Day 11 - The return to Tras

After a hiatus of 4 days, I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t get past the Thursday evening group lesson without substantial internal injury. Nonetheless, I was glad to be at The Pilates Place again. The woody décor of the studio and its row of reformers was familiar and comforting while the scent of tea tree in the air was at once calming and invigorating.

True enough, I didn’t breeze through the lesson today. I had to concentrate harder to get the movements correct. In just 4 days, I had somehow forgotten to breathe correctly and I found my movements and breaths out of sync.

I latched on to Jacq’s voice and her instructions, trying to clear my mind of all preconceived notions of how I should be performing the movements. Perhaps Jacq sensed my struggles – I hope that they were the struggles of the other ladies in the class as well, but her advice came as such: Exhale for one second first to activate the core muscles and then begin your movement.

I obeyed dutifully and it made all the difference.