Words can morph our ‘brainy box of noise’ into silence.
If we look behind the scenes of the Pilates Method – beyond the common jargon – we notice that the Pilates Method constantly teases and taunts us. This is because it is built on the overload principle.
Metaphorically speaking, this means that every Pilates exercise puts a carrot in front of us at the beginning of the mountain and each time we want to bite into it, it is pulled up a little further. And this continues until we reach the top of the mountain. Yes, it is probably no coincidence that there is a Pilates exercise called the ‘teaser’.
But …
How to deal with teasing?
Let’s focus on the process. The Pilates Method offers us paradise only when we have reached the top of the mountain. On the way to the mountain top, it can easily happen that our self-will (our habit) reacts compulsively and unyieldingly. So it is sensibly important that we pay the most precise attention to the process – the way up the mountain. Only this way can we escape willful, rigid and inflexible behaviour that ultimately only exhausts us.
We all know that the air is freshest at the top of the mountain. But how can we enjoy this highly concentrated oxygen if we are exhausted before we reach the top of the mountain? That’s where the Bodyhood Mantra comes in. Our mantra creates awareness of how we climb the mountain holistically – in full awareness of our inner state and outer states.
Our thoughts are a vehicle
I recently read in a Sanskrit work of literature that ‘man’ in ‘mantra’ means ‘mind’ and that ‘tra’ means ‘vehicle’. This means that our mind is a vehicle that we manoeuvre. What we think and say seems to be sensibly important. If we think and speak words and sounds that calm and centre us, our body will express that. Isn’t it fascinating how our words connect our mind with our body?
Our Bodyhood Pilates Mantra was created precisely for this union of language, thoughts and actions. This is how it goes …
The Bodyhood Pilates Mantra
I am present
I listen
I feel
I wait
And I let it come.
I ride
I slide
I glide
I fly high in the sky
I smile so bright
as I watch my thoughts pass me by.
The ground is my home
but it is in heaven where I learn where I am from.
Recite the mantra at least 15 times with a pause for breath after the first and second verses. The first 4 lines have already been empirically tested and proven time and again over the last 15 years. I have only recently added the last 6 lines. I cannot yet confirm their effectiveness. The last 6 lines still need to be tested! Are you in? I would love to have you contribute to a calmer mind. Would you?
Try it & fly with it!
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