find the midline pilates

Hi love, 

I don't want to be writing to you about COVID 19. It's a full moon, springtime, and the outdoors are beckoning us into a season of celebration, birth, and renewal. That said, I would be remiss If I didn't share something that's been on my mind. 

Way back in November of 2007, when I first began my certification in Pilates, I read something that struck me as interesting. It made its mark on my memory, and has stuck with me all this time. Here is an excerpt from my old Pilates manual,  "In 1918 a terrible epidemic of influenza swept the world, killing millions of people, tens of thousands in England. None of Joe's followers succumbed even though the camps were the hardest hit" (Power Pilates 2006).   

At the time, Joseph Pilates had been interned on the Isle of Man by the British. It was WWI, and he had come to England as an aspiring boxer, and circus performer. It was during his time in the intern camps that he conceived of and began to refine his...

I gravitate to Pilates, kind of like when you meet that one friend in middle school, that you just know is going to be your best friend forever. I don’t tire or get bored of Pilates, and I know it works. It has worked for me not only as a means of staying fit and toned, but it has help me to develop my intuition, become a more mindful mother and citizen of the world, heal physically from various accidents, as well as heal emotionally from trauma. In times that have felt disjointed, Pilates helped to create harmony.

There is a Navajo concept called Hozhö, that also speaks of harmony.  It is a way of living, a choice to create beauty and balance with our actions as we move through life. The modernized and industrialized world we live in has created a lifestyle that is out of balance. We live unsustainably, well beyond the ecological context of our bodies and the environment. This imbalance weighs on my mind perpetually, and as I try to think of ways to address it, I am...