Pilates for Resiliency

Resiliency is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.  If you’ve lived a few decades, you have had to be resilient.

I often joke in class that none of us get through life without challenges. And, while we all laugh, it is a laugh of knowing. We know it’s true.

I was first introduced to Pilates around 1997 just after my first child was born. Like most women, I was attracted to the sales pitch of strengthening my core. Since I was postpartum, I latched on to the idea of gaining my flat belly back like a wide mouth bass closing in on a worm on a line.

Furthermore, I remember an exercise called leg circles. As I executed the movement, I heard my left hip joint repeatedly click. Now, I have chased the root cause of that sound and its effect on my body for over two decades.

I have been resilient in my pursuit of understanding.

Mostly, from attending high level movement teacher trainings to working privately with stellar movement therapists, I have a greater connection to my body and the Pilates Method.

Senior teachers have told me that it takes time to get “the work” into your own body. Then, we spend the rest of our lives helping others by transmitting the teachings.

Twenty-five years later, I recognize flat abs are no longer my goal.

I seek resiliency. I seek resiliency on all levels of my being. Yet, what I teach is physical resilience through the Pilates Method.

Pilates and Physical Resilience

I love that the idea of resiliency is connected to bouncing back, elasticity, and springing back into shape. The Pilates large apparatus is loaded with springs of various lengths and densities.

Initially in the work, the springs move us. From flexed spines to extended legs, at first, we feel the direction of a pain free and delightful movement through a full range of motion.

Eventually, we learn to “resist the springs.” The springs no longer move us into shapes. And our work evolves into controlling our return.

Finally, when “the work” that defines the Pilates Method is really in us, we recognize that we are the springs. And that recognition is a tremendous life milestone.

In addition, I believe this simple recognition is what makes us resilient because something is no longer controlling us (the springs) and we are no longer controlling another (the springs). We simply become who we are in the present moment as we move through time and space.

Building Resilience

We build resilience through movement in our Pilates classes. We learn to witness ourselves, adapt to change, and breathe with the experience.

Most of all, spending time with others who can relate to our experience increases our feelings of being supported. Encouragement nurtures us.