Move It or Lose It

I love my body and what it can do.  I'm not being up myself, I just mean I love that my body is flexible and actually moves. 

Being a pilates instructor I come into contact with all sorts of people, different shapes and sizes, jobs, fitness levels, and nothing excites me more than when someone in my class has that light bulb moment, "gets it", and starts seeing results.  Initially the changes are subtle (they won't happen over night - persistence is key) but with continued practice the effects can be huge!

My philosophy has always been move it or lose it. 

My mum ("E") is a perfect example of this as she's constantly moving it.  E's never joined a gym and doesn't play sport, however she walks at least 5kms each day (I'd say it's closer to 8km), does the gardening, mows the lawns, and always starts the day doing her "twists" after she jumps out of the shower.  Relax it's all above board...let me explain.

She'd asked me years ago if there was anything else she should be focusing on, apart from walking & using a resistance band for her upper body.  I suggested she stand on the bathmat, feet hip width apart, knees slightly bent & twist - the bathmat slides nicely on the tiles and gets everything moving.  It's not only a great workout for the waist (swing those arms), but incorporates the upper & lower body and really gets the heart rate up.  E gave it the tick of approval, did it for a while, then tweaked it slightly & added the extra challenge of twisting down to the floor and then up.  I asked how many twists she did each morning to which she replied "120".  Strewth!  I was amazed and so proud of her as she'd worked up gradually over a period of time, increasing the number by 5 or 10 each week (smart woman...baby steps, the only way to go).  All this before she takes off for her morning walk - impressive!

E has very good posture, partly due to her positive outlook on life - she feels good about herself and it's reflected in her body (positive, happy people just stand taller) - but the most important thing is she's consistent.  Rain, hail or shine she's out in the fresh air pounding the pavement and never finds excuses not to "move it".

She's reaping the benefits in bucket loads as she's got a great energy about her & is always on the go (dad used to call her a fart in a bottle which I never really understood, but am sure was a term of endearment), people think she's younger than she is (I won't share her age - she'd kill me as she truly believes an error has been made and the wrong date is on her birth certificate), she loves life, and gets out and just lives it.

I love being around people who put a smile on their dial and choose to be happy. E is a great advertisement for this.

Keep up the great work - you're a true inspiration. x

P.S.  How are you going to "move it" today?  Would love to hear from you.

Learning to Walk...in Hampton

 

Last weekend I was fortunate to get to go along to a "Secrets of Natural Walking" workshop at The Pilates Company in Hampton.

 

I was intrigued by the title.  Obviously as an adult well I know how to walk (one would hope), but was I doing it naturally?  Hmmm who knows?  I'm always up to learn something new and anything alignment related well I'm there with my lycra on!  Yep I'm a pilates gal through and through.

Donna, our fabulous presenter on the day, was one of those people you meet and instantly warm to.  She was a lot of fun, created a safe, comfortable environment to "walk" in, and her presentation skills and knowledge were bang on.

Personally I thought I had good posture and body awareness, instilled in me from a young age by my piano teacher, Madam Chapman, as she always had her ruler in hand and was ready to rap me over my knuckles if I ever slouched or let my wrists "be lazy" during a lesson.  Trust me as a 6 year old I did not want that ruler anywhere near me so I sat to attention like a well trained toy soldier.  Merci beaucoup Madam Chapman as in hindsight you did me a favour, even though I think at the time you put the fear of God into me!

Anyway the following 6 hours proved me wrong about having it all down pat as I discovered my body was doing some crazy stuff that I wasn't even aware of.  I mean who knew my right foot did a slight flick out to the side as I walked, and no I hadn't gone all gangsta, it was subtle, but it was definitely doing its own thing. Sounds freaky I know, but I wasn't the only one believe me, as most people in the session were amazed at what was picked up in the way they "normally" walked. 

The Natural Walking website explains how Natural Walking is different:
"Our body has an extraordinary potential to self heal. As we go about our daily lives we are mostly not allowing this process to happen effectively. Walking, when done properly promotes the awakening and activation of our body's natural self healing functions (through stimulation of meridians and inner energy channels) resulting in physical health improvement as well as mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits that can be experienced straight away."
There are so many benefits that I won't list them all down, however click onto the link above for a cheeky peek.

I found the session absolutely fascinating and was amazed how my body felt like it had done an intense gym session, especially in my upper back, and all I'd done was walked.  I have tight glute muscles on my right hand side (yep I have a tight ass and not in the good way) and was shocked when we were holding in a standing position and my right knee slightly buckled - awesome!  My body was realigning itself and I was doing absolutely nothing other than standing in correct alignment as Donna had instructed.  The tightness in my glutes definitely lessened.

The other thing I must mention is about half way through the day, Donna asked to see my hands.  When I looked down I saw that my fingers had swelled slightly and turned an unusual colour.  Eek what was going on?  She explained this was simply due to toxins being released.  Holy cow I'll be putting "Dr" in front of my name soon...self healing, I love it!

Wow what a day this had been.  Jumping in my car with a big smile on my face, me and my not so tight ass headed off home and I was in bed by 8.30pm that night!  Totally stuffed, but in a good way. 



 

Donna (in the gorgeous green top above) it was so lovely to meet you and thanks again for such an informative, fun filled day.  You truly are a beautiful spirit. x

 

P.S.  If you're interested in attending one of the workshops I've noted Donna's details below (open to everyone, not just those in the fitness industry).  Do yourself a favour and take your fitness, health, and wellbeing into your own hands.  How empowering!

 

Donna Ellerton

Mob: 0405 514 462

Email: donna@natural-walking.com.au

 

Love Handles & Then Some...

Saying I love holidays is a definite understatement.  In fact it's my absolute favourite thing in the world to do. 

 

My last few holidays I've not considered going anywhere but France as at the moment anything else just seems to rate a very poor second.  I love everything about the place, the people, sights, food, wine - I can't get enough of it.

 

One of the best things about being in France was all the delicious meals I ate.  Trust me I didn't hold back and indulged, every day, several times...how could I not?  I guess that's the thing about holidays - indulging to the max and doing things you normally wouldn't i.e. eating pastries till they come out your ears. 

Obviously I'm an adult and no-one was holding a gun to my head as I ate my body weight in butter alone, however there came a time when I just had to give in & say I can't do this anymore.  This was my second last day in Paris and my poor little bod had just had enough.  Fair call on my body's part as I think it had realised it needed to start preparing for when I returned home (hmmm I love my bod, it's such a smart little unit).  Eek my real life was only a couple of days away! 

In my other (real) life, to pay for my travels, I work as a PA.  In my other, other (real) life I'm a pilates instructor which I absolutely love.  It was the latter I was starting to get a little concerned about thinking of my class at 6.30am on Tuesday morning, a couple of days after I arrived home, as I had noticed not only some love handles proudly protruding over the top of my pants (yep these puppies weren't in the least bit shy), but also a couple more extra layers as well.  Eek.  Would I be able to roll like a ball without getting stuck, get up into a teaser without my food baby hitting my thighs, not to mention look like I was drawing in my deeper abdominals when I was breathing - would this even be possible with these extra layers?  I mean there are certain things you just have to nail as an instructor & I hoped I could pull it off.  Strewth...could be embarrassing.

I got a text the night before my class from the fabulous Monsieur D who had been taking my Tuesday morning classes while I was away, saying "Your class are looking forward to your return and I've taught them to say We Missed You in French".  Aw too sweet.

Tuesday morning arrived and walking into my class, tightening my imaginary corset & standing tall, I definitely felt the love as I got a lovely reception with lots of questions about how my trip went.  I'm not stupid though & quickly realised they were trying to distract me to delay the commencement of the workout (come on guys I wasn't that jetlagged).  Monsieur P got a gold star as he was the only one who delivered the "We Missed You" in perfect French (the others still half asleep muttered "oh yeah I think we were meant to say something, I can't remember, blah, blah, blah").

Now I'm unsure if I left the love handles at Charles de Gaulle, I always panic over excess baggage so they may have dropped off out of sheer fright, but I got through the class beautifully with no problems whatsoever.  I'd only had 4 hours sleep the night before & was a little worried I may fall asleep in the prone position, however it was Monsieur P2 (yep I have 2 of em in my class) that actually did fall asleep face down on his mat.  Monsieur P2 is a total party animal & had definitely partied hard on the weekend (Queen's birthday long weekend - what hope did he have) and even after me prompting him twice to roll over he didn't move.  When his neighbour gave him a nudge he said I wasn't asleep I just couldn't hear you - I'm going deaf.  Pffft...I didn't believe a word of it, but just gave him a smile as after all he had made the effort to get out of bed with god only knows how many hours sleep, assuming he had actually made it home to bed at all.  Can't help but respect a man for that.

Ah it truly is good to be back & my bod is very grateful I'm sure to be getting put through its paces again.

Signing off now with the award winning "Mille Feuille" (natural of course, no flavour / no icing). 

Oh my...if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. x