I’ve finished my book and sold seven copies.
I teach Pilates for the local Community College Continuing Education program and this is my third quarter. I started this summer not really knowing how I wanted this to look. I made a list of exercises and handed them out, taught the exercises and figured it was good. Well, the feedback was fabulous for everything except the list. I was asked to make a book, literally, by one of the students. Well, I took on the challenge and my loving husband, Steve, took the photos of me performing the various exercises that I teach in the class. I built a book around the photos.
My philosophy around Pilates is that it has made an amazing difference with my body. I have scoliosis and have had problems since my early 20s. I practiced Yoga on and off for years and it helped my back, but I still struggled. I started Pilates about five years ago and my problems diminished substantially. My back would spasm about every other month and hurt for almost a week. Now it will spasm three or four times a year and only hurts for a day or two. It seems like the spasms are spreading out further and further the longer I do Pilates. I am also able to do more with confidence, like get on a ladder and clean the gutters. I still have to be careful, but having the connection to my body helps me to be aware of how things feel and if I listen to what my body tells me, I will do great.
So, back to the book. I did not write it to make money, but I don’t want to lose money either. I will sell it for what it costs me to print it. It is really a companion book to go with the class. It covers the basics the way I teach them. I have had good feedback so far so I am pleased. I want my class participants to learn to safely strengthen their bodies in a functional way.
It is really amazing to me to look at what I am doing in my life right now and think about what I wanted to do when I first graduated from nursing school. I wanted to be involved in preventative medicine. That has influenced my choices in the nursing jobs I had, in my decision to go to massage school, and now in teaching Pilates. What is next?
When your body mind and soul are healthy and harmonious, you will bring health and harmony to those around you and health and harmony to the world not by withdrawing from the world but by being a healthy living organ of the body of humanity.
B.K.S. Iyengar
