I had completely forgotten about the images that I shot on the walk from the ferry to the Pilatium Studio in Wall Street area. The contrasts of the bustle of the city and the tranquility of Lisa’s studio are immense and both are exquisitely and deliciously beautiful.
Memorable and powerful was the past week , and here we are, a week later, in the aftermath of two more gun violence incidents in the country and the resultant deaths of 30+ people, I am further affirmed of my desire to build and solidify a thought I had of creating a support squad around the work that now fills my life. Yes, the power of a visual image is worth more than “a thousand words,” and as Toni Morrison said, in her essay collection, The Origin of Others, “the resources available to us for benign access to each other…. for vaulting the mere blue air that separates us are few but powerful: language, image and experience.”
Too much is taken away from us without our permission, like the violent losses that seems to have become the norm. Those of us with gifts, ideas, thoughts and wishes to share should give them away to avoid losing them in a senseless, ignorant act like what occurred in El Paso and Dayton and hundreds of other cities across the country.
Thoughts Turned To Action
The energy, creativity, full and joyous expression of my #PilatesSisters at the Pilatium Pilates studio can been seen in all the images from this day. There is no mistake that we felt good about what happened. A thousand words are not necessary to express it; nor the gazillion images I pulled from the video shot while working.
Yet, the experience of it led me to follow through with the “whimsical thought” I have been “hugging” (i.e., over-thinking) for far too long. I have been wallowing in the thought for years and am inspired and moved to finally do something with it after the events of the past two weeks.
That of building a collaborative platform, with a crew of women, and a process that I hope may inspire us to maintain it.
What if?
What if it can be repeated, again and again, over and over in many more places? My intention is not to obstruct, compete or sideline anything or any other existing, developing or ongoing effort of work in the Pilates community. My desire and intention is to co-create and collaborate with any/all like-minded #PilatesSisters that choose to place their “stamp of expression” in the world. For, we only have, as Toni admonished, “language, image and experience” to share with each other.
Last week’s work inspired me to put the time and effort into building the Pilates Sisters Squad
Afterall, it will be 2020 in six months and it is one of the intentional commitments I have for myself.
- I am committed to finishing the book I have been writing for the past decade this year, as well. Repeat!! I will finish this book this year, before 2020! Again, it goes back to my belief that gifts of the spirit and gifts of experience should not be hidden or kept in a box. They are given to one to be shared with many.
- I am also committed to continue to blog and vlog about the things that excite and inspire me. I do so in recognition that it may open a door or an eye for another that follows in the path that I have been walking. Last week’s work inspired me to put the time and effort into building a website and forum for the #PilatesSisters I know and love. More on that later.
I am grateful for the collective energy of Maria, Lisa, Michele, Nicole and Danica as #PilatesSisters last weekend. Pilates is the glue that brought us together. Our love for the work will keep it going.
While Lisa, Michele and I had previously met at a workshop a few years ago, all of our initial connections were created via social media. Like-minded energy finds its match and the circle grew. No one knew the other, nor had physically met before we entered the studio together and fell inline under the teaching lead of Maria.
Click to view the video clip above
Maria Earle, second generation teacher with 20+ years of international teaching experience, gave her gifts of teaching, learning and experience with Kathy Grant. She taught (as apparently so did her mentor, Kathy Grant) with joy, rhythm and song. Lisa Serradilla gave the gift and use of her studio space as a host for the group. Lisa is unprecedented, as a business woman and studio owner, managing an independent Pilates Studio for 16 years in the heart of Wall Street.
As independent Pilates Teachers, practitioners and business owners, Danica Kalemdaroglu, Nicole Alvarez, Michele Leach and I, soaked up every morsel being fed for the ninety minutes together and thus added to our own “tool bags” to share moving forward.
Click to view the video clip above
Three of the crew were participants and leaders in the 3rd Annual Black Girl Pilates Weekend, as created by Sonja Herbert. They helped to facilitate more of the powerful and personal, “live and in living color” connections with the larger group of women of color across the globe that are Pilates teachers.
Given the climate of our times, the heavy stuff we are all letting go of, I am proud to participate, with intention, with all my #PilatesSisters. Our power resides in the fact that we are all in formation and “going for it.”
Gina Jackson, is a classically trained Pilates Teacher and has been teaching along the Gold Coast of Hudson and Bergen County, NJ for the past fifteen+ years.
Certified by Power Pilates of New York, Gina has trained with Master Teachers Bob Liekens, Susan Moran and Brett Howard; loved workshop training with Cary Regan and Blossom Leilani-Crawford and has particularly enjoyed listening to the personal stories as told by Pilates Elders, Kathy Grant and Lolita San Miguel.
An active teacher and blogger, Gina manages a private personal training business supporting a myriad of clients, teaching all to honor their health, strength and life with the principles of Pilates at its core.