Pilates Prowess

On Thursday I went to an intermediate mat class, my 4th in as many weeks. There were only 6 students and the class was taught by the same instructor (I'll call her Mari) as the beginning mat classes I have attend for the last 7 months. Just as we were getting started, in walked THE head Pilates instructor (I'll call her Tracey; she's my reformer instructor) and 6 student instructors to observe the class. It was a tough class for me as it was my 4th day in a row of pushing myself hard at Pilates and yoga and waking the doggies, let alone that it was by far the hardest class I take. I was already uncomfortably aware of my size in this class of skinny young things and now another 7 highly experienced Pilates practitioners were going to be doing nothing but watching me for the next hour. I could not recall the last time I had felt so self-conscience.

I plugged away at the tortuous torture for an hour. As I put away my mat, the student instructors were gathering with Mari "to discuss". "Great," I thought, "they are going to talk about how I don't really belong in the class." I stumbled out feeling dejected.

Today, I went back for my beginning mat class with Mari. Made it through class without any problem, and afterward, Mari came up to me. After class on Thursday, she sat down with the students. One thing that they mentioned was how good my form was, especially during my most hated side leg series of exercises. Wow! They were actually IMPRESSED with me. Oh my! Mari told them that I was so good was because I had been doing beginning classes consistently for months before moving on to intermediate.

I sure do feel good now. Woohoo!