Pilates relief!
The absolute relief thanks to Pilates after a zero-sleep flight home from Vancouver and New York City
Coming back from a whirlwind 13 days tour to visit my eldest and youngest sons - one in Canada near Vancouver and the other in New York City, I realised that three flights and changes of timezone had really taken its toll on me!
Our last flight from JFK to Gatwick with Norse Airlines was overnight - and saw me cramped into a seat right next to and behind a large family with three very young, excited children. I could see the weariness in the parents’ eyes as soon as I stepped into the row. From there it just went downhill! Zero sleep, zero comfort meant although getting off at Gatwick, London was a huge relief, all my muscles - already super tight from 3 days skiing in blizzards then bouncy powder - were squeezed inwards, resisting coming out!
And then yesterday I did a Reformer class with Body Control. It was fantastic to feel the absolute bliss or gently rolling my knees west and my eyeline east, of curling my tailbone softly upwards and allowng my spine to roll back and forth, opening up my hips to the sweet relief of every connective tissue in me! Through alignment, control, flow and breath my limbs and torso tingled back into where it should be and I came away feeling utterly relaxed.
The age of fitness technology
Joseph Pilates dealt with real bodies he could see and touch - yet tech today is a move I can’t ignore
It’s true - there’s no getting away from it! Tech is everywhere and if you’re not into it, it beats you. In my experienced years as a Pilates Instructor in Sussex I’ve decided that yes, I can and will embrace the big IT even in my world of movement and mindfulness, so I’ve finally commandeered my youngest son into assisting (showing) me how to chop up video in order to make some helpfully available on this site. Bear with me a tad longer though - Rome wasn’t built in a day.
So the Pilates video library is one thing I know I really want to do. But what about the stream of soul-bearing on Instagram too? Hmm, less truly my thing, not least because I’ll probably forget, but also, all that pressure to be ‘seen’ creates such expectations - not to mention insecurities. Is it really necessary - or even vaguely interesting to anyone? I guess I’d need to become a bit more interesting…..hmm, that may be a slight hurdle right there.
For now I’m going large with my Live & ONLINE via Zoom on Monday mornings at 9.30am and Saturday mornings at 10.30am and with the new video work to come. Insta can wait in the wings a little longer while I can develop my visual allure once I’ve found it!
Signed up for Pilates Reformer
The big studio equipment journey is coming soon….
It’s been a while since I really, and I mean REALLY embraced something completely new to me in Pilates, but today I did! I’ve signed up to learn how to use and teach that incredible piece of Pilates Studio Equipment called the Reformer. This looks like a kind of rack, yet in fact, it enables clients to get much more out of each exercise using various resistence weights and a huge range of different exercises.
I’m so excited about the course at the end of October. For a start it’s run by Body Control Pilates, a world-renowned name, at their home studio in Kensington, London. And it’s long enough to go into great depth and exploration in practice over 6 full days.
So, watch this space to find out how my Pilates Studio Equipment journey goes, and who know, you may want to come and visit me and try it out yourself one day soon!