April 28

I’ve been occupied the last few months with a little expansion project: I opened a second Pilates studio in my neighborhood. It has been wonderful splitting my time between the two spaces, seeing my longtime clients at my original spot, and teaching brand new faces only a ten-minute walk from home. Each space has its own different but equally lovely vibe and moving between the two each week feeds my creativity and excitement about teaching.

With the new space so close to home I’ve been spending a lot more time working on my own fitness and these Alo high-waisted 90s capris are my most favorite for moving. (These Lululemon Align High-Rise ones in black camo are great as well.)

This Buck Mason slub cotton muscle tank has also become part of my uniform…

The hand wash I have in both studios and love is this Grown Alchemist sweet orange, cedarwood, and sage one…

Another favorite soap that I use daily in the shower is this REN Kelp and Magnesium body wash…

As I’ve chosen to prioritize teaching and moving right now, I’ve consequently chosen to devote less time to meal prep and being in the kitchen. The cookbook I’ve been reaching for most these days is Dawn Perry’s Ready, Set, Cook. It is a fantastic book and a good fit for my life when I need something healthy, delicious, and quick.

One of my favorite non-alcoholic beverages right now is Ghia’s Le Spritz in ginger. I love their whole “clear-eyed and high-minded” vibe.

For years I suffered from pretty major cystic acne. Paired with intense seasonal allergies and a number of food sensitivities it became clear through lots of research (and the help of my doc) that the root cause of all these “unrelated problems” was an imbalance in my microbiome. It was a lengthy process getting it all back on track and ever since I have made sure to really prioritize my gut health and take a proper daily probiotic. My preferred one is made by Seed.

They just came out with a pediatric version that my son now takes…

I wrote about Susan Cain’s amazing book Quiet EIGHT years ago. Eight. I’ve gifted that book a number of times and read it twice myself. Her newest book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole resonates just as much.

We watched 14 Peaks on Netflix last fall and I wrote down this quote in the film by the legendary climber Reinhold Messner that I keep returning to…

“Most of us are forgetting that from the beginning of our life we are approaching death. Life is absurd. But you can fill it with ideas. With enthusiasm. You can fill your life with joy.”

— Reinhold Messner

December 11

Hello December once again. The sun rose this morning at 7:48 and the sun will set very soon at 4:19. One of my favorite moments of the day is when I wake up around 6:30, take a shower, and then turn on the Christmas tree lights and sit quietly reading in this spot before the rest of my family gets up…

My favorite ornament is this stick of butter (that was on my wishlist last year) that my bestie gave me just this fall in anticipation of the coming season…

As per usual, the “Vince Guaraldi Trio Holiday” station plays nearly every waking hour. This weekend I am making orange and clove pomanders for the first time…

Photo via Gardenista

I still need to figure out what holiday cookies I’d like to bake this year but these brown butter and pistachio sablés from Bon Appetit are on the short list…

We repainted our dining room dark last week (Benjamin Moore City Shadow) and I am smitten with how it turned out…

I’ve been lighting candles nonstop, mostly ivory pillars in simple glass hurricanes. I needed a few more and have been using these Weck jars which are inexpensive and still look lovely…

We just finished this really fun Lego Minifigure puzzle…

I’ve been eating a lot of Ramen lately and this Jade Pearl one is delicious. I cook it for 4 minutes, drain off most of the water, add the seasoning and doctor it up with toasted sesame oil and my favorite kimchi hot sauce. If I have leftover steamed broccoli in the fridge, I’ll throw that in too for a really satisfying lunch (or breakfast)…

Speaking of broccoli, I just harvested the first ever head of broccoli from my garden last week. I can’t wait to plant more in the spring…

Today marks the 24th day of my daily Pilates practice. It has been transformative. I have never had a daily practice in all my years doing Pilates and it feels different in the way that I am approaching it. I am paying deep attention to what my body needs on any given day. There is no judgment, just curiosity and I am enjoying the journey…

Way back in high school (in the analog 1990s) one of my favorite things was getting a brand new planner for the new year. I will forever be a paper and pen kind of person and looking forward to a new planner never gets old. This Moleskine one is my favorite…

1% Better Each Day

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.

It can turn an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and beneficial lessons. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

- Melody Beattie

With the latest business restrictions I had to close my studio again last week. Last spring during lockdown I created Pilates Everyday to post videos for my clients. But once I was able to reopen again in June, my plate felt full and I stopped posting. And my own Pilates practice became neglected.

This time around I decided to use this extra time afforded to me to reinvigorate a daily practice and have been doing at least a basic Pilates mat workout every day and live streaming for anyone who wants to join in. I am not doing any instruction or have any set routine planned – I’m just committed to moving every day and will see where the workout takes me…

At one week in, it’s noticeable how much better and stronger I feel and I’m enjoying myself immensely. It feels good to embody what I’m constantly espousing - that small efforts done repetitively every day lead to big change. When done intentionally, even a 7 minute workout is effective as proven in my workout on day three…

If you'd like to work on your own daily Pilates practice but don't know where to begin, start here: 

I am not at all surprised at the benefits I’m noticing already from having a daily personal practice. But what I didn’t expect is what posting my workout LIVE would deliver: the incredible feeling of being truly accountable to myself. I am accountable to many others - my son, my husband, my friends, my clients…but I can’t recall a time when I showed up only for myself, every single day…

I will leave you with the inspiring Chris Nikic who exemplifies what can happen when you focus on making small improvements and striving to get 1% better each day…

Zack Wittman for The New York Times

“To Chris, this race was more than just a finish line and celebration of victory,” his dad told the BBC. “Ironman has served as his platform to become one step closer to his goal of living a life of inclusion, normalcy, and leadership.”

May we all be inspired by Chris and continue to do the work and strive to be our best selves.

Apart But Not Alone

What a time we are in.

It’s hard to articulate so instead of fumbling for the words I will give you this from the ever-wise Brené Brown…

This is truly a both/and moment: both frightening and formative. Both uncertain and hopeful. And despite the legitimate troubles for so many unsure when they’ll be able to work and earn a paycheck, there is still so much goodness if you look for it.

We watched the Seattle Symphony livestream Mahler Symphony No. 1 all together curled up in bed last weekend. Metropolitan Opera has nightly free streams for the duration of the Met’s closure. I have never seen an opera before and I’m so thrilled for the opportunity to see some of the best…

Yo-Yo Ma is playing music for us…

So is Ben Gibbard, live every day at 4pm for the next two weeks…

Donald Robertson is giving these fantastic quick art classes…

Ryan Holiday wrote a great post on the Daily Stoic a few days ago Remember: You Don’t Control What Happens, You Control How You Respond.

“The single most important practice in Stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we can change and what we can’t.

Use your time wisely: don’t let the possible weeks or months of isolation be for nothing. You can’t control how long you’ll need to engage in social distancing, but you can control if you spend that time productively. The version of you who steps out of quarantine at some future date can be better than the version that entered it, if you try.”

Experiencing hardship has the power to nudge us and give us “strength in the places we’d never thought to develop, spaces we didn’t know we’d occupy, room to reach beyond ourselves.”

I can’t work from home teaching my clients like I’ve always done. But I am finding a new way to be useful and share what I know.

“We think the future is something that happens, rather than something we make.”

— Ryan Holiday

I started a YouTube channel Pilates Everyday. The first video is a 5 minute basic Pilates mat that my clients are to do everyday. If you have never done Pilates before, start there and keep it simple: Prioritize repetition over perfection. It isn’t going to be good right out the gate. Don’t worry, just keep at it and do your best. Through repetition and deliberate practice it will start to come together. Just move. Pay attention. Don’t rush. Enjoy yourself. Repeat.

Take care of yourselves. Practice self-discipline. Be kind. Look for the good.

Outdoor Voices

As someone that teaches fitness for living it might be surprising that I don't have an extensive "athleisure" wardrobe. I have a few favorite pants like these and these that I often teach in. But when I am doing my own Pilates workout I don't like any fancy tops with crazy straps or fashion forward cuts. I prefer the same high-waisted, knee length Nike tights I've had for years (similar to these) and my standby cotton tank tops from Target that I wrote about way back when I started this blog four years ago.

However, I have been eyeing a few upgrades from Outdoor Voices. Namely these leggings...

This crop top...

And these merino sweats...

Exercise Less, Move More

When I was first learning Pilates, one of the first things I noticed was how I became aware of my body during the rest of my day and not just when I was in the studio working out for an hour. I noticed that I sat hunched forward with my neck sticking out when I typed at the computer. While driving I sat crooked with my left leg cocked to the side.

This was a revelation. Up until then I went about my day without ever giving a second thought to how I moved my body. It was as if my body and mind were separate. My body was left on autopilot while my mind occupied itself with the important distractions of "modern life."

I started to make little changes throughout the day, putting my head and legs back where they belonged in proper alignment. I began taking deeper breaths and found myself pulling my stomach in when vacuuming or carrying the groceries. And that was the whole point of Joe's method of Contrology (now known as Pilates). He didn't want you to spend hours and hours in the studio exercising. He wanted you to learn and translate his method of movement into your normal everyday life so that your body and mind worked together to become the best, most balanced, happy and healthy version of itself.

“Contrology is complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. Through Contrology you first purposefully acquire complete control of your own body and then through proper repetition of its exercises you gradually and progressively acquire that natural rhythm and coordination associated with all your subconscious activities.”

— Joe Pilates, Return to Life

With the current state of our largely sedentary lifestyles, there have been a few recent articles stating the importance of moving, and moving often, rather than focusing on being at the gym a few hours a week. From Outside Magazine:

“Even those with excellent exercise habits spend most of their non-exercise time not moving. When we’ve checked the exercise box, we perceive ourselves as active, but it is the almost-all-day stillness that is the problem.”

Paying attention to how we walk, sit, stand, pick up the groceries and all the other tasks that make up our day is valuable.

This was all in Joe's manifesto as well, written 70 years ago...

“One of the major results of Contrology is gaining the mastery of your mind over the complete control of your body. In practically every instance the daily acts we perform are governed by what we THINK we see, hear, or touch, without stopping first to analyze or think of the possible results of our actions, good or bad. As the result of habit or reflex action, we wink, dodge, and operate machines more or less automatically.”

With this attentiveness and control comes balance to the mind and body and allows you to move efficiently and effectively all throughout your day. 

Even if you've never practiced Pilates there are a few easy things you can incorporate into your daily life to improve your quality of movement.

Breathing. Most of us breathe very shallow, especially true when under stress or anxiety. Pay attention to your breath throughout the day and remind yourself to fully exhale, squeezing all the air out of your lungs.

Fight gravity. Whether you are sitting or standing, strive to be ever taller. Try to keep your head on top of your spine reaching the crown of your head to the ceiling. Visualize making your spine as long and straight as you can from head to tail and pull your stomach in and up to support the length.

Walking. Keep your eyes forward rather than the ground. So many of us, particularly women, walk with our eyes cast down. The eyes direct the body where to go so if you spend a lot of time looking down, the head shoulders and upper back will follow suit. Keep your eyes looking straight in front of you as you walk, and practice fighting gravity.

There is natural grace and strength in all of us. We just have to start paying attention to ourselves and see the potential. Move well and enjoy life.