What attracted me to Pilates

“It’s the mind itself which shapes the body.” ~ Joseph Pilates

Pilates is for EVERY BODY. As long as you have a body, then you can practice Pilates. This message is for the parents out there, the career-driven, the retired, the athletes (the professional, the amateur, or the inner athlete – hello, I see you!), and anyone in-between.

In 2014, I had a road cycling accident. After a rest period, I went back to Pilates with my teacher figuring out what I could do, and couldn’t do in every session. Back to the fundamentals. Assess what was getting stronger, and what needed more help whether it was strength, control, coordination, flexibility, mobility, balance. Then, it’s just practice and time to make progress. Pilates (plus A LOT of other various bodywork modalities!) moved my body forward to today.

Like you, I’ve always been on the spectrum of Pilates. Sometimes, I can do the advanced exercises, and some days, I can’t. Even now, there are some days I feel so connected that I feel powerful, and other days, I practice what I can to get some movement in. Famous Joseph Pilates quote: Movement heals.

Pilates meets you where you are today and tomorrow. Start with all the fundamentals because I hate to say the basics. Basics sounds as if it’s easy, ordinary, simple, and anyone who has started Pilates knows it’s anything but that. What we are trying to achieve is a good base, a foundation, a starting point to develop, or even launch from. Take the hundred – fundamental for the rollup, teaser, or the ab series of 5. Take the elephant on the reformer – fundamental for up stretch, combination, horseback, snake, or control balance.

From the fundamentals, you’ll learn variations your body needs. These variations can be adjustments of any kind – a modification, a challenge, a tempo change, or a variation that makes you go hmmm, or the ones I love are the ones that implode your brain – 🤯 – that emoji!

Some advanced exercises you may never learn, and that’s ok. Would we all like to be gymnasts? Maybe. Do we all need to do gymnastic moves? Not really. Are they fun to do? Depends on who you ask.

Maybe you’re thinking you’re in the camp of “I’ll never advance”, and to that, I say if that’s what you’re thinking, it’s probably true. The body listens to the mind, subconsciously. When I find myself thinking this way, I change what I say to myself. I’ll say “what can I practice right now”, and “someday, I’ll be able to do X”. And maybe one day will be that someday, and everything came together because practice * time = progress.

Pilates is all about feedback. Think about it. The whole system is made up of tools. The various apparatuses are BIG tools. The bigger the apparatus, the more feedback you get. Seriously, why do we all love the Cadillac? So much support! Why do we not love the Wunda chair more? Honestly, there’s not as much support as the Cadillac. You have to find those connections yourself in space.

Now, I say tools on purpose. Joseph Pilates designed the apparatus to help people do the mat sequence. The mat came first, and it’s stinkin’ hard! Yes, you get feedback from the mat. Yes, the mat is an apparatus. But we all agree that we’d love some help from the springs, handles, foot loops, roll back bar, footbar, push-through bar, shoulder blocks, poles, foot strap, etc.

If you don’t have access to the apparatuses, you can recreate some of that feedback with props. Again, props to be used as tools, not crutches. When I say crutches, test yourself without the prop. Do you need it? Maybe today. Maybe not tomorrow. Again, Joseph Pilates designed several – Magic Circle, foot corrector, spine corrector, neck stretcher, toe gizmo (yes, this is a real thing!), and the list goes on ……

In my evening group mat classes, we rotate through props. Some props are Pilates-based, others are not, but all are designed to give you feedback. Our Pilates practice improves with feedback, practice, and time. Go for progress every time. It’s more fun that way!

By the way, do you need help keeping it positive? Here’s what I’m working on:

Keep it positive:

I can’t > I’m working on it
I’m weak > I’m getting stronger
I don’t have time > It’s not a priority
I’m not seeing/feeling changes. It takes too long > I’m consistently showing up and it takes time
I feel bad for resting > I’m listening to my body, and doing something amazing for it
I suck at > I’m getting better at
Why can’t I > What is possible right now, what can I work on
It’s hard > I can do hard things

What are you working on? I’d love to hear them, and add it to the list!