Pilates Body Awareness

Let me say this clearly — DO NOT GO TO THESE CLASSES! There are better to be had.
My husband and I had been looking to get into yoga for sometime. We needed a place close to home so we can get back to our daughter in time for dinner. A good friend who teaches Pilates in New York told us to give that a try instead. So when I saw an Amazon local deal for five classes of Pilates nearly across the street from where I live, I was thrilled! And signed-​up immediately.
To be clear — we paid for a five week class trial. We only could stomach three of those five. Here’s why:
The instructor and owner of this school — Chris Hocking — is the most condescending and patronising person I’ve come into contact with since my move to London. I expected my Pilates classes to be similar to yoga — in the vien — that the atomsphere would be calming and serene. Where individuals would spend time focusing on their bodies, breathing and posture. However it was a constant yelling fest about money with a side dose of making sure you listen to everything she said, so she never has to repeat herself.
There are simply better classes to be found out there. Watching her chastise a student because she forgot to follow ‘protocol’ and have money to pay for the next set of classes on her fourth class is ridiculous. Having to listen to her berate her through out the rest of class while making it clear to me and my husband that we’d HAVE to have the money NEXT WEEK if we wanted to go forward was equally as annoying.
And then there is the way she speaks to her entire class on the movements. Which I won’t go into because Sunny K says it best in her review of the place. Watching her yell at an obviously foreign woman, whose first language isn’t english, about why she has to repeat what position her leg should be in is quite outstanding.
I just can’t say enough to prevent people from giving this woman any more time or money.

This was super-​frustrating to me. I was very excited about trying Pilates for the first time, but I found the instructor (Chris Hocking) so unbelievably patronising, I just couldn’t imagine going back (even though I’d purchased a pack of 5 classes and I’m probably one of the most careful-​with-​money people you’ll ever meet — I hate wastage!)
I forced myself to go back after 3 weeks, just to see if she was really as bad as I remembered — or if it had just been a bad day for her, but man oh man… I just don’t know how people can listen to her! (Tho it does seem that others felt the same way — the first session was very full of newbies, but the last one I went to was only a third-​full).
It’s hard for me to describe quite how skin-​crawlingly excruciating she is — just imagine the worst, most smug teacher you ever had at school and multiply by 15…
I’ve blocked out much of my memory of her, but here’s a sample from last week: «Now, the Olympics made me realise that we cannot settle for lameness anymore. None of you should be lame. I can see in this exercise that some of you are showing lameness. You are not listening and one has to listen or one will ruin the whole class. All of you should be able to memorise everything I say and do it perfectly each time…» (also imagine this being spoken in the plummy, posh tones of a plump, pedantic Hyacinth Bucket type character!)
Arghh! She just doesn’t know how to teach and shows no compassion for people who are putting themselves out there and trying to learn a brand-​new skill. I give the class 2 stars because I actually enjoyed the stretch in my shoulders, but as the girl I spoke to last week said — «Wish I could say see you again — but there’s no way I’m ever coming back here»!