ALotOfPilates!
**A Body Positive and LIFE positive Blog**
Follow Ian on his journey as a Pilates Apprentice--including his triumphs, struggles, routines and questions!
In front of you is the third (belated) edition of Teaser Thursday! Once again, I was practicing by myself, squeezing in a workout between commitments. Therefore, I had to use the mirror to take a picture of myself! It was a trick doing the exercise while positioning the phone camera with one of my hands, trying to maintain good form. After Marcelo's speciality devices workshop, I've been using the Magic Circle to create resistance and even more deeply condition the powerhouse. The picture came out kinda spooky from all the mirrors next to one another. Early Halloween. I've been improving my form after advice from my mentor and further practice everyday. Have a good night! Also, here's a belated photo of my shenanigans in Central Park on one of my days off. Tease On, Ian
Most of my friends are artists. In many ways, this creates stimulating, engaging conversation and interactions--where it facilitates issues, however, is in the realm of physical fitness. An issue I see many people, including myself, struggling with, is body image in the face of exercise routines. It is typical to associate physical fitness and athleticism with the jocks in school that may have bullied you or the professional athletes who receive preferential treatment in the face of western culture and law. Frankly, exercise (to artists) can be looked at as an intellectually inferior activity. Because of this system of thought, it's difficult to convince my friends to help me practice on them, offering them free lessons that would normally cost a decent sum of money. Such negative views toward exercise absorbed from culture and personal experience, as well as from the fear of not being physically fit or attractive enough to work out, can all but force someone like myself to close my eyes out of disgust as I walk past the gym. I've always been athletic--I was a competitive cross country runner--but I felt left out of the "fit" club because I had a smaller build than most men. This was especially discouraging to me when I would exceed most of my team in speed and ability, yet didn't posses the right look to be considered cool enough to call myself an athlete openly. My point is-- SCREW anyone who makes you deem yourself not qualified, deserving, or good enough to work out. Pilates, as an example, is a complex and rewarding discipline that constantly engages the mind and body and helps people to arrive at a place where they feel physically fit, with the idea in mind that their practice will assist in the longevity and enjoyment of their lives. Look for the feel. Do the practice, be consistent, feel the rewards. I see it as detrimental to go into any workout regimen focused solely on achieving a look that our culture categorizes as conventionally attractive or correct at one moment in time. If you do your best to make your body feel better and work more effectively, the physical results will follow. Media representations of beauty change, feeling good is forever. Different individuals have different bodies. Different bodies make different changes and in fact, change at different rates. Human bodies are constantly in flux as a result of puberty, pregnancy, working out, eating differently, etc. EMBRACE and LOVE those changes as they are ever present and natural. Tease On (In The Face Of Adversity) Om, Ian P.S. TEASER THURSDAY #teaserthursday (<------ can I even do that on this site?) will appear TOMORROW (Friday) as I was in the city all day and did not have a chance to tease!
This past Saturday, I made the trek into Westchester to my studio to observe a workshop on speciality Pilates devices with second generation instructor extraordinaire, Marcelo. Because of time constraints, the two and a half hour course was focused mainly on the magic circle (MC) and foot corrector (FC). Many Pilates students and teachers have some knowledge of basic MC exercises, but Marcelo delved deeply into Joseph Pilates and Romana Kryzanowska's teachings in order to present some extremely helpful and extremely challenging workouts! Some highlights: Marcelo introduced how to incorporate the MC into the Mat in order to challenge the existing intermediate/advanced workout. This includes resistance training on the hundred, roll up, roll over, double leg stretch, open leg rocker, corkscrew, neck pull, jack knife, side kicks, teaser 1-3 and hip circles. Marcelo stressed the importance of integrating the power house with the MC workouts in order to achieve the best results and add to deep conditioning of the Power House and upper and lower extremities. The workouts alternated between putting the magic circle between the ankles, knees and hands--creating different resistance training in different areas. Of course when it came time for the apprentices to volunteer, I just haaaad to do the teaser, which proved to be insanely difficult with the MC between my legs. Definitey something to work on! Next, Marcelo introduced the MC when sitting and standing, using the arms and legs to demonstrate dance and gymnastics based positions to once again engage the powerhouse and strengthen the legs and arms. Even just doing these exercises slowly with the rest of the apprentices proved to be one of the hardest workouts I had done in a while. On to foot corrector highlights. The focus here is on strength and placement of the feet and ultimately, balance. Using the two by four to demonstrate, Marcelo called on one of the apprentices that is a dancer to show the strength and balance required to do traditional wall exercises with no stability and with uneven or elevated surfaces. All in all the day proved to be very educational and exciting. I can't wait to integrate these exercises later on in my instructor career in order to mix up practice and help to challenge myself and my students. Also, Simona was a peach and brought in an amazing Italian spread for people taking the workshop. Time and money well spent. Below is a photo of the food spread :) Tease On! (Even with the magic circle) Ian
A little history to start us off-- I originally started practicing Pilates as a response to struggling through circumstances that I worried I'd never be able to improve. It wasn't until I made an active, risky decision to start driving my life in the direction I wanted it to go, that things started getting better. Pilates was and is an integral part of my mental health routine and it acts as a wonderful stress reliever when I feel things have become too much.
Deciding it was long overdue, I took a day trip to Central Park West to blow off steam. In addition to walking more than thirty blocks of the park, I found time to practice Pilates! And since it's Thursday, I made sure to throw in a teaser or two...or like twelve. I didn't have anyone to take pictures of me, so I had to do it all myself on my cheap little phone (I'm not a huge fan of tech, remember?)
I am so excited to share with you all how much doing Pilates outside can be SO rewarding. In addition to adding physical challenges to the routine from the varied terrain, there is something extra meditative and cleansing about being in nature and doing the routine! I'm also a fan of taking off my shoes whenever possible, so I was able to harden my feet a bit on all the rocks, grass and NYC debris.
(THIS IS ME TRYING TO TAKE A TEASER PIC FROM THE OPPOSITE ANGLE. DIDN'T WORK OUT QUITE LIKE I HOPED HAHAHAHAH)
After practicing, I visited the Shakespeare Garden, napped on a rock by the water and listened to some musicians perform by the water. As usual, dogs were everywhere! New York City just would not be as special without the park. I find people are the most kind and relaxed there. Hopefully I'll be able to upload a video of me practicing there for you all before the winter!
I sincerely wish that you all are able to take what time you have out of your busy lives to realign and maintain mental, physical and spiritual health. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO COST MONEY. This entire wonderful, beauteous day cost a total of $2.50 for a subway ride downtown. Tease On and Keep Well, Ian
Alright Folks! So today is installment one of what I hope to be a weekly Teaser Thursday photo/video. The concept is pretty simple, the exercise...is a bit more strenuous. For this first installment, I had my friend Taylor take this picture of me in her dorm room as I wore uncomfortable skinny jeans, on a tile floor beneath a thin rug, so, needless to say--it ain't the best teaser ever seen! But, I want to give you all a taste of how you can do Pilates anytime, any place! Tease on!!! PS--Eyes are closed because I was laughing as my jeans rode up waaaay too high. Ian
One of the things I love about Pilates opposed to other forms of exercise and other forms of meditation is the lack of distractions around me when I'm doing a routine. As much as I love music, I think it's important to remove all exterior interference and really focus on those six principles (Breath, Flow, Concentration, Control, Centering and Precision if you forgot ;)) and the five parts of the mind (Will, Memory, Intelligence, Imagination and Intuition). By doing this, I truly feel I become a better Pilates student and therefore, teacher as I am able to improve each time I practice with a clear mind and active memory.
That all being said, I want to know what you like to do when gearing up for, or winding down from a really good, sweaty practice! We'll talk about food and drink regimes another day, but what about music, books and movies, places to relax? After I finish a hard workout, I love to find somewhere comfortable (preferably outside!) to enjoy nature and music if I have it with me. For whatever reason, lately I've been really into Fleetwood Mac--Rumors was the first CD I ever owned at age nine and I haven't stopped loving it since! I also enjoy reading something light, yet engaging, like modern poetry (there's a lot of good stuff out there, believe me!!!) or a book I've read before that stirs up positive emotions and reflections.
Also, I enjoy doing Chakra meditation and other forms of meditative regimes and exercise that I will go into more detail in a future post. The point is--do the practice AND enjoy the life that occurs before and after you enter the studio (or whatever space you practice)!!
