The Pilates Studio's Blog: Pilates and The Active Vacation!

Many of you may have noticed that I have been absent from the Pilates Studio this past week. A much-needed vacation you might think. Katrina has been working so hard it’s about time she took some time to herself. Well don’t worry I’ve been thinking all of these things too. It’s funny to me. I enjoy going to work everyday. I love hearing people’s stories and teaching movement. I find myself quite lucky to do what I do. Yet when I got on the plane to fly to Seattle, I was ready to not think about Pilates for the entire week. I even gave myself a “talking to.” No work this week! Period!

My beloved raincoat

Well for about five days, that wasn’t even hard. I didn’t have to tell myself to stop thinking about work. It was easy…It WAS a much-needed vacation! I was camping with my sister and her dearest friends in Moran State Park on Orcas Island. I was the newbie camper, but according to everyone I was quite a trooper…It rained for the first two days…I have never been more cold or wet, but as miserable as that sounds it wasn’t at all bad! I loved it in fact. I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am happier when the seat of my jeans aren’t damp, and when my ankles are warm…And with a little problem solving I was able to remedy both of these obstacles (Notice the pants stuffed into the socks in a couple of the pictures, it wasn’t fashionable but really, fashionable has never been an adjective I have used to describe myself) We saw whales, sea lions, bald eagles, and I also witnessed some oyster shucking and well oysters are yummy!

The Sound

Starfish

Oh and the sites. What a beautiful place…It was a new part of the country to me. I just can’t believe the beauty…Also I saw starfishes, I was amazed at the vulnerability of the creature just stuck to the rocks…Did they feel fear when we stuck our cameras so close. I hope not. I also saw a seagull eating a starfish. It was an amazing endeavor for that seagull…I even worried that I was watching a seagull literally bite off more than he could chew, but then the magic of the smart phones let us know that videos of seagulls eating starfish is almost its own genre on Youtube. I was too far away to get a good video so I couldn’t add my own experience to youtube…I will just have to be satisfied with sharing it in words. You know those things that used to paint pictures in the imagination…Well this seagull had half the starfish in his mouth and every time I glanced down its throat was larger and the starfish smaller. We all sat and discussed the digestive process of seagulls…Is there some kind of acid process in the throat of the seagull? Was it digesting as it swallowed? We’ll never know I guess. (Most of our smart phones lost power after this first night!)

My campmates

On this trip, I was also amazed with the people that would remark, “It’s so great to see four women camping together.” First of all, why wouldn’t four women camp together? Why is this not the norm? I think back to the conversations, the cooperation, the division of labor, and the support for each person wherever she was on her journey, and well it seems so very fantastic. Of course there were four women camping together. There should always be women that are camping together…

Pilates on Orcas Island

And then on the fifth day (This is where I tie this very nostalgic even slightly self indulgent blog post back to The Pilates Studio) We were all standing around the picnic table drinking coffee talking about our sore hips from sleeping in sleeping bags on the ground. I piped up, “That’s the trochanteric bursa.” And before I knew it I was leading four women in hip sways to increase blood flow and fluidity through the hips. Then we went on a hike and the entire time I was hiking, I was thinking about projects at the studio…I’ll even say I might have had an epiphany (More on that in blog posts to come!) Finally, to end the day I led one of my campmates through a pilates mat class next to the lake…Not because I thought I should, but because my body was stiff and was craving movement and Pilates! You can take the girl away from Pilates but you can’t take Pilates outta the girl! Thanks to the lovely ladies that made this trip fantastic! I hope more adventures abound for us in the future! And I have to say there is nothing I would rather be doing than sitting in this coffee shop writing and thinking about the studio. Can’t wait to share more stories with all of the people I love at The Pilates Studio! See you all soon!

Katrina Hawley C.M.A, R.S.M.E

Co-Director The Pilates Studio

P.S. I hear the Room Naming Challenge has been a great success. I can’t wait to post all of the possibilities we have found when I get back. Laurie was so excited about one of them that she texted it to me…I could picture her giggling!