Do you ever wonder what it feels like to move like another person? In a way, this is part of my job every day as a Pilates teacher. For this aspect of my work, I find it helpful to think back to something I came across in the Polestar Pilates Introduction To Principles Manual. It lays out the following as written by Ann Shumway Cook, a Physical Therapist and Emeritus Professor at The University of Washington:
"Acquisition of advanced movement skills or motor control involves a process that includes the following four stages:
This process is applicable to all Pilates practitioners from the beginner to the advanced. And it is important to note that the beginner is not always unconsciously incompetent and the advanced mover is not always unconsciously competent. Rather, these stages are fluid. One can progress from one stage to the other, sometimes in the flash of a moment. For other movement skills, it may take days, weeks, months or even more! And let’s not forget that just when you think you’re unconsciously competent, an injury temporarily annihilates that skill, or a new teacher comes along and notices something that was previously unnoticed about your movement. You’re back to unconsciously incompetent, even if just for a moment.
I find it comforting that no matter what each day presents, when I practice Pilates, I am always exactly where I need to be. This process describes being in the moment with my body. I encourage my students to enter into the present moment with their own bodies when they come in for their Pilates lesson. As far as I can tell, this is the closest we can come to being in control of ourselves.
"Acquisition of advanced movement skills or motor control involves a process that includes the following four stages:
- Unconsciously Incompetent
- Consciously Incompetent
- Consciously Competent
- Unconsciously Competent."
This process is applicable to all Pilates practitioners from the beginner to the advanced. And it is important to note that the beginner is not always unconsciously incompetent and the advanced mover is not always unconsciously competent. Rather, these stages are fluid. One can progress from one stage to the other, sometimes in the flash of a moment. For other movement skills, it may take days, weeks, months or even more! And let’s not forget that just when you think you’re unconsciously competent, an injury temporarily annihilates that skill, or a new teacher comes along and notices something that was previously unnoticed about your movement. You’re back to unconsciously incompetent, even if just for a moment.
I find it comforting that no matter what each day presents, when I practice Pilates, I am always exactly where I need to be. This process describes being in the moment with my body. I encourage my students to enter into the present moment with their own bodies when they come in for their Pilates lesson. As far as I can tell, this is the closest we can come to being in control of ourselves.