Pilates with Mela

We finally got to visit Garden of the Gods and it did not disappoint! ❤️‍🔥

We have passed through Colorado Springs many times in our buslife travels, and this time I just had to go visit. The photos just don’t do it justice. The size of these red rocks jutting out at an angle is just something the photos don’t quite capture. The contrast of the red rocks against the lush greenery gave me BIG Sedona vibes. I can see and feel why these would have been sacred grounds for the Native Americans.

Being a popular attraction it was hard to find any quiet space to capture my pic. People had to stop walking along the path for us to snap the one photo and so I ended up with a little crowd watching. I got an applause for my strong abs holding the pose while Don snapped away from different angles.

😂 not my intention to draw attention, but I do forget sometimes that not everyone can hold a teaser.

It made me think of that story that floats around the Pilates world that Joe Pilates did an interview once and he held the teaser position for the whole interview to show how strong he was.

Does anyone know if that story is true? We do know he was a show off!

“Be like water, my friend” - Bruce Lee

As we sat by the Poudre River eating our breakfast sandwiches, listening to the water ripple over the rocks, I was reminded of this quote.

Water is powerful yet yielding, adaptable yet unstoppable. It takes the shape of whatever it encounters, flowing effortlessly around obstacles instead of resisting them.

This past weekend I took Sandy’s workshop on the breathing exercises Vintage Pilates / resource . As she cued us to let our movement follow our breath, I felt myself shift from being stiff and overthinking to being soft yet powerful. Long and connected. Moving with flow like water. What a beautiful experience both to feel and to watch others finding this powerful ease in their bodies.

Back at the Poudre River, we followed the water up the canyon and hiked to the Seaman’s reservoir. A river carries its thoughts on the surface. It feels alive and expressive. A reservoir, by contrast, settles into stillness. Its surface becomes quiet enough to hold reflections like a mind that has stopped reacting and started observing. Where the river speaks, the reservoir listens.

In a world where everything keeps moving, remember to take time to be still and just listen.

Thank you Colorado for all your beautiful lessons in nature. Happy

It’s and we’ve officially arrived in Colorado for the summer! 🏔️
This state never ceases to amaze me and we always seem to find something new to explore.

This is Lily Lake, situated on the edge of the Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park up at nearly 9000 ft elevation. As we walked around the lake and reached the ridge trail, the trees opened up to this breathtaking panoramic view of snow capped peaks.

As the view metaphorically “took my breath away” I was inspired to film an impromptu video of a breathing exercise - Breathing Recovery Sitting. This technique uses small, controlled breath holds to safely introduce tolerable air hunger.

Breathwork is deeply embedded into the Pilates system but since I became an Functional Breathwork Instructor it has completely deepened my understanding of how powerful and trainable our breath really is.

What else is this exercise good for?
⭐️Panic disorder
⭐️ Racing mind
⭐️ Asthma
⭐️ Long covid
⭐️ People with high stress
⭐️ Opening your airways
⭐️ Improving circulation and oxygen delivery

I’ll be sharing the full practice on YouTube, so stay tuned.

And honestly, as someone who has experienced anxiety firsthand, this has become one of my most effective tools. How cool is it to learn something as easy as breathing a certain way to rid you of anxiety?!

I’m bringing back and today we are balancing our tushies on the edge of cave dwellings at Walnut Canyon National Monument, Arizona.

To reach these ancient homes, we went down 300 stairs into the canyon and then climbed 300 stairs back up to the visitor center at an elevation of 6,690 to 7,000 feet.

It’s a beautiful reminder of how much more physically active our ancestors were in their everyday lives (and they didn’t even have these nicely constructed stairs, they scrambled the mountain side) — not by choice, but by necessity.

Imagine climbing in and out of this canyon multiple times a day, carrying water or food, visiting friends or trading goods.

Imagining their reality makes modern exercise feel less like a chore and more like a return — a way of remembering what the body has always known.

Pilates brings that lesson home for me: breath, control, strength, balance, and the kind of movement that supports real life.