Knowing your body is the first step
It’s incredible the different types of people coming into our Pilates Studio these days. More and more people are listening to what their bodies require and realising that "thrashing it" is not beneficial for them, both mentally and physically. The "no pain no gain" fitness mentality depletes your body of energy that is required through the day and leaves you feeling like you continually need to do more to feel better, but that is just the same as drinking alcohol to you 'feel better'. Your body doesn’t actually want or need it, but your mind is overpowering the knowledge of your body.
Any fitness that puts stress (rather than challenge) on the body just isn’t beneficial to either your mind or your body ... especially as you age, or even worse, if you are in a state of stress.
Feel how your body is operating right now
Stress, tension and fear of the unknown is highly prominent in our everyday lives, which means we may be living in a state of fight or flight and our bodies need time to rest and repair. When your body is operating in this state, you will feel highly strung, disconnected from your body, jittery, lethargic… name basically every feeling that isn’t positive ... that's how fight or flight mode / sympathetic dominance feels.
Why is Suna Pilates now the exercise of choice?
People’s perception of Pilates is that it is like yoga in that you move and stretch, but Suna Pilates is so much more. Our unique style of Pilates can be the most challenging form of exercise, the most beneficial, and the fastest to get results.
Most important right now is being mindful and while you are doing your 45 minute Pilates sessions, and concentrating on your gorgeous Pilates Posture, there is absolutely nothing else you can think about other than what you are doing right here with us. Let’s expand on why this is.
- Suna Pilates has a focus on breathing, and with every breath we take, we are activating your core, so this alone takes your mind away from where it can wander as you focus on your breath.
- Pilates Posture is unbelievably important for the health of your body and organs. If your posture isn’t correct, you are going to be prone to health issues, body pains, you name it.
- Every Pilates exercise we do, we focus on the muscles that the exercise is working, and we build that muscle in the correct posture. We lengthen and strengthen every muscle to have a beautiful healthy 'Pilates Body' that will stand the test of time.
- Interval Training is a focus which is extremely important for heart health, so we spend 30 seconds every exercise powering up, which gets the heart rate up and gives you the cardio you need; in a way your body is designed to operate.
- Functional fitness is incorporated at Suna Pilates, as we know what the body needs to prevent injuries, to age well and who doesn’t want to be able to get up and down easily as they age.
- We have challenges for every level in every session (including extreme if required) so if you are having a good day and you want to push yourself that much more in a way that is beneficial to your body, take the challenge, step up that level and push more - but push nicely.
How can I transition to Pilates fitness from hardcore thrashing?
It takes a mindset change and “knowing” that it’s time to take care of your body. It’s time to be kind to your precious body and focus on ways to feel better - because if you feel great, you will look amazing too. The founder of Pilates said, “You will feel better in 10 sessions, look better in 20 sessions and have a completely new body in 30 sessions”. Imagine actually doing something nice for your body AND getting better fitness results than if you ran, pumped weights, did circuit training… imagine doing exercise that makes you feel fabulous without putting extra stress on your body. That's Pilates.
This is the mindset change needed - to know you'll get the desired results, but you will get them with perfect definition, posture, and come out feeling energised and fabulous.
Your body is not designed to be thrashed and you're likely to be distracting yourself from the core issue that you are trying to escape from. What is that? Why do you feel you need to push your body beyond what it is designed to do?
It’s a time of knowing, so it’s time to really take note of how you are feeling, how you want to feel and what your body is asking of you. Know what is required of your body and go out and get it. We can do this together.