A Modest Beginning

No matter how many times I seem to get the crazy idea to run a marathon, I never seem to talk myself out of it. This desire almost inevitably stems from feeling a little stir crazy and as though I need to create more order in my life. The discipline of mapping out runs, carbo loading (but let’s be honest- I don’t know anyone who finds carbo loading a task!), and hitting the pavement for hours on end requires something more than a fleeting desire. It is a passion, and for many becomes an obsession. I remember my brother telling me that there are 2 kinds of people. Those that cross the finish line and can’t wait to sign up for their next race, and those that complete the race and swear they will never voluntarily put their bodies through that kind of misery again. We quickly discovered I inherited my father’s marathon genes, about to run my third race this weekend, and my brother was much happier cheering from the sidelines with a hot dog in hand.
But why am I blabbing on about running when I am the co-founder of a Pilates company? Because it took me many years (this may be a bit of an exaggeration because I am only 26, so how many years could I really have spent in the dark?) to start to actually listen to my body. An avid athlete through high school and college, I was lucky if I fit in 5 minutes of stretching after practice. The phrase “rest days” did not exist in my vocabulary. I thought the more I did the stronger, faster, and skinnier I would become. But nothing seemed to work. Lifting weight proved to add bulk to my mesomorphic body, and 5 or 6 days a week of running had resulted in terrible shin splints.
While on our annual family Christmas vacation my aunt started raving about Pilates and how it had completely changed her body, not only in its appearance (and she did looks quite fit while lounging on the beach in her bathing suit), but also in how she felt on a day to day basis. Suddenly I found myself with a Pilates gift certificate as opposed to the dress I had been dropping hints about for my Christmas present. All I knew about Pilates was that it “was like yoga” (why does everyone always say that?). I hated yoga (in hindsight probably because it was hard for me and I have now grown to really enjoy it…. because Pilates got me listen to what my body really craved). Although I was less than thrilled, I decided I had nothing to lose and called the Pilates studio to set up my first session when I got back to school.
Coming from an athletic background, I have usually quickly picked up at least the basic abilities needed to participate in sports. When I walked into the Pilates studio, I almost turned right back around and walked out. The machines looked like torture devices, and there was a woman hanging upside down on the opposite side of the room. Nina, the owner of the studio and the teacher who opened my eyes to what my body was actually capable of doing, came over and quickly whisked me through the studio and plopped me down on an extremely intimidating piece of equipment.
To be honest, I don’t remember that much about my first Pilates session besides thinking it was the hardest thing I had ever done. I felt totally clumsy, breathing in when I was told to breathe out, rounding my back when it was meant to be flat, and just about every muscle quivered uncontrollably with each exercise I attempted. I walked out both mentally and physically exhausted. I remember walking out feeling as though I had received a full body massage and even added an inch or two to my massive 5’5”.
After only a few sessions I was hooked, a complete convert. While my friends would spend happy hours at the local bar, I would go to Pilates classes (and then usually join them for a well deserved drink). I quickly noticed changes in my body. My posture was starting to improve, my shoulders slowly began to slide down my back instead of being hunched up by my ears, and I found that my body didn’t ache the way it typically did after I ran. Don’t get me wrong, I was sore and dripping in sweat after Pilates sessions, but I felt lengthened and energized as opposed to completely exhausted and tense. I also really enjoyed the challenge that Pilates provided, taking each session as an opportunity to improve upon the last. There was a clear order and progression to the method, and whenever I thought I had mastered an exercise Nina would congratulate me, ask me to do a variation, and all of a sudden the exercise again became challenging.
As I have now seen with a handful of my own clients, my personal enjoyment of Pilates led me to want to pass my knowledge onto others. I wanted to help people feel as amazing as I did time after time when I left the Pilates studio. I will never forget asking Nina if she thought I had what it took be to be a teacher. She said to me “Maggie, I love you and I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but Pilates has not been something that came easily or naturally to you. You struggled….ALOT. You aren’t hyper flexible dancer. But I think this is exactly what will make you a great teacher. You will be able to relate to your own clients’ struggles.”
I found that Pilates served as a vehicle for me to help people. I was a psychology major and Middlebury, and although I knew I didn’t want to be a psychologist or psychiatrist, I did know that I wanted to help people. I never had any idea this work would be so rewarding though. I have guided clients through pregnancy, rehab, massive weight loss, 85th birthdays, marriages, and just about anything else you can imagine. My clients have certainly taught me just as much as I have taught them, and I feel lucky to have built such phenomenal relationships with them.
So how did this turn into Reboot? I moved to San Francisco from New York City in September, not really knowing what to expect. I immediately felt more “at home” here than I had in NYC. People seemed to have, what I felt, was a much more balanced lifestyle. I saw people running on Marina Green at 10a during the week which shocked me as Central Park typically was a ghost town during working hours. I found myself taking advantage of the milder climate and spent as much time as I could outside walking, jogging, and even flopping down on the grass to do a quick “hundred” (if you don’t know what a “hundred” is, come to class….it’s the exercise everyone loves to hate).
I connected with Jen before she even moved to SF (she moved in December, bravely driving across the country with her husband and daughter) through a mutual friend. She told me about some piece of equipment she had just purchased called the “Pilates stick,” and we decided to try a workout with it the following afternoon. It was a beautiful day out, so we went to a nearby park and started sharing ideas back and forth about how to utilize the Pilates stick. We quickly found that the possibilities with this completely portable piece of equipment seemed virtually endless. Not only were the breadth of exercises never-ending, the possible locations of where we could reap the benefits of equipment based Pilates was infinite. Not being able to find the time or available studio space was no longer an excuse for not working out. Thus Reboot was born!
Reboot is the cultivation of all the things I value. It is gaining confidence through physical activity. It is the creation of a community of interesting, intelligent, motivated individuals. It is taking the time to step outside and spend 1 hour doing something good for yourself. It is rebooting your system from head to toe!