Pilates Tradition
Pilates and the "T" Word
30/03/10 13:19
Tradition, Y’all. We pilates instructors are steeped in it. we drop the names of the teachers, who taught the teachers, who taught us. Joseph H. Pilates is like Yip Man...everybody’s trying to trace their lineage back to him. The comparison is apt, Wing Chun and Pilates are both vulnerable to charlatanism because they consist of complex, odd looking movements that in and of themselves have no intrinsic value.
There is an internal focus that gives the movements meaning. Stuff the “looks like” Wing Chun will not protect you, stuff that “looks like” Pilates will not correct you.
This is what Tradition is supposed to guarantee against, the horror of irrelevance. These wavings of limbs are purported to have some real-world practical benefits, a tangible payoff for time and money spent. If the benefit can’t at least be felt, it may be time for a new pursuit. Tradition is best served by the person who can safely be asked “Why?”, a fulfillable confidence that there is a reason for this weird-seeming posture or move. Tradition is poorly represented by the personage who shames (or fears) the questioner, a ubiquitous carrot/stick of transformation not yet earned. The former decreases the difference between teacher and student, the latter increases it.
The first thing Tradition teaches us is equality, that the great being before us once stood in our humble shoes. Conversely, that the open minded new student might see something in the art that we teachers have not yet discovered. Tradition does not set one person above another, snobbiness and commerce do that. The concern of Tradition is to keep the art alive by keeping it accessible to the students. That is where the equality part comes in. That teacher, instructor, organizer...what ever you call the human temporarily in charge, has to value a fair question over their role as teacher. A good question is such a strong opportunity to teach that most teachers will instinctively chuck their persona, flow, and maybe even discipline to answer it. A fair question always merits brief notice but more importantly it always demands a little respect. That way we are all equals no matter who pays whom.
If a student is to be told “work harder” then they must be told why even if the reason is simple. “That strength is needed elsewhere” is a perfectly acceptable answer. Most questions are an opportunity for the art to flow between two people. The best support I can give to this sentiment is anecdotal. I have been fortunate to study with some undeniably great teachers, true masters, at least one in a pre-famous state. The great ones share many traits (I keep a list on the fridge) including this one: they delight in being questioned, often running on answering complicated questions only implied by the simple one voiced. They see a question as the way into the student, as their chance to live up to their traditions, a chance to be seized upon as aggressively as any fighter defends their title.
Teachers defend Tradition and Tradition requires more than learnable systems and transferrable knowledge. It requires a real live human who embodies the benefits of those systems and that knowledge. More than just embodies...enjoys. Such an example would be the gold standard acid test of a great teacher of any Traditional Art. They don’t just show you how to do it, they themselves show why its worth doing.
There is an internal focus that gives the movements meaning. Stuff the “looks like” Wing Chun will not protect you, stuff that “looks like” Pilates will not correct you.
This is what Tradition is supposed to guarantee against, the horror of irrelevance. These wavings of limbs are purported to have some real-world practical benefits, a tangible payoff for time and money spent. If the benefit can’t at least be felt, it may be time for a new pursuit. Tradition is best served by the person who can safely be asked “Why?”, a fulfillable confidence that there is a reason for this weird-seeming posture or move. Tradition is poorly represented by the personage who shames (or fears) the questioner, a ubiquitous carrot/stick of transformation not yet earned. The former decreases the difference between teacher and student, the latter increases it.
The first thing Tradition teaches us is equality, that the great being before us once stood in our humble shoes. Conversely, that the open minded new student might see something in the art that we teachers have not yet discovered. Tradition does not set one person above another, snobbiness and commerce do that. The concern of Tradition is to keep the art alive by keeping it accessible to the students. That is where the equality part comes in. That teacher, instructor, organizer...what ever you call the human temporarily in charge, has to value a fair question over their role as teacher. A good question is such a strong opportunity to teach that most teachers will instinctively chuck their persona, flow, and maybe even discipline to answer it. A fair question always merits brief notice but more importantly it always demands a little respect. That way we are all equals no matter who pays whom.
If a student is to be told “work harder” then they must be told why even if the reason is simple. “That strength is needed elsewhere” is a perfectly acceptable answer. Most questions are an opportunity for the art to flow between two people. The best support I can give to this sentiment is anecdotal. I have been fortunate to study with some undeniably great teachers, true masters, at least one in a pre-famous state. The great ones share many traits (I keep a list on the fridge) including this one: they delight in being questioned, often running on answering complicated questions only implied by the simple one voiced. They see a question as the way into the student, as their chance to live up to their traditions, a chance to be seized upon as aggressively as any fighter defends their title.
Teachers defend Tradition and Tradition requires more than learnable systems and transferrable knowledge. It requires a real live human who embodies the benefits of those systems and that knowledge. More than just embodies...enjoys. Such an example would be the gold standard acid test of a great teacher of any Traditional Art. They don’t just show you how to do it, they themselves show why its worth doing.