Ebb and Flow: In Pilates And Life

Last week, I did a Pilates session that felt like 2019 in a nutshell. Everything just went…wrong. My legs felt uncoordinated. I kept dropping things. My shoulder hurt. And you know what? That’s okay.

Because the next day I woke up and tried again, and things felt better. Good, even. My body felt like itself again, I crushed a 30-minute reformer workout, and I even caught myself singing along to French ‘60s pop once or twice. 

Life is a heck of a thing. I sometimes forget how much it ebbs and flows, and how it has phases, moving in and out of the darkness like the moon. 2019 was a hard year for me - it was a definite “ebb,” with not much flow.

Some ordinary things felt extra hard, and anxiety reared its ugly head more times than I’d have liked. With some focus and commitment, this year has been a marked improvement for me. As a result, I’ve been reflecting on ebb and flow, in both life and pilates. 

It’s important to remember these moments of flow when I’m down, whether it be in life, or when I do Pilates. Things change. Constantly.

What seemed impossible yesterday may be easy peasy today. The darkness doesn’t last forever, and neither does the ebb. There’s always flow, and learning to go along with it. 

And yes, I do like working out to ‘60s French pop. What music gets you moving?