
Autumn is here again where every fallen leaf represents a flower of spring, showing us that change can be beautiful. Sometimes change happens quietly, slowly emerging from a place within that we haven’t come to understand yet.
“What am I supposed to be feeling right now?” – I get the question asked quite often by enthusiastic new comers during our Pilates sessions. – “What does this do? I can’t do this exercise until I have understood fully what I am supposed to be doing.”
Joseph Pilates used to respond : “It’s good for the body.” What he meant was Pilates is not something for you to understand or solve by thinking. Movement is meant to connect you to your body which is far more intelligent than the brain and holds the highest truth. This truth can be something different to discover every day.
We humans constantly interact with the outer world and experience a range of emotions that can affect us differently. Staying focused on one thing for a prolonged period of time is extremely hard. Pilates is not different, hence the quality of movement comes before the number of repetitions. With time and practice we can gain more body awareness, build muscle memory and resilience. As we become more present during our workouts we can access deeper muscles much faster. Once we have been on this Pilates journey for a while, we may come to realise that the stronger we become the more intense these exercises can get.
(Written by Judit Dobrai)