la playa pilates
the beautiful and incredible equipment that whip your body into shape!
pilates will change your life!
while visiting santa barbara, california i stopped in la playa pilates in montecito and took my first official pilates lesson with one of my best, dearest, and oldest friends colleen ferguson!
i knew pilates was going to be a tough workout, but man i was surprised at just how difficult it was! i really enjoyed myself though- i love working my body hard and in new ways :)
**a little background info on pilates: these exercises were developed and created by joseph pilates in germany during the 1920's for veterans after world war 1 for rehabilitation. he turned hospital beds into amazing contraptions for exercises emphasizing control, concentration, precision, flowing movements, and correct breathing. he was a firm believer that one's mental health reflects his or her physical health. the central aim of pilates is to fuse the mind and the body, with much focus on the body's core, or powerhouse. (this last part is especially interesting to me as it's much like the foundation of yoga- to unite body and mind, minus all the mysticism.)**
joseph pilates with a veteran working on some rehabilitation exercises
colleen is a most excellent pilates instructor! she is awesome at explaining how to do a sequence or exercise in detail while challenging you to move and work your body in ways never before! this workout is way more intense than anything i've ever tried before! gym junkies should definitely head to a pilates studio pronto- you get a much more targeted work out. plus, you are stretching throughout the exercise and working with only your own body weight and spring resistance, so injuries in pilates are pretty much nonexistent.
the graceful colleen demonstrating a sequence
after 1 hour of working basically every muscle in my body; i felt stretched, relaxed, confidant, toned, and very content. if i lived in santa barbara i know i'd be taking at least one class a week with colleen! i'm going to begin searching for a studio in connecticut where i can continue my pilates practice!
i'm also going to incorporate more pilates into my yoga practice, thanks to what i learned at la playa. i want to work on my strength in yoga, and build more muscle definition so i can improve in my back bends and inversions! this is going to be fun!
another huge thing i learned from col is to breathe more through my chest, expanding through my ribs, while practicing. in yoga i have been doing mostly diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing. this type of breathing is great for relaxation, but not as appropriate for working your core and supporting your spine in strengthening postures. i've noticed many yogis that are totally fit, except for a little pot belly, and i always wondered how could this be possible?! no one in that pilates studio had a trace of a belly- just rock hard abs- and this makes sense if one uses pilates breathing while practicing! i'm excited to integrate this into my daily workout!
col again showing the beauty of pilates
pilates is going to make me a better yogi :) i can't wait for my next class! anyone in the santa barbara area should take a class at la playa! check out their website here for the schedule! --->
la playa pilates california
my mom and i visited this shop in nantucket a few summers ago, and we laugh because i loved the woman that worked there! she had me in a spell, with her european accent and knowledge of aromas she tested on my wrist. hehe... if i could i would buy sooo many wonderful magical fragrances from nantucket natural oils! they're incredible and smell beautiful, yet the scents are very light and don't have that chemical alcohol smell that many perfumes have (make me a bit nauseous!).
scents are so powerful, and can easily conjure up a memory you didn't even know was there. smells can be mildly seductive, transporting you to a special feeling, to another place, to a certain mood...
an aroma i've been loving recently is angel's trumpet. i realize it is a very poisonous plant you can trip balls on!, but the smell... man it's enticing! it is powdery and feminine, tropical and sultry! one reason i love it is because there is a large bush (or tree?!) of it growing outside my sister and my best friend's apartments in santa barbara, california. so when i smell it, it brings my heart and mind right back to some positive feminine energies that i truly love :) i noticed a neighbor down my street has a few trumpet flowers in her yard, and i love to stop by and inhale them for a few minutes! ahhhhh.... if i could get my hands on an angel's trumpet essential oil i would be very happy!
angel's trumpet
another scent i like a whole lot is the smell of ferns! so summery, wild, and energizing! i enjoy taking deep breaths of their invigorating clean smell while running through the woods! the aroma of ferns makes me feel like i am smelling nature that is untouched by humans. i'd also love to find a fern essential oil perfume somewhere.
fern
once purusha has grown, i plan to create purusha scents. perfumes or oils are items that every woman desires, especially scents that a woman can feel are truly HER. a female's aroma can say so much about who she is. it can also bring a person to that mindset that she wants to be in, or towards the woman she aspires to be!
someday i will create these scents, just not yet.... :)
♥
