; Too much down time. The marker of a very green instructor, trying to teach a group like you would a private. Too much explanation and demonstrating. The goal of the mat class is to ‘practice’. Meaning MOVE. We, as instructors know learning happens in the private studio and practice happenson the mat.
keep to that.
Joseph’s work was based on quality NOT quanity, trying to blast out a fitness class with a million repitions, not a great idea. The pilates kids who come will be turned off, and it isn’t the point of the work.
To conclude; too many repititions, too much dead/down time, too many cues or words…never a good idea. You could throw in variations (even ones that came form another format) if it made sense to balance the bodies in front of you. Music can even be a great addition IF it isn’t distraction. Either background noise or carefully choreographed and placed.
Class can be anything as long as there is purpose and reasoning behind it that amounts to a workout, meaning, you feel like you’ve done something exerting by the end of it, you feel longer, taller and more narrow.
If you get down to it, Joseph’s original work WAS a fusion (blasphemy, I know) He begged, borrowed and stole movements from all formats to create an amazing method that made even more sense when combined. His work came from creativity and ‘filling the hole’ what was needed to balance the bodies in front of him. We, as the next generation of instructors should strive for the same thing.
Like everything else, preparation, understanding and an IT factor make a god class.
moving throught life carrying their ’stuck’ energy. Trauma is trapped in the body at the celular level. 
