The Art of Not Moving

Although I usually write here about doing Pilates, this time I would like to share some lessons learned when I gave up Pilates for seven months and didn't get out of bed for three of them.

I felt very fortunate when I got pregnant without any trouble at age 41, but very early in the pregnancy I had some episodes of bleeding and my doctor told me to stop exercising. Then, at 17 weeks things took a more dramatic turn. My amniotic sac ruptured after a routine amniocentesis. This is the dreaded rare but possible risk of an amnio. I was given the option to either terminate or go on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy with a 10 percent chance of making it to 24 weeks and a 5 percent chance of getting much further.

I thought a lot about exercise while I was lying still on bed rest. I got two new fitness certifications online and watched a lot of videos of other people exercising for my own education during that time. I had time to think about why I love exercising and teaching exercise. I came to realize that Pilates can be like moving meditation. You have to stay in the moment. You have to focus. You are working on yourself, improving your well-being, while being completely in tune with your body. You are aware, awake and determined to improve your physical state. Most exercise is fun and beneficial but there is another level of mental discipline required to actually change your body. Whether it be for aesthetic purposes or to fix a health related problem like a bad back, Pilates is capable of transforming you but you need to show up over and over and be present with it.

I approached my time in bed with the same determination and vigor that I would a transformative exercise program. I just happen to be lying still. I learned that as long as the goal is seductive enough, we humans are able to suffer through a great deal of discomfort. My favorite Pilates teacher, Alycea Ungaro, (http://www.realpilatesnyc.com) used to yell out during class, "exercise is not comfortable." No it is not. Nor is lying in bed 24 hours a day in almost the exact same position. However, if you want something badly enough you can do it and it will be worth it. On bed rest, I felt as though I was actively still, hunkered down in my bed, determined to beat the odds. I saw each day that passed without going into labor as a huge accomplishment.

Believing and trusting that the discomfort will pay off is key to enduring it. Of course there were many times I lay awake at night wondering about the outcome of the pregnancy and losing hope in my mission. But the most important thing I found was to stay in each moment and not look too far ahead. This is true with exercise as well. Be present, show up consistently and do the work. You have to have a goal for the outcome but since results can take so much time, you cannot get overwhelmed with the goal. The old saying, "you can't take your temperature every five minutes" applies here. You have to be in it for the long haul.

My story has a very happy ending. I made it to 29 weeks and I now have a beautiful baby boy. I was extremely lucky. This story could have ended very differently. But you have to show up to be lucky. You have to put in the work and be ready for luck to come along. This is true whether you are exercising or laying still. Stay focused on what you want to the outcome to be and then work towards that goal moment to moment. Ask yourself how much your goal means to you. Because if it means enough you will be amazed at what you can do.

Pilates and Weight Loss

The truth is, up until recently, I didn’t believe Pilates was the ideal fit for someone who had a great deal of weight to lose. I am happy to report that I have changed my position completely.

Much of the equipment is not designed to accommodate very large people. A reformer can be confusing and awkward for anyone in the beginning but if you actually have trouble fitting on it, you may just want to leave the studio after your first session and never come back. And although Pilates can become aerobic when you have some background and can get your “flow” going, to the beginner who is de-conditioned, the process of learning the material can be very slow. You will not always get a quick cardio calorie burn right away. For these reasons, I used to have my reservations about helping people use Pilates to achieve significant weight loss.

I learned that I was wrong the way we instructors learn most things-from our clients. Several people came to me at once last year, with a goal of losing 50 to 100 pounds. Although I had the concerns and reservations I expressed above, more than anything, I wanted to help these people reach their goal and I discovered that I could. Although cardio is recommended as the quickest road to weight loss, when you are really overweight, there are usually other complications that make cardio impossible. Excess weight on the joints can cause a chain of problems, which become exacerbated by walking, never mind running. A lack of body awareness and stabilization from the “power house” or core, combined with excess weight will most likely make even standing a strain on the back. Therefore, I started with the goal of getting these clients strong enough to be able to do other kinds of activities that would be more cardiovascular. I discarded a lot of my own ideas of how a typical session is supposed to go. We mainly worked on the cadillac and gradually worked up to more time on the reformer. I stayed focused on the goals; Strengthen, align, increase flexibility and burn calories. The results I saw were amazing. I would sometimes tear up with excitement during a session when I realized how far we had come. Developing more muscle in the body makes you burn more calories. Exercising makes you feel like eating better. Learning to use the muscles as deeply as you do in Pilates carries over to regular life and you are constantly using more fuel simply by holding your body in a way that is supported by the “power house.” I have always wanted to believe that Pilates really is for everyone, and now I really do.

Pink Ribbon Pilates

I just spent the weekend in San Francisco with ten amazing women learning about the post-operative exercise protocol in the Pink Ribbon Certification program. The women had come from all over the world for the workshop and the backgrounds and certifications in the room were diverse. Some people were Physical Therapists, with a solid understanding of rehabilitative exercise while several others were brand new Pilates Instructors just beginning to navigate a career working with bodies. Most people, like me, had already had many clients who had breast cancer and we were there to find a systematic way to confront the myriad of physical challenges that come from the disease and the treatments. Cancer is humbling both for the person going through it and all the people trying to help the person through it. Perhaps this is why I found that in the workshop there were no egos in the room. There was a truly collaborative approach to learning and understanding the material.

I taught my own father Pilates when he was losing his strength from treatments for Prostate Cancer. He was without a doubt the most energetic person I had ever known before the illness and yet when he was going through treatments, some days he would plead to skip our sessions simply because it was the last thing he felt like doing. Discouraging as it was to see him weakened, he was able to see improvement from the work we did. I think no matter how much strength had been lost, those little flashes of progress offered us both some hope that it was not always going to be like this. Just show up and do the work and you will get stronger. That is a fact. This inspires me to keep people working when they are having a bad day and feel like there is no point in exercise. Yes, it is possible for the illness to take over and it did in my father’s case. However, he continued his exercise program almost until the last day of his life. Fortunately, with early detection in Breast Cancer, we are not facing this kind of prognosis. The treatments can be temporarily debilitating but we have ways to, as Joseph Pilates said, “fix this.” We know that exercise has healing properties. It helps regulate mood swings and it fights depression. It helps with functional movement and life skills. It improves circulation, reduces fatigue, and it is necessary to rebuild the strength that is lost from the surgeries and treatments for Breast Cancer. I look forward to many more experiences in my career when my client and I witness perhaps only tiny, but very tangible improvements in strength. It is those moment that help us both keep believing that if you continue to show up for the work, you will get stronger.

Joe Pilates-Lover or Fighter?

I was never a good athlete; always the last one picked on the kickball team, an urban kid with no real exposure to sports. And unlike most other Pilates Instructors, I never had what it took to be a contender in Ballet. But when a friend asked me to accompany her to a free class teaching women Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and Self Defense some years back, I discovered I had all the skills I needed to be a great fighter. Why? Pilates. A strong core, strong legs, a flexible spine, the ability to breathe through physical challenge, balance, did I mention a strong core? In Jiu-Jitsu this is referred to as “Hara,” in Kung Fu it is the Dian-tian. No matter what you call it, it is the center of all strength and power necessary for fighting. Pilates was a fighter. He was a boxer and he wrestled. In this you tube link you can see him pole fighting, head butting and practicing one of my favorite Martial Arts, “Push Hands.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6z7FBufu3Y&feature=related)

He designed the ideal exercise program for a fighter. Once I became more serious about Martial Arts, and started training with Renzo Gracie in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, (http://www.renzogracie.com) I would tell the guys (they were mostly guys) that I sparred with to try Pilates. They would look at me like I suggested they eat brussel sprouts and say, “Yea, I know it would be good for all these injuries…I did do yoga for a while.” That is not what I meant! I meant it would be good for your game. It would make you a much better fighter! Have you ever seen Fedor Emelianenko slide himself out of a hold? His back is so supple it is like it is made of jell-o. I don’t know if he actually does Pilates but he sure moves like he does. I recently had this conversation with Chris Robinson, a two-time Muay Thai kickboxing champion, Jiu-Jitsu Player and an outstanding Pilates Instructor here in San Diego. (http://www.corecoach.net/) He said he is finally getting his Jiu-Jitsu teammates to try Pilates and it is changing their game entirely. I was also happy to find a couple of people marrying Pilates and fighting in their practice. Amelia Sheftall, for example founded Karate Pilates in New York. (http://www.karatepilates.com) This trend is exciting and I know it will continue as people get more exposure to what goes on in a real Pilates session. So while we continue to enjoy Pilates for its healing properties, let us not forget about the fight.

Playing well with others-Advantages of working in a semi-private or small class

I am now teaching group classes at Club Pilates on Morena Blvd. in San Diego

http://clubpilatessandiego.com/

I happen to love working with small groups and besides making Pilates much more affordable in this economic climate, I think there are some distinct advantages to this kind of training.

I discovered the beauty of the mat tower class while working at Real Pilates in New York. (www.realpilatesnyc.com) Owner, Alycea Ungaro has mastered the form, creating extremely challenging yet safe and diverse workouts on the mat using arm and leg springs, push though bar, weights and the roll back bar. While teaching there, I had the good fortune to take weekly “Teacher’s Only” classes with Alycea. I would then, shamelessly steal her ideas and bring them to my own classes each week. I am excited to bring these ideas to San Diego!

While there are obvious advantages to working in a private session with the instructor paying close attention to alignment and form, here are some things that are unique to a small group session. First, it can be very beneficial to see different bodies executing moves. I think there is absolutely no place for competition in Pilates. We strive to push ourselves as much as we can within the confines of our own unique structure, age, level of conditioning and flexibility and experience. That said, there is something very motivating about seeing someone next to you fly into a position that might feel impossible and there is something satisfying about seeing someone struggle with something you have mastered. This can be a reminder of the progress you have made and a glimmer of hope for progress to come. The beautiful thing about Pilates, is that if you show up, you will make progress. This is not true of everything in life. Within this one structured world of controlled movements, we can strive towards mastery and achieve –not perfection- but significant improvement. It is useful to see where others are on this path. There is also the benefit of flow. Flow is one of the key principles of Pilates and when in a group setting, the class takes on a rhythm; the flow becomes central to the workout. Finally, there is energy. Energy feeds energy. You may have none; your neighbor may have a lot. The group dynamic is such that there is always, somehow, energy in the room to feed off of. So, bring what you have to a semi-private and leave the rest to your fellow students and me. To quote Woody Allen, “80% of success, is showing up.”

Pilates for Scoliosis management

I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 13. I still remember looking down at the doctor’s reddish brown patent leather shoes as he told me the news that I would have to wear a brace for the better part of my teenage years. I dissolved into a puddle of tears. He told my father to calm me down and left the room. The brace, it turned out, did nothing for me but ruin any chances of getting a date. At age 17, I went in for spinal fusion and had a Herrington rod put in my thoracic spine. Flash forward, age 28, I discover Pilates. At the end of my certification, which involved almost 2 years of doing Pilates for hours every day, my scoliosis had dramatically improved. I didn’t take any kind of measurements so I cannot give you numbers, but I can say that the rib cage that protrudes on the left front and right back of my body went down about an inch on each side. The lifted right shoulder became less lifted and I gained so much mobility in the rest of my spine that it makes up for the fused vertebrae. Most people who watch me do Pilates have no idea that there is a rod there. If all that change could happen in my late 20s, imagine what Pilates could have accomplished while I was still growing. I truly believe if I had discovered it earlier I could have avoided the brace and the surgery. Lately some insurance companies are starting to recognize the medical benefits of Pilates and I have had the pleasure of working with a handful of clients who were referred by a doctor and were able to have a large percentage of the session covered by insurance, but this is still rare. I am not saying that Pilates can cure scoliosis, but clearly it has powerful benefits and could perhaps in some cases, control scoliosis to the point where surgery is no longer necessary. So I am taking this opportunity to advocate that the medical community continues to analyze these benefits and consider Pilates a viable option for scoliosis management.

Studio web site

Come find me in San Diego at

http://www.pilatesmindandbody.com