I may or may not have mentioned it before now, but I'm planning on moving to Portland, Oregon sometime this summer. My doctor told me flat out that I'd do better at sea level, and Portland is where my brother and sister in law live so I'll have family nearby. I'm looking at heading out there around the end of July as kind of a birthday present to myself: new apartment, new job, starting my new life and making my new (ish) body the strongest and healthiest it can be. I'm planning on lots of cross training (Pilates, Ballet, MMA, running, swimming and weights) and playing outdoors. And when I say play I mean climbing rocks and trees and mountains and finding not so smart ways of getting down. Add to that lots of skipping and dancing on small precipices and generally terrifying my family. I apologize for the new grey hairs in advance. I'll have to live there and work for a year to qualify for instate tuition at Portland State University. Because instate tuition there is around $2,000 a semester I think it's worth it. Insanely cheap. I pay for my own school so the cheapest method (when not getting in the way of quality) is typically best. I was trying to figure out what work to start here once I'm allowed and what work to do once I'm there for the year of getting to know the area, and I thought about getting certified in the Pilates method (nothing against Stott or pole Pilates, I just love the original. And have a few of his books that are dying because I've thumbed through them so often. Like all of my dance books. Hee.). I've thought about it before and actually talked to a couple schools here in Colorado but then I got sick. Certification takes about a year. Seems like a logical step to take.
I started doing Pilates religiously after my spine surgery. I needed a lot of physical therapy both because of the surgery itself as well as the injury that started everything and the months of deconditioning. I'd had a little experience with some mat Pilates through dance training, but I'd never tried out any of the equipment or toys. The physical therapy group I found was in Boulder, we lived in Broomfield at the time so it was a really short commute. Pretty much everyone at this office was either an ex dancer or was still teaching dance, so it was a perfect fit. Of course, I fell in love with it immediately. It got my back in such good shape that it didn't really show that I'd had surgery (minus my tiny scar) and everyone at the office was wonderful. We shared nasty ballet feet stories. And the owner is RIPPED. Seriously one of the coolest women I've met in the history of ever. One of the things I love the most about Pilates is that it's non weight bearing, so it's great for helping weight bearing joints heal. You use your own body to heal and strengthen your body - it's genius. Of course you can add more resistance when you've gotten stronger but you never lose control and risk injury. (Hint, hint for anyone needing physical therapy...)
I'll leave it at that. I love Pilates. I want to get certified. Moving on.
If I got certified I'd be guaranteed a high paying job with hours I could choose on my own around my school schedule, seems pretty perfect to me. I'm already planning on buying a Pilates reformer when I get back to work, it's my favorite machine. And they make some versions that slide under your bed for easy storage. So I wouldn't be the weird person that has a guest bedroom that doesn't have a bed and is instead filled with workout equipment. Heh. That is if I could afford a guest bedroom. Anyways. I looked and, of course, since it's Portland, there's a million and one places to get your certification (yes, there are Stott options too). I was reading up on one of the websites and there's a new thing called Gyrotonics? And no, before you ask, it's not at all related to gyrating, as in naughty dancing at clubs. Or, you know, wherever you have dance parties. I checked.
From the videos it looks like a mixture of dance, yoga, cardio and Pilates with a new machine. You do movements that are fluid to go through the exercises. It looks really hard and so cool! I got excited like a little kid at Christmas just looking at it.
Which reminds me. I hope you all had/are having a great holiday season whatever your traditions are!! I had a flu bug so I spent most of the day in bed but my family celebrated on Christmas Eve so it was ok haha.
Something else I wanted to share. I was talking to one of the guys from cardiac rehab who'd had two heart attacks. He is so positive and encouraging about everything. You literally see it all at rehab I guess, in terms of mentality. I've seen some bitter old people who resent the exercises, resent the new heart healthy diet (NOT that bad. They stopped when I told them what I can't eat, thankfully.) and resent the nurses (who are just doing their jobs for Christ's sake...) and grumble every session. You can tell the people that are more likely to end up back in rehab if they go back to bad habits or have conditions that don't allow for surgery, and it scares me because I've gotten so close to these people. I want to see them live and thrive and just be happy, whatever that means for them. I guess in a way you taste your mortality even more acutely with experiences like these. I try to be as kind and supportive as possible when I'm with them to give them one more thing to smile about, one more reason to fight for their health. I know how hard it is, and I know how terrifying it is as both a family member and a patient. I couldn't be a nurse, it would break my heart. I have so much respect for nurses and doctors. I'd get so mad if I saw someone flat out refuse to help themselves get better, when the team lays out the simple things they can do to help their health.
But this guy is different. He's always smiling, always positive and just happy to be there. He said that he never views it as he has this serious illness that he'll have to take care of every day, he sees it as his chance to live. His chance to do the things he never made time for before. His chance to go places, to appreciate life and to be a part of everything that he'd closed himself off to before. His chance to thrive.
Whenever I have a conversation or a moment in life I know is a game changer or is just so beautiful I want to remember it forever, I tuck it into my heart. I have this image of a treasure chest full of these moments and images. My first audition. Dancing on the stage and moving through the air. Time with family. Music that I sang with my family or danced to. Playing with my dogs. Time with my Grandpa before he died. The talk I had with this man was one of those moments that I'll hold on to for the rest of my life.
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