Can I Ask You a Question?

"I am a very good teacher.  I know I am.  I absolutely love what I do for a living and believe so whole-heartedly in the magic that Pilates offers the human body. I have invested in my education  But I don't have confidence in myself as a professional because I am overweight.  I don't look like what a Pilates Teacher should look like.  I'm super strong, but I'm bigger boned and love my food.   I was raised to love my body and all of its curves...and I do.  But I find that Pilates culture doesn't support that mindset.  Any advice?" Sincerely ~ Not Your Pilates Body

Dear Not Your Pilates Body,

You know this, but sometimes you have to hear it objectively from someone else -- every body that does Pilates is a Pilates body.  The body with the hip replacement is a Pilates body.  The body with the spinal fusion is a Pilates body.  The body with the arthritic knees is a Pilates body.  The body that does marathons is a Pilates body.  And you too, with all your beautiful curves, are a Pilates body.  

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's address your feelings that being bigger makes you less of a teacher.  

Teaching, in at the most basic level is a person's ability to communicate information that facilitates the learning and/or understanding of information in another person.  So your body, and what it looks like, has absolutely zero to do with how you organize and communicate information for another person.  What you are feeling is that your body being "bigger" is akin to wearing a big sign that says  "Pilates doesn't work" or "Pilates with me doesn't work".  

Here's why I know this.  Five of my 20 years teaching Pilates and owning a studio was spent very overweight.  For a short time I looked in the mirror, all I saw was a giant billboard that said "don't go to her studio.  Clearly, pilates doesn't work".  But I never allowed myself to get bogged down by it.  For those 5 and the other 15 years, I taught 40 hours a week and had a long wait list.  The teeny tiny women who were striving for a size 0 would beg for times on my calendar.  Not because of what I looked like, but because of how I taught.  I was a better teacher than any skinny-minny out there and they knew it.  

And yea.  Maybe when they left the studio they commented to each other about my size and my chosen career path...or maybe they didn't.  It didn't matter to me. I stood in my power to communicate, to educate, to motivate, to inspire and to have fun with what I did.  I brought confidence and knowledge to each and every single session and that's what they came for.  Not the size of my lulu's.  

So next time those negative thoughts creep in, stand up a little taller and remember that every person in your schedule comes to you for your talent as a teacher and your knowledge of movement.  THAT is your job and you are damn good at it.  

xx

Jessica