Mariette Kip trains with Pilates instructor Naomi Vos in her studio Pilates Center Goes in The Netherlands. Below Mariette will tell you what Pilates means to her .
Mariette Kip
I’m really happy about Pilates.
I am really happy about Pilates. After just a few lessons I noticed a difference. At first I mostly noticed a difference in my breathing. I was able to breathe deeper. But soon after that the controlled movements from my powerhouse gave me more flexibility and strength. The trust I had in my body could be rebuild and could evolve.
The Powerhouse is my own Power Central
When I just started doing Pilates I couldn’t lay straight on the couch, everything hurt. Now I can walk, cycle, swim, even skate, and lay in the grass with my hands behind my back. I’m doing things that I never thought I could do (again). And recently people have been asking me if I dance a lot. It’s a successtory that Naomi and I both very much enjoy working on. The Powerhouse is my own Power Central; I use it in all kinds of situations: if at the end of a long walk I find it hard to get to the top of the mountain, or when I need to stand still for long periods of time, and even when I need to sit behind the computer the right stance and correct way of breathing give me more energy.
For me Pilates is different every time
Some Pilatesstudents say they think the exercises are boring. For me it’s different every time. Sometimes there are classes that make me dizzy and I need to recuperate from afterwards. There are days that I cycle to the studio with lead in my legs and on my way back I’ll take a longer route just for fun. There are so many variations on the well known exercises. I’m really learning to use muscles from head to toe that I never even knew I had.
And it worked!
After a skiing accident in 2007 -which gave me a concussion and neck injury – I didn’t seem to recover well. I became very stiff and got various physical grievances and limitations in what my body could do. Sometimes my body was hurting so much I couldn’t even bend over to put my socks on. An older friend of mine told me about her experiences with Pilates and Naomi’s detailed knowledge about the human body. This was more than a year after the accident and it seemed to be my last resort. And it worked!
Pilates became a way of life.
To maintain the way my body is right now I want to keep training. Pilates became a way of life. Literally and figuratively: It’s about living from your core, your ‘powerhouse’. I don’t think I’m going to grow tired of that!
mei 2014 ©Mariëtte Kip
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