summer mat class series

The summer mat class series started in June and we are already half way through the series!  Can you guys believe it?  So far the evening class is packed to the brim with happy Pilates devotees.  So far I have seen amazing results in a short period of time from people which reinvigorates me to get all of our mat classes into a series format.  I love it!  Really, the results speak for themselves and I see no reason to go back to our old ways.   

So check our next series starting at the beginning of August.  Also, Jenny and I are already starting to think about the fall schedule so if you have suggestions this is the time to voice them.  We are also putting in requirement for new students to do a "core Pilates" class with us before being admitted to a mat class.  That way we can ensure safety for all of our wonderful clients.  

Babies babies babies...and health

The 2008 documentary "The Business of Being Born" is completely awe inspiring and amazing.  What women can do with their bodies is unbelievable and after seeing this film I want to experience this part of my life even more.  Not only is the film important for a woman to see to understand her present day circumstance in child birth but to come to acknowledge how we ever came to the desperate situation we are in today.  As a woman who has not given birth I found that this film was completely relatable to my everyday life, with or without a pregnancy.  The power of CHOICE is of unequivocal importance to everyone and no one should live without it.  See this movie.  

"These feet are made for walking..."

I apologize guys, I've been so bad with my posts.  My intention was to try to add at least two new posts a week but here I am...a month after my last post with nothing to show for it.  

I've been busy with work and then I was even able to take a week vacation to visit some friends across the country.  I had an amazing time and I realize now how much my body truly enjoys walking.  When I was visiting Philly and Washington DC I did an intense amount of walking.  I am so jealous of these people that are forced through necessity to walk everywhere.  After awhile you don't even think about it anymore because it just becomes a part of the process of your day.  I am now making a new pledge to myself to try to make a real effort to get out of my car and take my feet to the streets.  I'll begin by walking to the farmers market tomorrow to buy some veggies.  

See you all there.  

ps the picture above is of the most amazing building in Philadelphia.  

FREE PELVIC FLOOR LECTURE

It's officially "that time," yes the FREE pelvic floor lecture is tomorrow, Friday May 15th at 7 pm.  I'm so excited and proud that Dr. Lara Williams is willing to come and do this fabulous workshop.  

See you there.

Moxie's first newsletter

I just sent out my first official, none "gmail" email newsletter to people.  I am so excited about the coming events at the studio that I just hope my enthusiasm showed in it.  I hate to say it, but when ever I send something out I always feel like I'm in high school again inviting people to a party when my parents are out of town.  I'm excited, yes of course, I'm SO proud of the studio...but it's still nerve racking putting yourself out there.  

If you don't get the newsletter than I'll share what was in it.  

1. The "Pilates and the Pelvic Floor" FREE lecture is at 7 PM on May 15th.

2. The "Pilates and the Pelvic Floor" workshop is at 9 AM - 1PM on May 16th.  

3. May 2nd is "Pilates Day" but I want to make it "Pilates Month" so if an existing client brings in a new friend to a mat class then they get their class for FREE.  Their friend also gets their class for free because every one's first class is free.  Isn't the studio awesome?

4. Summer sessions are starting soon so sign up now either with the studio or online at www.movingmoxie.com  

ALRIGHT.  I'M EXCITED.  

twit twit twitter

I've been "twitting" lately which has been a very interesting experience.  Find me at the twitter site under "movingmoxie".  Honestly the best part is just reading everyone's posts and seeing what everyone else is sharing.  :) 

Inside the Pilates studio

Pictured on the left is the mat and equipment area of Moving Moxie Pilates studio.  I talk about the space so much I thought you all might want to see inside.  I get lots of people peeking in from Salvador Molly's and the other businesses near by, but for some reason people never actually want to step into the space.  It's beautiful!  It's possible I'm intimidating but I hope not.   I really wish people would come in because, as you can see from the picture on the very top, I kind of feel like a fish in a fish bowel.  The studio pretty much always gets in cascades of clear natural light at all times of the day.  Sometimes, after I've taught a full day, I just sit on the Caddilac, relax and look at the glossy floating wood floor and just take a happy little sigh.  

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to let you know I'll be downtown tomorrow, April 15th (yes tax day) to demo the Pilates chair at the PNCA.  I'll be there from 12:30-1:30.  I'm so flattered the Tempo studio asked me to be their "Pilates girl" and I agreed.  Little do they know that I blush very easily.  I hope I don't embarrass them.  I may be the beet red faced girl with an awesome pelvic lift.  ;) come check it out.  

I love gym people

I feel such affinity toward “gym people.” Now, I love Pilates and I do it practically every day either teaching or my own personal workout but I also need to get some cardio in there for my heart. I love going in and seeing everyone working so hard to feel good and fit, I almost shoot “YOU ARE MY CHOSEN PEOPLE!” Unfortunately that seems a little inappropriate so instead I just smile and get on the elliptical. What breaks my heart though is when I see people giving such a fantastic effort but sabotaging themselves at the same time. I’ll add here that I am NOT a personal-trainer and I like to only speak about my knowledge of Pilates (that’s what I’m schooled in after-all) BUT I’d like to share from my experience as a fitness person.
1. Please try to support yourself on the cardio equipment. I see a lot of people collapsed forward on the railings. If your body is that tired then you’re just stressing your body out.
2. Your abdominals are made up of layers of muscles that help you do a sit up, it is not your neck that should be feeling fatigued.
3. I don’t know much about lifting with the weight machines but I’m pretty sure your chin should never jut forward, your posture should look pretty good and you shouldn’t be throwing your limbs around without control.

Does anyone know of some good fitness website that could give some good tips for lifting and cardio?

chair workout

I absolutely never get bored with Pilates. There is mat, the cadillac, reformer and chair to always challenge me in different ways. Unfortunately I have not been able to obtain a chair in my own studio yet (goal 2010), so I have to go elsewhere to find a good chair workout. Well, hallelujah because Tempo Studio came to my rescue. The teacher, Jenny, was so confident and knowledgeable I almost had to bow in her presence because she is the queen of chair. The studio itself is comfortable and intimate with a poetry show on the walls, and bay windows looking out to the street. Jenny and her world-class cyclist husband run this pilates/spin studio together. Check out their schedule at: http://www.tempocycles.com/home.html. They just opened in the fall so there is still some space left in their classes so hurry now before it’s too late and there is a waiting list. ☺

And I'm hooked!

I just had the pleasure of trying out my first gyrotonics class in NE Portland and I am in love. Like Pilates, this system was invented by an individual who came from a movement background and started to develop his own unique system of exercises. I found it both invigorating and pleasurable. Check out http://centergyrotonic.com/ and begin your own journey.

Gym deal

One good thing about the economy is that businesses are really trying to help their customers out. Right now until April 5th the South West Community Center is having a special on their annual memberships! Yay! A whole 10 percent off and I believe you can still pay month to month. What a sweet deal. ☺

Honestly I don’t know why I read trashy magazines. Mostly I guess I like to zone out a little while I’m doing cardio or just having a lazy Monday (that’s equivalent of my Sunday) and I don’t want to think too much. The other day though I caught myself thinking a very unhealthy thought. I was looking at some wafe-thin model and comparing myself to her. What!? I stopped my thoughts in their tracks and then took a closer look. Now some people are just naturally rail thin, which is perfectly fine so I don’t want to say that these models are obviously starving themselves, but I know I would have to in order to look like them. This is the danger in our society, the complete saturation and constant brainwashing we go through. We have no idea what a healthy body looks like! I meet people who learn I am a pilates instructor and who assume I have no fat on my body and I have an eight pack rippling down my stomach. That, for whatever reason, is what they envision as the absolute picture of health. I sometimes feel a little frustrated by people’s assumptions of what my body should look like because it’s just that, it’s my body and I want to be healthy, natural and balanced in it. But after my little magazine mistake on the elliptical I realized I am the same as everyone else projecting societies idea of beauty on myself. I would not feel good working out 3 hours a day and watching my diet like a crazy person to get to a size 2. So here is what I decided to do for myself: I stopped looking at the pictures as realities and either skimmed past them or saw them as a strange piece of contorted art. That gave me the perspective I needed to see myself in a more real way, a way that I didn’t feel bad that I didn’t have a razor thin body or perfect skin or gorgeous just-tousled hair. I was myself and I was pretty darn happy about it.

What do you do to get body perspective?

Pelvic Floor craziness

Where did January and February go!?  Moving Moxie Pilates studio has been none-stop for the last two months!  After adding in two new mat classes, multiple clients and still squeezing in my own life there is barely time to breath.  

Big news for the studio:  we are holding a PELVIC FLOOR workshop mid May with the prominent OB-GYN Lara Williams.  Including a mat class and then a very educational workshop after with everything you ever needed or wanted to know about your pelvic floor.  I must say this is one area of the human body that people really need to know more about.  I've spoken to multiple clients about the embarrassment that comes from weak pelvic floor muscles over the years and how to combat this problem early on.  I am proud to hold such an important workshop at the studio that people need so much.  

Moving Moxie Pilates is also now available on Facebook.  Just look under "Moving Moxie Pilates LLC" and you will find us under "health and beauty."  I will post upcoming events and special deals so check often if you want a steal.

Take care until next time,

MOXIE

Tapioca has met its match

Remember last week when I said my cleanse wasn't that hard or intense?  I am now retracting that statement whole-heartedly.  I was probably still coming off my holiday food orgy so I didn't miss anything in my diet yet.  This weekend I went to a very nice restaurant named "Milo's City Cafe" in NE Portland.  It is one of my favorite places to get oysters and I love them to little bits.  Once I sat down at my booth I instantly thought of how nice a cool glass of white wine would be to wind-down from my Friday when I suddenly realized I wasn't allowed alcohol.  Oops, never-mind.  Then I thought, well maybe I should get a nice dessert to reward myself because I wasn't allowed the wine.  DOH!  Then like a bolt of lightning I realized I wasn't allowed that anymore either.  

I've been on this cleanse for 12 days now and I still am having a hard time with this.  It just leads me to recognize how often I am putting these things into my body without ever really thinking about it.  The whole weekend was a repeat of that short internal conversation with myself.  Suddenly I was staring longingly at basically everything at Trader Joe's, from the kettle corn to the tapioca pudding (it looked kinda sweet and it's pudding right??).  I had emailed my friend earlier telling her of my January challenge and she replied in shock that she would simply die if she gave up "booze, sugar and caffeine" for lack of any other food.  After giggling at her reply I realized just how true this statement might be for me.  What is embarrassing is that I think of myself as a relatively good and nutritional eater.  Yes, I do have a sweet tooth but I also LOVE beans and eggs and this kale my sister makes.  So why all the problems now with January?  

I have yet to have refined sugar, I am as dry as a desert in high summer and I am no longer ingesting any caffeine and THIS IS WORK.  I will continue my journey until the end of the month because more than anything it is a game of wills now.  Stay tuned, tapioca is a tough competitor.  

January cleanse

January is here and so is my annual cleanse.  Okay, so "annual" may be too strong of a word as this is only my second year doing this but I swear I'm committed.  Having proclaimed my intent let me also say that this cleanse is not an intense cleanse.  I avoid all refined sugar (I can still eat honey and fruit and anything natural), caffeine and alcohol.  Last year when I did this I slept like a baby the whole month and felt so good I even did it a few weeks into February.  

This year it seems to be a different story.  In the last year I have semi-ended a five year relationship (though it still continues and it's a long story), moved into two new places (one of them being my parents house, ugh), and started a Pilates studio that I love (and subsequently went into debt for).  Now, that is a lot of change for a girl...maybe too much change.  I have been contemplating this mass shift in my life and I am truly astonished that I'm not hyper-ventilating into a bag as we speak.  When I was younger I would get stressed out about everything.  Eventually I even had a panic attack at the ripe age of 17 and almost went to the ER before it stopped and I could compose myself.   This is not me being melodramatic for the audience (that being the one person to look at this blog).  I had tunnel vision, could not breath and it honestly felt like a heart attack.  So, why with all this new stress in my life is my anxiety not over-whelming me?  Well, the simple answer is: Pilates.  OH!  Of course it is Pilates.  With all my life shifts and stresses I have been regularly been participating in Pilates.  

Bottom line: Pilates is a wonderful way of reducing stress, feeling good and focusing your mind.  I'm sure my cleanse is great and I will try to do it ever year but I will NEVER stop doing Pilates because it is my feel-good de-stresser all year round.