Fitness, Pilates, Weight Loss, Workout
This piece however came about from a conversation with a non Pilates practising friend, just going to prove that inspiration for debate can truly come from the most unexpected places. It occurred to me recently that when meeting new clients or class participants no one ever tells me what they are good at or what’s right with them, without exception people always start sentences with ‘I’m not very fit…flexible…coordinated…balanced etc.’ this is usually followed with a pause and then finally ‘Hi, lovely to meet you!’. My point being is why when we know starting a new class, hobby or friendship is going to be potentially good for us do we often approach it with such negativity about ourselves and the possible positive outcomes?
I have long appreciated that what people don’t tell me is usually far more informative than what they actually do, as a movement teacher this is to be expected. What is it however, that compels us to place greater emphasis on what we feel we are unable to do rather than concentrate on what’s possible. Bar medical contra indications I’m not really interested in absolute rules. Of course as teachers we have to be observant of individual safety but no individual (regardless of age, experience or gender) ever got physically or mentally stronger from staying where they were comfortable – ever! In my classes I look for people to take risks, make mistakes, loose their balance, laugh until they have to find their abdominals or indeed pelvic floor. A class in any lesson for that matter is not somewhere to concentrate on what you believe to be wrong with you or to concentrate on what you don’t know. It’s exactly the place to accept new possibilities within yourself. Any teacher that leaves a student feeling less able or less confident isn’t worth the recycled paper their C.V is printed on.
Sadly many within the fitness and wellness industry perpetuate these attitudes of negativity. Selling ideal bodies using 20 year old models with beautiful faces and bodies (I will not use perfect- it just doesn’t exist) in truth however, it’s more than the images we are sold by the media that are to blame, its innate issues within ourselves that stop us starting something new. There is a certain safety in knowing your routines and if you’re happy with these who am I to challenge them? However, if there is even a small part of you that has ever wanted to learn Tango, skydive or perhaps even learn Pilates? Then ask yourself why you don’t? We can all provide reasons why we should eat better, drink less worry less and work less hours but rarely do I meet people who know why they don’t change these often destructive and unrewarding patterns. In truth when people sign up to join my classes or join my retreats they often don’t know what to expect, they do know however, that each person is responsible for changing their own path. We can all improve areas of our lives we just have to appreciate we are all starting from different advantages and disadvantages. And who knows, perhaps we can all have the confidence to make a few mistakes along the way, trusting that the world won’t end and that at the very least we might have exercised our ability to smile!.
