Week 40 - “Helmets On”
"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes,
including you."
Hello Pilates People!!!!
Happy Sunday!!
We've got some scheduling updates this week for you - please take a look below:
Monday -
8am w/ Cassandra
10am w/ Emma
5pm w/ Cassandra
new Aligned Video Class
Tuesday -
9am w/ Cassandra
12pm w/ Cassandra
6pm w/ Sean
Wednesday
8am w/ Cassandra
10am w/ Cassandra
5pm w/ Cassandra
new Pilates Quickie
Thursday
9am w/ Jenni
12pm w/ Emma
6pm + 6:45pm CANCELED
Friday
LIVE classes all CANCELED
FREE video class for EVERYONE
new Aligned Video Class
Saturday
12pm LIVE class w/ Cassandra
Sunday
10am LIVE class w/ Cassandra
Go ahead and share that FREE video class with everyone you know and love! 'Tis the season :)
I don't know about anyone else out there, but I just had a week.
A week, in a month, in a year.
And it happened, my brain completely short-circuited.
In the middle of the short-circuit, I was texting Jenni some of the fragmented thoughts flying around in my head and it wasn't until a few days later when she told me, "I honestly thought you were drunk and wasn't sure how to get the information out of you," that I realized just how much my brain had gone into overload.
Because *spoiler alert* - I wasn't drunk, just completely overwhelmed.
That's a real thing, friends. Just like a computer crashing when you've left it running for days with multiple tabs open, videos downloading and various things uploading - I mean, you saw it coming, right? Nothing is supposed to do that much for that long, so the system shut down is inevitable.
And yes, I'm okay, but we're thinking once again that I'm maybe not the only one ending 2020 on a weird foot -watching the things we thought would certainly work begin to lose their edges and fade one more time.
And after a week, in a month, in a year, that final fade is maybe the last straw, and the thing you may not be able to handle. Same.
So what do you do? In my case - you have a night where you're kind of floating around not even sure what to think, you don't sleep and eventually you end up in tears on the subway because, well, that's just what happens sometimes.
But...there are better things to do, and we all know that.
So Jenni and I got to the same point we get to in all of our conversations - how do we translate this to movement and how do we help anyone in a similar spot?
It just occurred to me...are we building a movement suit of armor? Is that what we've been doing all this time? I'd like to think so - it certainly feels right. So here's the next piece of the suit - the helmet perhaps.
After talking through a lot of things, Jenni and I landed in a place where we were talking about the brain/body connection and how in a moment of complete overwhelm the scariest thing for us is the sensation that we aren't quite in our bodies because maybe our brains took us away from them.
And no, I'm not trying to say I astral project (although, how cool would that be?!). What we're talking about is that strange floating feeling you get when your eyes glaze over and you can't quite work out what's happening or where you are.
And come to find out, we're actually pretty good at getting ourselves back. We just had to think about it.
We made a list of things we do to hit the refresh button in that moment of short-circuiting and realized we're normally both moving through pieces of this list on a daily basis to give ourselves constant little restarts and close some of those open brain tabs:
Move your body - we've found it's the best way to reconnect because you HAVE to find it
Set your space - light candles, tidy it up, make it somewhere cozy you want to be
Get a treat - a fancy latte, a cookie, a glass of wine...whatever it is
Take a nap - or two - or three
Read a book or write in a journal
Go outside for a walk
Do the dishes - it's something you CAN control
Text someone - my go to is, "Hi! How are you?" so that I get to be outside of myself for a moment
Take a bath
When I had that moment on the subway a couple days ago, Jenni's response was, "Okay. Go home and do the list."
And you know what? I did. I did the list so hard. I went for a 6 mile run, lit all my candles, had a fancy latte, a cookie AND a glass of wine, I took 3 naps, finished a book and went on a long walk, I did the dishes, texted my friends and took a bath.
And today I feel better. Calmer. Way more clear. The people running around and throwing papers in my head aren't running or throwing anymore - they're working on picking up the pieces and reorganizing now.
And that feels much, much better - like I can get back to the thing that's actually important to me - finding joy in what's still here and helping those around me do the same.
And maybe I went a little into overkill with the list...
Okay, it was definitely overkill...but that's me. Zero to sixty. Not sure of any way else to exist...
But the point is - the list works. And you probably don't have to do ALL of it the MOST you can for it to work. Just bits of it, here and there, when you can, to keep the people in your head calm and clear, so that when things happen, you're able to function through them or at least come out of the system shut down in one piece.
So what's yours? What's the list of things YOU do to reset? Not sure? Go ahead and use ours! But maybe it's helpful to have a go-to list ready for the moments when you really can't think straight and really aren't sure what to do.
Maybe Pilates People is on there as your movement source? Because if we can help and be a safe place for you to go and hit the refresh button, well that would be our dream come true.
Get ready to practice breathing this week and ease our way into things. Don't worry, it'll get tricky, but let's sneak ourselves into it - giving ourselves permission to just settle for a moment and then see what we can do with what we have to work with.
We're still here. So are you. Always.
All our love,
Cassandra + Pilates People
P.S. - Happy Holidays everyone! Please take care of yourselves just a little extra this week and know that we're sending you a hug from here!
