I’ve been thinking about change – mostly because we are really ready for the change of seasons. Every time I start a new day, though, it’s a new chance to change and grow. Am I always willing? Have I always been healthy and strong?
The answer is no. The willingness to change, for me, usually comes out of some sort of pain or humiliation – perhaps that’s just human nature. Or the body’s own innate ability to let us know how we are feeling, that’s it’s time for change.
A friend recently described a good writer as “a good typist who knows how to listen.” Am I listening? Maybe, some days. If I slow down enough. I’m a mover, though, and sometimes I just need to move my body to really know where it is I am tight, where my breath is not flowing, where there is weakness. Amazingly, the movements of Pilates has that ability to transform me.
It’s been a process!! While I was always active as a kid, always outside in the cool New Hampshire air – summers by the ocean in Maine and winters on the slopes of New England’s beautiful mountains – I was also a rebellious teenager who turned into a very hardworking 20 year old who suddenly felt quite large. Hormones? Perhaps partly. Partly lack of movement. It was sometime around my late 20’s that I started yoga, began the journey with the breath, slowed down a little to actually feel my body. In my 30’s I was pregnant and nursing for 9 years straight – a sudden and dramatic change as well as transitioning right into pre-menopause. I relish the nostalgia of staying home with my kids while they were young, learning to take naps with them, go for a stroll, play at the park. It was really by accident I discovered Pilates.
I was at my health club one day after nursing all four children, that I saw what I thought was an “ab” class. Needless to say, it was my first Pilates class and I could barely do *tree!* How could I not sit up holding on to my leg!! One thing led to another – and I waited 3 long months to get into a private lesson with my teacher – and it’s been a journey and will continue to be!
What’s YOUR journey! How are you feeling? I’ve been thinking a lot about change and how if we are the slightest bit willing to show up for the change that is possible – what your mind can conceive your body can achieve – miracles do happen.
Enjoy this season of change! Hope to see you at the studio. Let me know your thoughts!
