Pilates: How do you think about your body?

I had a very interesting experience this morning while running through some Pilates.

I have taken some time away from training over the last year or so to focus on other things and have just recently started again. I could feel myself getting stiffer and losing a lot of my former fitness. I remember when I first started learning Pilates, almost eight years ago now, and how stiff I was in my legs, hips and back. The Roll Up was a real struggle! Each time I rolled up I felt like I hit a wall as far as my flexibility was concerned, i was very excited when I could touch my toes:) It took a long time for me to make gains in my flexibility.

When I began training again recently, I was pretty much as stiff as I was when I first started. What was interesting though, and I thought worth sharing, is that it has only taken me a couple of sessions to regain about 80% of the flexibility that it took me years to gain the first time. There are probably various physiological reasons for this, but what I found most interesting was my thinking. When I first started, I ‘knew’ that I wasn’t flexible, that I couldn’t move very freely. It was like the my mind also hit a wall when thinking about moving beyond where I could already, I had trouble picturing it. But this time around, I remembered what it felt like when I could move further. This time I ‘knew’ that my stiffness was temporary.

What came as a bit of a shock to me was that I realised when I first started training, I actually hated my body for being so stiff, weak and uncoordinated, whereas now I don’t. I know that my body can do so much more if I just give it the right attention. I actually loved the feeling of moving and wasn’t at all put off when I hit those strength and flexibility walls. Instead of frustrations they felt more like challenges, and I was working with my body instead of fighting it, and hating it for all it’s flaws.

So my thought was that despite all of the physical reasons for how we can best gain strength and flexibility. Perhaps enjoying our bodies and their movements are the best foundation on which to build true health. After this occurred to me, I started listening more to what people were saying when they spoke about fitness, about going to the gym etc. The words ‘punish’ and ‘kill’ and ‘die’ are disturbingly common. There seems to be a common view that we have to fight our bodies to make them healthy, but surely that thinking in itself is unhealthy. Improving your health and fitness should be a rewarding journey, not a battle.

I’d love to read your comments on this.