Blue Monday
Posted on January 25, 2021 by pilatesnative
Blue Monday, otherwise known as the third Monday in January, is typically the most depressing day of the year. I mean to send this note of encouragement to y’all last week, on Blue Monday, but I was in the midst of a Blue Monday depression spiral myself and missed sharing this with you.
I spent the entire week eating gummy bears (Sprouts has the BEST freakin gummy bears), watching weird cult documentaries on Netflix and devouring pounds of popcorn while wallowing in the “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life” blues!
It happens to all of us and rather than ignoring it or pretending it never happens, I wanted to share with you that these type of days (or weeks) can be incredibly normal, especially as we approach the one year mark of Covid. We have all had our lives drastically and dramatically changed and our normal coping modes may be unavailable right now (movies, lunches out, a beer with friends, etc). As we try to eek out normalcy this year and stretch ourselves towards our resolutions and goals, this is a gentle reminder to treat yourself with love, grace, compassion and time!
Your mental and emotional health is just as important as your physical health.
Treat yourself to a little something today, just because.
Enjoy a bundled up walk in the beautiful (frigid!) sunshine.
Buy a new book or sit down and enjoy a favorite movie.
Spend some time with your favorite person (in real life, on the phone or over zoom).
Book yourself a massage, sign up for a stretch with me or go a little woo-woo and sign up for a tarot card reading.
It doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be enjoyable and fun.
Sending you so much love!
-Rubecca
Rest and Play in a time of Stress and Chaos
Posted on November 5, 2020 by pilatesnative
Y’all, this has been the CRAZIEST year. We have literally pivoted and pivoted and pivoted again as this year has changed how we work, school, commute, shop, socialize and exist. It has been bananas.
I started out writing a super long email about the benefits of a forced rest and how bodies are presenting so much differently on the stretch table the last few weeks, but Mailchimp deleted everything and in recovery mode, I realized I most wanted to share with you an inspiring story about play instead.
A few days ago, my brother gave my kiddo a jump rope. It’s nothing special, just a cast-off old jump rope that my brother just didn’t want to take with him on his recent move. Rio treated that thing like gold and for the entire day, he carried it around in his pocket like a special treasure, finding pockets of space large enough for him and his jump rope.
At first, he was terrible. Just awful. This kid couldn’t get a single jump before he’d trip, fall over, whip himself in the head, or whack his jump rope on a wall, car, tree, other other random item he’d set up too close to.
But he kept trying.
He even brought his jump rope with us on our daily walk, stopping to jump every few steps. On our walk, he said “Mama, watch me jump 10 times!”
He jumped twice. Tripped. Laughed, yelled “I got two!”
Jumped four times. Tangled. “Ok, that’s four!” He said.
Jumped another four times. “Did you see me jump 10 times?!?! Oh ya, I did it!” And he continued to celebrate his way out of a jump rope tangle.
Watching him celebrate, I realized he was setting SMART goals and celebrating his wins like a champ.
His goal was totally specific. 10 jumps.
It was measurable.
It was attainable.
It was realistic.
And it was timed.
He didn’t add in any extra qualifiers or quantifiers to his 10 jump goal. He didn’t say, I’m going to jump 10 times without stopping, or 10 times with my eyes closed, or 10 times every day for 10 times a day. Nope.
He wisely chose to jump 10 times in any fashion and celebrate the win.
Watching him celebrate, I realized just how often we, as grownups, gatekeep ourselves and set ourselves up for failure. We add so many extra qualifiers and quantifiers to our goals that the things we enjoy become work. We gatekeep ourselves out of enjoyable activities and communities by adding extra requirements that don’t need to be there.
Worst of all, we burn ourselves out by never celebrating our wins.
Here’s the thing. By instinctively setting a SMART goal and celebrating his little win, Rio kept himself motivated and kept his chosen activity, jump roping, fun. He spent the entire afternoon on the driveway jump roping, setting goals, giving himself positive pep talks, counting, celebrating.
He created an entire celebration dance.
He cheered himself on with shouts of “Oh yeah, oh yeah, check me out!”.
The next afternoon, he was still jump roping.
But he wasn’t tripping. He wasn’t tangling. He wasn’t whacking himself or anything else with this jump rope.
He was jumping up to 30 reps in a go, attempting tricks like single leg or eyes closed, skipping while jumping, and scheming for how he could scooter and jump rope at the same time.
His celebrations kept him motivated. His motivation gave him momentum. His momentum gave him excitement and inspiration. The inspiration kept things fun. And when things are fun, we want to keep doing them.
Without realizing it, this kiddo taught his Mama 2 HUGE lessons.
1) It’s so much easier to get better at something when it’s fun and we want to keep “playing”.
and
2) He showed me just how necessary celebrating the little wins really is for our long term motivation, momentum and inspiration.
This week, I challenge you to join me in celebrating one teeny tiny little win in a big way. No matter what the little win is, go crazy. Create your celebration dance. Jump up and down. Yell “oh yeah I did it, I did it oh yeah”. Shout “Oh yeah!! Check me out!”.
Signing off with wishes for a day filled with pockets of rest and play. And as always, Pilates Native is here to provide you with a safe space to rest, play and celebrate the little wins with Pilates and Stretch Therapy.
Take care and see you soon,
Rubecca
“Magic Spells” and Self Care
Posted on October 13, 2020 by pilatesnative
How are you guys? No, how are you *really*?
As I’m writing, it’s a beautiful 75 degrees, the smoke has cleared, the sun is shining and the door has been propped open, letting a beautiful fall breeze dance around the studio. Looking out the window at the last of the summer blooms, the leaves changing and the clouds drifting, it’s hard to believe we’re in month 8 (or is it 9?) of a world wide pandemic.
There’s no doubt about it, this year has been rough and we’re all on edge. The constant stream of election calls, mail, texts, and commercials has only exacerbated the edge, in my opinion. And while most of us are looking to next year for relief, I’ve found myself more and more in the garden, finding peace among the dirt and bugs, in the right now. Our pumpkins “hatched” and this phase of gardening has turned into clean up and “winterizing” the garden, which as far as I can tell is just a fancy word for yard work.
With my Grandma’s passing last week, I spent a lot more time than usual rooting around in the garden. The dirt and leaves provide an excellent space to think and I realized just how little time my Grandma spent taking care of herself. She cooked, cleaned and cared for an army of children, diligently helping to raise four generations, but I honestly don’t remember seeing my Grandma sit down, like actually in a chair, until she was past 90. I’m not sure if she ever took care of herself beyond the bare necessities to survive: food, sleep and endless cups of coffee. Thinking about my mom and aunts brought the same conclusion. The women in my family run like robots, taking care of all that needs to be done, but rarely if ever, taking a moment to charge their batteries.
While this method works in the short term, I can attest to their burn out, frustration and exhaustion in the long term. When something big, really big, good or bad happens, these wonderful women are already too tapped out to take on any more and this is when we start to see the body protest in big ways.
In this time of constant stress, worry, guilt, fear and down right exhaustion, self care is even more important than ever. Whether that means treating yourself to a long hot shower, a favorite show, take out on busy days, packing your lunch, taking a nap, painting your nails or going for a bike ride, self-care is just as necessary as food and sleep. Lemme say that again.
Self-care is just as necessary as food and sleep.
If you’re like me, and the idea of self care is a novel one, I have a gift for you: my list of “Magic Spells”. These Magic Spells provide quick ways for us to check in and treat ourselves, whether we need big gestures or something small.
So go ahead and pick a few favorites, treat yourself to one of them and enjoy a little self care today. Feel free to check in and let me know what you pick and how it goes! Or send me your favorite “magic spell” so I can add it to the list!
To quote Bill and Ted, “Be excellent to each other.”
And self-care on, Dudes.
-Rubecca
Lessons from the Garden: What Sunflowers Taught Me About Strength, Stability and Flexibility
Posted on September 11, 2020 by pilatesnative
It was 90 degrees in Denver on Monday and snowing wildly on Tuesday and Wednesday. Our pollinator garden went from incredible summer project to disaster zone in less than 24 hours.
To be honest, I almost cried on Tuesday when I got home from work and saw the destruction the snow had wreaked on our sunflowers. As I surveyed the damage, I started to think of my grandparents and how stoic they were and how they always seemed to weather any storm with an eye for what lessons we could take from the destruction. What could we learn? What could we do better next time? What did we forget this time? What was the course of nature? What did we need to let go? With that reframe, I noticed so many more things about the garden.
The sunflowers that were big and tall and strong but lacking flexibility, snapped.
The sunflowers that were smaller, and more willowy but lacking stability, didn’t snap but were uprooted.
The sunflowers that were flexible and stable but lacking strength were contorted into strange shapes.
When we think about it, we can easily apply that to our own lives. When we are so strong but lose range of motion or flexibility, we are more likely to have posture issues, or rip, tear, or strain a muscle, snap a tendon, or herniate a disk.
When we are super flexible but lacking in strength, we lose the ability to function at full capacity and start to see things like poor posture, loose joints, weak muscle tissue and all of the associated pains with those issues.
When we have no stability, we again experience poor posture, loose joints and poor balance. Poor balance leads to running into things, falling often, or being clumsy in general. Poor balance can also be associated with lots of over use injuries as our body does what it can to hold us together.
Unsurprisingly, the sunflowers that were strong, stable and flexible, got a little beat up, a little bent and they’re tipping like drunks but they survived the storm intact.
Whether it’s a slip on a patch of ice, tackling a 14’er, training for a marathon, enduring an MMA fight, or whatever else we subject our bodies to, when we are able to balance our strength, stability and our flexibility, we are better able to survive whatever trauma comes our way. We may encounter a few bumps, bruises, scrapes and minor injuries, but for the most part, we’ll be alright.
The same is true for the sunflowers. The balanced flowers will need a little extra TLC and some rehab, but they’ll be alright. The uprooted sunflowers can be replanted and stabilized. The contorted sunflowers can be tied up and retrained. The snapped flowers, unfortunately, can’t be fixed or rehabed. The damage those guys sustained was too great.
The lesson here, for me, was that strength without flexibility was the most damaging condition. The same is true for people. Our most traumatic injuries stem from inflexibility.
Unexpectedly, there was one more casualty in the storm…flowers that were strong, stable and flexible got crushed under the weight of other flowers who were unable to maintain themselves in the storm. These flowers suffered under the stress applied by an external force.
The same can be true for us. There are so many times when we have found the right balance of strength, stability and flexibility in ourselves but are crushed under the weight of external stresses. No matter how solid we are in our condition, the external stress can destroy us.
Whether you need to focus on developing flexibility, stability or strength, Pilates Native can help.
If it’s a break from external stresses you’re needing, we can help with that too.
Everything we offer is designed to help you balance flexibility, stability and strength while also relaxing the parasympathetic nervous system and giving you a much needed break from the stress cycle.
Best wishes from the garden,
Rubecca
Pilates, Diversity and the mission behind Pilates Native
Posted on June 8, 2020 by pilatesnative
Hey friends.
This June email is coming a little bit later than usual. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t want to send you another email full of meaningful words and no actions. As I read and listen and learn more about race, equality and equity, I’ve been profoundly drawn to reassess my own business model and find clarity on what it is I’m really doing here and why.
I’ve been in the Pilates/Yoga/Stretch world for 12 years. In that time, the Yoga Alliance has maintained a strong dedication to continuing ed, diversity and inclusion. The YA has continually pushed the narrative that yoga is for EVERYONE, regardless of race, heritage, religion, or economics. They have continually promoted instructors of all backgrounds and varieties in a bid to stay true to their message. Over the years, we’ve seen yoga incorporated into nearly every fitness program from $5 rec center classes to elementary school classrooms to luxury gyms and big ticket fitness programs. Literally everyone knows what yoga is and has some experience with it, whether it’s personal experience or 2nd hand knowledge.
Pilates, on the other hand, has maintained a very exclusive and illusive persona. Take a minute and think about what you know about Pilates and who practices Pilates. Did you draw a blank on the exercises and immediately picture tall, thin, high pony tail and expensive leggings?
Today, I spent some time researching the demographics of Pilates, mostly out of curiosity and also as a way to collect data to help guide my studio.
Here’s what I found. Per a Pilates Method Alliance study done in 2016,
96% of Pilates students are female
80% of Pilates students have a Bachelor’s degree or higher
45% of Pilates students have a household income of $100k or higher
Group Mat classes cost on average $20/hr
Group Reformer classes cost on average $25-$35/hr
Private sessions run $75-$150/hr
Y’all, that is a far cry from $5 yoga classes at the rec and right on the money for Lululemon.
Interestingly enough, I couldn’t find any information on the cultural/ethnic/racial breakdown on who practices Pilates. However, there were multiple articles that popped up discussing the overwhelming lack of diversity in Pilates.
So what does this even mean and why does it matter?
I started this studio as a way to carve out a tiny safe space for women like me, women who don’t meet the usual Pilates stereotype. Brown women, black women, native women, white women, short women, tall women, curvy women, women without a lot of discretionary income, women new to self care, women who needed a safe space to workout and resource themselves so they can take on the world, and Men! Guys- I’m not leaving you out. Men are an overwhelming minority in Pilates.
My mission still stands. My studio is a safe place for people of all shapes, sizes and colors to exercise, practice self care and take care of themselves so they can take care of the world.
My pricing however, has got to change. Right now, current prices are aligned w/ the industry average for private Pilates sessions…$75/hr. But again, if we look at those stats, that $75/hr price tag is overwhelming geared towards high income individuals.
When compared to the 2018 CO demographics, which states that the average female in Colorado makes $35,000/year, pricing makes Pilates inaccessible to almost all of the population. And that’s not what I’m after, at all.
I’ve decided to break w/ industry standard and offer equity pricing to folks who need it.
As always, thank you guys for your open and candid conversations the last few weeks. I hope you have found peace in your Pilates practice and that the work you do to help maintain your physical and mental well being has enabled you to keep doing the big work you’re doing out in the world.
Take care of yourselves and each other.
Rubecca
Pain, pressure or fatigue? What’s really going on during your workout and should you really push through the pain?
originally posted on May 1, 2020
Pilates & Prevention
Posted on March 1, 2020 by pilatesnative
For the last decade, my career as a Welding Engineer has focused primarily on quality analysis and quality control (QA/QC). The majority of the equipment I encounter is pressurized and a failed weld could cause a lot of damage.
My days are spent ensuring that any potential problems are flagged and resolved before the welder even strikes an arc.
Occasionally, despite all of my best efforts in the home office to prevent failures, a weld will fail quality testing in the shop or something will start leaking before installation.
On rare occasions (thankfully), a weld will fail in service, and cause serious damage. Usually, the weld has shown symptoms of failure prior to this point and the serious failure is the final sign that things have not been right for a long time.
In addition to that original QA/QC check, my job includes finding the symptoms that lead to the leaks or the failures and figuring out how to fix the issue and prevent it from happening again.
By now, you’re wondering what all of this has to do with Pilates and Stretch Therapy.
The answer, my friends, is Prevention.
Just like a weld, there are early symptoms in a body that show increased potential for failure.
Poor balance
Lack of coordination
Lack of core strength
Lack of flexibility
Overall lack of fitness
Poor or improper posture
And surprisingly, over training
These are the things “flagged” in the initial QA/QC check. If repaired, the potential for damage caused by these issues can be mitigated and frequently avoided all together.
If we ignore these flags, we reach the next phase, the smaller annoying injuries that make us grumpy and prevent us from doing what we love.
Stress fractures
Knee tweaks
Sprained ankles
Pain in joints and muscles upon certain movement
Back pain
Decreased range of motion
Muscle strain
These things are the “leaks” in our welding analogy. The body is giving us flags to indicate that something has gone wrong and needs to be addressed asap.
Unfortunately, many of us ignore these “leaks” and we move right along into serious failure territory. Severe pain that limits our physical abilities.
Frozen shoulders
Dislocated knees
Rips, tears, or pulled muscles
Herniated disks
Broken bones
It is the catastrophic failures that usually get us to slow down and pay attention. They’re expensive. They hurt. They can be life changing.
As a recovering chronic over-trainer with a history of two dislocated knees, a wonky left hip, and micro-tears in one shoulder, I’ve ignored my fair share of flags and leaks and found myself on the sidelines, frustrated and bored.
Like so many of you, I discovered yoga, Pilates and Stretch Therapy as part of the overall injury recovery process. Along the way, I discovered a passion for body mechanics and how yoga, Pilates and Stretch Therapy can help mitigate and prevent that final stage of “catastrophic” failures.
Focusing on prevention as a Pilates Instructor fits right in with my technical training in QA/QC. It’s why everyone of my clients goes through an Initial Assessment. And it’s why my main focus as a Pilates Instructor is always on what you’re doing, what’s being flagged, what’s causing your “leaks” and finding the best proactive solution for your body, whether it’s balance work, stretch therapy or correcting muscle imbalances.
Pilates and Stretch Therapy can’t solve every body problem or prevent every ache and pain, but it can give us a good foundation to help prevent those catastrophic failures.
With the beautiful spring weather and sunshine, I know many of us are itching to hit the trails. Enjoy yourselves but remember to mind your “flags” and “leaks” and take time to take care of yourselves!
.Happy March!
-Rubecca