Ch Ch Ch Changes!

Change is always present, but during the Fall season we feel it more than ever. It’s the time of year to be inside a little more and reconnect with the energy within you and your loved ones around you.

Pilates gives us awareness of breath, concentration, control, centering, strength, and precision in everything we do! The daily practice of Pilates actually allows us to weather change with grace and purpose. We adapt to conditions around us, just as our bodies learn to naturally adjust to gravity in our movement.

There are a few changes at the studio. While the class schedule itself remains intact, you will notice additional teachers, as well as students studying to be teachers. Each new class will focus on transitions and the intention of each movement more specifically to keep our Pilates fresh and fun.

“To ease mental strain and relieve physical fatigue we must acquire a reserve stockpile of nervous energy in order that we may really be able to enjoy ourselves at night. …we must devote ourselves…to the uniform development of our bodies as a whole – … so that we may have sufficient vitality in reserve at night for the enjoyment of compensating pleasure and relaxation.” –  1945, Joe Pilates, Return to Life p. 16-17

It’s been on my mind to make more time for relaxation and pleasure, which is in and of itself one of the goals of a complete Pilates workout.  The benefits reveal themselves. Take time for yourselves, for each other, and see what you can share about your own learning process.  Bring a friend to the studio, practice at home, continue the journey. Look around the studio and appreciate what we are – a happy, healthy, and vibrant Pilates community. It’s taken focus, hard work, diligence, creativity, and compassion, inspired by all of YOU.

“Pilates people often draw attention to the fact that Pilates creates strength from the inside out. Mr. Pilates technique relies heavily on mental fortitude, focus and willful tenacity. It’s during these times of turmoil that Pilates can serve us best. The method teaches us to cope with hard things, to meet challenges head on, and of course to breathe.”         – Alycea Ungaro

No matter what is past or future, all we really have is the present. There is nothing more rewarding than teaching YOU. It has made my every moment possible through seasons of change. My own practice has catapulted to a deeper desire to stay true to myself.

There is absolutely nothing outside of myself that I can control! Knowing THAT motivates me to take action with the one thing I do have control over: me.

It is amazing to me to realize just how little control many of us have over our own bodies or even our life. Joe Pilates wrote about this in all capital letters (it must be important!):

“IDEALLY OUR MUSCLES SHOULD OBEY OUR WILL. REASONABLY, OUR WILL SHOULD NOT BE DOMINATED BY THE REFLEX ACTIONS OF OUR MUSCLES…Contrology begins with mind control over muscles.” – p. 19

We highly recommend you pick up a copy of Return to Life through Contrology  at the studio, we have a few copies left.

As leaves outside and layers of ourselves continue to shed, the roots or foundation of our movement will always be the basis for continued growth.  This is the only way TO change.  When the first students walked in to learn Pilates here, it was a huge lesson in humility.  The more we teach, the more we learn and change ourselves.  At the end of his book, he describes this:  “You will never have anything to UNLEARN.” Pilates builds upon itself as we learn to age gracefully and with strength, flexibility and control over ourselves.

Ch Ch Ch Changes! To embrace true change, however, comes from within and not outside ourselves.  (oh how we wish we could place blame on this or that, or this condition or that situation, but aho!  We are responsible for our own good health!)  THAT is the true benefit of Pilates.