Pregnancy Pilates teacher training

Why the Pilates industry needs to level up!

Pregnancy Pilates teacher training is not what it should be. Well, to be honest Pilates teacher training is not what it should be either but that’s a whole other article!

When I trained as a Pilates teacher way back in 2009, I wanted to do the best possible training.   I found a Pilates Foundation course that was 18 months long, with 3 days a week of lectures and over 400 hours of teaching before I qualified and it was bloody brilliant! Ever since I finished I have been told by clients that they can see the quality of my training and it was worth every penny of the £8,000 I invested in it.

When I finished my training I went to work in studios throughout London and I didn’t feel confident in working with pregnant women. We had had a full days workshop in pre and postnatal but it wasn’t what I needed it to be in applying that to clients so I did my first pre and postnatal Pilates teacher training. That is when my obsession with all things pre and postnatal started and I have gone on to train extensively in the area, gaining as much information as I can from experts all over the world. I love my pregnancy Pilates classes but I do wish more Pilates teachers were doing what I do and offering the amazing benefits to their clients.

When I did my pregnancy yoga training in 2012, which was done over 3 or 4 weekends over the space of a few months, I realised that the level of depth about so many areas was filling a lot of the gaps that had been left in my understanding of pregnancy and birth (I didn’t have kids of my own at this point either) and I started to wonder- in Pilates, why do we think that one weekend to cover both the pregnancy and postnatal period is enough to qualify us a specialists? If you look around your local pregnancy classes, you are likely to find much more pregnancy yoga that you do Pilates and I believe that is because most people finish their pregnancy Pilates teacher training and just don’t feel ready to go out and teach a group of women and birthing people.

But as Pilates teachers we have so much to offer pregnant women and birthing people!

Here are just a few of the reasons I think people need us as Pilates teachers and why more in depth training in pregnancy would serve the Pilates industry so well:

Benefits of Pregnancy Pilates

• Increases body awareness, well being and self confidence
• Allows for a person-centred approach and individual adaptations based on stage of pregnancy
  and individual pregnancy conditions
• Improves breathing and abdominal support harmoniously with each other
• Focussing on the breath will help to balance the pregnant body, provide relaxation and enable the diaphragm to move in a way that may be difficult day to day
• Improves core stability and strength in order to help to support the postural demands of pregnancy and prepare the body for life with a baby

• Align body and create better balance to improve Optimal Foetal Position and birth outcomes
• Learn about birthing positions, active birth and conscious birth choices
• Low impact exercise system that will increase energy and endorphin levels
• May help to lower levels of stress, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety by providing a space of relaxation, mindfulness and calm
• Improves general circulation, blood flow, drainage, fitness and stamina and therefore may help to prevent or improve symptoms of medical conditions such as gestational diabetes and high blood pressure reduce varicose veins and swelling of the feet and ankles.
• Encourages safe transitory movements for everyday life
• Provides education about the pelvic floor which may help during labour and during the recovery from childbirth
• Can address muscular imbalances and lumbopelvic instability caused by pregnancy and new postural demands. Improving strength and alignment may help avoid/improve symptoms of conditions such as PGP, carpal tunnel syndrome and Diastasis Recti
• Ongoing postural assessments will increase ‘awareness of posture particularly while feeding/lifting/carrying’ and will help towards regaining stability.

Over the next few years I am going to be developing my own Pregnancy Pilates teacher training and I am really excited to be part of raising the standard for Pilates teachers everywhere!