by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
Omelets
at the E-Comm Cafe on Main Street are succulent, and huge. I
stopped by for one after my Pilates class today. It nearly filled up
the plate all by itself, overflowing with perfectly cooked mushrooms
and other yummies, with wonderful, coffee refilled every time I
looked up.
Pilates
class at the YMCA has been a real experience, and was very different
than expected. I was surprised to learn Joseph H. Pilates was a
sickly child, suffering from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever.
Determined to find health and strength, he began studying
body-building, yoga, qigong, and gymnastics. By age of 14, he was
posing for anatomical charts.
A
gymnast, diver, and bodybuilder, he moved to England in 1912, earning
his living as a professional boxer, circus-performer, and
self-defense trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard.
When
I started Pilates, I had no idea its original point was what, today,
we call rehabilitation. After discovering this I started taking my
son, Arthur to classes. Arthur, now 35, suffered major brain injury
and other trauma in 1997 during a motorcycle accident. Six months
later he shot himself through the brain. Over the past several years
his mobility, which was certainly never good after these two events,
had been deteriorating. Three months ago getting down on the floor
was tough for him. Today I can see the difference, though he is
cranky about the earliness of the class.
For
me, Pilates has provided some of the same benefits I previously found
in Rolfing, with much less pain. Rolfing, originated by Ida Rolf,
who received her Ph. D. in biochemistry from the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1920, developed the
system to,“correct imbalances in structure placed demands on the
body's pervasive network of soft tissues: muscles, fascia, tendons
and ligaments.”
Pilates
helps release trauma to muscles and joints, allowing the body to work
more smoothly, providing many of the same benefits at less cost.
Rebecca Mondo, who does the class, encourages folks with mobility
problems to participate, Wednesdays at the Wellness Center, which is
also where we will be starting a group to Evoke the Muse in You. The
Muse is a fine thing to have on our journey through life and far more
wonderful if you can share with others of like mind and heart.
Body,
mind, spirit, it takes all three. Brought together, life can be
wonderful.
No comments:
Post a Comment