DO YOU HAVE THE PILATES MINDSET?

If you’ve ever found yourself taking a beginner level Pilates class and thinking that it was too easy, this message may be the KEY to take your practice to the next level.

With the popularity of Pilates these days, it’s easy to get caught up in the “fad” of Pilates and miss out on the powerful benefits that the true “method” of Pilates has to offer.

What do I mean by this? Well, there is a significant distinction between doing Pilates as a generic fad workout versus doing Pilates as the transformative mind/body exercise method that Joseph Pilates designed it to be.

Why is this relevant, you may be asking.

Speaking as a former professional dancer, someone who has been a student of Pilates for 28 years (since I was 17 years old) and spent my entire life living & breathing movement, it was the true Pilates method, not the fad of Pilates, that profoundly impacted my life.

At age 17, as an athlete recovering from surgery, I fell in love with the method of Pilates because of how it integrates the ENTIRE body, how it makes you THINK, how it develops deep core strength, and how it calls upon the mind and body to UNITE to find harmony, control, strength, mobility, and balance all under one amazing movement modality.

Those are the qualities of the Pilates method that I fell in love with. And that is the type of Pilates that I bring to you at Core Pilates Prescott because I believe it’s where the “magic” exists.

To gain the type of power and strength that Pilates was designed to accomplish, you MUST have a Pilates mindset. Pilates isn’t just exercise. It is a WAY of approaching movement. Without this mindset, your Pilates practice may just be surface level without eliciting impactful change.

So, what is this type of mindset? Essentially, it involves having patience, an open mind, and valuing LEARNING, not just DOING. It requires high levels of concentration along with the willingness to slow down and approach movement differently than you ever have before.

Because remember Pilates isn’t supposed to be your typical gym workout, or your standard “feel the burn” HIIT class. It goes beyond that and digs deeper.

The Pilates mindset that will get you to where you want to go quicker is one that values mastering the basics and building a solid foundation instead of trying to hurry up and get to harder exercises and more advanced levels. I would shout this from the rooftops if I could.

Want to know a secret? In my 15 years of teaching Pilates (& in my 30+ years of dance training and teaching dance), it is almost NEVER the students who are in a hurry to do more advanced moves, do harder exercises or take higher level classes that make the quickest progress and become stronger and better.

The more patient you are with mastering the basics, the stronger you will get, and the more cool fun Pilates moves you’ll be able to do down the road. When you skip over the foundational elements, you set yourself back and do yourself a great disservice. I know, I know, it can be difficult to be patient. But it is so worth it!

If you only knew what type of full body strength and power was possible if you allowed yourself to be patient, slow down, really and truly listen to your instructor, and apply your highest level of focus to your Pilates sessions, your mind would be blown.

As someone who can do very advanced Pilates exercises, I  can still get a lot out of a beginner class. I can move through the beginner level Pilates exercises and work my butt off! I can be shaking. I can feel my abs dying. I can get out of breath at times doing the beginner level Pilates repertoire with flow.

I share this with you because I know how much Pilates can do for you, but not if you jump ahead to fast. If you are taking or have taken beginner level classes and don’t feel like it’s challenging enough, I want to encourage you to consider a new perspective.

Perhaps it’s not because it’s too easy for you, but because your body has not learned how to engage the proper muscles just yet. Maybe your body isn’t in the optimal position during certain exercises, or maybe you aren’t stabilizing the right body parts.

Consider that there may be aspects to the movement that you haven’t grasped yet. And that’s A-OK! It’s a process. The Pilates method trains your body from the inside out. It also makes you think! It’s not like anything else. When done properly, you will feel EVERYTHING working (even in beginner level exercises) and you will likely never again ask your teacher “What muscle is this exercise working?” because you will FEEL IT ALL! That is the magic. I promise.