Dancers and Actors and Chefs. Oh my!
I don’t think it should surprise anyone that I love watching bodies. I can sit for hours and simply watch people move. I’m fascinated by movement and what the way we move can say about everything from our physical and mental state, to the way a pair of shoes fit. I find myself sometimes just sitting in my car and watching people as they walk down the street. At a stoplight, I may catalogue three or four bodies. Maybe this is something all Pilates teachers do. Maybe it’s just one of my many oddities. Whichever the case, I learn something...
read moreDemanding? You bet your ass!
Several months ago, someone looked me in the eye and said, “You are the most demanding woman I’ve ever known.” (or something similar) I responded with, “Yes. I believe I told you that the first time we met.” I am demanding. I am unapologetically demanding. I know what I want and I don’t just make strongly worded suggestions, I make demands, and I fully expect them to be met. (The readers who don’t know me personally become more certain with each blog post that they don’t want to!). I make demands of my clients. I make demands...
read moreVidal. I. Love. Him.
Last week, one of my newer clients made a comment about the first thing she noticed about her classmates the first time she came to class. She said they were “so upright.” She went on to note that although they all had very different body types, they shared that common posture. She then said (what I consider) the magic words. She said, “I’ve exercised my entire life and done a lot of different things for a while, but this is something I feel like I can maintain for life.” I love the impact Pilates has on a body. The impact Pilates...
read moreThe Not Knowing
This is going to be one of those blogs where if I turn it around and have anything of value to say to you, my mother will comment, “I can’t imagine how you got Pilates out of that, but you did.” I wish this was going to be one of my super-girl, super funny, super insightful posts, but I’m not sure I have any of that in me today. So I’ll share what is in me, and we’ll see when and if it’s time to hit delete, if that’s okay with you? I’m struggling. It is hard for me to even type those words, let alone feel them. I’ve had a...
read moreThrive, Damn-it!
I’m not quite ready to write my annual rant about shoes without backs (specifically flip flops), it will come, but this is going to be one of “those” posts. Yep, I’ve got something to work out and I’m working it out here. Brace yourself. Batten down the hatches. And remember that I rant because I care – not to offend! (certain individuals in my life are shuddering at this very moment) Here it is. I yelled at some clients a few weeks ago. Yep. Yelled. And somewhere in my fury I said something like, “What is your IQ?” Not my...
read moreOn Passion. Again.
I am passionate about what I do for a living. Is that stating the obvious? Is that something you already knew about me? Perhaps it is both, but it is probably the greatest truth I’ll ever type. I simply thrive when I’m teaching Pilates. Actually, I thrive in ways I’m not sure I even understand when I’m teaching Pilates. I can be having the worst day, a day when I think I just can’t do it. I don’t feel like teaching. I don’t want to give any of myself, or more likely, I don’t have anything to give, but 10 minutes into a class,...
read moreVulnerability 101
There wasn’t a blog last week. I simply wasn’t capable of writing. I was feeling overwhelmed and too raw and vulnerable to have anything to offer of any value. I felt like I couldn’t type a word without spilling my insides all over the page. And I was a little embarrassed by my raw emotion and lack of control. I felt weak and powerless – qualities I find terribly unattractive in myself. Qualities I had no intention of sharing with you. I had spent the weekend at a Pilates workshop, and as is the norm, I came back unsure of some of what...
read moreThe Art of Letting Go
Friday evening, while with some girl friends I said, “You know I worry about what happens next…” Said girl friends burst into such riotous laughter that I wasn’t able to continue. You see, if you know me, you know I worry. You also know that I really would like it better if I knew the future. There. It’s all out in the open and I really feel much better having made that confession. I’ve learned to accept that I’m a control freak who frets as if it were her job. I think I’m coming to accept that I have no chance of ever knowing...
read moreShaking Off The Dust
“It dusts off what is impure and allows what’s real to shine through.” Someone described real love to me in that fashion the other night. And then, knowing me as she does, she suggested that it was “just like Pilates.” I stopped her, asked her to repeat it, and wrote it down. I wanted to remember and share with you her exact words as they rang so true to me. I write and talk so much about the impact Pilates has had on my life that sometimes I think I might sound like a broken record. I am such a passionate believer of this method as...
read moreFight For You.
A few days ago I uttered the words, “I will fight for you.” I didn’t mean for them to come out of my mouth, they just did. And after the fact, I couldn’t help but think that I may have never spoken any truer words. And in the process of being direct and honest (and rather unfortunately unfiltered?) I realized that this is a big part of who I am. I am someone who will fight for the people and things I believe in. In fact, I may be someone who can’t help but fight for the people and things I believe in. I’m good to have in your...
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