← The Archive·Entry 003 — The Craft·4 minute read
Why the best instructors say less, how over-cueing trains a class to stop feeling, and where to practise the quietest skill in teaching.
Cue Dynamics · Updated July 2026
Silence directs attention inward, to what the client can feel, which is exactly what a cue does. When everything is cued, nothing is emphasized. The best instructors say less, on purpose.
The tenth cue in our Cheat Sheet surprises people: it is silence. If you cue every micro-movement, the client stops feeling and starts performing. The body has innate wisdom, and a class that is never given a quiet moment never gets to consult it. The best instructors say less, on purpose.
The problem
It trains dependence. A class under constant narration learns to wait for the next instruction instead of listening to the movement. The instructor becomes the loudest thing in the room, and the body, the thing everyone came to hear from, gets talked over. Over-cueing also devalues your words: when everything is cued, nothing is emphasized.
The reframe
A cue directs attention. Words direct it to what you saw. Silence directs it inward, to what the client can feel. Deployed deliberately, a quiet rep says: you have this, listen to it. That is information, delivered with intent, at a chosen moment, which is exactly what a cue is. The skill is choosing the moment rather than filling it.
When everything is cued, nothing is emphasized.
The practice
Pick one exercise per class and give its final two reps to silence. Watch what happens: some clients settle deeper into the movement the moment the narration stops. Notice the urge to fill the quiet, and let it pass. Then notice what your next words land like after the pause. Sharper, almost always. Silence does not just rest your voice. It reloads it.
The free Cueing Cheat Sheet rebuilds ten of the most commonly mangled cues in Pilates into language that moves a body.