Pilates like a rock star.

My ears are always open to different teaching styles. So while I was sitting and strumming last night at my guitar lesson, I was reminded of what it is like for brand new students to be doing something brand new, in front of new people, in a new environment. Do they feel successful? Do they want to come back? I watched two new young boys in front of me. I was wondering how Todd would keep the class going and still make these two guys feel successful. It was alot of information for even this 35 year old brain for sure! Music theory, new patterns, dreaded bar chords... Did they get it all last night? Heck no! But that's not the point. We will come back for more repetitious finger torture. So let your clients move and feel successful without the pressure of perfection. It may not "sound" pretty at first, but they will feel like rock stars I assure you. After all, Pilates has that affect on people. If your students keep coming back, they WILL begin to make beautiful music.

2 bags of flour

I want you to think about the last time you carried in groceries from your car.  Probably pretty heavy, huh?  Roughly the mass of 2 bags of flour, our head makes up about 8% of our body mass.  The little boy in Jerry Maguire says it weighs 8 pounds.  Researchers from Jefferson Lab claim that an adult human head with brain, bones, muscles, fluid, can weigh between 10-12 pounds.  So balancing all that mass on the thinnest part of our spine is a recipe for disaster if not managed correctly.   

There has got be a strong link between our feelings and our posture.  During my last Michael Miller encounter, he explained  the goal of Pilates is to "survive the gravity jungle".  But what if there is the gravitational field beyond our external experience?  Our inside emotional gravity.  The weight of shame, of depression, fear of failure all tend to make us draw inward, to cast our eyes on the ground.  Thus throwing our head and the rest of our spine and shoulder complex forward.  

How do you wear your head?  Breathe, and stand tall with your head on straight today whether or not you are grocery shopping.

Pilates and breast cancer

www.pilates-pro.com has some great articles on breast cancer and Pilates.  Check them out!

Pilates for the Cure

Join five local Pilates Studios and health clubs in their efforts to raise money for the Komen Race for the Cure Foundation.  The week before the race, participate in a Pilates for the Cure mat class at any of the official times and studios, and 100% of the ticket sales will go towards finding a cure for breast cancer.  Purchase your ticket for $15.00 at the beginning of March at Premier Fitness, 360 Fitness, Balance Studio, Body Language Studio of Movement, and World Gym.  Log onto www.komentyler.com or www.premier-getfit.com for more details after the first week of March.

If you are a breast cancer survivor, please join us the morning before the race on Friday, May 8th at 9:00 in the morning for a mat class.  You can buy your tickets at any packet pick up for $10.00.  We'll be on the stage at Bergfeld Park...just look for the pink mats! 

Tickets will be available the first week of March.

so clever

Unfortunately I am VERY analytical.  Always thinking and rethinking things over in my head days after it's been said or written.  How could I have said this better, made that more interesting?  Could it have rhymed?  I know it sounds a little weird...but I do this ALL the time.  With my Pilates students, on my texts, with my journaling, my blogging, my prayer life...you get the point.  This thought pattern has the tendency to be very choking and stifling.  It makes conversation very unnatural and relationships very stiff.  So wasn't it interesting that my pastor twittered this very quote yesterday?  "you don't need to teach in such a way people think you are clever, but in such a way they see the Bible as sufficient."  Wow, I don't know who wrote that, but they deserve a kiss!  Am I trying to be a clever Pilates teacher, worshipper, or soul mate?  Or am I motivated by simply being a vehicle of truth and Truth for people?  

komen race for the cure

This is pretty exciting stuff.  There are so many Pilates studios and health club facilities in Tyler that we could make a difference.  Coming together for a common cause.  I have been pondering the idea of "uniform usage in the body creating uniform development".  This is one of the main pillars of the work.  So how do I apply this concept as a believer?  Am I reaching beyond my studio, enhancing the lives of other instructors, enriching my students well being? I mean reaching up and reaching out sideways and deeping way deep down.  Deep into the places that others tend to shy away from.  Looking clients and coworkers and family members in the face and really seeing them as God does.  Uniformly developing who we are as human beings and God lovers.  Not just always reaching in.  Our body needs to experience a full range of motion to be healthy in our joints and muscles.  Abduction, adduction, flexion, extension, rotation, torsion etc... How are we to develop uniformly if all we do is adduction, or draw into ourselves.  Our spirits should be craving to reach in all directions.  To reach up to the Creator, to open up to friends, family, strangers, and to dig deep into His Word.  Here's to craving uniform development my people.