An Ideal World

I live in an ideal world.  My life is perfectly balanced.  I do all of the right things to ensure optimal health and fitness.  I have the ideal husband and perfect children.  Yes,  I have complete balance and control.....................................

when I am doing pilates.
For it is when I am doing pilates that I don't have to worry about the imperfections or worries that I may have when I'm outside that door.  Yes, I know that I do not live in an ideal world (or have the ideal husband or the perfect children - but don't tell them that).  But for that time when I am on the mat (or machine) my focus and attention is on what I am doing at that time.  I am breathing, lengthening, stabilizing, moving dynamically. My focus is on myself and on what I can control not what I can't.  I may not be in the same position as our friend balancing high above the city, but we are actually doing the same workout.  We are working like crazy trying to keep our balance. Staying focused and centered with attention to the task at hand. 

Going through a pilates workout helps me to find balance within my body and in my mind. Beginning with the very first exercise, breathing.
The first instruction given is "Inhale to prepare".  Oxygen is our fuel and our body is our vehicle.  With breath I am refueling and preparing  myself - body, mind and spirit - for the workout. With breath  I am trying to turn off the distractions from the day and tune into my body. I notice the way I breathe, where the breath goes, am I able to get a full breath into the body or do I feel constricted in my neck and shoulders?  Am I tense, do I feel at ease?  With breath I quiet my mind which may be still racing from thought to thought (we have about 50,000 thoughts per day). I am making a commitment to myself for that hour.

 "With body, mind and spirit functioning perfectly as a coordinated whole, what else could reasonably be expected other than an active, alert, disciplined person?  Moreover, such a body freed from nervous tension and over-fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well-balanced mind that is always capable of successfully meeting all the complex problems of modern living.  Personal problems are clearly thought out and calmly met."
Joseph Pilates 
Return to Life Through Contrology and Your Health (1945).

Namaste, you are on your way to an ideal world.

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