Rollover with paw

Just DON’T! Please I beg you to reconsider. 20 years ago I would’ve thought those were good ideas too, but now that I have to check ‘that box’ I’m offended, mortified, insulted, etc..

People take better care of their bodies now than they did 20 years ago, Do YOU want to take a class with a bunch of people who can barely move OR who inspire you to move and keep moving?

Age is a number not a definition of wellness or fitness, look around, often times the more fit people are the older ones. They’re smart enough to eat better, exercise is a priority instead of partying, while still fun, is much harder to do (and actually, I hate the morning after yuck of not taking care of myself) and still function well the next day.

I am not saying we don’t go out with our friends and listen to great music, enjoy an adult beverage or 3 here and there, but to put me in a class of what you determine is ‘senior’ is downright judgmental and unfair.

Yes I’ve raised my kids, have 2 amazing grandchildren now, but I still manage to care for 4 Great Danes, 2 of which outweigh me, and the other 2 are 84 in dog years, they’ve lost their hind end muscle mass and can barely walk, SO I HAVE TO LIFT THEM TO THEIR LEGS, Pilates Strong! If they were people, I wouldn’t have them in a group class, they would need privates with lots of personal attention. Not to mention how many 60 year old women do you know that can handle that much dog muscle on walks when they see a bunny or other dog?!?!?! Without Pilates…well you know the drill.

I see plenty of tweens to 40’s and more who can’t do what I do. It’s all in how you have taken care of yourself. They have sloppy posture, eat crap, and are filled with instabilities, inflexibilities, nothing for strength, have no definition in any muscle, nor any body symmetry or grace when moving.

Doggie Touch Technique

I have had broken bones, sprained and strained things, torn this and that, and Pilates put me back together again. So if you’re looking for a group class for that particular population, I would call it Shoulder/Wrist Class or a Hip/Low Back Strengthening Class or a Did You Bust Your Ass Class, Have You Fallen And Can’t Get up Class.

How bout a class where you learn the fundamentals and from there you join a class with similar folk. So advance them. Basic Pilates stuff, in order to move up, you have to EARN it, so an I’ve Earned It Class, then earn the next advancement, an I’ve got this Shizz Down Class! Then you’re at BEAST mode, the creme de la creme I OWN It Class, Pilates is MINE!

Call them what you want, just don’t refer to age…alienates more than it attracts, and you surely won’t see me or any of my Pilates friends taking a class like that, we just wouldn’t fit in. Joe gave the body what it could do without judging until he saw movement. Then he gave them what they should try, and when they had that nailed he gave them more. Be like Joe.

Which brings us to my shameless plug for Going More Joe, a FB page I put together with enormous help from my friend in Guam, Lauren Wright. We were both at intensive of Siri’s in Big Bear one year, and while we don’t remember if we actually met, when I asked for help with the page, she didn’t ask what she could do, she just jumped on it where I was lacking and boosted the page along. She is an enormous resource on that page, (having done a journey similar to mine), we are piecing it together, so get the benefit of all the researching we have done collectively, it’s A LOT! Along with a number of classically trained Pilates teachers that have generously offered their help in answering questions regarding literally anything to do with classical Pilates that we didn’t get in our contemporary training. The page is structured as a Travel Guide from C to C, it’s a go at your own pace, peer learning group, with suggestions on Pilatesology Videos to watch, with a spot on the Pilatesology Forum for discussing the videos with each other. Suggested reading, Andrea Maida’s brilliant blogs, Shari Berkowitz Verticle Workshop blogs, Kathi’s book, The Red Thread Of Pilates, etc…nothing required, there is the suggestion that you find a classical teacher to work with, this does not replace any program, it is my thought that once you have been through a program, (a legitimate comprehensive course), that if time, money and travel are not easily available to you, that it shouldn’t stand in your way of increasing your knowledge of Going More Joe, as the system was initially designed and intended. I offer focused workshops at my studio that teach more about learning Pilates as a system. I hire only well schooled and amazing Romana and/or Jay trained teachers. The workshops are always around $100-$150 for a 5 or 6 hr day packed with info, I also offer them by Private Video Link and Skype incase you can’t get to Temecula, or the timing sucks, but the 6 in the studio get hands on, and learn how to really USE the studio, what pieces to add, and the differences in apparatus. Edgar Tirado is currently our apparatus expert, and he generously offers advice.

So I invite you to check the page out, and join the conversation. Here’s the link, just don’t get on the wrong side of Lauren. Oh, BTW it is a ‘no roughhousing’ page ;))

Sunni Almond