Hello Pilates People!!!!

We're gearing up for the new year and have some new things in store for 2021 that we're excited to share with you!

Our pre/postnatal (babies welcome) class is beginning on Saturday, January 2nd at 10am (EST)!!! Let us know if you or anyone you know have any questions, or sign up here!!

And, we have a new membership for you to keep you moving with us this Winter!!

Our Winter Membership runs from January 4th to March 28th and includes:

• 2 LIVE classes/week (or 24 classes total)

• Access to our Aligned Video Library for January, February and March

• 1 weekend workshop (to see what's on deck, click here)

• 1 magnesium salve from Revival Organics

• 1 Pilates People keychain

• 1 Pilates People sweatshirt of your choosing upon completion of your workshop (all classes must be taken by March 28th)

• Discounts on any additional LIVE class and workshop purchases

• Discounted entry to our Birthday Bash Virtual Retreat the weekend of March 20th (save the date!)

ALL OF THAT for just $400! We're hoping you can join us as we work to create healthy habits together in this new year!

To sign up for our New Year, New Moves - Winter Membership, please click here!

Let's rewind back to the beginning of 2020 -

I was freshly heartbroken, at a party with the absolute best strangers who made me feel like family, decked out in glitter and certain it would be a good year. 2020 was going to be the year I turned things around for myself. And I meant it.

While that absolutely did not happen in the way I thought it would - I didn't get to go on my solo adventure to Europe or Australia, I didn't get to hug everyone I loved, I missed birthdays, dates and crowded subway commutes just like everyone else - somehow, it still happened.

It's taken a lot of time and thought to get myself to a place where I can see there was still something that went well, something to be proud of and something that turned my life in a new, positive direction...not unlike I had initially intended.

It was just a reframe.

As we walk into this next year together, many of us perhaps carrying the intention to "redo" the previous one, Jenni, myself and the other instructors would love not only to wish you a happy new year, but also offer you the space to reframe your relationship to your body and movement. It's a reframe we're looking to make last longer than January, longer than February, longer than 2021 even. We're looking at a lifelong journey, which is going to take time and patience.

It's another thing we've danced around saying directly, but it is the foundation of how we teach and what we believe in. So, no more dancing around, I'm going to go ahead and say it.
Because 2020 also kicked my ass and I kind of don't have any space left to hold back.

So here goes - we need to stop treating exercise and movement as punishment. We need to stop thinking about it as a chore and the way to "fix" how we look at ourselves.

When you do that, you are giving your planks way too much power, control and responsibility over you and your life.

It's just a plank, people.
Let's keep our expectations realistic.

And I'm not saying planks aren't important. If you've taken my class, you know I think they're very important.

Movement is very important. I'm not arguing that.

Let's argue the way we see and think about it. And I hope we can call each other out in the moments we fall back into old patterns. Jenni and I do it all the time.

We have another list for you - the Sabotage vs. Support list - to help identify the moments we're thinking things that are in service of self-sabotage instead of the. thoughts that help us self-support.

In 2021, let's work to reframe our thoughts around:

• Exercise is work.

• Exercise is play.
  

• I have to run 3 miles and do 50 push ups because that's what's expected of me.

• I can get what I need from any modality. It is my job to find the one that works best for me and brings me joy (hurting myself does not count as joy).
  

• Exercise is an obligation and if I don't do it, I've failed.

• Exercise is there to support me - emotionally, physically and mentally. I will lean on it when, how and where I can.
  

• "I'm too out of shape/uncoordinated/weak to start/do this."

• "This is an opportunity for me to learn something new and deepen my relationship to my body and its movement practice."

A little note about those last two - if you find yourself thinking those sabotage thoughts, maybe try to find yourself a movement practice that values and encompasses empowerment within an open minded community so you can get to thinking the support thoughts instead.

And whether or not you stick with whatever that modality and community is, at least they got you started on the right track, or helped you recognize something that doesn't work for you. Now you know!

Because no matter what, this movement journey is and always will be about YOU and what YOU need from day to day. That's going to change. It has to.

Because we change. All the time. Our world also changes. Constantly.

And so the way we move through it will and must also change.

Wouldn't it be nice to support ourselves in that? Why make it harder than it needs to be?

Thank you for making 2020 bearable, friends. I don't think I could say that sentence with any amount of truth without you.

Here's to 2021 and all the new moves.

We'll be here for all of it. Always.

All our love,
Cassandra + Pilates People