SELF-CARE

If you’re like me, your mind thinks of self-care as a spa day, something you do to pamper yourself, maybe a face mask or a bath, even a facial or a massage.  But what if you thought of self-care on the daily.  Yeah, that’s right!  EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  You cannot pour from an empty cup.  So, fill yours first so you can fill others.  When I think of it that way, some form of exercise or movement is part of my self-care.  Enter Pilates.

Pilates is for the whole body, not just for the leg day, the arms day, the butt day, or the abs day.  THE. WHOLE. BODY.  And isn’t that kind of awesome that we have this available to us?  An exercise for the whole body.  So efficient.  So effective.  It really speaks to me because it’s everything in one, and you’re constantly moving that it can feel like maybe you’re just doing a dance, a solo performance, and when you’re done, you’re so energized, feeling lighter and stronger at the same time.  AMAZING!

How does Pilates work for the whole body?  

Because it’s strength-based training, and you’re using the weight of your body.  You’re figuring out how to connect these hands to your arms, your feet to your legs.  Then you’re figuring out how to connect these arms to your back, and your legs to your butt.  Then you’re figuring out how to connect your butt to your core, and your back to your core.  Finally, you’re figuring out how to strengthen your core because you learned how it holds everything else in place.

Because you have to focus on what your body is doing, your mind has to concentrate to tell your body parts what to do and how to do the exercises.  There is no time for your mind to think of anything else because you have 2 arms, 2 legs, and 2 butt cheeks, and your core – your abs – they have a lower part, an upper part, and 2 sides.  Oh my – that is a lot to manage and control.  

Because you’re moving from the inside out.  From your belly out through your limbs and out to your hands and feet.  And don’t forget about your neck and your head.  

Because you orient the body in different positions so no matter how you find yourself moving in life, you can take care of yourself, and flow through mis-step, losing your balance so you can catch yourself, and no one needs to catch you.  You start standing, transition to laying on your back, then laying on your belly, move on to your knees to kneel, then laying on your side, then the other side, then come seated on your bum, and finally roll up to standing.  Whew – sounds like a lot, right?  Totally, but so worth it!   

When you work the body in all the different planes, and start easy, and add more load to the body, it just gets stronger and stronger as you prepare yourself to stand tall and face the world.  How cool is that?  Book a class with me today, and try it out!