The 6-month thing happening in Pilates

Very good Pilates session today, moving into the 7th month. Today I finally figured out some moves, doing them correctly for the first time. This was a private session, and the instructor took me through a carefully selected sequence of exercises, carrying forward into each some things I learned in the previous one in the sequence.

What I got is hard to explain, especially for me who lack full understanding, but the first thing I noticed was that I was able to tighten some abdominal muscles that are very low in my abdomen, just above the pubic bone, and that seemed to do good things. Also I was finally able to relax my head and neck and upper body, which continually demands to be part of the action, even if I’m working with my legs.

At any rate, I felt a definite sense of progress. That six-month point seems to hold. In this case, I think it has taken quite a while for the muscles I was never using to develop to the point where they could take on their proper role, and a little more time to convince my head, neck, and upper body that everything was under control and that could relax.

It’s still intermittent, of course. Just like any change of habit (and certainly we follow habitual patterns of body movement), at first you recognize that you’ve done it wrong again, and then that you’re doing wrong at the time you’re doing it, and then that you’re about to do it wrong. Slowly things get learned.

If you go for Pilates, which certainly has worked for me, give it at least 8 months.