One on One Pilates with Joy

Pilates isn’t about memorising exercises, it’s about feeling them.

You don’t need a degree to know when your body feels aligned, supported and alive.

Whether you’re deepening your own practice or guiding others through theirs, Pilates teaches us to listen, not just to muscles but to movement. When we slow down enough to hear, that’s when movement starts to speak.

This idea is at the heart of the Pilates method: mind, body & spirit. And it’s what I remind myself often when in my own practice.

For Pilates teachers and lifelong learners alike, this is your reminder to move with presence, not performance. Precision, but with a purpose. And 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!

There was a time I needed and wanted to listen to other people. Today I'm wondering... how do I hear my own voice if I'm spending a lot of time listening to other voices...???

I love EVERYTHING about The Fitness Marshall team!! (side note: you don't have to move like them to have as much fun ;) you do you)

Dua Lipa - Training Season | Caleb Marshall | Dance Workout Subscribe: http://bit.ly/tfmsub | Join the B***y Army: www.members.thefitnessmarshall.orgSHOP OUR LOOKS! http://activebooty.comListen to our official Spotif...

I get asked often if I teach yoga - I don't, I teach Pilates. At the end of last year, 2022, - which was the one year anniversary of my shattered knee cap (20 pieces - 18 made it back together) - a friend asked if I would like to join her in a yoga challenge. I like this friend so I said yes. I could barely do any of the yoga - my knee was still pretty challenged.

At the end of November this year I realized that I actually hadn't been moving (aka exercising, walking, doing my own Pilates workouts - nada) since the shatter, now approaching the two year anniversary. I asked the same friend if she would be willing to do the yoga challenge from January again during December - in preparation for a new yoga challenge from the same teacher in January 2024.

Today was the last day of our December yoga repeat journey. I could barely do much when we started but from the beginning could do more than in January. I persevered, and while outwardly nothing appears to have changed - inwardly I feel very different, physically - for sure - but also mentally and emotionally.

My friend and I are ON for the 2024 challenge. If anyone would like to play along I'm happy to partner up with you, too. I've already signed up - here's the info (it's completely free - and I never got another email once the challenge was done - aka no spam):

Flow - 30 Days of Yoga 2024 - Announcement Join Yoga With Adriene for 30 Days of Yoga this January!SIGN UP TODAY to receive your FREE DOWNLOADABLE FLOW CALENDAR with video length times to accompany an...

Yes, our bodies have so much natural intelligence. :)

Even unretouched photos may not capture our true "look" depending on the camera and/or it's accessories...

I recently did a photoshoot with to get a few new shots for my website. He was geeking out about the the difference in how things look depending on the focal length of the lens, which I found interesting due to how many of my clients experience photos to be one of THE MOST INTENSE body image triggers.

To demonstrate, he took these two photos of my face, and explained how a wide angle lens leads to distortions, which makes faces look kinda weird (L) but also makes bodies look thinner so photographers will sometimes use it to get “more flattering” body shots.

A telephoto lens on the other hand leads to compression, which makes faces look more or less “normal” (R) but has a widening effect which can make bodies look bigger, wider, or fatter. (Notice how much thinner my neck is on the left than on the right? Also I have no ears on the left.)

I found this all fascinating.

Essentially, photos aren’t a perfect representation of how we look, and there are dramatic differences in how we’ll appear depending on the equipment being used.

And yet, so many clients have been triggered by a photo, either hating how it looks (ie: “my arms look huge” or “I look so wide”) or expressing confusion (ie: “I think I looked one way and then I saw a photo and now I feel like I have no idea how I actually look”).

Photos have a way of triggering body hatred and for this exact reason: it shows a different image than our eyes see, and calls into question your own perception of how you look.

Maybe you think you look ok, then you see an “unflattering” photo and realize you were wrong. When we can’t trust our own perceptions, we often dive into obsessive body checking/ministering to figure out the truth. Am I actually fat/big/wide, or no? Am I pretty or do I look weird? Am I ok?

But photos are NOT objective facts, and they don’t capture you the way other people will actually see you.

For example, no matter the angle, my face will never look exactly like *either* of these two photos to the naked human eye.

Did you know this? Have you seen this?

And more importantly, what has your relationship been between body image and photos?