There are a handful of cues that become part of a teacher's vocabulary. They appear in nearly every class regardless of whether you're teaching Pilates, Barre, strength training, or rehabilitation. For me, one of those cues is simple: "Find neutral."
If you've taken more than one class with me, you've probably heard me say it dozens of times. Sometimes you'll hear it before we begin moving. Sometimes in the middle of an exercise. Sometimes after we've already moved through several positions. The repetition is intentional. What's interesting is that although I use the exact same words with every level of client, I rarely mean the exact same thing.
As your movement experience changes, so does the purpose of the cue. Finding neutral evolves from discovering a position to understanding movement itself.
First, What Is Neutral?
First, What Is Neutral?
When people first hear the word neutral, they often assume there is one perfect posture everyone should strive to maintain. Neutral is anatomical. It is where the pubic bone and hip bones are in the same plane while lying down, and while standing it is where the front of your hip bones (ASIS) and back of your hip bones (PSIS) are level.
Think of it as standing in the middle of a room. Once you know where the center is, you can walk in every direction. Without knowing the center, every movement becomes guesswork. That's what neutral provides. A point of reference.
Why Beginners Hear It Constantly
When someone is new to Pilates or Barre, they usually have only two ideas about posture. They either arch dramatically or flatten completely. Neither position is wrong. They're simply different. Most beginners don't yet realize they have choices. When I ask someone to tilt their pelvis forward and then backward, many are surprised they can even do it. They've never consciously explored those movements before. That exploration is where learning begins.
When I say, "Find neutral," I'm not asking for perfection. I'm asking for awareness. Can you recognize the difference between anterior and posterior tilt?
Can you feel your ribs lifting?
Can you notice when your lower back presses into the mat?
Can you sense when your weight shifts into your toes or your heels?
Those questions matter much more than whether your pelvis is positioned in anatomic EXACT neutral.
Neutral becomes a lesson in body awareness.
And body awareness is the foundation of everything else.
Neutral Should Never Feel Forced
As students gain experience, another challenge appears. They become so determined to "do it right" that they begin forcing themselves into what they believe neutral should look like.
The glutes squeeze constantly.
The abdominals grip.
The ribs are aggressively pulled downward.
The shoulders become rigid.
Breathing becomes shallow.
Ironically, in trying to create neutral, they've moved farther away from it. Neutral should not require maximum effort. Good alignment is surprisingly quiet. Yes, muscles are working. But they're working together. The body isn't fighting itself. One of the biggest transitions I see in intermediate students is learning to trust that less effort often creates better movement. Instead of squeezing everything, they begin organizing everything. Instead of forcing posture, they begin allowing posture. That's a significant shift.
Stability Is Different Than Rigidity
This is one of my favorite teaching conversations. People often confuse stability with stiffness. They're not the same thing. A rigid body isn't necessarily stable. In fact, excessive tension often limits stability because it prevents the body from making the tiny adjustments needed to maintain balance. Think about standing on a paddleboard. If you locked every joint and squeezed every muscle, you'd probably fall. Instead, your body makes hundreds of tiny corrections every second. That's stability. Neutral works the same way. You're never perfectly frozen. You're constantly responding. Your nervous system is making small adjustments that allow you to stay balanced while still being free to move.
Advanced Movement Isn't Staying Neutral
Here's where the cue changes completely. People sometimes assume advanced Pilates means maintaining perfect neutral during every exercise. Actually, the opposite is true. Advanced movers understand neutral so well that they no longer need to stay there. They move away from it intentionally. They explore flexion, extension, rotation, side bending an anterior tilt or posterior tilt sometimes multiple options all in the same exercise. And then they return.
The key difference is choice.
Nothing happens accidentally. Each position serves a purpose. Advanced movement isn't about eliminating spinal motion. It's about controlling spinal motion. Neutral simply becomes the place you begin and return. It's home base.
Every Position Has Value
One reason I spend so much time teaching neutral is because I never want students believing that one posture is "good" while every other posture is "bad." You need all the options! Life requires all of them. You bend over to tie your shoes. You twist to back your car out of the driveway. You reach overhead for dishes. You sit, stand, walk uphill and carry groceries. Your body wasn't designed to stay in one position forever. It was designed to move. Neutral simply gives us the ability to move well.
Neutral Is Different Every Day
One thing I remind clients is that today's neutral may not feel exactly like yesterday's. Stress changes posture. Sleep changes posture. Pregnancy changes posture. Injuries change posture. A long day sitting at a computer changes posture. So does gardening. Or traveling. Or carrying a heavy bag on one shoulder. Rather than chasing one perfect picture of alignment, we learn to check in with the body we have today.
Where am I?
How does this feel?
Can I organize my body with less effort?
Those questions matter far more than trying to recreate yesterday's posture.
Awareness Before Correction
One teaching mistake I see often is correcting posture before developing awareness. If I simply push someone's ribs down or tuck their pelvis, they may look different. But they haven't learned anything. Instead, I want clients to experience both extremes.
Arch.
Flatten.
Lift.
Drop.
Rotate.
Return.
Only then can they truly appreciate where neutral lives.
Learning through sensation creates understanding.
Learning through correction creates dependence. My goal has never been for students to need me forever. My goal is for them to understand their own bodies.
Neutral Creates Freedom
Perhaps the greatest misconception is believing neutral is the goal. It isn't. Freedom is the goal. Freedom to move in all directions. Freedom to age while continuing to move confidently. Neutral is simply one of the tools that helps us achieve that freedom. It's the compass, not the destination. The map, not the journey.
Why You'll Keep Hearing Me Say It
So yes, you'll continue hearing me say, "Find neutral."
In a beginner class, it's because we're discovering what neutral feels like. In an intermediate class, it's because we're learning to arrive there with less tension and more ease. In an advanced class, it's because we're using neutral as the center point from which every other movement becomes possible.
The cue never really changes.
But you do. As your awareness grows, those two simple words carry more meaning every time you hear them. Eventually, "find neutral" isn't something your instructor tells you to do. It's something your body already understands. And when that happens, movement becomes less about achieving perfect posture and more about moving through life with confidence, efficiency, and choice.
That's why I say it in every session.
Not because I expect you to hold neutral forever.
But because knowing where center is allows you to explore everything else.
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