When I first started Pilates, I remember my teacher asking me if I knew where my center was. I had been dancing since I was a child, and now at 21 years old (20+ years ago), I thought I should know the answer to this question, but I really didn’t. Thank goodness I stayed with Pilates, because now my understanding of my center is profound, as is my sense of my whole body from the inside-out.
In these increasingly sedentary lives we are living, I am sure I am not the only one who has felt a sense of disconnection from the body. Not only is this disconnection unfortunate, but it can be dangerous, as these days we ask so much of our physical selves. We ask it to sit in place for hours without care or consideration, and then we race to our high-intensity workout with the expectation that we should increase our weight resistance from the previous session. We ask our bodies to never get injured, and when they inevitably do, we are impatient for a quick recovery so we don’t have to slow down the hectic pace of our lives.
Personally, I think it is fine to ask a lot of our bodies. I ask a lot of it myself. But I also have my “magic pill” that makes everything feel and work better – and that pill is Pilates. Not only do I feel strong and supple, but the increased body awareness that this technique delivers has empowered me on many levels.
I remember first learning the Pilates technique of breathing, and quickly noticed how it helped me with my endurance while dancing or running (I am an addict of both of these things). I then noticed how the breathing helped me manage stress in my body – so that instead of feeling tense in my shoulders at the end of a hectic day, I felt “in the flow”, and “centered”. Things were still hectic, but I was not suffering physically. The same effect occurred when I had mental or emotional stress – I tapped into the Pilates breath and I could feel my ability to manage my internal chaos drastically improve. These are no small things.
As I learned more about my body through my Pilates classes – about how to stabilize my ankles for example, or align my knees - I was able to apply it to all of the daily activity I was doing, and again my performance improved immediately. Moreeover, as I learned more about the proper biomechanics of my body and what muscles were ‘over-firing’ and which ones were ‘under-firing’, I was able to manage any injuries that arose with ease and confidence. I didn’t panic, for example, when I strained my back lifting too many heavy boxes in one day. I simply applied the techniques that I learned in class to protect my spine better. I used the deeper body awareness Pilates had given me to listen better to what my body needed day by day, and I was able to recover quickly and relatively easily.
For those who have jobs that require a lot of sitting at a computer, it can be daunting to start an exercise program when you feel stiff and disconnected, even while knowing that exercise is just what you need. Sports and other vigorous forms of exercise focus on performance. This is great. Playing games that inspire you to push yourself for the team, or having goals of being able to increase speed or load can be very satisfying. The body, however, also needs care and consideration if it is to stay active for a long time.
Pilates is the answer to this conundrum.
In Pilates, 100% of the goal is to deepen your body awareness, and develop strength & flexibility from the inside out in a sensible way. You learn the potential of your body to move – for example how much more flexibility can be developed in your spine – but you also learn the safe limits within which to move and grow – so for example you don’t hyper-extend the neck or knees. 100% of the goal is self-knowledge, self-development, self-care, and a happy by-product - as I mentioned in the blog post “Why (and where) you should do Pilates” – is that you will end up with a body that is toned like a musical instrument – not too tight, not too loose – and that looks and feels fabulous.
I have said that Pilates is a magic pill, & that it is the answer, because it does allow us to maintain the increasingly higher expectations we have of life. The pace of things is not slowing down, and our desire to work hard and play hard is not going anywhere. I am just thankful I found this way of exercising and connecting with my body so that I can manage all of the curve balls that life will certainly throw at me with more ease and with the confidence that I have the power to help myself. Keep your expectations high, everyone.