Inspiration of the Month Patti Lounsbury

When did you start taking virtual classes and what inspired you to start?

• I have loved Pilates for years since originally starting. 
• I broke my ankle at the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic with surgery in January and am still healing, learning to walk and balance again. I required a lot of physical assistance and was unable to drive.
• On April 1, I started virtual Pilates. It is so convenient to do the classes in my bedroom on a yoga mat. I love the virtual classes because I can spend nearly two hours per day performing strengthening and mobility exercises.

How often have you been taking classes?
I have been taking virtual classes twice per day since early April.

What benefits and improvements have you noticed in your body and life from taking classes?

• Long range: Lumbar pain has been a problem I’ve had for many years. Since starting Pilates several years ago, the lumbar pain is considerably less and mostly gone. Indeed, prior to this injury, if I missed pilates for a couple of weeks (for example during vacation), the lumbar pain returned.
• Short term: Since the fracture, there was considerable muscle wasting in the right leg that was visible in the right calf and knee. The muscle wasting is no longer visible and I am able to bear full weight on the right leg. The Pilates exercise helped considerably with these achievements.
• In addition to the muscle wasting, there was total loss of balance in the right leg, something I had not anticipated. The Balance Exercises, I now do in addition to the twice daily virtual Pilates classes, are helping considerably with that.

Do you have a favorite exercise, movement or stretch?
I have found that all of the exercises that I have taken have been enjoyable and beneficial. I am so thankful that I was and am able to take them twice per day. My favorite exercises are “rolling like a ball” and “seal”.

In addition, I love all of the stretching exercises. One exercise that I find difficult is the “Teaser”. I am amazed at how the instructors can still talk while doing this! However, I do have to admit, that the teaser has gotten a teensy weensy bit easier since I started. 

The spinal exercises feel very good. All of the leg, arm, and core exercises are beneficial. Indeed, at first I thought, “How can I do this? I am so out of breath!” But the exercises over time have become manageable and I have become much less short of breath. However, I am certainly not at the point where I can say they are easy!

What would you say to someone who was a little hesitant about trying virtual classes? 
I would say, “Do it!”. If you don’t find it helps after a few weeks, you can always quit. But I would say the chances or your feeling better and stronger are very great. 

In addition, the instructors stress that if an exercise is painful, then you don’t do it. I have yet to find an exercise that was painful. My main limiting factor has been that some exercises were too difficult. Another favorable factor is that if I signed up for a class that was too difficult for me, Carey would catch it and have me change classes! I have always felt and continue to feel that the instructors’ main concern is the participant’s comfort, strength, improvement, and wellbeing.