About The Author

Raphael Bender qualified as a Pilates instructor in

2005. From 2006-2016 he owned and operated
Australia's busiest Pilates studio, Breathe Wellbeing,
in Melbourne's CBD, with 2 locations, 1500 weekly
client attendances and 42 staff.

Since 2009 Raphael has trained over 2,750 Pilates

instructors through his company Breathe Education,
and he has interviewed many of the leading thinkers
and doers in the Pilates world for his blog
at https://breathe.edu.au/blog/

In April 2020 Breathe Education shifted all their courses 100% online, in the
process re-writing their entire curriculum to optimise it for the online
environment.

Breathe Education also developed a Manifesto for the Pilates industry in 2020,
to help guide and inspire instructors and studio owners as the industry shifts
online.

You can email Raphael at raphael.b@breathe.edu.au

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 Table Of Contents

5 Steps To A New Career 3

Preface: Embrace a changing future 4

1. Practice mental flexibility, optimism and resilience 5

2. When you do a thing, don’t do it half-assed 6

3. Do a government accredited course 7

4. Learn Matwork AND Reformer 8

5. How to find a job as a Pilates instructor 9

Don’t buy a flip-phone 11

Ready To Take The Next Step? 13

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5 Steps To A New Career
You love how Pilates makes you
feel, and you want to feel that
way every day. You want more
flexibility and freedom in your life,
and you want to help others:
Time for a career change. But,
how to make the transition?

What I’ve learned from running

Australia's busiest Pilates studio
for a decade, from training over
2,750 Pilates instructors, and from interviewing dozens of the world's leading
Pilates studio owners, managers and practitioners, I've laid out in this book for
you. All updated for the post COVID-19 world we are now living in. 

These are the steps you need to take if you want to make the transition from
your current career or situation to become a qualified Pilates instructor with
excellent job prospects, all within the next 20 weeks.

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Preface: Embrace a changing future

In March 2020 everything changed for the Pilates industry. Things may or may
not eventually go back to the way they were in February 2020.

The present situation represents a fundamental paradigm shift and a

massive opportunity for Pilates instructors and studio owners. Larger class
numbers and a worldwide audience are just two examples.

We can't know what the world, or the Pilates industry will look like in 12 months;
new norms are developing and client expectations are changing. The best
way to prepare for an unpredictable future is to develop agility,
resourcefulness and resilience.

Those instructors and studio owners who embrace the future will flourish in it.

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1. Practice mental flexibility, optimism
and resilience
The core of what you love
about Pilates will not change.
Pilates makes you happy, it
takes you out of your head
and brings you into the
present moment, it makes
you slow down, it is for your
mind and spirit as well as for
your body.

All these aspects of Pilates

remain exactly the same. However, many of the surface aspects have
changed noticeably, and surely we will see more changes over the next year.
Some of the key changes we have seen already include:

 All classes are now online

 Most classes are now based on Pilates matwork
 In many cases class sizes have increased
 Working with technology is now part of the job description

There will surely be further changes as the industry consolidates it’s shift to
online. We cannot predict what form these changes will take.

The best way to prepare for an unpredictable future is to develop mental

flexibility, optimism, resourcefulness and resilience.

Those instructors and business owners who are adaptable, optimistic and
resourceful will be most able to take advantage of the new competitive
landscape in the industry.

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2. When you do a thing, don’t do it
half-assed
I’m betting you’re goal-
oriented and want to be the
best you can be. 

You want to branch out and

challenge yourself, and
because you’re a classic over-
achiever you want to dive deep
and do it properly. Here are the
skills you'll need to develop.

The key skill areas of a Pilates instructor

1. Matwork and Reformer exercises

2. Cueing (using your words and body to teach clients the moves)

3. Programming (creating challenging & flowing class sequences)

4. Pre and Postnatal 

5. Injuries and pain  (managing injuries in your group class)

6. Finding your authentic voice (teaching as yourself rather than pretending

to be someone else who is more "worthy")

All of these skills are necessary to be a complete teacher. However not all
courses will teach you all these skills.  Some courses will only teach you
matwork, or reformer but not both. Most courses don’t include pre-natal, or
injuries.

So check the details of your course to make sure you’re going to learn all
these key skill areas.

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3. Do a government accredited
course
The word “accredited” gets thrown
around a lot in the Pilates world, and it
usually doesn’t mean what you think it
means.

Many so-called "accredited" courses are

in fact, not accredited at all, but rather,
are just approved by some private
organisation or industry body for ongoing
education credits.

To gain this kind of approval is easier than you may imagine. It usually involves
completing a one-page form and paying a fee to the "accrediting"
organisation.

Qualifications from privately "accredited" courses have no legal status.

In Australia, under the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator

Act 2011, only the federal government can accredit courses, through its
agency the Australian Skills Quality Authority. That's their logo on the left.

Government accredited courses sit within the Australian Qualification

Framework, alongside high school and university qualifications, and are
recognised by law throughout Australia, including by all insurers and
employers.

To check whether your course is government accredited, visit the National

Training Register at https://training.gov.au/Home/Tga#

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4. Learn Matwork AND Reformer
Over the last 5 years the Pilates market has exploded.

KX Pilates recently opened their 50th studio. Several other franchise chains,
and scores of individual studios, are opening and growing in every part of the
country.

Almost all of these rapidly proliferating studios are based around a single
room, equipped with 10-14 reformers and a stereo system.

Even through the present COVID-19 restrictions, class sizes have continued to
grow dramatically with many studios having 50-100 people in their live online
Matwork classes.

Post COVID-19 the Pilates industry may pick up exactly where it left off in
March 2020, or it may be changed in important ways – perhaps online mat
classes will continue to grow and rival the popularity of reformer.

We have no way of knowing the future. So you should learn both Matwork AND
Reformer. That way you’ll be ideally positioned to succeed in the industry
whatever form it takes.

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5. How to find a job as a Pilates
instructor
We don’t know what the industry will look
like in 2021, but there are certain skills and
attitudes that will make you attractive to
potential employers in any market.

Cultivate life skills

If there is one thing that employers value
above all else, it is the ability to
consistently fill your classes. This is a skill you will learn in your course.

However, there are many other behaviours that will make your employer's life
easier, and thus will have a bearing on your employability:

 Behaviour that embodies the values of the business you want to work for
 S eeking feedback and responding positively when you receive it
 Always starting and ending your classes on time
 Going out of your way to give excellent customer service
 S aying yes to covers, or less desirable shifts
 Maintaining stress-free relationships with your co-workers

These may seem like “d’uh”, but you’d be surprised by how many people don’t
get this right. Do these things and stand out from the pack.

Build and nurture relationships

Your classmates and the people you take classes from, are your future
employers. Engage with them on social media, chat before and after class,
send them a compliment, tell them what you loved about their class.

Asking advice is also a great way of developing relationships. Most instructors

are only too happy to share their knowledge and experience.

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Treat Pilates classes as a job interview
As you’re doing your classes online, demonstrate to your instructor (who is
your potential future employer) that you’re a great potential instructor by:

 Always arriving on time, and in a good mood

  etting up your space so it looks professional (you’ll learn how to do this
S
in your course)
 Being 100% present during class – no talking to people off-screen

How to bump into future employers

Pilates studio owners and instructors
congregate online in forums and
social media groups like the Pilates
Covers Melbourne and Sydney Pilates
Instructors FB groups.

Seek out groups like this both in your

area and across the world. Engage
with others in the group and share
anything you can that may help
others.

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Don’t buy a flip-phone
The transition to online Pilates has also
affected Pilates education, and some
providers are now livestreaming their
courses.

When a new technology is introduced to an

industry, the people in the industry often
use it in the way they used the old
technology it replaced.

For example, when digital cameras were introduced in the 1990s, they were
shaped like an analogue camera. Camera manufacturers thought of
cameras as an object you carried around with you.

Now, of course a camera is just a function in your phone. You probably don’t
own a standalone camera unless you are a professional photographer.

The first “horseless carriages” were built just like horse-drawn coaches but
without the horses.

The first mobile phones were flip phones, shaped like a landline phone
handset. Because the industry thought of mobile phones as being just like a
landline, but without the cord.

Think different
In each case, the industry treated the new
technology as being just like the old
technology.

And in each case the industry

subsequently developed new ways of
using the new technology that were
completely different to anything that had
been done with the old technology.

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The new world of online Pilates classes
Right now in the transition to online
learning, most course providers are
simply treating online learning as face-
to-face learning, done online. They film or
livestream their face-to-face sessions.

However online learning is not the same

as face-to-face learning. There are
inherent strengths, limitations and
opportunities in online learning, that do
not exist in face-to-face training.

For example, in face-to-face training it

makes sense to schedule a course
session over a full day, because students
have to travel to and from the training, so
scheduling a 1-hour training session
would waste a lot of travel time.

Whereas in online training, there is no

travel time, so it makes sense to schedule
several shorter sessions rather than a
single, full-day session. People can’t easily concentrate for a full day,
especially in an online format where there are distractions in the home.

There are many other unique aspects of

online training that can be optimised in a
purpose-designed online course, and
which make it fundamentally different to
a face-to-face course, done online.

Don’t buy a flip-phone, or a horseless

carriage. Seek out a course that is optimised for online learning.

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Ready To Take The Next Step?

Make a time to talk with one of our team.

We'll answer all your questions and give you the
information you need to decide at your own pace.

Book A Call With Us

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Your New Career
Awaits You