Why I don’t put my Yoga or Pilates Qualifications on my website

There was a recent question on Facebook and I added my thoughts……  

Do You or Don’t You put your credentials / training on your website?

And no I don’t……

I used to…..

Elite Pilates & Yoga Services & Teacher Training

But when I wanted to grow my Pilates Studio business and then my Yoga Studio business I took on a marketing coach, who specialises in working with fitness professionals, it was then that I learned ..  that no one actually worries about it or will even look at that page (and I’m yet to be asked and that was 4 years ago).

I can’t comment on anything in America, but here in UK Pilates is NOT a protected title and there’s nothing in law to say you have to be trained in Pilates (or yoga for that matter)…..the only thing is that you’ll need to find a way of obtaining insurance and that’s the challenge.  

There are a few insurance companies out there that will offer you insurance because of the experience you have.  So if you’ve been doing Pilates for 20 years and decided you wanted to teach it – believe it not there are some insurances that will offer you insurance based on the 20 years of experience.

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My husband always likes to play Devil’s Advocate, which drives me insane.  But he usually does have a point! (which is the part the drives me insane LOL)….

DO YOU NEED TO BE QUALIFIED?

Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger – he hasn’t got any bodybuilding certification… but would you still take advice from him?  Hell yeah!!!!

But how do you know WHO to take advice from and WHO not too…..???

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Arnold has achieved huge amounts of success DOING IT and has the evidence to prove his knowledge (just a few grand titles added to his name for bodybuilding).  BUT how would you know that the Pilates teacher you’re going to HAS that knowledge/evidence to back up what they are teaching you?

Which brings me on to…. Well, Joseph Pilates didn’t have a qualification in teaching Pilates (yes I know he was the inventor, my point is that he taught Contrology, but there was no qualification, at the time).  but again, like Arnold, there was evidence to show his method worked… so SHOULD we or SHOULDN’T we be getting caught up on qualifications?

My husband would answer no, and if we were all like my husband I’d say no we don’t – as he is one of the most dedicated and committed learners I know.   When he has his heart set on something then he will study it day and night until he knows everything about it… and he did so with Pilates…  (and he is certified by the way!), BUT we are not all OCD learners like my husband.

I, on the other hand, think training is very important – not only to ensure we are all of a high standard, but things change and there are often new developments in science, which may alter the way we do things now… so training allows us to be kept up to date with what is happening NOW and to make sure we do know what we are talking about!

That’s our opinion…  but what about our clients…

Most people in the general public have no idea…. And it’s certainly not their fault. There’s a lack of education on this topic and it’s only when you actually decide to go and do the teacher training that you start to find about these things…  

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But for Mrs. Jones who is 70 years old who wants to just keep moving and be as mobile as she can – it’s never even crossed her mind to find out what certificates and training her local village hall teacher has.   When we think of pilates teachers we think of them either in a gym/leisure centre or fancy studio with all that torturous looking equipment.

But the truth is MANY teachers including myself are teaching in village halls/community centres/church halls etc and maybe being a “pilates teacher” is not seen as a “proper job”… So they don’t even stop for one moment to think “is this person actually trained?” AND many people don’t realise the importance of having a trained / qualified teacher!

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In the past 6 years of teaching – I have only ever been asked about 3 times what qualifications I had and two of those were from other fitness professionals.  I’ve NEVER had a client even ask me and Paul, my husband who also does physical therapy/sports therapy has only been asked twice in 15 years!!

When this came up on Facebook and I posted my comment, I was asked to write a blog so I set off to ask my clients about qualifications and do they look or even know about pilates qualifications…

The answers more or less fitted into 3 categories…

“I don’t know anything about pilates qualifications”
“I didn’t even think about it – I just assumed everyone out there has some kind of training and passed exams”
“I didn’t think it was that important”

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So coming back to why I don’t have it on my website……  

In my opinion ….. People want to know if you can help them with their problem – not how many qualifications you have.   And considering I’ve had no one email me and ask for my qualifications because it’s not on my website, I think the evidence speaks for itself.    

The only time I hear about pilates qualifications is usually when a client has come from holiday and they’ve been to the hotel pilates class and they experience a different style of teaching, which is not wrong or right – just different and clients ask questions like “Are they trained same as you?” and then we’ll have a discussion about different training schools/styles of teaching etc.

While I do think Arnold can certainly teach me about bodybuilding – I have heard of some shockers of what Pilates teachers are doing out there and it’s only then I think…  Mmmm “What qualification do they have?” and then my focus shifts from Pilates Teacher to Studio Owner and who I would have teaching my clients….. And I do ASK, as I know of teachers who have done these online courses or there are courses offering only 2 or 3 face-to-face practical days for their Pilates qualification.

In our studio, we ONLY have teachers that have done their teacher training through us OR there are a select few other training schools, which we would consider…… because we honour the service that we are providing to each and every client and we want to make sure they are looked after properly!

When did we as a society stop asking questions? Especially when it comes to doing something to our own bodies.  No matter who I go to – whether it’s a chiropractor, a yoga teacher,  Pilates teacher or whoever… I want to be reassured that I’ve got someone who is going to look after my body and honour that my body does have issues and that my body can’t do the same as the person next to me, but that’s okay because they will still know how to look after me.

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The my final thought is…

How do we start educating people to ask teachers for their qualifications?

I don’t have the answer…

But this will lead on to my next post blog…

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD PILATES TEACHER 🙂

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Lots of love from Newton Abbot Devon

tanja xxx

(Elite Pilates & Yoga Services & Teacher Training).

https://www.youtube.com/c/ElitePilatesYogaServicesTeacherTraining

#pilates #yoga #yoganewtonabbot #Torquay #yogatorquay #newtonAbbot   #devon

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