Will people laugh at me if I get things wrong?

No. Honestly, truly, no. And I say that after 13 years of teaching, in which I have never once seen anyone laughed at in a class. Not once.

Here's the reality of what happens in our studio. Everyone is on their own mat, concentrating on their own body, trying to remember to breathe and keep their shoulders down. They're far too busy with their own wobbles to notice yours. The person on the next mat got their left and right muddled up three times last week. We all did.

Getting things wrong is literally part of learning Pilates. Every single person in the room, including your instructor, has done an exercise backwards, tipped over, or completely missed the point of a movement at some stage. It's how bodies learn.

And here's the thing about our classes specifically. With a maximum of 12 people and an atmosphere members describe as feeling like family, there's no room for judgement. The average age of our members is over 50, plenty of them arrived terrified, and every one of them will tell you the same thing: nobody was watching, everybody was kind, and the fear evaporated by the end of the first session.

Your job is to show up. Getting it wrong on the way to getting it right is not just allowed, it's expected.