It’s that time of year again, when suddenly we are expected to overhaul our habits and become some better version of ourselves. Traditionally, January is when the fitness industry thrives – but here’s a confession: I don’t like the idea of being a “fitness instructor”. It makes me think of a glamorous teacher with a leotard and leg warmers, delivering a very specific notion of ‘health’ with a big, extroverted smile. Just to be clear – I have no problem with leotards and leg warmers. Or smiling. But what makes me recoil is the culture that surrounds it – the idea that your body is wrong, and you need to do something about it.
I hope it goes without saying that all body types are welcome at York Pilates People. However, the idea of the ‘Pilates body’ – that svelte and flexible silhouette – goes before us. Can a chubby and stiff body be a ‘Pilates body’ too? Of course it can.
Here’s why I believe that Pilates flies in the face of diet culture:
Diets tell you that you cannot trust your body. Through years, perhaps a whole lifetime, of being immersed in toxic messages about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods and behaviors, we learn to tune out messages from our bodies. Ignore your hunger pangs. Choose an almond when you crave chocolate. Force yourself to go for a jog when every part of you is screaming “nooooo!”. We learn that we are unreliable and irresponsible, and that we need to drown out the body’s voice with a voice of authority. Pilates is the exact opposite of that.
For me, the most important part of Pilates is forging a strong connection with your body. I remember the first time I went to a Pilates class, lying on the mat, trying to move my shoulder blades. Nothing happened – it just did not compute. Why? Because I spent many hours of my days as a student hunched over a desk, absorbed in tasks which I deemed more important than my body. I’d pushed down those pain signals, ignored my shoulders, and stopped the lines of communication. Pilates trained me to listen to my shoulders again and, gradually, my whole body. I used to constantly walk into things and knock things over – I don’t any more, because I have a sense of where my body is and what it’s doing.
Here’s the point: if you think your body is bad or wrong, you’ll learn to ignore it – that’s what diet culture teaches. If you think your body is important, that it serves you, that it’s part of you, you’ll learn to listen to it – that’s what Pilates teaches. That’s why, I think, Pilates is body positive.
Pilates has so much to offer, regardless of your size. It can help you to reduce pain, feel great, and literally walk a little taller. You deserve all of that. You don’t have to wait until you’ve lost weight. You don’t have to be on a ‘weight loss journey’. You deserve a great relationship with your body as it is now – not just as it might one day be in the future.
Lou x