How much time throughout the day do you spend consciously aware of what you’re doing? Is it a couple of minutes, an hour, or most of your day?  Or is it hardly ever?

A few years ago, I was working with one of my Pilates students, who had been training with me for quite a while, but never seemed to remember anything that we were doing.  He had a routine, but I had to  tell him every little detail, from the name of the exercise to how to do it, breath patterns, and equipment set up.  Every workout felt like we were starting from scratch – he acted like he’d never seen the exercises before – and this had been happening on EVERY exercise for years!

While I usually am very patient with my students, one day I had a moment of utter frustration…  and blurted out, “You know that Pilates is a mind-body exercise program, and using your mind means that you should know your exercises and the order you do them in for  your Pilates workout program!�

He looked at me and said, “But I’ve always exercised so that I don’t have to think.� (As was obvious by our “Groundhog Day� experience during our Pilates sessions)

But think about how many people  you see walking, running, swimming, lifting weights, or other fitness activities with their headphones on tuned into their music or favorite TV show with no awareness of body mechanics, support, or efficient movement technique.

And then something miraculous happened…