The secret to New Year Changes!

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2021 is almost here and I have to tell you I love the beginning of a new year! I love to take time to reflect on my previous year and write goals and intentions for my upcoming year.  Last year I tried something new when writing out my goals.  

I wrote goals that started like this: “I want to be a person who…”    A few of my health goals were:  

  • I want to be a person who drinks their body weight in water each day,
  • I want to be a person who eats vegetables for lunch,
  • I want to be a person who walks outside daily,
  • I want to be a person who runs 3 times a week for 30 minutes

I have to tell you there was something about this mindset change around my goals that changed things for me.  My focus changed from short term goals to long term habits.  When I didn’t feel like doing one of my goals I would just remind myself of who I wanted to be as a person.  I reminded myself a lot when I started running that if I wanted to be a person who ran 3 times a week I would have to suck it up and do it even when it felt really hard, even when I didn’t want to do it.

I reminded myself (and still do) that to stay hydrated sometimes I need to chug water even if I’m not even particularly thirsty.  When I had a day when I didn’t quite reach my goal I gave myself grace and reminded myself that a person who does these things wouldn’t just give it up because life threw them a curveball.  They would adjust and figure out a way to do the things.

The best part of writing my goals like this…I accomplished them all and now all of these things don’t seem like such a challenge anymore…they are just part of who I am and what I do on a regular basis.

Our Couch to Pilates Strong Program starting January 9th is designed for anyone who might be saying to themselves…I want to be a person who practices Pilates 2 or 3 times a week. I want to be a person who loves their workout.   I want to be a person who is taking care of my body.    I want to have a regular movement practice that helps me feel taller, move easier and makes me stronger!

If you are ready to commit to yourself this year we would love to help you get started. “The Couch to Pilates Strong” program includes 2 weekly live Beginner Classes and a bonus on demand shorter class (15-30 minutes).  The live classes are recorded so if the time of class doesn’t work for you, you can take class anytime on your schedule.

 Sign up for Couch to Pilates Strong!

Exercises for Happy Healthy Hips

Are your Hips & Happy?

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Do you ever wonder if you are doing things correctly when you are practicing an exercise at home?  If you said yes…sometimes I do wonder that…you are not alone.  I think one of the reason so many people fall in love with Pilates as a way to exercise is that when they started taking sessions or classes with a teacher, they are able to learn how to do things correctly in their body. 

It’s very empowering to have someone teach you how to do something correctly, be able to practice it on your own and feel the results it makes in your body!

I was in the studio teaching a private session yesterday and during the session I adjusted an exercise for a client as I watched her do it so that she could better figure out how to activate her gluteus muscles.  I could tell that she wasn’t using those muscles because of the instability I saw in her hips.  I made a simple adjustment to the exercise, just having her lower her legs more than her normal and immediately she was amazed at how much it changed the exercise and  how much more she was working.   More than that — she said she was working muscles she didn’t normally work.  We talked about what it felt like to engage and work in that way and I reminded her of other exercises that would also have that same “feel”.  

It occurred to me at that moment that these “aha” moments are the thing that don’t happen as often when clients are taking virtual classes because they are not getting direct feedback from a teacher on how they are moving.   

One of my goals for every #LiveBetter workshop is to teach you how to have an “aha” moment even if we are virtual & even if you don’t always have a teacher carefully watching your movements when you exercise. 

I want you to be able to learn ways to correct yourself and know if you are doing things correctly.  From the feedback from previous workshops we’ve done I can tell that you are really enjoying the chance to learn in this way and you are feeling the results in your body!  Yeah!

Of course if you have the chance to work personally with a teacher who can guide you and help you move better in your body…you should absolutely do it! It will be an investment you won’t regret.  If you are unable to do that right now due to the pandemic or financial budgets,  I’m hoping that our #LiveBetter workshops will help you learn more about how your body moves and how you can check in on yourself to make sure you are doing things correctly.  

In this Live Better workshop I’ll be giving you all of my favorite exercises to keep your hips healthy and happy.

More importantly, I’ll be teaching you how you can make sure that you are doing the exercises correctly!  You’ll walk away feeling confident that you know what it feels like to do exercises properly that involve your hips!

This workshop is available and online for you to watch and exercise along with me. Purchase it here and you will receive the information to attend within an hour!

Click to purchase!