What was your favourite feeling this week?
At the encouragement of my friend Jill, I've been attending semi-private Reformer Pilates classes with her on Friday afternoons. They have been fabulous. And painful. Not only can I spend time with my friend, but our instructor, Jackie is knowledgeable and tough. I'm learning a lot.
This past Tuesday, I went for a private one-hour Pilates class. My favourite feeling was experienced during that intensive focus on my utter lack of flexibility - very little range of motion.
Over the last six months, I have been really embracing the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. How some things manifest in a physical way to bring attention to areas that need our focus. Like when I suffered with frozen shoulder for a couple of years - it directly correlated with the burden I was carrying at the time. I got rid of the burden and the frozen shoulder went away, too.
Pilates is hard and Jackie is tough. It is exactly what I need right now.
I realized half way into the lesson that even though I'm feeling muscles I haven't felt in years, I am really enjoying this physical challenge. My hamstrings were seizing, my glutes quivering, my belly in the way and sweat was dripping. I loved every minute of it.
My favourite feeling this week? The absolute and utter knowledge that I can do, indeed thrive in the doing of difficult things.
Bonus: the belief that it is not a selfish thing for me to spend some time focusing on me - the physical me. It will do exactly the opposite of what I thought it would do: it will make me a better mother as I model self-care for my kids.
* * * * *
