What does Pilates bring into your life?

I thought this week I would ask my participants the above question because I think we need to remind ourselves where our journey began and why we do the exercise we do so that we can see how far we have progressed.

I haven’t had their answers yet but I wanted them to consider why do they do Pilates? Did their Doctor, Physio, Osteopath tell them to do it? Did they feel that they were too old to do any other form of exercise? Did they want to de-stress? Did they just feel like trying it? Then I asked them what Pilates has done for them since they have been coming to classes and finally why they would recommend it to someone else.

So I’ll give my reason why I started doing Pilates and then why I became a teacher as well.

I’d been teaching fitness for nearly 10 years when I realised my body was starting to get a little annoyed with me. The years of pounding the floor with aerobics, step, LBT, etc was beginning to take its toll.

Funnily enough I remember years ago back in 1990 I lived in Crouch End in North London and went to exercise classes at a local tennis club with a fantastic instructor who was just about to go and learn Pilates. Being a bit of an exercise fanatic, she said to me you should give it a go but I was young, 20, and really did not think that the whole mindful movement would be for me. If only I had thought twice about what the impact of doing a toning/flexibility session would have done for my body instead of always doing high impact but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

So moving on I’d reached my late thirties and ultimately the body is saying NO! Well actually shouting that my feet are killing me, my calves are too tight, my hamstrings are really not that happy and classes are now becoming more of a chore to teach than a pleasure.

Another instructor mentions Pilates but again I’m still not that keen. I’m a high energy person, could I actually stay still and enjoy exercise that way and what if I couldn’t feel anything, no burn.

Well being a bit older and a little bit wiser, my body won and I decided to start doing Pilates classes and as is my way whenever I take up a new form of exercise, I tend to want to understand it as much as possible, so I decided that I would learn to teach it. Now possibly in the beginning the reasoning was that this would be an easy option for me to teach where I wouldn’t be putting my body through such wear and tear.

I gained my Matwork Level 3 qualification and have to admit that it was harder than I expected. None of my other fitness courses had been so in depth and required me to start to really focus on how my body worked and moved. I think my first year teaching was not all that comfortable an experience as I was trying to improve my own technique with some of the more difficult moves and felt a bit disconnected with breathing and moving but something suddenly clicked and I began to find enjoyment in feeling more and more through my body. Muscles working, bones moving, my breathe and learning how to breathe more deeply.

It was through teaching and practising Pilates that I really started to see gains in my other training. I was now able to stabilise better when I taught the higher impact classes. I was staying flexible rather than struggling with my hamstrings and calves.

I had caught the buzz for mindful movement and so the next chapter of my life began and is an ongoing education, exploration, bringing pleasure and frustration too. My body is stronger than it ever has been from the inside out. (The roll up no longer defeats me!) And I am stronger not just physically but mentally too.

The ability to learn to move your body more freely is truly amazing and I wish more people had the patience to get through the first few months of strangeness as you learn to treat your body with kindness and understand that you don’t have to experience the burn to be exercising.

After matwork, I carried on to be trained on all the Pilates equipment and this year I am soon to embark on more mindful movement education by attending the Franklin Method course in May this year and am really looking forward to being able to bring this knowledge back to my classes so I can help my clients continue to move more freely and to love the marvel of their own bodies.

So why do you do Pilates? :)