🫖 Spilling the Pilateas – Edition 17Coordination: Where Control Becomes Precision
Coordination is where everything starts to reveal itself.
It’s not about strength.
It’s not even about flexibility.
It’s about presence—
and your ability to be fully in control of your body in real time.
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The Pilates Perspective
In Pilates, we don’t introduce the Coordination until you reach an intermediate level.
Not because it’s physically hard—
but because it requires something deeper:
Control of the powerhouse and the mind.
On the surface, it looks simple.
But when you actually try to execute it?
That’s where things fall apart.
The timing gets off
The movement loses clarity
The mind drifts for a split second—and everything disconnects
Even experienced clients still get tripped up by it.
Because coordination doesn’t lie.
It shows you exactly how connected—or disconnected—you really are.
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Where This Shows Up in the Saddle
If you’ve ever felt:
“Off” for no obvious reason
Like your timing is just slightly behind
Like you know what aid to give… but it’s not landing correctly
That’s not a strength issue.
That’s coordination.
That’s the gap between what your mind intends
and what your body actually delivers.
And your horse feels that gap immediately.
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Why This Matters for Riders
Riding is entirely dependent on:
Timing
Precision
Subtle communication
If your body and mind aren’t working together,
your aids become:
Delayed
Blunt
Inconsistent
And then riders try to fix it the only way they know how—
by doing more.
More effort.
More correction.
More tension.
But coordination doesn’t improve with more effort.
It improves with more awareness and control.
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How Pilates Trains This
Practicing coordination—on the mat or the Reformer—does something most training doesn’t:
It forces you to:
Stay present
Organize movement in real time
Execute with precision, not force
It’s where you learn to unite the mind and body
so the powerhouse can actually do its job.
And once that connection is there?
You don’t have to try harder.
You become more accurate.
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Coordination is a marker.
It shows you:
Where your control is solid
Where your attention slips
Where your body stops following your intention
And when you improve it—
everything in your riding becomes clearer, more precise, and more effective.
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If your riding feels inconsistent,
or like your timing just isn’t landing the way it should—
it might not be strength you’re missing.
It might be coordination.
PS: This is exactly the kind of work I do with riders both virtually and in-studio. If you want to experience what true control feels like in your body—and your ride—reach out.