Time for movement

I know, radical concept but the reason our anatomy is built as it is is so that we can get around, do all of the things that mean we stay alive and the things that make us happy to be alive.

Sitting at a desk all day or slouching on the couch, just isn’t what our bodies are designed for.

First and foremost, our bodies are movers and do-ers.

Stick with me on this…promise it will make sense in a moment.

If we go back, way-way back when – think when fire was first discovered and we lived in caves – we would rise with the sun and spend all day looking for food and drinking water so that we could physically get through another day. Our actual survival and that of our families relied on our ability to get moving and keep moving.
No calendars, no meetings, no weekend, no days off, nowhere to be and nothing to do apart from hunt, gather, eat and not be eaten overnight.

It was a simpler time, but it would have been hard work, like physically hard work. Walking or running everywhere, dragging home wood, lighting fires without matches, creating tools, building shelters, carrying babies everywhere…

There are not too many of us that spend sunrise to sunset on our feet, moving and working, only to go to sleep and then do it all again day after day. Even those of us that do the physical stuff for our daily bread, now have the luxury of two whole days where we are encouraged to take it easy, be stationary, watch three seasons of Succession over a 48 hour period.

Now before you think I’m trying to guilt you into quitting your hard-earned, air-conditioned job and becoming a subsistence farmer, I promise that isn’t my motivation. What I am really motivated by is movement and how our bodies are designed for it – the whole arm and leg working in unison thing,  the whole neural pathway action, the science (thanks smart research folk) that now tells us that the integrity of our movement will play a part in our health and longevity.

Still with me? I know, stick with it… I have something for you.

Do you remember the simpler times? The times before pandemics and torrential rain that doesn’t stop for a week? I know I do and I have to be honest, I probably didn’t use that time as effectively as I could have. Looking back I wasn’t aware how much stuff could have been edited from my life in order to prioritise what was important.

The changes over the last couple of years to what I thought of as regular life and the way things used to run in the beforetimes have me reflecting on what I wasn’t doing enough of and I started to see a theme.

I wasn’t taking the time to turn up for me. I wasn’t turning up for movement – granted I move more than most anyway cause it’s my job – but actually taking my own time for my own movement.

I don’t want to keep looking into the past on this though, I want to go glass-half-full on it and see what this revelation has brought into my life.

Now I’m turning up. I’m doing my own Pilates again. I’m paying a trainer to kick my ass in the gym and lifting heavy weights. My mat is conveniently rolled out on my living room floor for Pilates and stretches. I’m even running a little with my dog – full disclosure he kinda does a lot of pulling, so it may be more his momentum than my actual drive, but the legs are moving and the heart is pumping!

Most importantly I’m getting something back from turning up for me.
I feel better. I sleep better. I’m in a much better mood (for the most part). Life can be pretty heavy at the moment, but the sad times are a little shorter and the happy times are beginning to make up more of the sum of my life.

What it comes down to is that MAKING the time, not trying to FIND it has brought an abundance of health, strength, happiness and freedom for my body – making what I need to do and what I want to do a whole lot easier.

So we want you to be able to MAKE the time too and the part we can play as your Pilates Teachers and Personal Pilates Cheerleaders (I have now decided I want that on a badge by the way) is to put together some videos that are mostly just you and the method and the mat. No single-use props, no moves that require you to strap into expensive equipment. Nothing more complicated than a library of videos that you can access every damn day at any damn time – so when you are able to make the time – mindful movement is waiting for you you.

Waiting for the kids to finish piano lessons? Cool, load up a video, make yourself two square metres of space and make moves towards moving better. Woke up before the whole household or finally got the kids off to bed? Take that lounge room floor and your laptop and turn up for you.

The Pilates method was built for bodies and bodies were built to move. So make the time and enjoy our Matstravaganza videos. Each video is a mini workout that you can do at home, introducing you to, and giving you achievable steps towards the traditional Joseph Pilates exercises. Simple but effective.

The one thing I can promise is that you won’t feel worse for moving every day. It just takes a small regular commitment, so you will still have plenty of time for fun and relaxation, time with mates and margaritas…promise.