Friday 19 April 2013

Stegosaurus Show girls....and this is why I'm unemployable!
Expect rain and you get 28 degrees in Rome!


I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop with +AlyceaUngaro earlier this year and part of the day was dedicated to language and how we use it as teachers, now once I'd got past the inevitable embarrassment of not being able to determine between adjectives, nouns and verbs, what can I say I get confused...It really made me think. We know as teachers that its not just our words that hold information but the way we demonstrate the exercises, the way we cue with our hands in contact and yes, I admit it, I do hold peoples pony tails up (please don't tell the PC police). But ultimately its our words that find our way into peoples subconsciousness. I'm genuinely pleased when people tell me they could hear my voice whilst they were brushing their teeth reminding them to stand taller, having established their not having a multiple personality episode first of course.

And so it came to be recently that late on a thursday evening my intermediate group found themselves being Show girl Stegosauruses'. You see such was my train of thought simply being a dinosaur wasn't enough, they had to be beautiful, show girl dinosaurs. By now you either have your head in your hands or are smiling, I very much hope its the latter so bear with me....I have no idea where this came from or indeed why it worked, I never never seen my group be so mindful of how their backs were working but in choosing an image so obscure both their imagination and neural paths and mine were both fired up. Their was no familiarity or complacency with this image because they didn't anticipate it, and I realized that perhaps when we suspend our habits, intellectually, physically, emotionally we can start to see our bodies as being capable of so much more than our self imposed barriers and habits allow?

More importantly however, they laughed, I laughed at myself and we all moved with more power and grace (well after all performing dinosaurs are both aren't they) I did however recollect the time a very good friend, client and mentor one day uttered the statement  'Suzy I think your wonderful, but you are utterly unemployable', I simply cannot follow one view on things,  at that moment as I packed the kit up and left the studio I suddenly and finally understood what she meant, and its the very thing and clients and classes respond to. From one week to the next they don't know if they are getting insights from workshop's I've attended or readings straight from 'Return to Life' but they do know that I will challenge them to think outside their own expectations, after all a man who wanted us to be seals couldn't really have a problem with us being dinosaurs occasionally could he? I do hope not because the class really did breathe and move beautifully....

Have a great weekend all and remember heads high and swish those tails....

Suzy x

www.seraphinapilates.com

Join me in Italy and Cyprus for my Pilates Retreats http://www.seraphinapilates.com/pilatesbreaks.html

I also write for www.fightingfifty.co.uk ,occasionally play on FB and appear as @suzyseraphina on Twitter

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