My daughter and I are going to Brazil in two months and I need to get in shape for a beach vacation. I also haven't bounced back from my abdominal surgery in March and I need to regain strength in my core. I recently read the best health insurance is exercise, so getting in shape will save me both money and agony when I get older. For all these reasons, I am taking pilates.
Back when Claire-Adele was in kindergarten, I met a pilates instructor at her elementary school bus stop. I had thought about taking pilates then, but the classes were expensive and at that time I rarely spent money on myself. Now I have time and money that doesn't need to be spent on my kids. Those years of self-sacrifice are over.
I also want to take pilates because every pilates instructor I've known looks like a gazelle. They are long-limbed, lithe and graceful. Many professional dancers practice pilates.
Since Pedro was born, I've slowly gained weight. The gain has been imperceptible, but this morning I saw the whole sixty pounds I've gained standing in the mirror next to my pilates instructor.
She looked like a gazelle. I looked like a groundhog.
I looked like Ernie. She looked like Bert.
She looked Laurel. I looked like Hardy.
You get the picture.
I've been to five sessions so far, and posture is improving. I felt my muscle memory come back from when I took ballet, using my core to support me in some of the exercises instead of brute force from my thighs.
We will see where this goes. I am not sure I'll ever look like a gazelle, but maybe I'll feel as light and fleet footed as one. I would be nice to be nimble again.
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