Contrology

Paying it forward with Pilates

In my experience, life is a cycle of wins and setbacks. Every setback has a lesson, or many lessons, in it. Figuring out what there is to learn and where it can lead you is part of coming back, part of being resilient.

As a sickly asthmatic kid, Joseph Pilates focused his energy on improving his health and his life. He became a true believer and advocate of physical fitness. Finding himself in a prisoner of war camp during WWI, he kept himself and his fellow prisoners fit with regular exercise. He devised methods for helping injured soldiers recover through movement, even finding ways to help those confined to bed by using the bedsprings for resistance training. After the war he moved to the US and continued his rehabilitative efforts, working with ballet dancers and other athletes while sharing his message and knowledge broadly.

Pilates originally called his practice “Contrology” and I rather like that term. I find myself applying it, with my own connotation, to my life overall.

I’ve been inspired by this man’s story and by Pilates as a practice in general. After my accident, I was tired of physical therapy and felt like it was okay for the specific injuries we were focused on, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to rehabilitate and strengthen my whole body, aiming not just to recover certain functions, but to be in the best possible shape I could be to help prevent injury in the future. I switched from physical therapy to Pilates classes at my local studio.

I’ve been active in one way or another most of my life, at least until “the sick years”, when cancer and multiple infections resulted in many surgeries, huge weight gain and, honestly, a lot of depression. I’ve written before that my quest to find joy and something to bring me back was the impetus for once again having horses in my life.

Funny how a single decision can make such a difference.

I still count to three before I mount my horse Ty. Having come off him twice, the reason is mental as well as physical. When I was first getting back on, it was a lot about feeling weak physically and using my breath to help me climb up and over. Now, feeling my leg easily sail over with plenty of clearance, I know my strength is there but the breathing and counting continues and is now an effort to center and ground myself. A way to breathe through any fear that might try creep in.

Now, I know things happen and horses are living beings who can have their moments. Things you can’t predict. But I should be, as the rider, as well equipped to handle what comes as I can. And that means to be stronger through my body, and eventually my mind, than I was before.

Seeing an older woman who was still carrying extra weight from my “sick years”, the orthopedic doctors who visited me while I was in the hospital didn’t expect much from my recovery. One even suggested not worrying about fixing my shoulder, which was a ludicrous statement as we could all see a piece of the broken bone pressing up against my skin as it painfully slipped further and further down my arm every day. (Don’t get me started on that guy!)

Now with a proud one fingered salute to him, I stand here showing off my amazing recovery. It has surpassed all of my doctor’s (even the good ones) expectations and I am stronger and leaner than before my accidents. The accidents weren’t fun, but what I’ve gained in the aftermath of them, has been nothing short of miraculous.

I remind myself of that when I’m standing on the mounting block, counting to three.

So, after my ride on Ty this past weekend, I got myself cleaned up and headed out to the studio for my first weekend of Pilates teacher training. Yes, I’ve turned into one of those people who found something so effective they turn into a (hopefully not obnoxious) fanatic. I am just beginning my journey to receive the credentials I need to be able to teach what I’ve discovered.

I think back to being in the bed of my last hospital stay. The bed with the alarm that would go off if I tried to get up by myself because, with a back fracture and all those ribs broken, not to mention my mangled arm, I wasn’t supposed to do that on my own. I really was that broken.

I didn’t know the story of Joseph Pilates then, overcoming all the health issues he did to become a scion of physical wellbeing. But I do know it now, and it really strikes a chord.

As I work through the teacher training course, I’m staying as present as I can, not trying to think too far ahead about what I plan to do with those credentials once I get them.

I’m no Joseph Pilates (I don’t even know if he had horses), but I hope one day I can pay something forward and help someone the same way I’ve been helped. I can show them they still have plenty of strength and plenty of life ahead of them.

And maybe the next time a woman has been made to feel she is too old to bother with, I can be there to help her prove everyone wrong.

Artwork courtesy of SkybaPilates.com