Virtual Physio Pilates in lockdown
During the COVID-19 pandemic, my full time job in the NHS as a Senior Physiotherapist continued...but with a lot of changes (see my blogs on redeployment)! However, my part-time work as a Physio Pilates teacher was temporarily paused while we adapted to the new government guidelines on social distancing. After about 3 weeks of getting used to the changes to my full-time job on redeployment, I was then able to make the appropriate changes to my business in order to still continue teaching. This is where I started my virtual Physio Pilates classes.
Of course, things are a little different virtually compared to face to face. It was a great opportunity to think differently about the way I teach. I focused even more on my verbal cues on how to describe the correct body alignment and form, as my use of physical feedback to help with positioning had now been taken away.
I made sure that with every exercise there was verbal clarity and understanding of what muscle groups were being used and where you might feel the muscles working or stretching. I expanded on my use of visual imagery to help people reflect on their performance with each exercise. For those of you who already attend my classes, you’ll be very familiar with these now - beams of light shining out from your hip bones, keeping a little mouse house-sized gap underneath you when lying on your side and rolling through your spine one little bit at a time - like each pearl on a pearl necklace!
Running classes virtually has meant that I have participated in all the exercises throughout each session, rather than demonstrating a few and then going round to each person individually to help correct alignment or make adaptations. There was another benefit to doing this too- (aside from my own health and fitness!); it allowed me to experience the full class sequence of exercises as patients do and further enhanced my ability to focus on key alignment and body awareness factors as the class went along.
Running Physio Pilates virtually has been a really enjoyable change to my practice and has developed my teaching skills further.
Continuing classes throughout the pandemic not only helped to adapt my teaching skills but also gave me and my patients structure, routine and a sense of normality throughout the pandemic. While social distancing guidelines were in place during lockdown, it was a difficult time for a lot of people, with so many changes to their work, home and social life. Continuing with the routine of Physio Pilates classes each week helped maintain a focus on keeping healthy through exercise and finding time to concentrate on the body and mind - as well as just helping remember what day of the week it was!
The experience of running virtual Physio Pilates classes and attending another virtual exercise class myself, has highlighted to me the place for this type of exercise presentation throughout ‘normal life’. There are lots of benefits to virtual classes:
accessing the class and performing exercises in the comfort of your own home;
more easily scheduling exercise into your daily routine and- less time commitment through not having to travel to a location.
the ability to access a class recording to perform exercises later at a time that suits you!
It is because of these virtual class benefits that I have decided it is a great opportunity to keep this service going to allow everyone to have access to Physio Pilates - even those with busy lifestyles!
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