ALWAYS!

Studio Lux : If There Could Be Only One!

Studio Lux : If There Could Be Only One!: If you just had time for only one powerhouse strength move, I would advise the plank. All too often, this great exercise is forgotten or ...

If There Could Be Only One!

If you just had time for only one powerhouse strength move, I would advise the plank. All too often, this great exercise is forgotten or missed. Clients will asked for Pilates routines to do at home before they can even remember what the hundred is. However, it seems almost everyone knows what a plank is. The plank builds a sturdy foundation for your body much like a cement foundation for your home. Sturdy foundations seem to be overlooked in this fast passed, I want it now age. The plank can be done in many different ways and for many different levels. Just like any exercise, good form is necessary. It is so simple yet challenging enough that you could continue to improve your ability and form for quite some time. As many of you know, it takes little space. If you are somewhere with no equipment do the plank to keep your foundation strong. If you travel for work or play this can be done every day in your hotel room. If you are working at home or in the office, you can probably get creative in finding just enough space to perform the plank. The strength and uniform balance that the plank can provide for your body is very similar to many exercises in Pilates. I recommend new clients practice the plank with a pulled taught or knitted in abdominal wall. Rule of thumb, no protruding stomach, no hanging or arching into your low back! Clients are so motivated and willing to try to do some Pilates at home in between sessions I think they get surprised when I advise them to practice the plank. All to often I hear yes my physical therapist told me to do that. The plank really is the one that can help all your other strength moves without sacrificing flexibility to perform.You can practice it with one arm extended away from your body or even one leg. As you get stronger extend one leg and the opposite arm. So many possibilities for one exercise.

Examining The Crossroads

There is always options in life. You can always try something and if you do not like it it is your birthright to choose again! As we get older the want for security seems to grow and so dose the want for freedom. But what dose it really mean to be secure? What dose it really mean to have freedom in a free country. I think maybe I should just be more thankful.  Yes, I still love what I do. Maybe I am not in love with the way I am doing it or what it is producing. Everything takes work to keep the energy of it alive. So, I still love it! I am still passionate about it! But my want to be able to do more for my clients is a ever growing feeling. The want for what I do to provide more than the basic necessities of life for my family and myself is an ever growing thought.The want to expand on my knowledge and expertise is always nudging me forward looking at options. I am looking for a business model and life that is the essence of more simple more profound , less tracks, more impact! What dose that mean? It means that everything in life has layers and levels and It is up to each of us to create the opportunities to expand on those levels and layers of the things we love and life itself. To refine them.The same could be said about relationships. Maybe I have the American syndrome that my Greek surrogate mother would say is a epidemic , we have to much and we want so much in America. I do know that I would like to create balance between conservation and consumption. Balance between spirituality and materialism. Balance between work and play! I took the question " what do I want for my future? " And instead asked ,"what do I enjoy most about each week?" What I realized surprised me. But first I had to stop, look, listen, to what was really going on inside.I also had to remind myself why did I start doing this in the first place and will these new opportunities help accomplish what I had set out to do so long ago? It seems  that what I had been wanting for several years is very different then what I started and now that what I have wanted is right in front of me ,I am reminded of what I really had set out to do.

Crossroads

Today is the day I really have to ask myself some very hard questions! What is it that I really see for my future? What is it that I really want? I have opportunities in front of me that could be great , but do I really want them? Am I doing what I do because I love it or because I am good at it? Who do I want my audience to be? How dose one answers tough questions such as these? Well these days there are a plethora of options to help one answer tough questions. One way is to start with simpler questions. I call it going through the back door. I some times do this with clients to teach them a complicated exercise . When it seems to big or too hard I either start backwards in the movement or take a movement that is essentially the same but looks different then next thing you know they are doing the exercise. So instead of asking about the big picture I will reduce the questions down. What do I enjoy the most about each day ? What do I enjoy most about each week? Then what will help me be able to do more of that? I like the picture above because I view it as a question. Do I want to go down the path that is similar to the one I am on ,or do I want to go some where I have never been?

Be Inspired!

What inspires you? That is what I am asking my self today. As life gets busy it is easy to lose sight of what really makes life enjoyable. It can be as simple as a cup of tea or your fitness routine. Remember you deserve every day and in every way to live a life full of joy.When you live in joy life is inspiring.If the question of what inspires you leaves you void of thought start with what is enjoyable to you. The more you start to think about what is enjoyable to you the more inspirational thoughts or ideas will come in to mind.Try to envision and feel with all your senses what brings you joy to help create more inspiration..