Off on a verdant adventure behind an ivy covered wall….

I haven’t completely lost my way, and I am grateful for March MATness because I have been growing concerned about my studio habits lately.  The truth is that I’ve been exploring unchartered territory in a couple areas of my life and I’ve gotten rather muddy in the brain.  But here’s the thing, I’m working on something that I think is pretty important, something that I wanted to be working on and so I’m staying the course.  Now with a daily dose of mat work, I’m even more confident that all will turn out well.

I’ve already mentioned that my chiropractor’s maternity leave gave me a welcome opportunity to get more proactive with my self care.  And indeed, I’m digging into the depths of my chronic pain in ways that I haven’t ever before.  And I’m getting somewhere, namely, to a place of less pain, more often.  It’s great.

I’m pretty jazzed about starting to practice the MELT method too.  Reading Hitzman’s book was inspiring and so exciting since she’s put together two worlds that I’ve been straddling for many years.  But the really big deal is that she’s given any of us who are receptive the tools to benefit from her discoveries and innovations.  Bravo Sue Hitzmann!  I will be reporting on my progress back here in the coming weeks.

I’m also really enthused to be digging a little deeper into my study of The Alexander Technique.  It offers me such a nuanced approach to inhabiting my body that I’m left pondering the simple words of my instructor in the days between my lessons.  I like having something to think about, especially something that enhances my physical experience.

Along with The Alexander Technique, I’m getting a little more Holistic Biomechanics input these days and it’s really fun to see how the two intersect with my Pilates practice.  I think of all three new areas of study as something that I call Body Basics.  Each in their own way offers all sorts of valuable information and support for optimal functioning of the human body.  Sure Pilates does the same, but it’s a bit more complicated in that there are layers of choreography and movement control involved.  As far as I can tell, MELT, The Alexander Technique, and Holistic Biomechanics all prime a body for a slightly more complicated endeavor such as Pilates, and in turn Pilates primes a body for a slightly more complicated endeavor such as ballet or modern dance.  There my own experiential biases are revealed.  All these techniques mean different things for different people.  But pretty universally, they mean feeling better, and feeling more fully human.

And that right there, is what I’m after because….