The Pilates Prayer

by Judy Bevilacqua

With the arrival of January, the cellophane gets ripped off my shiny new calendar (mine purchased at the Victoria Art Museum, months before). A spankin’ clean New Year – free of erasure marks - tempts me to turn over a “new leaf” with the turning of that first crisp page of uncharted future. This year was no different. There I sat staring at the long list of classes at our local gym. I had recently read that your body actually gets used to a repeated routine of exercise and memorizes it. Like we all learned by rote the Pledge of Allegiance, and could recite it with no thought or effort. So too, apparently, the body learns the drill and it will eventually expend less energy and you get less benefit. Change is what shakes it up and wakes it up. Well, when it comes to exercise I need all the “bang for my buck” I can muster. My body, as well as my wallet, is facing a depressed economy, so I’m all for “expending” less and receiving more! Perusing the list of classes, I tried to find one that would prove the least embarrassing, most beneficial and with the lowest risk of fracture or cardiac arrest! I decided to try the morning Pilate’s class.

Arriving early for class, the new teacher looked far too young. But I grabbed a mat, bolstered my nerve and explained that I was a beginner, nervous and well, obviously a “senior.” Was there any advice for an old newbie? She waved her hand, as if to dispel my anxieties with fairy dust, and consoled me with these words: “Don’t worry, just remember to breathe! That’s the most important thing: your breathing. Next, learn to work from your center. Find your core. That will improve your strength and balance. And finally, don’t be distracted by what the person on the next mat is doing. Don’t try to keep up, just focus on what you are doing. Work at your own pace.”

They were good words, and during that next hour, I tried to remember them. But what I hadn’t counted on was that all through the next week, they kept on helping! But this time it was for the exercise of the soul. Perhaps, it was because of the Annual Business meeting at church, and the opportunity of turning a new page and a new leaf in our parish. Her words gave a new focus through all the prayers and the hopes, the possibilities and the challenges of that meeting about how, together, with God’s help, we can walk into an unknown future. I’m sure we’ll find some new muscles, and discover some changes to our “memorized routine.” But with practice, the Body of Christ can learn the great benefits of change and learn to build each other up in the coming year. As for me, I’m going to be praying the “Pilates prayer.”

“O Lord, keep us breathing - the breath of your Spirit.

Teach us that You are our center, the core of our being.

Train us to work from our gifts and strengths and find balance.

Help us protect the weaker parts of the body,

with gestures of gentleness and grace.

Guide our focus, so we won’t become distracted,

comparing ourselves with others.

Rather, lead us to rejoice in our unique calling.”

Amen.