Why Do So Many Pilates Instructors Experience Imposter Syndrome?
Many Pilates instructors search for confidence, scope of practice guidance and support when working with clients with conditions like osteoporosis, breast cancer or pelvic health issues.
There is a question I seem to hear with surprising regularity whenever I speak to Pilates Instructors. Sometimes it is expressed openly. Sometimes it is hidden beneath another question. It usually sounds something like this:
"I'm not really sure I'm qualified to work with clients like that."
The client may have osteoporosis. She may be recovering from breast cancer. He may have Parkinson's disease. Perhaps they have persistent back pain, joint replacements or simply the multiple health conditions that increasingly accompany ageing.
Whatever the situation, many instructors quietly admit to feeling uncomfortable, despite having successfully completed their qualifications. It is a feeling we have come to describe as imposter syndrome, but I have found myself wondering whether that explanation tells the whole story.
What if that uncomfortable feeling isn't evidence that we are inadequate?
What if it is actually the moment we first begin appreciating the responsibility that comes with helping another human being?
Over recent months I have become increasingly interested in what happens next. Some instructors retreat towards the clients they already feel comfortable teaching. Others convince themselves that they already know enough. Others, however, take a very different path. They become curious. They ask better questions, seek advice, reflect on their experiences and, almost without noticing, begin discovering the professional they are becoming.
That process has fascinated me for many years, not simply as someone involved in Pilates education, but as an educationalist interested in how professionals continue developing throughout their careers.
In this month's Pilates Consultant Industry Perspective, I explore why qualification and confidence are not the same thing, how one client can quietly change the direction of an instructor's career and why I believe professional confidence develops not from knowing everything, but from learning how to respond thoughtfully when we discover we don't.
Along the way, I'd like to introduce you to Nadia and Sarah.
I suspect you'll recognise both of them.
Read the full Industry Perspective: