#PracticeWhatYouTeach: Grateful that skinny and size 6 are not my goals!

As I was thinking about my blog this week I was reflecting on Thanksgiving and how I especially love all the reminders this time of year to practice gratitude.  Taking some time throughout my day to reflect on all the many things and people I have to be grateful for always brightens my day!  So I started thinking about my Pilates practice…what it has taught me and why I’m so grateful for it.    So many things popped into my head like:

• the wonderful people I’ve met through Pilates
• a healthy body
• stress relief
• positive body image
• my love of movement
• my love of learning
• a career I love

But I really wanted to figure out what my top thing would be that I was grateful for.  I was thinking about the fact that I have been practicing Pilates for 17 plus years.  That’s a long time to do anything.  And I think what I’m most grateful for is how it has taught me to look at movement, and exercise and “fitness”.  When I started Pilates I was a twenty something looking for the next best thing to get fit, strong and skinny. I didn’t have the slightest idea how this Pilates thing that I would find would truly change how I live my life.

Today I’m grateful that I know how effective my thought process is in changing how my body moves and feels.  I’m grateful that I understand how to incorporate movement into my life and not have to be worried about it.  I’m grateful that movement is something I do not because I want to be a certain size or look a certain way, but because I enjoy it and I love how it makes me feel. I’m grateful that movement is part of my life and not just a workout.

I read an article from Runner’s World the other day ago and the author, Marc Parent said this about a friend of his who had incorporated running into his daily routine that I absolutely loved:

“Rather than wear fitness like a fancy jacket on running days like I do, he has absorbed fitness into the fabric of his life. I’ve asked him how he does it, how he runs every day, and he always shrugs like it’s no big deal. He says a morning run is on par with brushing his teeth and he wouldn’t think of skipping that either.”

I like to think my biggest Pilates gift is absorbing movement into the fabric of my life and being able to help others to do the same!!!   #Grateful #Thankful #Gratitude #ThanksJoe