Don't tell Mama.....

“You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't.”

― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

So I've done it, I've survived my final Classical Pilates training weekend and a class with +KathrynRossNash as a last minute bonus. I have Advanced exercises, The 100's (repeated and repeated) and Limoncello still swimming around my head and now the fun begins threading it all together (perhaps easier without the Limoncello). Something occurred to me however, as I got chatting to some other participants taking Kathi's class, we were all from different schools of training, different backgrounds and all in different places in our teaching lives. I heard positive stories of training and less positive ones. I've been incredibly lucky in my own retraining (with http://www.pilatesnation.co.uk/ ) as there has only ever been support and encouragement. The bar has been set high and I have a lot of work ahead of me but the emphasis has been on learning, understanding, linking and doing, it has also meant making mistakes and acknowledging what I learnt from it, without fear and without judgement.

And so it frustrates, though doesn't surprise me to learn that others haven't been supported on their Pilates journeys by the very Pilates 'family', 'community' or  'school' they become part of when taking on the study and legacy of Joseph Pilates. But then the idea of family is a complex one, some are blessed to be close to parents, siblings, extended families etc, some of us have realized that DNA does not a happy connection guarantee and that sometimes the healthier thing to do is walk away. Some of us have had friends behave more compassionately, more honestly and more loyally than those supposedly charged with the role of caring for us unconditionally. Sometimes its our friends we have regarded as family that have hurt us the most.

In truth everything we love comes with conditions, an assumption of respect, understanding and patience, an expectation of honesty (even if it hurts), support (even when we think we don't want it) and occasionally intervention (or your Administrator, i.e my Mum insisting you take a break WITHOUT Pilates). So, are we a global Pilates family?, I like to think so, and yes that means we wont all get along or want to sit next to each other for 'Family time' or meet at 'Family gatherings' or even spend time at conferences together but I truly believe we can learn to respect the Pilates DNA that pulses so passionately through all our veins, after all  its passion for the work that got us all where we are now. And so I look forward to more family time, not easy for a confirmed little black sheep that never expected to fit in anywhere and I might even take a break to NJ in May....Just don't tell Mama I'm doing Pilates.......


Have a great week all....Suzy
www.seraphinapilates.com

Shhhhhhh.Dont tell Mama!