The Pilates Studio of Bellingham

11/13/2022

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR OSTEOPOROSIS WORKSHOP GO TO:
https://www.pilatesofbellingham.com/workshops

11/13/2022

12/30/2020

This letter was put out by a superintendent in upstate New York (Voorheesvile). Thank you, Sherri Hall, for posting it.

Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I am writing today about the children of this pandemic. After a lifetime of working among the young, I feel compelled to address the concerns that are being expressed by so many of my peers about the deficits the children will demonstrate when they finally return to school. My goodness, what a disconcerting thing to be concerned about in the face of a pandemic which is affecting millions of people around the country and the world. It speaks to one of my biggest fears for the children when they return. In our determination to “catch them up,” I fear that we will lose who they are and what they have learned during this unprecedented era. What on earth are we trying to catch them up on? The models no longer apply, the benchmarks are no longer valid, the trend analyses have been interrupted. We must not forget that those arbitrary measures were established by people, not ordained by God. We can make those invalid measures as obsolete as a crank up telephone! They simply do not apply.
When the children return to school, they will have returned with a new history that we will need to help them identify and make sense of. When the children return to school, we will need to listen to them. Let their stories be told. They have endured a year that has no parallel in modern times. There is no assessment that applies to who they are or what they have learned. Remember, their brains did not go into hibernation during this year. Their brains may not have been focused on traditional school material, but they did not stop either. Their brains may have been focused on where their next meal is coming from, or how to care for a younger sibling, or how to deal with missing grandma, or how it feels to have to surrender a beloved pet, or how to deal with death. Our job is to welcome them back and help them write that history.
I sincerely plead with my colleagues, to surrender the artificial constructs that measure achievement and greet the children where they are, not where we think they “should be.” Greet them with art supplies and writing materials, and music and dance and so many other avenues to help them express what has happened to them in their lives during this horrific year. Greet them with stories and books that will help them make sense of an upside-down world. They missed you. They did not miss the test prep. They did not miss the worksheets. They did not miss the reading groups. They did not miss the homework. They missed you.
Resist the pressure from whatever ‘powers that be’ who are in a hurry to “fix” kids and make up for the “lost” time. The time was not lost, it was invested in surviving an historic period of time in their lives—in our lives. The children do not need to be fixed. They are not broken. They need to be heard. They need be given as many tools as we can provide to nurture resilience and help them adjust to a post pandemic world.
Being a teacher is an essential connection between what is and what can be. Please, let what can be demonstrate that our children have so much to share about the world they live in and in helping them make sense of what, for all of us has been unimaginable. This will help them– and us– achieve a lot more than can be measured by any assessment tool ever devised. Peace to all who work with the children!

12/30/2020

We support Joe Biden in most of what he does, but not this. Not this at all. Please consider reading the history on Vilsack's time in the USDA and signing the petition for our senators to vote "no" on his appointment as USDA Secretary of Agriculture. He has a long and terrible record of racial injustice concerning farmers, of pushing through GMO crops, of squashing attempts to require labeling of products containing GMOs, and of being a pawn for big agribusinesses. We don't have many years left of healthy top soil for our food, and sprays, pesticides, glyphosate, GMO crops, mono-crops all are the primary reasons for this. Our children deserve more than we are leaving them. If we want to see a future where our food actually nourishes us and provides for us, where we have enough healthy soil which is what feeds the plants which in turn feeds us, a future where ALL independent farmers are supported equally and treated fairly and with respect and honor, then we need someone at the helm of the USDA who believes in the same, And it isn't Vilsack. I'd like to repeat that. It is not Vilsack. Sorry President-elect BIden. You have a lot on your plate, this I know. You are making some wonderful decisions and choices. But you got this one terribly wrong.

We need a USDA Secretary of Agriculture who will be a hero, steering our food and farming system toward a brighter, regenerative future—not a Secretary who will continue to be a pawn for the same corporate interests that are causing, and profiting from, the mess we are in.

12/27/2020

This is how we can save humanity, folks. The Dali Lama said if every 8 year old in the world is taught mediation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.

So to get all neuroscience-y on you, in a nutshell explanation from Emily Fletcher, with meditation, you light up a part of the brain called the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (the altruistic part) which is that part that's in charge of people that we perceive as separate. So with mediation, we begin to expand that sense of who you perceive as same. You start to see yourself inside others and others inside you. In order to terrorize someone, you must first have an enemy. And in order to have an enemy, you have to first perceive them as separate. The more you meditate, the larger the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex becomes and the harder it is for you to see others as separate.

Over time, meditation can rebuild the brain's grey matter. It strengthens and enlarges the corpus callosum, which is the thin, white strip that connects the right and the left hemispheres. We now know that the longer you meditate, the thicker this strip becomes, strongly indicating that meditating is causal, not correlated, in connecting the critical part of the brain with the creative part of the brain. With this stronger connection in the two hemispheres, you start to see that, yes, while you are you, your are also everyone, and everyone is you. You start to feel the interconnectedness, you are everything and everything is you. No separateness. There is only one thing and we're all it.

Modeling this for our children is powerful. Providing them with tools such as meditation, or any contemplative practice, is powerful. They are not born with this sense of separateness. So let's give them their birthright. A planet, a world without violence, without separation, and without the sense of the "other." Suffering, yes, suffering will still happen. This is the nature of human existence. But how we respond, rather than react, is what makes the difference.

Again, if every 8 year old in the world is taught mediation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation. Thank you, Dalai Lama.

Mini meditation master Bond Hill raised more than $28,000 towards Christmas toys for less fortunate children of New York City by live-streaming his over 20-minute meditation Sunday. 

06/22/2020

Come Join Us! Watch this fun video that shows a little of what we offer in online Pilates and Posture & Stretch Therapy. Email us for more information.
PEACE, Geoffrey and Maria

06/03/2020

"Staying on the side of love. No matter what."
-Elizabeth Deboo

05/21/2020

THURSDAY'S PILATES MAT and PST (Posture & Stretch Therapy) ZOOM LIVE CLASSES!

MAT @ 9:15 a.m. (55 minutes)
$44 for four week session, one class per week.
$15 for single class.

PST @ 10:30 a.m. (75 minutes)
$55 for four week session, one class per week
$18 for single class

Please email pilatesofbellingham@gmail.com to register or for questions. Thank you!

05/19/2020

"There's a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of the thread."

-William Stafford

05/18/2020

MONDAY'S PST (Posture & Stretch Therapy) and PILATES MAT ZOOM LIVE CLASSES!

PST @ 4:00 p.m. (75 minutes)
$55 for four week session, one class per week
$18 for single class

MAT @ 5:30 p.m. (55 minutes)
$44 for four week session, one class per week.
$15 for single class.

Please email pilatesofbellingham@gmail.com to register or for questions. Thank you!

May you be safe, healthy, and peaceful.
With light and love.

05/15/2020

A good quick read on a few things one could and should do if you are spending an unhealthy amount of time sitting these days. The impact on the lungs, particularly in the face of Covid-19, is of special note.

A fresh take on athletic apparel classics.

05/12/2020

Filming two new videos today, one Mat and one PST (Posture & Stretch Therapy) today! We'll see if we can squeeze in a little bonus video of a Somatics movement. These will be uploaded to our private YouTube channel.

MAT: $50 for four week session with one video per week.
Videos may be accessed 24/7 for the four week session.

Please email pilatesofbellingham@gmail.com to register or for questions. Thank you!

PST: $60 for four week session with one video per week.
Videos may be accessed 24/7 for the four week session.

Please email pilatesofbellingham@gmail.com to register or for questions. Thank you!