Priorities

Hello All! I'd like to use this opportunity to link my love of Pilates and creativity into the real world in which I live. I think it's important to respect yourself enough to be honest about what you need.

I have long since felt a conflict between how society encourages me to prioritize, versus my own personal needs, aspirations and desires. I became obsessed with the structured education system I was clay-formed around as a kid, achieving high academic success each year in hopes that I would excel through middle, high school and college, set to achieve my goals with relative ease. How hard could it be to become a professional after spending thousands of dollars and hours learning my ABC's over and over again?

It wasn't until the beginning of college studying to be a playwright that I realized I was subjugating my mental health, joy and even creativity, forcing myself to garner exclusively A's, sitting through four hour classes I struggled to complete without experiencing one or two panic attacks. My freshman year, I arrived to finish my Bachelor's degree with a backpack stuffed with depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsion--I made friends, got great recommendations, had a series or two of underwhelming relationships. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere around them--carefree, a little bit of class work and a lot of their version of "fun."

I was spending my afternoons in therapy and my nights drinking, when I longed to be outside, to be active and adventurous. I developed a habit of ignoring my gut reactions, which are always truer representations of my feelings than my muddled mind could ever be. It wasn't until this year, when I realized I had love for so many things: Pilates, climbing, writing and more, that I decided I couldn't continue to punish myself within a system that made me feel bad about myself, in an atmosphere that was so opposite from anything I desired. I've always found I write so much more and produce more inspired work when I'm not confined to write in a certain way about certain things. I've valued aspects of my education certainly, and I have the debt to show for it--but, if I want to continue living with more joy and less depression each day, it is necessary to forge ahead in a direction my gut is most willing to go; I don't want to feel guilty for it, nor do I think anyone should for taking a leap of faith.

I encourage anyone to forge their own path, despite its unconventional groundwork or direction--being true to on own nature and needs only helps to bring you closer to yourself and treat others with the same compassion, time and respect you treat yourself with. I want to keep learning, writing, climbing, nature-ing and of course, Pilates-ing! 

Tease On and Follow Your GUT,

Ian 

Teaser Thursday (Friday) (Sort of Saturday)

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

Mental Health Day/TEASER THURSDAY Round Two!

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

What Gets You Pumped?!

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)!!

Let me know your favorite things to do!

Ian

The Morning After

Today is another day and I've officially passed the beginner/pre-Pilates mat certification test! Going into it, I obviously felt nervous, yada yada yada, but confident enough to do it comfortably and professionally.  Trying not to be too critical on myself, I'll break it down for ya where it comes to details. Where I succeeded: I think years of public speaking, performance and tutoring helped to give me a good energy and competence as a teacher--also, I had the actual mat portion of the material DOWN and was pretty good about all of the necessary details. 

My instructor gave highest marks to me for my explanation of each exercise, which is a skill that definitely came from multiple different experimentations with explaining motion through imagery and precise instruction. 

Oi. What I need to work on: keeping track of reps! I didn't realize until the exam started how difficult it is to meld being an informative and energized instructor, while remembering rep numbers and key points about the importance of each exercise. That being said, I was able to keep the flow of the routine. I also need to make sure I'm not being too cordial with my classes, aka apologizing or second guessing myself. Many of the people who take these mat classes--especially beginner ones--have no idea what the details of the routine are and it's best to keep an air of authority and competence, otherwise students will start to second guess the instructor! We don't want that.

The other challenge that presented itself to me was the appearance of two clients over the age of sixty with prevalent injuries. Once I addressed what needed to be modified for them, I may have obsessed a bit too much on them, more than other students. It was a bit stressful as I had the largest class of all the students in the certification course and my hands-on work was not just for show, but actually necessary!

All in all, I am happy this first step of my journey has been completed, but of course I am always looking to do better and have to do my best not to be too much of a perfectionist when it comes to scores. I know one thing, after doing the routine seven times for other students, my inner thighs are feeling that Pilates stance!

Tease on!

Ian

Instructing My Friend in Pre-Pilates

Just finished teaching my friend Olive her first pre-Pilates class! Went surprisingly well! She says her abs feel worked out and her legs feel stretched! I couldn't ask for more! My cues felt stronger than they've ever been and I think I'm starting to find my voice as an instructor. Nice way to start off the weekend :)