Pilates: 10, 20, 30....really?

When I signed up for Pilates at the Pilates Room, after my first session, I did some web-searching on "the man" himself, Joseph Pilates.

I came across this quote, which I sort of smirked at with an, "Oh, yeah, sure":

You will feel better in 10 sessions, look better in 20 sessions, and have a completely new body in 30 sessions.

I figured my body had been messed up since childhood by assorted diseases, too many steroids and Rx drugs, and a wacky immune system; and it had been misshapen for so long by excess adipose that, for me, it might be more appropriate to rack up the milestone numbers this way: 100, 200, 300 sessions.

Well, I've only had 6 sessions and I feel better.

Color me a bright shocked fuchsia.

I feel my body. I feel it. I'm aware of it.

I notice how I'm sitting and change posture. I notice what my tummy is doing when I wash dishes. I find myself body conscious. Not self-conscious (that's the lot of most of us big gals, our constant companion in public), but body conscious. What is my body doing, how is it aligned, am I balanced, what's my pelvis doing down there in relation to my hip bones.

Kinda cool.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how I feel and look after the 20 and 30 session benchmarks. I still suspect that for a "new body", 30 is just not gonna cut it. I'll need to see it to believe it. I doubt Joseph P. had a morbidly obese, middle-aged woman in mind when he chose that two-digit numeral. But if I can have a whole new body in 300 sessions, then I've got 294 to go.

It's an adventure now!