Maybe it starts in class. You’re halfway through a roll-down and instead of focusing on your own spine, you’re watching the person next to you and thinking: if they just softened their knees, that would feel so much better for them.
Or maybe it’s the moment you realise you’ve been explaining Pilates to everyone in your life – your mum, your partner, your colleague who keeps saying their back hurts – and genuinely loving every second of it.
The truth is, most people who become incredible Pilates instructors don’t wake up one day with a sudden calling. The signs were there for a while. They just needed someone to point them out.
So here they are. Eight signs you might be more ready than you think.
1. You watch bodies – and you notice things
You’re in class and you can’t help but observe. You notice when someone’s hips are uneven in a bridge, when a shoulder is creeping up towards an ear, when someone is gripping where they should be releasing. You’re not judging – you’re just fascinated. This is one of the most natural gifts a teacher can have, and if it’s already happening for you, it matters.
2. You’re always the unofficial explainer in class
Someone whispers that they don’t understand the exercise. Before the instructor has even looked over, you’ve quietly offered a cue. It feels natural to you. That instinct to help someone move better is exactly what teaching is built on.
3. Pilates genuinely changed something for you
Whether it was recovering from an injury, finding something that finally felt good in your body, rebuilding strength after pregnancy, or simply discovering a form of movement that you actually loved – Pilates did something for you. And that personal experience? It becomes your greatest asset in the studio. The teachers who connect most deeply with their clients are almost always the ones who remember exactly what it felt like to be a beginner.
4. You’ve googled “how to become a Pilates instructor” more than once
You’ve done the research. You’ve compared courses, read reviews, wondered about the hours involved, thought about whether you could make it work financially. The fact that you keep coming back to it is telling you something.
5. You want a career that actually lights you up
Maybe you’re in a job that pays the bills but leaves you feeling empty. Maybe you’re returning to work after maternity leave and you know you can’t go back to what you were doing before. Maybe you just want to spend your working hours doing something that feels purposeful. Teaching Pilates is genuinely one of those careers where you leave work feeling more energised than when you arrived.
6. You care, deeply, about how people feel in their bodies
Not just how they look – how they feel. You’re the friend who asks about someone’s back pain and actually listens to the answer. You find anatomy interesting. You’ve noticed that when people feel good physically, everything else shifts too. That level of genuine care is what makes an amazing instrutor.
7. You crave a creative, flexible way of working
One of the most underrated things about teaching Pilates is the freedom it offers. Studio teaching, private clients, corporate wellness, pre and postnatal, online – there are so many ways to build a career that fits around your life.
8. You keep thinking “I could do this”
At the end of class, watching your instructor cue everyone through the final stretch, something in you thinks, “I could do that.”
So – what happens next?
If you’ve read this and felt a flutter of recognition at more than a couple of these, I want you to know: that feeling is worth following.
The Bondi Rise Teacher Training is our contemporary, mindful movement programme for exactly this kind of person. Developed alongside a physiotherapist, taught in small cohorts, and built to equip you not just to teach – but to build a career you’re genuinely proud of. We cover the full mat and reformer repertoire, anatomy, cueing, class structure, and – because we think this part matters – a complete business module so you leave knowing how to actually make this work.
Our autumn cohort is now open, with a small number of spots remaining.
If this is the year you stop wondering and start doing — we’d love to hear from you.
Lottie x