“Pilates is complete coordination of body, mind and spirit,” Joseph Pilates said of the exercise method he developed in the early 1900’s.
As a sickly youngster, Pilates exercised sheer will to pursue personal strength and health. He dabbled in body building, gymnastics, yoga, martial arts and meditation. He also became a student of anatomy and movement. Working as a nurse during World War I, he started modifying hospital beds for bed-bound patients to tone their muscles.
The foundation of the exercises Pilates uses is called a “reformer,” initially called an “apparatus” and it absolutely looks like a medieval torture device. Upon closer inspection, this device is quite a marvel of movement. Pilates was a firm believer that the mind was the pathway to building the body, and therefore, Pilates was the ultimate holistic workout.
A Century Later
Nicole Field trained to be a Pilates instructor in 2005, taught large classes in corporate gyms and considered herself part of the hustle-culture for a while. In 2009, when her family moved from California to Colorado Springs, she took inventory of where she was in life. Although she was teaching coordination of the mind, body and spirit, she didn’t feel she was practicing it.
She took a step back and slowed down. Field did a self-assessment of her stress levels, of her sleep patterns and dug into some past trauma. She made intentional time with family and spent time hiking. She was able to start healing and that reconnected her with the purpose and heart of Pilates.
Whole Living Pilates
Whole Living Pilates was created out of those reflective moments.
Field wanted a small, personalized studio, focused on the client experience. She wanted to remove fears about the process and create a space where clients could release stress, clear their minds and build stronger bodies. She notes that people “…are so busy now-a-days that when we do so much, something has to give – and usually it is us.”
Classes focus on individual needs, energy levels and mood. There is a maximum one-to-five instructor to client ratio. Smaller, skill-level-specific classes remove any intimidation that comes along with showing up at a gym. The instructors help clients coordinate their movements with required breathwork that is a conduit for clearing one’s mind to focus on the moment and the task at hand. Instructors understand that something as small as the flexion of one’s toes can work a completely different set of muscles. Core strength is foundational to posture which is tied to back issues, joint pain and more.
As Joseph Pilates put it, “a man is as young as his spinal column.” The Whole Living Pilates set-up allows the team to tailor a workout for any level of fitness – from someone rehabilitating an injury to Olympic athletes looking to cross-train and everyone in between.
Coming Soon
Field has taken her desire to be authentic and true to her personal beliefs to the next level and will launch another layer of care through Whole Living Pilates in spring of 2022. She obtained her certification as a Holistic Life Coach and Mind-Body Practitioner focusing on the nervous system and how it handles and releases stress in the body.
The team at Whole Living Pilates cares about the mind, body, and spirit of their city and are meeting clients with compassion and care. Pilates is breath and movement; and as life itself requires both, Pilates is for everyone.
Website: https://wholelivingpilates.com/
Facebook + Instagram: @wholelivingpilates