Attaining Balance....(CC2)

Mr. Toastmaster.
Ladies and gentlemen.

The dictionary definition of balance is.....an even distribution of weight enabling a person or thing to remain upright or steady, or..... a situation in which different elements are in equal proportion.

I am a Pilates instructor and my job is to restore balance.

Imagine a coat hanger and that coat hanger is your skeleton. Perfectly balanced.
Imagine a heavy overcoat, made up of muscles connected by tendons. Perfectly balanced. Put this overcoat onto the coat hanger and the combination is no short of miraculous and ingenious balance.

Where there is no gravity there is no stress.

Standing upright with your head balancing on your neck perpendicular to the shoulders which are directly over the hips and the feet. The feet are planted with equal pressure on the triangle of "big toe to small toe to heel". No Gravity, No Stress.

Your pelvis acts as your anchor which is central to your stability.

The pelvis is like a cage. Around that cage we have a weight belt. This weight belt is connected to the pelvis and the diaphragm. When breathing, on inhale we expand our lungs. On exhale the lungs empty and tug on the weight belt, the transverse abdominal muscle, activating it.
Deep breathing just on it's own will improve the lumber vitality.

The spine is a natural and gentle 's' curve consisting of 7 neck vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, 5 lumbar vertebrae, a sacrum and a coccyx.

If you lie on your back the pelvis is central and acts as the fulcrum. Imagine a huge bolt with two equal levers made of steel attached. If one or both of the levers lifts then there is pressure on the fulcrum. The longer the levers and the heavier, the stronger the fulcrum has to be.
Your pelvis is that fulcrum and your upper body and the lower body are the levers.

Then we're thrown a curve ball.
We have a dominant side.

We develop habits over time which in turn create well worn brain paths to automatic movement.
Carrying a handbag over one particular shoulder for years will create in itself a few problems. Turning toward you handbag 20 times per day creates a rotation that number of times, which creates stronger muscles in that direction. How we drive our cars, turning a foot in a habitual manner or resting a leg in an automatic vehicle will create a stretch on that particular leg and work on the other.
How we sit and where you turn to your computer screen are all habitual movements which create strength in muscles in a certain position or direction.
Slowly we tip the scales and put more and more pressure on the body and often the lower back and pelvis. Eventually there's a breaking point at which the body doesn't cope with the imbalance and results in a torn muscle, ligament or debilitating pain.

Now you have 2 options. One is to go to a surgeon who'll cut the muscular coat to fit the coat hanger and even worse, adjust the coat hanger to fit the imbalance of the overcoat.

Your second option is to practice pilates.

The pilates instructor will take you and squeeze you in the middle like a closed toothpaste tube.
You will lengthen, taking the pressure off your lumbar spine and strengthen the muscles surrounding the pelvis, to cope with the movement of your upper and lower body. The muscular overcoat can be strengthened and stretched into balance over time. Your posture will improve.

Pilates is a mindful practice and purposeful movement is essential.
Correcting and creating new brain paths to new ways of moving.
Retraining muscles, creating new habits aiming at an upright posture.

Become aware of how you walk, how you sit and how you stand.

Balance is good.
Balance is attainable.
Balance is perfect.

Mr. Toastmaster.

Mgm and the Roller coaster ride (CC1)

Mr. Toastmaster.
Ladies and Gentleman.

I came into this world kicking and screaming in Klerksdorp.
I was bracing myself for what I now know to be a preordained roller coaster ride.

I already had a brother, my sister was born a year later and my mom turned 21.

My mom had left school in Std. 9 to help support her family financially. She had grown up in a mining town and hadn't travelled.
My dad on the other hand had studied in South Africa and in Edinburgh and had travelled the world.
He was a "de Wet". Family of the Boer General de Wet and was the minister of the local church.

This proved to be an explosive combination.

It is safe to say that I had a very well disciplined Presbyterian upbringing, which often involved the belt.

I remember on one occasion my mom getting us to march up and down the passage singing "I'm a brave, brave mouse, I go marching through the house....."

My reading was controlled and limited to Barbara Cartland romance. My education as to "how to be a lady"......It goes like this........You see a man in a billowing white shirt, riding a horse, you slump into a dead faint, he scoops you up and the rest is "His" story.......

At home the music choice was marching classics.

I'll skip to the last 3 years of my schooling which was spent at Potch Girls High.
I spent much of my time in a music room playing the piano and played the Radetsky march for the girls entering and leaving assembly.
I took flute lessons at the neighbouring school and was the "classical slot" in the prizegiving programme.
I was accepted for the Western Transvaal Choir and we sang weekly at Potch University.
I was chosen to sing overseas and after returning the choir joined with others and we sang Vivaldi's Gloria Deo with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra........one of my favorite memories.

I was accepted to Wits to study a BMus but this didn't last long. Barbara Cartland proved to be a less than competent teacher of social reality.

I went on to do Cobol Programming at Infoplan in Pretoria and loved it.
I was called into the office after a few months and was expecting a promotion.
Apparently I was a "security risk". My mom had been writing to an ANC friend who had been involved in a bombing incident. Remember that this was in 1980. At the time that I was being "expelled", the security police were all over the farm in Tierpoort.

The next best thing was to get married, so I did.
Little did I know that I was jumping from the fire into the frying pan.

With the marriage came a change of initials and I received my MgM status and a life to match.
Polo in the winter, skiing in the summer and very busy social life.
We lived in the Free State.
I had 3 beautiful and very creative children who went to school in Natal.
Up and down van Reenen's Pass on a weekly basis for ten years.

My mom, exempt by her age had applied to Unisa and done her theology degree. She also did an H.E.D and then went overseas to work and travel.
She is now an Anglican Priest.

One by one the children left and it was my que to step out on my own.
I arrived in Pretoria 7 years ago.
The cage of the roller coaster hit the water and created a huge wave.
The water settled to a calm pool and I realise the purpose of the ride.

I bought a little house.
I have developed a medicinal herb garden and enjoy bird watching. The only music I play now is the Djemi drum, every two weeks in a drumming circle.
My children brought me a cat called Ninja.
I'm a Pilates instructor and give 35 lessons a week.
I read, write and blog. My bookcase is full of books on Psycology, philosophy, religious ceremony and ancient cultures. My favorite book find is "Jewish folklore". I went to Schul after getting permission from the Rabbi.

"There are no mistakes".

In my old life I was a whiskey drinking, chain smoking, pill popping socialite.
Today I drink pure water, green tea, black coffee and use only plant medication.
With the help of Toastmasters I aspire to be an inspiration speaker to women who need inspiration.
I want to be a social light.

Mr. Toastmaster.