How many sessions does it take?

In the ten years I have taught Pilates, I have seen bodies change. They become stronger, they become leaner, they move differently, and they become more agile. These are obvious goals of Pilates and I am thrilled to see them met. But the change that I find most interesting to watch is to see how people's relationships with their own bodies change after doing this work. People begin to feel differently about their bodies. They begin to love them, to appreciate their own strengths even within their limitations, and as a result they carry themselves differently and send a different message to the world. How long does it take for this to happen? The predictable answer would be to quote Joe himself who said, "In 10 sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 you will see it and in 3o you will have a whole new body." For the most part I agree with this but to be honest, I have seen it happen in one session. In your first session you begin to understand the principle of initiating movement from your powerhouse, this changes the way you stand and move in the world and this simply makes you look different. In one session, if you work with someone like me who means business, you will work really hard. I mean hard in a way that you are not used to working, no matter what your level of conditioning. Simply by working deeply, intensely, pushing yourself to do physical things you didn't know you could do, and finding the deeper muscles that support your body you will change your relationship with your body. You will begin to appreciate it in a different way; you will want to do more for it (because it actually feels GOOD after you push it in those ways) and you will start to see your own potential to take pride in your own body. It is yours it is the only one you have! Love it! It may take more than one session for this transformation to take place and it often does but I am going to go out on a limb here and challenge you to see if you can get all that the first time.