Trauma Informed, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Anti-Racism

Blue background with gradient circles on the left and white swoosh across the image

Written by Beth Sandlin

July 14, 2021

Over the past year, there has been a collective calling to learn beyond Pilates specific training. Specifically education in Anti-Racism, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And what I’m hearing more and more of thread into these stories is the acknowledgement of trauma.

If you want to support the people you work with, pursuing Continuing Education in each of these areas is vital.  

  • Trauma Informed Care A framework acknowledging that trauma affects us all, directly or indirectly. This leads to an understanding of the impacts of trauma which are reflected in best practices.
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Acknowledges the way people are different, striving to provide fair treatment and access to resources while including a variety of people in decisions. 
  • Anti-Racism Understanding how individual actions and systems perpetuate discrimination or harm(unintentional and intentional) against Black, Indigenous and People of Color AND working to dismantle these racist actions and systems.

You may fall into one of these categories: 

  1. You started and continued the work.
  2. You still don’t understand why one or all of these is important and how this applies to Pilates.
  3. You know it’s important and don’t know where to begin.

If you’ve taken action through listening, learning and making changes in how you teach, keep it up, 

this is a journey not a destination!

If you haven’t began the work, I encourage you to start. And to debunk the “this doesn’t apply to Pilates” myth, You work with people, people experience trauma. Sometimes people experience trauma through having an oppressed identity and/or experiencing racism. 

Take one action: Read, listen to different perspectives, take a course, all of these are important. After one action, take another. Repeat, repeat, repeat…

The thing is, if you’ve never had the opportunity to pursue education in these areas, the question is where to begin? I always say start small and at the beginning, get the foundation that will support you!

Skip to content