As adults, most of us take on an incredible amount.
Work.
Family.
Household.
Training.
Contacts.
Deadlines.
Responsibility.
Before long, we can easily find ourselves in a situation where our lives have turned into an endless to-do list.
We're getting up.
We're working.
We will take action.
We'll sort it out.
We deliver.
And all the while, something slips away unnoticed.
The game.
Yet as children, we knew exactly how to live.
We exercised because it felt good.
We ran because we were curious to see what was round the next corner.
We laughed.
We had a go.
We gave it a go.
Not just to tick a box.
But because we enjoyed it.
Pilates is more than just a workout
Many people start doing Pilates because they’re in pain.
Their waists.
Their necks.
Their shoulders.
Others do it because they want to get stronger.
But in the long run, Pilates offers much more than that.
It helps us reconnect with our own bodies.
To feel how our spine moves.
Observe our breathing.
To realise that we might be able to perform a movement a little more easily, more precisely or more gracefully today than we did last week.
It’s that curiosity.
And curiosity is a form of play.
The aim isn’t to just get through life
Many people live as though life were a project that needs to be successfully completed.
Yet life isn’t a task.
Life is an experience.
The aim isn’t for everything to be finished one day.
Because it’s unlikely that everything will ever be finished.
There will always be one more task.
One more goal.
Another project.
The question is rather:
Can you live in the moment?
Can you find joy in what you do?
Can you be there?
Regularity is not a punishment
For me, one of the most important lessons of Pilates is that progress does not come from pushing yourself too hard.
But rather from the regularity.
One or two hours a week.
Over and over again.
It's not very impressive.
It isn't loud.
But it works.
Just the way good relationships work.
Just as a successful business is built.
Just as our health develops.
It’s not down to a single big decision.
But rather from many small, deliberate steps.
Bonus thought: how can we avoid everything turning into a grind?
There is a simple question we should ask ourselves from time to time:
„Would I still do it if it wasn’t compulsory?”
Not necessarily so that we can stop.
But rather so that we might rediscover its meaning.
Why do I work?
Why do I work out?
Why do I build relationships?
Why do I do what I do?
When we reconnect with our own sense of purpose, the task once again becomes a choice.
And that choice generates energy.
Life isn’t just about survival
At Up Pilates Studio, we believe that exercise isn’t important for its own sake.
We don’t work to make someone perfect.
But rather so that they can live the life they want more easily.
So that he has the strength to work.
Go on a trip.
Playing with his grandchildren.
To do sport.
Travel.
To love.
To laugh.
To be present.
Because, at the end of the day, it’s not about how many tasks we’ve ticked off.
But rather, the extent to which we have lived the life we have been given.
And sometimes the most important reminder is simply this:
Don’t forget to play.