Almost as soon as I wrote those words I was called on to listen to them. Less than two minutes ago, for some unforeseen reason, this window closed and the program closed. Instantly I was faced with the fact that I hadn't saved my work and I would have to inevitably start over. After a significant moment of complete and udder disbelief I laughed. 'Are you serious?' I said to myself. Pause. Long pause. Perfect! Immediate practice. So, here I am back to it, delayed and humbled. In this work, the work of teaching, I am constantly reminded that not only is it important and crucial for me to practice starting over it IS what this work is about. It seems particularly relevant to our practice of Pilates, but it doesn't stop there.

When I feel tired or overwhelmed by the work of it, the drive to do something meaningful, to make an impact, especially when I feel like I am off track, this is what brings me back to center.

Start over. It's so simple and that's why it's so perfect. And like so many simple things it's not always that easy. But it works.

I once shared this with a friend about teaching: I told him that he couldn't be fake, he had to tell the truth, he had to be real. If you don't, if you aren't then you never get the chance to share what you're there to share.

So, this is a piece of it. When you fail, flounder, get lost, say the wrong thing, don't get where you expect to get the only thing to do is allow yourself to start over, to be real, human, fallible. And then you start over...and you laugh about it, you laugh at yourself. It's the only thing to do.

This is the practice. This is the practice for Pilates and something tells me that it is also a practice for life.

All I want to tell you, really, is PRACTICE. Each time you come into the studio just come to practice. It seems to me that this is one way to really be present with our bodies and our lives. Even when you don't feel strong or feel motivated still come. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be practice.

And... you should know that it's taken me approximately two weeks to get this column out - notice that my "Sunday" column is coming out on Tuesday. I can't begin to tell you how many times I had to start over with this one and be okay with it. It doesn't have to be Sunday for me to tell you this: everybody starts over and if you allow yourself to do it over and over again it feels really good.

 

(The picture above is after a disastrous attempt at composing a photo with three of us, Kristen, Pam and myself doing three different exercises. This was the best picture we got from this first attempt.)