Virtually every teacher I've met has a common problem when it comes to scheduling regular Pilates sessions. This whole thing about Pilates being a helping profession puts many teachers in a bind, time-wise, with little if any time left over, after everyone else has been served, for us to take proper care of ourselves.
I cannot remember the last time I've had a session with Heidi where she put me through a vigorous Reformer routine but last Thursday, when one of our uber Powerhouse clients Jen, said she was taking Friday off and wanted to get in another session (her 4th of the week) I jumped at the chance to do a semi with her with Heidi as our teacher.
Jen is pretty rare in almost all respects but especially in her dedication to Pilates. Other than protecting her wrists, she's perfected her form on all the usual Advanced exercises on Reformer, Cadillac, Barrels and Chairs. And like most of our super strong clients, mat is her favorite and most weeks she's in mat class 2 or 3 times.
We love Jen and I can't help but think that Joe & Clara would have loved her, too.
At 1:30 on Friday, I'd felt like I'd slipped into the Pilates jet stream and was being carried forward by Heidi's brilliant words, Jen's youthful energy and my deeply ingrained biomechanical patterning that I worked like a dog to establish when I was preparing for and in my primary training program.
What a delight in the body, what a dream-like state in the mind and what a lovely afterglow the Reformer has to offer those who mount with seriousness, strength and authority. Plus, we laughed a ton and couldn't believe how the hour flew by. It was a usual Pilates session, well taught, well performed.
But so rare for me, who rarely chooses Reformer over computer, Cadillac over Gmail, Chair over creative.
Realizing there is no point at which I'll be caught up on admin, accepting that and making the right choice in the moment - to move, to sweat, to work on my form and function with greater structure and seriousness - feels great, familiar and deeply satisfying.
I'm on Heidi's book again today for a private where we'll go back and get for my selfish satisfaction the wrist-centric exercises we left out with Jen. And I'm also on Heidi's book for a total of another 3 hours Thursday and Saturday.
I'm back and I'm bad (but in a good way)!
Are you gone, are you tinkering, are you losing the battle, are you half-assed trying to get in sessions, are you driven from your own studio to someone else's to take session?
Take matters into your own authoritative hands and make change happen.
Your advanced Reformer is waiting.