Written By Tricia Whitlock
1. Explore new places
Everyone wants access to a fabulous travel experience. And you deserve it! But think beyond the vacation for a sec. Are you wondering what it’s like to live in Colorado…..in March? Or the Florida keys…during the off season? If you’re dreaming of a more permanent move, a temporary travel gig is a great opportunity to scope out an area before you commit to a permanent move.
Many of our travel hosts have expressed that they could consider keeping a traveling instructor on staff permanently, so your travel job may be the door to your next career move. But if it doesn’t go as planned, taking a temporary position is a less risky option to explore new places and studios.
2. Personal Growth
Now that pilates is literally everywhere, our options as pilates instructors are more vast than ever before. You can teach in nearly any culture, to any demographic, on a wide array of equipment, in any style you can think of.
The possibilities can feel exciting or downright overwhelming. If you are a newer instructor, you can quickly build experience by travel teaching. Step up and take on another instructor’s clients while they are on leave, and you’ll get a glimpse of someone’s life work. You may even get the chance to work with an instructor you are starstruck by.
I had a personal experience like this when I was considering moving to Austin, TX. A studio was hiring a replacement instructor for one of their senior staff who was going on maternity leave. She had a full book of older clients who needed rehab pilates. I found that I clicked with this style, and my own rehab-based pilates practice bloomed from here.
When you challenge yourself, future employers will take notice and know that you are adaptable.
3. Get out of a rut
Senior instructors with many years of experience tend to seek clients and situations that enrich their professional lives. And perhaps they have less tolerance for the wrong clients regardless of what they can pay. I know I put up with a lot more bs when I was new. But for all of us, it’s easy to get stuck teaching the same exercises, on the same equipment, day in and day out.
We humbly suggest getting out of your comfort zone by traveling to teach in a new environment. There is always—ALWAYS—something new to learn in Pilates. We Pilates instructors need creative stimulation in the ongoing quest to help our students. Maybe this is why we buy new props or rearrange our reformers constantly. Or is that just me?
You will continue to be inspired when you seek new challenges. Remember when you felt excited to share everything you knew about pilates? Traveling is perhaps the best way to recapture that magic.
Bottom line, you can’t stay home and know what you’re made of. Stay curious, keep seeking. Happy traveling and teaching!
Get started as a traveling Pilates instructor by joining PlankeApp! Find us on the app or play store. Create your instructor profile and view new travel-teaching opportunities worldwide.
