January 30, 2019
An Inch Wide, A Mile Deep
Finding your Niche in the Pilates Community
By Karena Thek
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I can’t remember the last time I taught the Hundred, let alone the Series of Five. Yes, I teach using the Pilates equipment and I definitely have modified the existing Pilates exercises for the person standing in front of me, but “real” Pilates—no, I haven’t done that for a long, long time. All because I found a niche.
My niche.
I wasn’t looking for it, it found me. I was asking clients to do movements that they simply couldn’t do. In the case of osteoporosis (OsteoPilates, 2003), I realized how much of what I would normally ask a client to do was contraindicated. For scoliosis (Scolio-Pilates, 2011), oh, well now … where do I begin? In a nutshell, if you give an abdominal prep exercise to someone with scoliosis without correcting/adjusting the scoliosis first, that’s like taking someone without scoliosis and saying, “Wait, before you start that crunch, I want you to side-bend your neck to the right and now rotate your neck to the left. Good, now you can begin.” In the world of Pilates, correcting alignment is always paramount, so what was I doing? Asking someone to move from an uncorrected alignment? Yes, that is what I was doing and no, I wasn’t happy.
However, I do have to question my own words above—the part that says “I wasn’t looking for a niche, it found me.” That’s probably not true. I’ve always been looking for more; I like searching for more solutions, more details and just “more” in general. I love the challenge. I love challenges in general—for crying out loud, I own a basset hound. So if you, like me, are constantly looking for more (or if you own a difficult dog breed—on purpose), you may need to find your own niche.
Getting started on your niche.
Chances are good, that you are already on the path to your niche. Given enough time on any topic, we all find the part that interests us most. You know there’s a part of teaching Pilates that you just can’t wait to get to. The part of the class that flies by. Or you might have a type of client that walks in the door and the 1 hour session feels like 10 minutes. Do some thinking, writing, or meditating on which part of teaching you absolutely love, the part where time just disappears. Is it the client that is super-fit where you get to do all the really fun challenging Pilates exercises? Or do you love the client that couldn’t walk so well when you met them and now they are thinking of giving up their cane? Maybe it’s not time with your clients that you relish at all? Maybe you love studying the movement but wish someone else could teach your classes. Or maybe you love all the details that go into marketing—photography, social media, planning and executing. These are all potential niches for you, and there are so many more.
An Inch Wide, A Mile Deep
When you find the thing that makes time fly, you naturally do more of it. If it’s athletic clients that you love being around, you will learn about the challenges that they face and what can help them. You’ll spend more and more time researching and then executing the best class possible for that population. Keep doing that and you’ll earn a reputation as being “great with athletes”—and now you’ve got not only the local high school athletes knocking at your door, but all the marathon runners and triathletes in town as well.
You chose one population, athletes. That’s one inch out of the miles of possibilities out there. Then you dove into your subject: you found the authors and professionals that are experts on it, you read their peer-reviewed studies, and you put it on Google alerts to ensure you always have the most up-to-date information on it. That’s a mile deep.
Learning expands in a limited environment
I was bemoaning my limited experience to my colleague in Seoul, Dr. Hang Jin Kim. I told him, “I’m just a one-trick pony these days, all I teach is Scolio-Pilates.” He shook his head and said,
The people, the experts, that I have known that know the most and make the biggest contributions are the ones who focus on one topic and then use that topic as a jumping off point to explore everything else. And because it has context within your “niche” then it makes sense, and you not only expand what you are learning, but you expand the community’s understanding in general. These types of “one trick ponies” make the biggest impact on their communities.
He was right. I wrote OsteoPilates before Scolio-Pilates. But I understand osteoporosis better now because of the effect scoliosis has on osteoporosis and vice versa. I understand neurological changes better through scoliosis. I understand everything from muscle imbalance patterns to a disorganized shoulder girdle to pelvic floor concepts better by researching all these topics through the lens of scoliosis. It’s exciting because the list of things that I understand with more depth and more clarity, because of scoliosis, could fill pages. But it doesn’t have to be scoliosis. Your topic might be breathing, stretching, strengthening, balance, coordination, .…
Final words
Don’t look too hard for your niche. Instead, look at those things you are already doing. Look for the part of your life and your work that makes time fly. Look for those things you can spend “hours” doing where you relish every moment. And finally, look for value. Is the time you spent studying and executing being rewarded? Look for the rewards in many forms — through positive feedback from clients or colleagues, a renewed excitement for your work and, most importantly, your own improved disposition and health. My best wishes to you. You’re already on the right path. Just keep walking.
Karena Thek is a Pilates Instructor with a passion for managing pathologies in the Pilates setting as well as disseminating information for those who are ready to change. Her work has led her to author OsteoPilates, Increase Bone Density, Reduce Fracture Risk, Look and Feel Great! (2003) and Scolio-Pilates, Exercise for Scoliosis, A Pro-Active Guide (2011). In addition to her books, she has numerous webinars and free YouTube videos on the topics that she teaches. Karena is the host of a women’s health talk radio show, Alive & Well Radio on AM1220 KHTS. You can listen live from anywhere on the planet at www.hometownstation.com. She previously hosted Pilates for Healthy Bodies on PBS (2009-2011). And when she’s not teaching, writing or thinking about Pilates? You can find her on Facebook and Twitter posting pics of daily adventures with her partner John and their furry little child, Gus T. Basset Hound. Learn more at osteopilates.com