Oh HAY, I’m back! And Happy Hurricane Day Off! (Not happy if you have damage from it, but kind of exciting if you’re hiding in your apartment like I am)
Anyway, WOW you guys, this weekend was crazy and emotional and fun and just literally wonderful. Hopefully I can try to recap as much as possible, although I doubt you guys want to read that much, so I’ll consolidate as much as I can.
Okay well, let me tell you, this whole Pilates certification thing turned out to be way different than I expected.
First of all, it’s not just one course that I had to do. Basically, by taking this first course, I’m committing myself to a new part of my career that seems absolutely perfect for me. I have to take a bunch of other courses over the next 1-3 years, depending on how quickly I’m able to do it all and how rushed I want to be, in order to “test out” and get my comprehensive certification.
BUT until that point, I am required to start teaching actual people in order to get a lot of experience, expand my knowledge, establish a consistency for teaching and taking classes, and to get some extra monies to pay for all of this. Aka I can start teaching tomorrow if I wanted to and if I felt ready.
Of course though I don’t feel ready yet, and I’m still developing my instructor voice, so for now I am going to keep taking classes and then start practicing on the weekends with a group who took the certification with me and are also looking to practice on other instructors instead of on real people (and yes, I know this means I’m not a real person yet, but whatever).
Anyway, this weekend was so incredible and was exactly what I needed.
Basically, the past two weeks since I hurt my knee, I haven’t been in the best place emotionally for a number of reasons. First, I’ve just had a lot of personal issues that I’ve needed to figure out and am still figuring out, but also, I haven’t been able to work out, plus I’ve been doing a lot of binge/emotional eating, so I have just been feeling worse and worse about myself as the weeks have progressed.
Thursday night I was sooo nervous about the certification because I was self conscious about not being as in shape as I usually am, and for some reason I was under the impression that everyone there was going to be super buff fitness models or something. Of course my insecurities played a huge role in that, but that’s just how I was feeling.
When I got there though, I quickly realized that everyone else is constantly still working on their own form and their own strength, just as I am, and just as normal Pilates clients are all the time. I don’t really know why I thought it would be any different, but that’s besides the point.
This weekend was absolutely perfect for me because we literally spent pretty much the entire time working out. Friday was a lot more note taking and learning the basic script and choreography, but Saturday and yesterday we just constantly worked out, and it was amazing! This company that I’m getting certified under, Boston Body, firmly believes that instructors aren’t going to be able to teach clients anything if they don’t understand what is going on in the moves themselves. So literally most of the weekend was spent workshopping each different aspect of the choreography on our own bodies so that we can be acutely aware of how our clients can be helped and corrected to improve their form.
So basically, I just got a really awesome workout all day for 3 days. It was so perfect. And I think more importantly, as cheesy as this is going to sound, I fell back in love with my body again this weekend and could not be happier about it. I had this moment on the third day when I looked into the mirror and thought “wow, I feel really beautiful right now”, and it was sort of an epiphany moment after looking in the mirror for the past few weeks and thinking the exact opposite. Finally being able to reconnect with my muscles and push myself and buy really cute workout clothes has helped me get out of this horrible funk that I’ve been in.
Also, I really feel ready to be part of this Pilates instructor community. At first I was really nervous and insecure because I am so young and I will be so much younger than most of my clients, but I realized this weekend that all that matters is that I care about Pilates and care about helping people get in shape and connect with their bodies. This is by far one of the scariest and most difficult things I’ve ever done, but it is already so rewarding and will continue to be rewarding as long as I am doing it.
Anyway yeah the weekend was amazing, and on Sunday, the head of the company, Zayna Gold, who we learned under all weekend taught a Pilates Barre class! I’ve never taken a Barre class and it was really cool to finally take one and actually see what it is! It’s basically a mixture between an aerobic workout class, ballet, and a Pilates mat class. It was so cool, so if you guys ever have the chance to take one, I’d strongly suggest it.
I’ll make sure to let you guys know when I finally feel comfortable enough to start teaching because I’d really love to have people come with me to the studio during off hours so I can practice on you!! Free pilates, who doesn’t love that?! I’ll keep you guys updated!
STAY SAFE AND DRY IN THE HURRICANE! And someone do a rain dance so that classes get cancelled tomorrow again 
Here are some hurricane pics from Maggie and I:
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