Author: Tanya Thompson
Date: 22 January 2021
Something was missing after my qualification!
The journey that happens after we qualify is initially one of excitement! We are so excited to start our new career, to use what we have learned and to help others feel better about themselves. We are about to change the WORLD!
And then the REALITY sets in! The real people start walking into our facility and when I say real, I mean not the little man that we saw in the study guide or in the literature that we read. This person actually has a personality, and many times, one that we don’t understand. They have ‘baggage’, they have aches and pains that make no sense, they have questions that seem challenging to answer… Wow, this takes me back to 1998 when I started on this journey.
I know that so many of us did a qualification that was supposed to be ‘one of the best’, I also know that the BIGGEST does not necessarily mean the BEST by any way, shape or form. If I go back 22 years, I felt ‘stupid’. I even felt that my brain was capable of more. And if it was capable of more, then I could give more to my clients. But I couldn’t give them my all, because ‘MY ALL’ was lying there untouched and silent. But there was a flame, and we all know that where there is a flame, there is fire!
The confusion, frustration, intrigue and not to mention doubt set in. I know I had so many questions and somehow, I could not find anyone who could say to me that these are the steps I need to follow to find the answers. Or, this is how it should be done Tanya, or this is what we mean when we say ‘x, y and z’. So, I embarked on the ‘great trek’ (an iconic event in South African History which means the great voyage). I started doing all kinds of courses and I felt completely underwhelmed. The teachings made no sense and they couldn’t back up what they were saying. The one biggest thing that hit me like a ton of bricks one day is how absolutely BORING all of these courses were. I never felt ‘psyched to take on the world’, to change the world. I felt my eyelids struggling to stay open and my own posture sink as I listened to an endless amount of theory without concrete application to anyone. What I really struggled with was how the many presenters themselves didn’t move very well. I never wanted them to be perfect but I definitely wanted to see that they could deliver what they were expecting from us regarding ‘good form’ and ‘no compensation!’
I remember watching an international presenter discuss and teach scapula stability and then demonstrate the push up. I was ‘SHOCKED’ and I looked at everyone in the room lapping up what he was saying and I wanted to shout ‘NO, CLOSE YOUR EYES’!
I was wasting my money and walking out of courses frustrated and super irritated. I could not find a mentor for myself because nobody inspired me when I did courses. I walked out with tons of photo copied papers that were really badly formatted and too many unanswered questions.
I wanted to say to them, ‘thanks for all the theory but can we please apply this to REAL people now’.
THIS WAS ALL HOLDING ME BACK FROM REACHING MY FULL POTENTIAL. I was in my 20’s, full of energy, I had all the time in the world to master my skill and I had no clear direction from anyone.
I could go on for hours on how this affected my mindset and my lack of enthusiasm and I know that if you have a desire to really do your best like I did, this would have eaten you up inside. I had so many people saying to me, ‘you are cleverer than this. Why are you not studying to be a doctor?’… well because ‘I don’t want to be a doctor. I love movement’.
But there was a gap. My friends in this industry were feeling it and I knew that if I was feeling it, others were too. We are NOT JUST PILATES INSTRUCTORS, OR PERSONAL TRAINERS! We are way more than that and I was going to prove it. I had a fire in me to do it differently. To answer all the questions that I had, to bridge the gaps that were missing in my training. I needed to do this for myself and for anyone else who felt the same way. It was crucial to my existence. IT IS MY CALLING! And so the journey started…..
Step 1 for me was connecting to anatomy in a way that no book would ever teach me. I am a great mover, I feel it, I understand it and I connect to my body in the movement. Now I want to tie this in with anatomy. But anatomy on its own is not good enough, I now need to tie it in with biomechanics. Again, I sat in on courses for this and what they were teaching me made no sense and the participants were lapping up the info. The presenters were not connecting to the movement and I could see it as they were moving. I thought… ‘am I the only one seeing this?’ I felt ripped off. I am sure it is by no fault of the presenters; they probably went through the same process I did, but they missed some very crucial ingredients to this process.
Why are we doing this, how are we doing this, with what are we doing this, what does it feel like and how will it feel for the billions of people in the world if they did the same movement and why would it feel different to them?
My obsession with finding answers consumed me and I wanted to share it with every single professional that I met so that I could reduce their journey of finding answers by a huge margin. And that is why I am doing what I do today. If I can change one person’s journey in a positive way, then I have made a difference.
I know that many of you might feel the same way. Even if you are a physiotherapist or physical therapist., I know that you never learned the practical physical programs that you can give to your patients. I know that you are googling ideas to help clients with their rehab programs and I know those programs are so generic without taking the clients REAL BODY into account or even their personality or state of mind. I know this because I have sat and had in-depth discussions with many Rehab Professionals and I have trained thousands of you in my career. They missed something when they were teaching you all of that theory, they missed the part that could make your career wholesome….. the practical help that you could offer your patients when they are ready to move on beyond initial rehab!
But here is the most profound statement… ‘many of us don’t even know that we don’t know’ so if I can plant a seed of a possibility to do things differently, to do things better and to give someone the tools to make a difference and hear ‘Thank you’ on a constant basis then I will do that. If I can plant the seed to help you feel accomplished in your knowledge and skills then I will do that!
When I decided to start Of-CourseOnline.com, I based every course on the most common issues that I saw when I was teaching courses as well as the challenges that I faced as a teacher. If you have a question right now, the answer is sitting in one of my Online Courses.
If I experienced it or was asked it, it was turned into a course. I answered all of my own questions and I turned them into valuable content for anyone who wanted to hear. When I say valuable, I mean that I spent a fortune on getting a professional filming company in to film and edit the courses. I spent months creating very cool manuals and most importantly years creating the content. My core belief was ‘To give more value than I receive and to NEVER be Boring!’
Hi, I am Tanya Thompson and I have been helping Professionals, such as yourself, to learn anatomy and movement in a relatable way based on various client types! I have been in the Movement, Rehab and Exercise industry for 20+ years and I know every single challenge that we are faced with when it comes to Education. I developed Of-CourseOnline.com because I saw that there was a need for High Level Continuing Education and Anatomy Training with more Value for Money. So I built Of-CourseOnline, partnered with 7 International Companies including the American Council on Exercise and together we started sharing my High Level Courses with as many Movement, Exercise and Rehab Professionals as possible. Why? Because we all deserve quality education with ‘killer’ manuals, high quality images and valuable content. But not only do we deserve that, we also want content that we can use IMMEDIATELY in our classes. This way we can enhance our career and improve our skill instantaneously. I want to Inspire You to reach your Ultimate Level of Becoming a highly skilled teacher.
I have been teaching Professionals as yourself for the past 20+ years. I have trained Professional Sportsmen, Physiotherapists, Physical Therapists, Fitness Instructors, Pilates Instructors & Yoga Instructors on how to excel in their career!
I am the Owner and Founder of Of-CourseOnline.com, Pilates Unlimited – the Art of Movement, FitroFlow.com and FitroFlow Schools.
My company has over 190 000 hours of experience in the Movement and Education Industry with members in over 45 countries! I also have 7 international Fitness & Healthy Partners who are sharing my courses with their professionals daily.
My Mission is to help you increase your knowledge, help you clients more effectively and help you feel Confident and Inspired to teach what you love! Our Motto is… WE DON’T DO BORING!
No matter what career path we choose, the human existence is based on growth. We need to feel that we are growing our minds, hearts and even our bank balances. How do we do this? Through growing our minds and hearts, because then we can touch people in such a profound way that they really want to work with us!
The essence of true continuing education lies in the clarity and merging of science, biomechanics, understanding the person who you are teaching and the feeling of movement.
Just focusing on science is ridiculous as science does not peer into a person’s ability to move with a true connection to the movement and it does not peer into their soul and what they are feeling or where they came from. It is like looking at a flower blooming and only seeing the science and disregarding the beauty of the growth, the senses, the connection to the earth, the connection to the energy around it. All elements that we cannot see. We want current research but this in itself cannot be our sole reference as studies themselves are conducted by individuals who are not necessarily connected to the entirety of movement.
I conducted a study with a specific purpose. What happens when the student connects with the teacher through their ability to teach excellently? We did the same exercises with two different teaching styles and it changed the results of the ‘science’.
- Candidates doing exercises as they would normally be taught. They get shown the exercise and they just go….
- Candidates doing the same exercise with an enthusiastic instructor who uses their voice and really teaches the candidate about the areas that they are targeting.
You guessed it, there was a definite improvement in the 2nd scenario. Why?… it went beyond science. It went towards human connection, encouragement, precision in movement and the use of voice.
We need that CONFIDENCE CATALYST in our lives. We need less boring education. We need inspiration from people who have been there, done that and fixed it. Avoid the mistakes if you can, learn from those who are willing to give you their input and make that shift of … ‘I want to become super anatomy and movement intelligent!’… ‘Now show me how!’ And I will happily oblige!
If you are looking for one dimensional continuing education where we just teach you the science and the movement, then Of-CourseOnline is not for you. But if you want to delve into the human condition of Movement connections, science, biomechanics and profound mind-body connection, then Of-CourseOnline is your new home!
My only wish for you, is that I am able to introduce you into a world of high level education that is going to ignite your career because you can implement this work on your clients or patients immediately!
Wishing you an anatomy inspired teaching day and keep learning!
