Magic Circle Workshop

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Master the Magic Workshop w/ Cassie!

March 17, 2018 – 11:00 am

 
The Pilates Magic Circle is a fun and challenging way to add resistance and variety to your Pilates practice. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to incorporate the Magic Circle with Classical Pilates exercises to improve muscle tone and endurance while increasing body awareness and alignment. Whether you’re looking to tone your arms, legs, abs, or backside, the Magic Circle can help! Each participant will receive three mini Magic Circle routines to practice at home.
This workshop is taught by Cassie Cumings-Peterson. Cassie is a Pilates Method Alliance certified instructor who trained with Carey Sadler of Rivercity Pilates. Cassie has been teaching Pilates since 2012, and is currently the owner/instructor at Northwoods Pilates and Wellness in Ankeny, Iowa.
$20 per person

February is for Love: Pilates Date Night for Couples

Life Inspired Pilates Date Night for Couples!

Saturday, February 24
6 to 7:30 pm
 
 
Spend an evening with your loved one moving, laughing, and having fun!  The only thing better than Pilates…is Pilates as a couple!  This playful class will incorporate creative versions of the Pilates exercises that you can do with your partner!
We’ll end the night with some time to hang out and have wine, beer, and chocolate!

This is a free class, but space is limited, so sign up to reserve your spot!

Dear Pilates Client, I love it when…

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Dear Pilates client,

It’s Valentine’s Day and in honor of this day where we celebrate the things we love, I wanted to write you a little love note telling you how much I LOVE getting to be your teacher!  I am a big believer in the practice of gratitude and I keep a running list of things in my life that make me smile, make me laugh and all the things I’m grateful that are part of my life. My clients and the moments I share with them are often on my gratitude lists! One of my lists I started keeping last year I’ve been calling the I love it when…list!  Basically I try to jot it down when I have one of those moments when I say to myself ,” Awww that makes me happy, or I love it when that happens…!”  

I thought you might enjoy reading some of the things I have wrote down over the past year:

  • I love that you really feel everything in your body and tell me about it! As a teacher it really helps me understand what’s going on in your body and figure out how I might help you better with your Pilates practice!
  • I love it when you sing along to a song during class! It reminds me that life is meant to be fun and playful and way too short to not sing along when a song you like comes on! 
  • I love it when you ask me what I have done for myself lately and when I don’t have an answer you give me suggestions!
  • I love that you are always pushing yourself to do something new, something beyond your comfort zone! This includes pushing yourself in the studio but also all of the amazing things you do in the community and in your life!
  • I love it when you show up for your class or session when you don’t really feel like it (it inspires me to move on days I don’t really feel like it and reminds me of the power of movement to change your outlook on the rest of your day)!
  • I love it when you do your own thing in class! It’s a huge success for me as a teacher when one of my students is confident enough in their movements and body to not do what I just instructed in class, but do a movement “their” way! 
  • I love it when you you tell me about how you used Pilates in your “regular” life and are soo excited about it! ( It gets me excited too!!) For instance, how cool is it that so many of you told me about how shoveling all that snow didn’t even hurt your back this year because of Pilates?! !
  • I love it when you make up an exercise variation! It’s so empowering when you are confident enough as a mover to create a movement that feels good or is good for your body and do it! 
  • I love it when we have a moment in class or a session when we have to stop moving because we are laughing about something.  True laughter is just plain good for your soul and what could be better than combining laughter and Pilates!
  • I love it when you take a photo of you doing a teaser or any Pilates movement while on vacation and send it to me!!!
  • I love it when you help a friend or loved one get set up to try a session at the studio.  I love it not because I care about it from a business standpoint, but because I can feel your care and concern and your wanting someone else to figure out that healthy movement can change your life for the better. 
  • I love it when you tell me that you enjoy or look forward to your session or class!  It’s always nice to know you are appreciated and are making a difference in people’s lives.  
  • I love it when you take the time to introduce yourself to a new person at the studio and really get to know them and make them feel welcome!  It reminds me of how grateful I am for all of our amazing, kind clients and the supportive atmosphere they create at the studio.

On this Valentine’s Day I hope you know that you are an important part of my life and I’m truly grateful for you every day!  Thanks for sharing your amazingness with me!

Love,

~Your Pilates Instructor, Carey

Couples Pilates: Check it out !!

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Take a look at a workout for Couples Pilates.

This is something you can do at home and is a sneak peak of what is in store for our February Life Inspired Event!

 

Do all the exercises (even the ones you don’t like!)

I am always preaching to people about finding an exercise method or type of exercise that you love. Being a movement professional for 20 years I know the importance of moving and I know if you don’t enjoy what you are doing you are not going to do it consistently in your life and that’s really what you need to get the benefits from it.  So when I say something like,”Usually the things you need the most are the things we don’t like!”, it seems kind of contradictory!  But let me explain….

I don’t care how much you love your Pilates practice I know that you have said (either out loud to your instructor or in your head) …”I hate this one..I just don’t like it because it just doesn’t feel good…it’s hard…”.    You might be careful about saying that to me or your Pilates teacher because I’ve learned over the years that the “I don’t like this” reaction is usually a tell tale sign that the movement is probably one that you should do more of and do it more consistently! 

So why do we not like certain exercises?  There’s a few reasons that I have found that consistently come up:

  1.  Our Ego (we are hard wired to feel this way!) :  Whether we like to admit it or not…most of us have a little bit of perfectionist in us.  We don’t like the feeling of not being able to do something. And this is a great thing!  Because when you want to be able to do something and you can’t it’s a great motivator to practice that skill and get better!  If we were not hard wired this way we would have never learned to walk, ride a bike or do any other skills we use to function in life!    It is human nature to not like something that we’re not good at or something the is hard for us! The key is to focus on overcoming this feeling of not being able to do something well and not just giving up doing the exercise because “we don’t like it”. 
  2. The exercise or movement is still new.  Sometimes what we forget that doing anything for the first time is not necessarily easy or comfortable.  Your muscles and nervous system are trying to do something they have never done before.  It takes time to actually get to the place where your muscles (the correct ones) are firing when they are supposed to so that you can do the movement.  One of my favorite qualities about the Pilates method is what I call the depth of the practice.  You can practice the same exercise for years yet every time you do it you fine tune your ability to do it well and in a way that is best for your body. Every time you practice that exercise you get more “comfortable” with how the exercise feels in your body and your ability to do it well. When something is new it feels completely opposite to that: uncomfortable and awkward! Nobody ever says to themselves,” I like to feel awkward and uncomfortable!”.  
  3.  We have to work really hard to do it well. When an exercise makes us work muscles that are weak or unbalanced in our body….it takes an incredible amount of effort and concentration!  For most people having to concentrate so much and engage those muscles that get tired quick and just seem like they don’t want to work…does not feel fun or good…it feels like work!  And let’s face it…work does not necessarily feel enjoyable! 

So the next time you find yourself saying “I don’t like this”, turn the table around and try to say something like:

“I really don’t like how challenging this exercise is for me.  I’m going to be really dedicated to practicing it regularly and see if I can change how it feels in my body!  My reaction of not liking this tells me that it’s probably challenging for my body and I should try to practice it more!”

Of course if something hurts or is causing strain in your body than that is not OK and you should let your teacher know so they can adjust it in your body!  

 

If you hate crunches because they hurt your back, read this!

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Do you remember someone sitting on your feet and you had to do crunches in gym class? Or maybe you took a fitness class where you were trying to do as many sit ups  or crunches as you could in a short amount of time?  It wasn’t any fun and hurt your back.  

The Pilates Roll Down works your abdominal muscles in a slow controlled movement that actually feels good as you are doing it. The movement is designed to strengthen your abdominal muscles and help you gain flexibility in the muscles of your back at the same time.