Session 4

Today was just one of those days…it was cold and gloomy out and I had a lot going on at work. Almost as soon as I arrived to the office I could feel the stress and tension building in my back and shoulders. By the time lunch rolled around I felt like my shoulders were up to my ears and I was tired. Despite the urge to just go home and veg on the sofa, I knew if I went to Pilates I would feel much better. I have noticed since I started practicing that my shoulders are not nearly as tight and I am not feeling nearly as stressed. Don’t get me wrong I still have a long way to go, but I definitely see an improvement. One of the important parts of the practice is keeping your shoulders down and back as you move through the positions. I think Kelly had to remind me to keep them down, much more tonight. Another key element is articulating your spine through the different positions. As you work through a roll-up/roll-down, for example, each vertebra should come in contact with the mat. I think it is these elements that have helped loosen the tension and also eliminated some of the back pain I had been feeling after sitting at my desk for eight hours a day.

The other thing I like about Pilates is it really forces me to focus my attention to the workout. In my earlier entry I talked about how I think focus is key to a successful session...I had to leave my to do list at work and just focus on my body and make sure I was pulling in my abdominal muscles, moving my shoulders, back and down, and articulating my spine. It really makes me more aware of my body and how it operates when I engage my muscles.