Do you ever wish you could travel back in time to visit your former Pilates self?
What was it like to learn your Pilates exercises for the first time? What were your struggles back in the day?
It's easy to get out of touch with what it's like to be a new student. However, I find with regular workouts, you can strengthen your empathy and get a good dose of Pilates karma.
(Who else gets busted in your own lessons for stuff you tell people all day long?)
Your clients imagine you're a Pilates superhero: you can do ALL the exercises, ALL the time, perfectly and without breaking a sweat.
I won't tell if you won't…
A Blast from the Past
I took my first Pilates mat class in the fall of 2000. My local studio was Excel Pilates. Anyone in the Washington, DC area, please check them out! They are an amazing group of women who will kick your butt and empower your soul in just under an hour.
#truepilatesrockstars
In mid-2001, I was browsing through my local bookstore (remember those?) and came across a little book from Mari Winsor, The Pilates Workout Journal: An Exercise Diary And Conditioning Guide.
Although I documented my lessons and classes for only a brief shining moment, my notes reveal early insights that make me smile.
My observations range from the obvious –
The Teaser: position and strength continue to challenge.
– to the ridiculous –
I'm really starting to love the Swan Dive.
Awww…how sweet. Who knew I ever loved that thing?
In a recent post, I shared my #1 Pilates mantra: Learn. To do. The Roll Up.
In my first Pilates classes, I could not Roll Up without my legs flying up in the air and heaving myself forward. The Roll Up is an exercise I dearly love now and thanks to my former Pilates self I had a good plan in place –
I just need to do the Roll Up all the time. Any spare moment… just relentlessly practicing it.
Repetition anyone?
OMG – Love for exercises I don't like??
Excel Pilates' brand image is an illustration of the Sidebend exercise:
I thought it was a just cool abstract drawing…
Then one day it showed up as an exercise in my Mat class.
Clearly I felt empowered to achieve the exercise that inspired their logo –
We learned Sidebend: this is a beautiful and fabulous exercise! It felt great to finally do the Excel logo pose.
– albeit my cringe-worthy use of the word ‘pose' for a Pilates exercise.
#rookiemistake
And I'm gonna bet Swimming inspired this comment –
Still a bit flaily… but getting better.
My early notes also reveal compelling evidence of the Pilates Method as the skill-based movement discipline it is.
The value of the exercises in your very first lesson continues to deliver. And even early on I realize what all this strap and springs business is really about:
I need to imagine the resistance of the straps and mentally use this image. This is very powerful to correctly do the exercises.
What luck! There's even a blog post on this exact topic many years later.
And perhaps the most heart-warming of all comments I didn't anticipate at all:
I really like all the people I have met doing Pilates.
Awww… I couldn't have said it better myself!
Thanks so much for hanging out with me this week!