The Four Cs of Your Pilates Practice

Our magazine uses four Cs as a teaching framework: centering, control, concentration, and coordination. Think of them as questions you can bring to a familiar exercise.

Centering

Where is the movement coming from, and how are you organizing your trunk? Ask your teacher what centering means in this particular task. Bracing everything as hard as possible is not a universal solution.

Control

Can you manage the movement in both directions? Notice the return as well as the effort that starts it. On apparatus, the way you handle the moving parts belongs to the exercise.

Concentration

Give yourself one useful focus. Perhaps it is the breath, a setup detail, or a cue your teacher just offered. Trying to think about fourteen corrections at once can leave none of them with much attention.

Coordination

How do the different parts of the movement work together? Notice the sequence, rhythm, and relationship between the limbs and trunk. A simpler variation may make that relationship easier to understand.

We use these four Cs as a teaching framework. Take one question into your next lesson and see what it helps you notice.