Well, I kind of hate to say this because it makes me sound like a prick! But to be honest, turning 40 after doing Pilates in Flagstaff for the last 20 years feels amazing. Year by year, things have just gotten better! You probably think I’m lying, but after 6 kids and building a business, besides some significant lifestyle choices around food, sleep, and mental health, PILATES is truly life-changing. I like to think of it as the PILATES PILL — you age backwards and feel better year after year. You ask, how can this be? The answer is learning the proper ALIGNMENT of the body with the clear intention to breathe and focused activation of the balanced muscles. The fight and resistance centered around weight training is not sustainable for the game of longevity and, in fact, wears down the joints, connective tissue, and body tensegrity. I believe anyone can age gracefully and learn how to move intelligently with Pilates for a lifetime and a lifestyle of wellness and balance mentally, physically, and emotionally.
At 46, I have more energy, stamina, and awareness in my every day than I have ever had in my life. I feel like I can do more physically with proper form and enjoy it without injury than I even could when I was younger. The LIE Americans have bought into is that it’s normal with age to feel sick, get fatter, have pain, and lose motivation! That’s just a way you fall right into their trap of making you dependent on the medical system and contribute to big pharma. This is THE LIE. The truth is, getting older can feel amazing. You are wiser, you have more time and money to enjoy a life of adventure, and you can get outside and move, enjoying food from the earth, sunshine, and water. It’s really about getting back to the basics. LESS truly is MORE. It’s time to reverse the OLD AGE curse and turn this mindset upside down. The world wants you to think getting older sucks so you can follow the system right into the healthcare model of getting joint replacement surgeries, pain medications, and antidepressants. DON’T DO IT. The answer is MOVEMENT, FOOD that HEALS, SLEEP, and SOUL CARE. I know it can happen because I’ve helped hundreds of men and women improve their wellbeing and enjoy life even more as they age.
Now, before you start hating on me, I do have to say that every doctor has their place and we are so thankful for them when you really need them; however, we have been trained in our society to believe that when we get older we have to do all these routine check-ups just thinking that we are going to have cancer and we’re gonna have all these problems, so we better go find it. In my opinion, the moment you plant the seed and think it could be there because you’re told it can be there, it appears. The placebo is real and your mind is your most powerful weapon against all DISEASE. To be clear, I am not giving medical advice. I am only sharing with you what has worked for me and what I believe we all can do. The greatest thing that you can do is to take time to listen to yourself. Oftentimes, we are so conditioned to keep doing, doing, and more doing that we lose the sensation of feeling our way through life with the intuitive connection to our mind and body that are truly always talking to us if we can learn to listen. We’ve become so trained to do without feeling that we ultimately end up just doing without knowing the why and, even worse, the how. We check the box without checking in. Ultimately, we become so out of touch with ourselves that we feel nothing, and the body’s only language to get you to become aware and listen is pain. But what if you could learn how to feel and know your body and understand how it’s supposed to move in such a way that all movement is prehab rather than rehab?
Where you can know alignment, anatomy, and awareness like a second language that becomes the foundation of all functional movement. This is what I call Intuitive Movement, and this movement is medicine for the mind, body, and soul to heal on all levels of self-realization. This is more about being so aware of yourself that you know how to say NO to things that do not serve you and make your body feel good, like your food, exercise, and even social situations. I have talked to people knowing that they have a gluten allergy and asked them how they feel after they eat the food that is upsetting to them, and they confess they feel like crap, but they are not willing to make the change. I’m not really sure if they are missing something or if I am, but it’s very puzzling nonetheless. When did the taste of something become more important than how it makes us feel, and how we live our life, and I will even venture to say how LONG we live our lives? Body language is much more than expressions. It is the ability to listen and act based on how you think and feel. Oftentimes, people demand of their body until the body commands that you listen. What I mean by this, and I’ve seen it so many times, is that people will shut off the voice that says “all this hurts” or “that doesn’t feel good” and say, “oh well, just suck it up.” But over time, the body is keeping the score and ultimately the rain barrel effect will spill over. At that point, it’s almost too late—you have taught your body that you don’t listen, that it must survive, and that you are in charge. This is oftentimes what is the root of disease. The body is not at ease; it has effectively shut down communication because it has learned that you don’t listen anyway. On the flip side, if we spend our life in cognitive awareness and curiosity with a willingness to change based on how you feel, your body will always work for you to heal.
