Most images of Pilates show advanced and extreme exercises. Those are “showy” and perhaps aspirational. Not so “sexy” or impressive are the fundamentals. These are the building blocks that give us the skills to get to those advanced exercises. They might not be “fun” but they are vital.
Sometimes these small deep exercises don’t “click” for some time. And that’s ok. But they need to be practiced and eventually things connect and that realization of “Aha! This is what makes teaser possible!” happens!
So, spending a bit of time on the not so “fun”damentals is important but the beauty of the method is that there is so much variety of exercises that we can move on to more “exciting” moves that are more fun and still work on these fundamental principles while giving you a full movement experience.
The amazing equipment can give your body access to movement potential. Those springs can provide support and assistance and let you move in ways not easily done on the mat. But the mat work has it’s own joys and challenges. Either way you will have the opportunity to move in ways that give your body functional strength and flexibility. But don’t think those fundamentals are “too easy” or boring. They might not be the most fun but they build up your deep strength and awareness of movement patterns. They build the bridge from not being able to imagine how you’d ever be able to do those “showy” advanced exercises to doing them with ease. And if those moves aren’t your goal that’s fine, but the fundamentals will still be invaluable in improving posture, balance and getting out of pain and being able to move and live in your body in the most functional way. And functional is definitely “fun”!
Solara Pilates 