Not the summer I expected (Pilates update)

Laurie’s Pilates Update June 2008

1. Private, personal, peaceful Pilates

2. Dude, where’s my core?

3. Learning about shoulder rehab the hard way

1. Private, personal, peaceful Pilates

Clients keep telling me how much they enjoy the beauty and tranquility of my garden studio. Come experience the power of Pilates in a quiet, nurturing environment.

Private sessions 1 for $54, 5 for $245, 10 for $440

Duet* sessions 1 for $64 ($32 each), 5 for $300 ($150 each), 10 for $560 ($280 each)

* In Pilates jargon, a duet is a semi-private lesson - two people sharing one instructor (sorry, no singing). Clients choose duets for several reasons; they cost less, an exercise partner can be motivating, and it’s fun. You can find your own partner or let me match you up with someone. Please note; I need to work privately with each person at least once, duets are not appropriate for all clients.

2. Dude, where’s my core?

I continue to offer workplace workshops on upper body releases and strategies for preventing repetitive strain injuries (RSI). During these 45 minute group lessons I teach both standing and sitting exercises, all of which can be done in casual business attire without getting sweaty or wrinkled. Participants learn effective ways to stretch shoulder, neck, and back muscles, sit and stand with good alignment, relieve muscle tension, reduce pain, and prevent injury. A perfect “stretch break” for intensive training seminars or conferences, Dude, where’s my core? is serious exercise that’s fun. $150, plus travel in excess of 5 miles.

3. Learning about shoulder rehab the hard way

While visiting New Orleans a couple weeks ago I took a fall and broke my right shoulder. It’s been pinned back together and I’m healing well. I’ve already learned a lot about pain management and anticipate becoming quite the expert on exercises to regain shoulder strength and flexibility. Fortunately, my mentor insisted I learn how to talk clients through their exercises so I can teach even while in a sling. My goal: push-ups in three months. Stay tuned.

On the Other Side

I can breathe again. I gave my teacher a Pilates lesson and she liked it! I spent the past week obsessed with this lesson. I made at least seven different lists of the Pilates exercises I would teach her. I wrote one on the airplane to San Diego to attend Comic Con. I wrote lists in the special notebook I keep just for Pilates. I wrote them in the margins of the newspaper while finishing breakfast. I typed them and eventually I think I even dreamed them.

When I had finally decided on the 18 different exercises and the order in which I would teach them, I started practicing. I don't have all the Pilates equipment at home, so I had to pretend. My family gave me odd looks when they found me pantomiming how I would move the springs on the reformer from one set-up to another. I not only imitated the motions for each exercise, I also practice giving cues to my imaginary student, out loud.

Afraid I wouldn't sleep, I reviewed my list and revised my notes up until right before I went to bed. Then I got up extra early so I could arrive at the studio with time to practice the entire work-out. I spent over an hour doing the exercises, intermittently checking my instructors' manual and making changes in my set-up notes.

When the time for the lesson finally arrived, I was nervous, but I was also prepared. After about 30 minutes, my teacher said, "You're doing great. Really, you're doing a really good job." I could feel my whole body relax.

There was more feedback, mostly positive, but some constructive comments too. I particularly need to smooth out my patter, get it down to the few really effective cue words for each exercise. But I'm pumped, because it is so clear that I've progressed since the last time I taught my teacher.

I feel great. Which is good, because I gotta get going on my next work-out plan. My teacher put herself on my schedule in two weeks and I want to be ready.

The (inevitable) bump in the road

I've reached a benchmark in my Pilates career. I've just figured out how much I do not know. It's a humbling feeling. Although I have a good working knowledge of Pilates, I am at the very, very beginning of understanding how to apply it to the infinitely variable bodies that exist in the universe.

No two bodies are the same. I knew that. But I don't yet know how to modify and adapt this endlessly adaptable method to meet the needs of the myriad alignments that I see whenever I go anywhere and see any people.

If I see you walking down the street I am looking at the way you carry your shoulders, where your head sits relative to your sternum, if your hips move, and where in your body you seem to initiate movement. Unfortunately, I wouldn't necessarily know what to do with you if I have a chance to work with you.

Okay, I'd probably try to get you in hold your head back from where it hangs forward straining your neck muscles all day. I'd probably try to get you to drop your sit bones down over your heels when you stand and let your sternum float up and out so your shoulder blades could slide down your back a bit. And I'd most likely want you to sit up on your sit bones and lengthen your spine up out of your pelvis when you sit. And I'd definitely try to get you breathing into your rib cage to mobilize your thoracic vertebrae and increase your lung capacity. Yeah, and a bunch of other things, now that I think about it. But at some point it's just a bunch of exercises if I don't know what I am trying to accomplish more globally.

I guess ultimately this is a good thing. I have a lot to learn and I know it.

Second time's the charm

I've seen both of my new students for a second time. This feels big because I got a chance to use the information I'd gathered during our first session. I gave my new male client, let's call him Steve, several stretches for his tight back. With each stretch he commented that he felt looser. I was lucky, in a way, because Steve had taken a monster bike ride the day before and was really achy and sore. I probably could have given him just about any stretch and he would have felt better. But I was trying out my theory that his back pain has more to do with tightness in his back than with weak abs. Since the stretches worked I'm now planning to see if I can get him to use a more neutral spine position (maintained by his abs) when he sits at work It felt really good to finally see him smile!

I also got to try out my Pilates in the Park program on my daughter. She was patient with me as I taught her the various exercises and noticed different problems presented by the muddy ground, the varying heights of the picnic tables, the hard benches that are less than conducive to rolling back for ab work, etc. Then we spread out our towels on the little lakeside beach and pretended to be in Hawaii. That was fun.

On the food front, I saw the new film, Ratatouille over the weekend. As a result, I was inspired to try making ratatouille for the first time. Based on the version shown in the film, I sliced the eggplant, zucchini and golden zucchini very thin and layered it in baking dish over and under a sauce made of onions, red pepper, and tomatoes that I'd sautéed in olive oil and pureed in the food processor. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. Next time I plan to roast and peel the pepper first to improve the flavor and texture of the sauce. Yum!

Two weeks later

So much for my plans to update at least weekly. I had a grand total of one student during my first week at the studio. But during week two I had three students. One of my new students scheduled a return visit and my second new student scheduled FOUR additional lessons. I also taught my two classes and two private lessons at home. It would appear that I am actually a Pilates instructor.

Today is Friday and I don't teach. My brother is in town from Portland. During our wanderings around the city, doing various errands and window shopping, he told a sales person in a fitness store that I am a Pilates instructor. He made it sound like she should be impressed. That was a first.

The experience of these past two weeks has left me relieved because I still love teaching. After teaching for three hours on Thursday I felt energetic and focussed. Most of my nerves come before I start a session or class. But I got incredibly nervous while teaching one of my new students - a 42 year old man. I forgot how to get someone out of the foot straps on the reformer. I instantly got a hot flash which only made things worse. I started to freak out that my mentor teacher had witnessed my ineptitude. But I managed to pull myself together and move on to the next exercise. A little later when we had finished the session, I was stunned when he bought a package and scheduled four more lessons. I guess he liked me anyway.

I made Afgan-style shish kabob, barbecued sweet corn, and salad for dinner Saturday night. The boys made chili-cheese corn bread from a Cooking Light recipe. Then I went out of town, so the left over lamb just sat there in the refrigerator until I came back Monday night. I made a curried stew with French lentils, carrots, onion, celery, left over sweet corn, and the lamb. We ate it with cucumber and cilantro raita, basmati rice and sweet chutney. Another lovely meal. After dinner I baked some of the oatmeal, chocolate chip, and dried cherry cookies that I had in the freezer. On Wednesday morning I took some chicken out of the freezer to thaw. But we ended up going to see a movie and I didn't cook. That meant I HAD to do something with the chicken Thursday. I made a Chicken Tagine with lemons and olives over Quinoa. We had salad with snow peas, pecans, and cherry plum tomatoes with balsamic mustard vinaigrette. Tonight we had dinner out. I went all out for duck - seared duck liver salad with a bacon-wrapped fig and roasted duck breast and leg over greens and a fantastic corn pudding that I would love to be able to recreate. Stay tuned. I'm hitting the farmers' market tomorrow and I'm going to get enough sweet corn to experiment with!

Now I begin

I began this blog at a turning point in my life. I was about to leave my 28 year career, watch my youngest child graduate from high school, and begin a new life as a Pilates instructor. All that, and more, has now happened. But this is the real beginning point of my new life. Prior to now I was in flux, a state I have traditionally despised. I still had to finish my Pilates instructor training, extract myself from my old job, and execute my son's graduation party. I could not settle into anything like a new routine. I had no firm schedule and a diminishing list of commitments. As a person who is typically over committed and programmed to the bursting-point, it felt weird! Fortunately, I was distracted from the dreaded flux by the threat of a surprisingly major medical intervention. In the end I got the best of all possible worlds because the planned surgery didn't happen but, in the meantime, I was very distracted .

Now I begin. My formal apprenticeship began today. I didn't actually have any students, but that is not the point. I was at the studio as a student teacher, practicing my moves and generally pursuing the knowledge and experience that will eventually make me a kick-ass Pilates teacher. I am no longer in flux.

Delightfully inconsistent

I heard from someone who actually read my blog! I've been including the link at the bottom of a letter I've sent to let people know that I left my job. I only know of of two people who followed the link. Even that minuscule response makes this all a lot more real. So I decided to update.

I met with some public health colleagues yesterday. They were curious about my new career and asked how I came to become a Pilates teacher. Oh boy, you want to be careful when you ask that question. The floodgates opened and, before I finally realized what was happening, I started to gush. It turns out that I am a Pilates zealot. I'm totally into it and I am perhaps a tiny bit deluded that other people want to hear everything I love about Pilates.

I am now convinced this was an incidence of what I have come to call "inappropriate communication syndrome," or ICS. I coined the term to describe a trait that runs in my family. My Dad does it, two of my brothers do it, and now, apparently, I do it too. It happens when the person speaking fails to register the bored, shocked, and/or embarrassed expressions on the faces of those listening. Some listeners inadvertently enable ICS by working very hard to look interested. Typically, these are polite people who do not wish to appear rude by saying, "Whoa, hold the phone, that is enough about Pilates, Peter F. Drucker, your digestion problems, or whatever."

However, as with all crimes against humanity, it really isn't fair to blame the victim. People who indulge in ICS should monitor what they are saying and stop occasionally to see if, for example, the perceived need for deep background on the origins of the "trapeze table" has been filled.

I shall pray for the strength to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Just jump

I've done it. I quit my job to pursue a new career as a Pilates instructor. I'm elated and terrified. Rebecca R., longtime friend and poker buddy, celebrated her birthday today by jumping out of an airplane. No shit, she really did! I feel as if I too just jumped. So here I am, waiting to see if my 'chute opens.