Be Persistent

Recently, I had my teacher trainees pick their favourite Joseph Pilates quote. He was a very smart man, and they all had difficulty choosing just one. In the end, the one that we ended up choosing for discussion was this:

Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor. – Joseph Pilates

Persistence in Wellness

Joseph Pilates’ life work was to help people move better and be stronger through what we now know as Pilates. But he was also interested in helping people with their overall health. For example, he felt that how you breathe is important to your health. He often talked about sleep, working into the senior years, getting outside, and simply enjoying life – all were important to feel vibrant and healthy throughout life. He was even known to show his clients how to shower “properly” and encouraged dry brushing to stimulate the lymphatic system and remove dead skin cells. 

A lot of these things are habits you can cultivate, which takes time and persistence. Some habits may have been with you since childhood, like being active is for me. Still, I’ve had times (like during Covid) when some of my good fitness habits fell away. I had to make up my mind to get back into those habits, and it took a while for it to be second nature again. I’m definitely glad I decided to put the effort in, though, because I feel so much better now. 

Persistence in Pilates

Right now I’m taking a course that has us doing pre-Pilates and foundational movements in every session. (Yawn!) But the instructor obviously knows what they’re doing, as each of us in the course is realizing how these “dull” exercises are improving our performance of the more advanced exercises. These exercises are also helping improve my body awareness, so I’m feeling more muscles working in all the exercises, making them both easier and harder at the same time.

The challenge is what I loved about Pilates in the first place. I am very motivated by achievements and reaching goals, and Pilates was very difficult! Despite being “fit”, I couldn’t do a roll up without my feet lifting up in the air or my pants sliding down (thank goodness we did Pilates in the dark). The first Pilates classes I took were mostly stretching and relaxing with some ab work, so I didn’t know how hard it could be! 

It was when I took my first teacher training that I started to see the complexity of Pilates, and I was hooked. I loved how the teacher could cue me to lift up through my spine or draw my ribs back, and suddenly the exercise would feel so much better. It was somehow more difficult and more achievable. I think this dichotomy of easy/hard is what makes Pilates so difficult to describe to others. It takes time to understand and feel all of these things. 

Keep Going

To be successful in Pilates, you need to be persistent in more ways than one! It takes time to understand the movements, how to use the apparatuses, and how to connect to muscles you may not be used to using. Then there are exercises that can take years of persistence to fully execute. Whether it’s in Pilates or other areas of your life, be persistent and you’ll get where you want to go.