The Psychology of Clients
Every New Year we have an influx of new clients coming into the studio with new year resolutions to work out more, to finally try Pilates for the first time, or to get back into their Pilates and fitness routines. Many of these clients have never done Pilates before, maybe they took a long break away or previously did Pilates with another teacher or a different studio. The first session with a new client can be overwhelming both for the client and for the teacher as well, trying to figure each other out and settle into the new space. The client may expect to do things differently because they did it that way with another teacher, or they may have never been on the Pilates apparatus before. Trying new things can feel scary, and being with a new person takes time to open up and settle in. Sometimes clients may feel frustrated or close off, staring back with a blank look and we have no idea what they are thinking. We wonder if they're bored, annoyed, or confused, and depending on how they respond to us we think their reactions are based on our skill as a teacher.
When a new client comes into the studio it can be intimidating for the teacher as well. Learning how to adapt to work with and guide different people is a vital aspect of our teaching career, and yet we tend not to focus on it in our teacher training programs. New teachers have to learn all the choreography, transitions, anatomy, pathologies, precautions, and contraindications during training programs, so we can easily overlook the human element of our clients. The client is not a problem for us to solve or a body to choreograph, but rather a person with a unique personality for us to guide and assist.
It's important for teachers to remember this psychological element of our teaching, the psychosocial part within the biopsychosocial model. Even though we tend to focus on the physicality in Pilates and corrective exercise, we must remember the human within the body we're teaching.
Even for someone who has practiced Pilates before, it's intimidating to walk into a new space with a new teacher. The client is in a vulnerable mindset being new somewhere, trying a novel experience. As a teacher, we have the responsibility to create a welcoming, open, and accepting environment to care for the client. As we welcome them into the space, this is now their time and their space to care for them, and for many people, their session with us is the only time in the day that is time purely dedicated to themselves. It is the pause in the day of rushing to and from other responsibilities. By building a comfortable environment for the client to be able to feel secure right when they enter, they'll be able to work through new movements and explore what they can do. If we allow them the space to try, they can let down their guard to be able to make mistakes, learn, and grow.
Teaching Pilates is not only guiding individual bodies in movement, but also teaching individual minds and personalities, and how they think and respond to different stimuli. Everyone has a constant internal chatter that we tell ourselves daily. Mindfulness practices such as meditation or Yoga and Pilates help to quiet the mind to be centered, focusing on the current moment, and quieting the unconscious chatter of the mind. As teachers, we need to quiet our own mental chatter and insecurities to be open to figuring out how to guide the client on how they need in order to connect and feel safe. This is important for all clients, especially for trauma responses or orthopedic rehabilitation.
As teachers, how can we learn to navigate all these different personalities?
It can be frustrating and challenging to work with certain people and it can be easy to take client reactions personally. We have all of our own internal chatter, our own fears, concerns, and reactions. As we encounter different people we must take a step back to separate ourselves from the client. It's not about us, and that can be very difficult to remember especially for teachers who are sensitive, introverted, and empathic. How a client responds or reacts to something can be extremely informative, but we must take ourselves out of it in order to fully analyze the situation without our own input.
We can observe how a client learns, what types of cues they respond to, intrinsic cueing or extrinsic, what level of motivational readiness for change they are currently at, what their thought process is, and what types of internal chatter are distracting them. We not only have to learn the client's body but also how their mind responds and directs attention. It takes time to discover how the client processes and learns, and how they embody information. This process with our clients doesn’t happen in just a couple of sessions but is a constant journey that grows and changes over time.
However, there are plenty of things out of our control. How someone responds to us might not be something we can control. It's generally not about us, and depending on how a client reacts there can be elements we can control, but often there is a lot we can't. There is a suitable teacher for everyone, but not every teacher is right for every client. And not every client is meant for us. Not every teacher is right for every client, and not every client will work for us as a teacher. It goes both ways. We don't work for the client, but rather we are sharing our expertise with them to assist and guide them to feel their best to achieve the goals for which they came to us. There are now so many Pilates studios, which is fantastic as it gives people options to find the right space for them. Clients can go to whatever environment and teacher are best for them, and simultaneously we can be discerning and protective of ourselves as teachers to decide who we can work with as well. We are not at the mercy of our customers/clients.
It can be tempting to bend to the will of each client especially when we're new teachers, not wanting to upset anyone or lose a client. But in the long run, if it doesn't work well for us to teach someone, then that one person is draining our energy and the rest of our clients suffer as a result. So not only is it not good for us to be drained by that one person for ourselves, but it's not fair to the other clients when they all deserve the same amount of our energy.
What can we learn from the more difficult clients?
Learning to balance compassionate listening with our expertise to best guide the client, to adapt to the needs of each individual, while not feeling pushed over by clients with stronger personalities and louder complaints.
Our own internal chatter can turn into worrying about what someone is thinking, judging ourselves on how we cue something or how we say something, telling ourselves we're not good teachers or that we said something stupidly. But it all takes time. Just as the practice of Pilates is a continuous development, teaching Pilates and learning how to navigate all the different types of people we teach takes time and patience. Even when we've been practicing and teaching for 20 years we're still growing and learning in both our Pilates practice and our teaching practice.
So we must quiet the mind, calm the internal chatter and observe what we tell ourselves. Be aware that others have their own internal chatter with which they're dealing. With that understanding, we try to lead a client's practice how they need along with our expertise and compassion as best we can.
There's no perfect, we just see where we are, moving and breathing. Moving and learning. My goal as a teacher is to guide the client in an appropriate manner for them, combining my expertise with their unique needs.
We take the client where we know they can go with the proper guidance that works for them.
Associated Podcast:
Season 4 Episode 1- Psychologies and Personalities of Clients