April 10th - Pilates & how it benefits mental & physical wellness

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Wellness and Healthy Lifestyle show on your VOCM.
Now here's your host, doctor Mike Wall.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Doctor Mike Wall.
Today we're delving into the world of pilates and its
benefits for physical and mental wellness. We're joined by Mary
lou James, owner and founder of Excel Pilates, who brings
over two decades of experience and passion to this unique
form of exercise. And before we dive into our discussion
with Mary Lou, let's take a moment to explore the

(00:33):
history of ploates. It was developed by Joseph Plotti's in
the early twentieth century, and plots was initially created to
rehabilitate injured soldiers.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
In World War One.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Joseph Ploties believed in the strong interconnection between physical and
mental health, which led him to develop a series of
exercises that focus on core strength, flexibility, and mindful movements.
This method, originally called control ology, quickly gained popularity and
evolved into what's known today as plates. It's a practice
is embraced worldwide for a solistic approach to fitness and wellness.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
So in this.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Episode, we'll explore the philosophy of plates, it's distinctive mind
body connection, and how it differs from other forms of exercise.
Mary Lou will share why ploates resonated with her and
how it led her to her current role in helping
others achieve better health and function. We'll discuss the misconceptions
about plates, the variety of exercises involved, and here success
stories that highlight this transformative impact. So whether you're new

(01:30):
to plates or looking to deepen your practice, this episode
promises to enlighten and inspire. Let's get to our conversation
with Mary Lou, Jane's owner and founder of exhl Plates.
I'm Mary Lou.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
I Mike, thank you very much for having me.

Speaker 5 (01:46):
Well, this is a topic I'm really interesting in learning
about because I've obviously got a background of wellness, but
I don't really know that much about plates. And I
think that ploates is something that people really love and
there's tons of benefit to it, but I don't really
know that much. Maybe we get into the what and
the how. You can tell us a bit about yourself.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
Well, I started pilates, I would say about twenty two
years ago. I was actually living in South Africa at
the time, and the job that I was doing at
that time required me to have long, lean muscles, no
bulk at the muscle, and I found that that Ploates
was the best type of workout for what I needed

(02:25):
to be. I was doing some modeling at the time,
and then I started taking the classes and I just
fell in love with PLATES immediately. I had a background
in dance, always been athletic, did a lot of sports
throughout my whole life. I was a runner for many
many years. Started as a personal trainer. When I moved
to Toronto, I took a course at UFT and then
I started training clients here and there, focusing on developing

(02:48):
Oh we're going to develop the flutes today, we're work
buys and tries and start sort of that type of
interest in training people to make them feel better, to
look better, all the above, right, And then I started
taking PLATES. I realized this actually makes a lot more sense.
My body started to feel better, I looked better, and

(03:08):
I had more awareness of my own body and my
own posture and what I needed to focus on to
make myself individually feel better and have less aches of
pains than continued from there brought me to where I
am today, just trying to help other people have the
same benefit that I had when I first started.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yeah, it's funny. A sometimes your path chooses you, and
when you find something that resonates with you, you just
kind of run with it that way. And I think
that's important for people to understand that all these different
forms of physical activity have different philosophies around them. So
if you were to summarize what's the pilates philosophy, what
makes it unique when we compare it to other forms

(03:50):
of exercise.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
Pilates is very much a mind body connection. So the
Pilates philosophy stems from actually a model meaning a sound minded,
sound body. So your mind and your body are very
much connected in each exercise that you are trying to accomplish.
So if you are trying to just say do a

(04:14):
squad or hold a plank, you're mindfully aware of which
muscles you're trying to recruit for each exercise. So just
say we're using we focus on the breath. You take
a big breath in on the X, so we engage
our core mindfully before we try to do a squad.
So there's just a different mindset of what is important

(04:38):
in the body to use for each an individual exercise,
and a lot of people will say it's it's core. Yes,
it stems from your core. But there's a lot more
to bodies than just activating your core.

Speaker 5 (04:50):
Yeah, that's that's interesting because a lot of the exercises
you send or spend, like, for example, a squad or
core exercises, they're kind of associated with other forms of
this activity too. But if if you were to describe
just for the overall perspective of how a ploate's workout
would run, to give people some context here they may
not know much about it, what.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Would sort of happen? How would the flow go, Well,
we'll start with.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
The warm up, would just be just mobilized. It's fine
getting your joints moving in all different directions. So a
pilates we move the body in four different directions. Okay,
we move the body in four different planes, so we're
trying to work the front, the back, side, and the
deep long system. So we focus on moving the body
in all of these different directions. It's unique in the

(05:35):
fact that we're not just focusing on core, legs, upper bodies, shoulders.
We're focusing on working the whole body. So we're integrating
the whole body in each and every exercise we do.
So our mindset is, Okay, how do I connect my
upper body into my core to give me more power

(05:58):
to take a deep squad. So your mindset changes because
you realize every exercise is a core exercise, but you
need the whole body to work together to really develop
power and strict so not just you know, I do

(06:18):
you see people walking around the exercise gets harder and
their shoulders go up to their ears and like take
a breath, Yeah, to drop those shoulders, because when you
drop the shoulders, there's that little connection that connects into
your core. So you just integrate as your upper into
your abdominals.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
And that's what we call.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
It a hallelujah, a light bulb moment with oh I
just felt my pore, you know. And that's the mind set.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
And that's as interesting. It's very much a mindset.

Speaker 5 (06:47):
It's not about just accomplishing a certain rep, lifting a
certain amount of way, doing a certain exercise. I feel
like for some people that could be exceptionally valuable, especially
I see a lot of people with injuries over the
years and things like this, Can you give me an
example and somebody you work with who really benefited, because
I feel like, if you're listening to this, maybe this
is making sense to me. What's a person that sort
of had the success story in your eyes?

Speaker 4 (07:10):
They're actually quite I mean there's quite a few over
the years, but I'll use two examples. So I had
one lady in her early sixties. She heard about plates,
she heard about the studio, and her friend said, you know,
you should try pilates. She was having issues walking, so
her favorite probaby to do is to walk long amount
of time, like for hours and hours and hours. And
as the years went on, she was just really not

(07:32):
able to walk anymore. She had a lot of aches
and pains around her low back area, and her back
just kind of sees up lock up. So she started
taking plates. Here she came into her former class, and
as a teacher, I don't stay much.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
I just watching her.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
Move, and she was very stiff. She had this, you know,
a real deep curve in her low back or upper spine,
which we call like a military pasture. Was very upright,
but very lock no mobility in the hips hellviss lot
didn't move, couldn't move at all. Some of the exercises,

(08:07):
which is interesting that most people would find heart she
found easy. Other exercises that most people would find easy,
she found really really hard. So long story short, that
was about eight years ago. We still work together all
the time. And Joseph Pilotti's famous quote is you are
only as young as your spine. So you could be

(08:30):
a ninety year old and have a spine of a
forty year old. I have a client, she's ninety two.
It's amazing what she can do. I have young plids
that are thirty. They have very very stiff spines like
a ninety year old. Your spine, the mobility in your
spine and how you move your spine in all different directions,
in all different planes is extremely important.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
If you move with.

Speaker 4 (08:53):
Ease, you can breathe better. It's just less pain less
aches you have that easy flow movement.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
So I started working with her.

Speaker 4 (09:01):
We just started mobilizing for pelvis, so just moving her
pelvis and our low back, just getting the hips unlocked,
try to release some tension in the hip joints. And
then we just started from there and we started building
a building that took quite a long time just to
create the movements in the pelvis. It's called it a
neutral pelic. She may never get to a ideal neutral pelvis,

(09:22):
but she's as close now as we can get. Then
we moved up the spine and we created the movement
in the thoracic spine. So just created started creating some rotation.
And with this particular clients, she needed a lot of
flexion because she was so tight in those long muscles,
you know, down the spine, the erector muscles, and we
just started moving from there, and then we started moving

(09:42):
to the shoulders. So there's kind of a recipe of
start with the pelvis, start moving through the ribs, trying
to get the clients connected to the core. Then there's
the head forest posture. Amusing as an example because it
was you know, it was a challenge, but he was
really and able to to do it. And now she
walks all the time. Her s side joint was quite

(10:05):
locked on one side, so once we mobilize that joint,
we released that joint, she was already able to move
a lot more freely.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
We're chatting with Mary lou James, owner of Exhale Plates.
Today we're delving into the health and wellness benefits of
plates and it's unique philosophy around movement. Stay tuned as
we uncover more insights. We'll be right back after the break.

(10:39):
Welcome back. We're chatting with Mary Lou James, owner of
Exhale Plates. Today we're delving into the health and wellness
benefits of plateaus and it's unique philosophy around movement. Let's
get back to the show.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
So I think about that.

Speaker 5 (10:51):
One of the things is she has to have a
lot of faith in you to be able to take
this body, and it's been rigid and sort of locked
in for a long period of time. As a teacher,
how do you approach that and sort of what do
you get out of seeing somebody make this change, because
they obviously have to have a difference in the quality
of life that their function is bad. Right.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Well, she, first of all, she came in wanting to change.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
She knew this.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
She's in pain. It wasn't working for her, and I said,
what is your goal here? She came to me and
she said, no, I really need help. She said, I
want to be able to walk again. I want to
be able to move through life without pain. I'm sixty
and I feel like I'm ninety, you know, And so
I listened to the clients first. I don't try to
push anything. I don't criticize how they're moving. I don't
say anything like that. We just sit, we chat. They

(11:34):
let me know what they want out of Pilate's why
they're there, and how I can help them, and how
far they want to go. Maybe you just want to
look better, maybe you just want to have a better posture.
We're going to work with what you want need to
help you with.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Now that's good.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
And when we think about that, you just listed a
couple of different things from the tip of lead, all
sort of cosmetic approach towards it, but also the really
functional side of things. Be the major benefits for somebody
when it comes to the overall health improvement for pursuing
this type of activity.

Speaker 4 (12:06):
Oh, there's so many benefits. So when people start training
with me, they come in and they have eights and pain.
It's not everybody. You know, pilates is known to be
for rehabilitation.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
It is not just for rehabilitation.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
That's a whole other story. But some most clients are
coming to you say I have these eight pains. So
physio therapists told me to come and see you. My
quality of life is not great. I'm in pain every
single day. I'm sitting all the time at work. My
posture is terrible, I feel terrible. My energy is low.
I know I'm not breathing properly. So they've already made
the choice to be here, and then we take them through.

(12:41):
I take them through the class or Joseph Plots is
a fame famous line of in ten classes and pilates,
you will start to feel a difference. In twenty classes,
you will start to see a difference. In thirty classes,
your body will have changed. And when people here that
and they learned that, that is really really motivating and

(13:04):
stands true. So I'm trying to create for each client
to feel day to day that they're able to guard it.
They could go for a walk, they can't take the
dishes out of the dishwasher, they can do their laundry.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
They're not in discomfort, that's right.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
And I think that having pain in your body is
so debilitating on the mental health side of things, on
the physical health side of things, quality life, enjoying friends
and family and those different things, and so that's very
appealing to people. But I also think One of the
things that we're guilty with, especially this time of year.
At January, people really go hard into the news resolutions
is to probably they have to progress, in particular when
you're looking at restoring function. What's some advice for somebody

(13:45):
if they want to begin trying an activity like this,
don't try to take.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
On too much. If you want to try the lotties,
don't think about it. First of all, don't think about
it too much. Just come and try, right, We could
call me on the phone. We can have a chat
to make it better. Number one, try it. Just do it,
because you're going to talk yourselfself out of it if
you don't. The second is, don't try to do too much.
Just say I'll do once a week, and then once

(14:11):
you start to enjoy it, do it twice a week.
Add a walk one day with your pilates, thoughts, start
learning how to breathe properly. Just do it day by day.
Set your goal for the day. If you don't achieve it,
don't go back tense steps. Start the next day and
just keep going.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
The only way to sustain it because then you also
enjoy the process as well, but you kind of indicated
a couple things there. The first thing would be that
people can do it on their own, but they can
also get advice. And I've always been a huge advocate
for learn how to do things properly to begin with,
and once you get that skill set, then you can
kind of experiment. But going into something blind, especially when
it's a skill, can be sometimes challenging. And what's the
benefit of working with an instructor at least to begin with.

(14:55):
It's really very important.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
So just say, like, for example, somebody that's happening to
me constantly having a new person join one of my
large classes, the advice is to just to keep moving.
If something doesn't feel good, don't do it, stop focus
on how I'm chewing the class. Pilates has its own language,
especially when you're learning. As pilates teachers, we really try

(15:20):
to help you understand why you're moving, the body of
where you're moving, maybe throwing a public cues of taking
an exhale. We really teach you in a safe, effective way.
So it's sick. I mean, I have to say, eleven
years of having exhale knock them, what I have not
had one person new and tomed it advance to hurt

(15:42):
themselves studio. It's a safe form of exercise.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
And I do think that's important because a lot of
the time people can redo activities, they can actually put
them at greater risks and which can set them back,
especially looking at improving their health. And I guess that's
a good segue into some of the missed coonceptions around it.
I feel like sometimes pilates has a few missedonceptions, so
people think it's made. You know, it's more passive, it's
not in tense. What would be some of the misconceptions
you'd like to clarify for you?

Speaker 4 (16:07):
One is that pilates just strengthens your corner platus is
just about strength in your core. It is so much
more than that. First of all, your core muscles are
actually it's we describe it as if you're wearing a
short wet suit. Your core muscles are your trader cuff,
your hips, your glutes, your back muscles, So it encompasses
all of those muscles in one So yes, we'd work

(16:28):
the glutes a lot. A lot of fumes say, oh,
it's not cardiovascular. That is no, not true. I teach
also rebounding and jump forard on the reformer.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
There's a lot of cardio.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
If you choose that you want to do cardio and
that plates, it's not challenging enough at it's not hard
enough for super athletes, right that are that you know,
that type a personality. They want to come in, they
want to sweat, they want to work hard. The next day,
I can't they can't walk downstairs because they're like soort

(17:01):
that titan person is actually harder for me to change
their mindset than somebody who hasn't exercise before. It just
wants to start pilates to yes, you know, straighten their
corn in a nice gentle way. So plates is challenging.
It doesn't build bulk. We're not trying to pump up
your glutes to pump up your legs. Your legs and

(17:22):
your glutes and your upper body and your core. It's
all going to be strong and balanced as one.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Right.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
If I look at a client and I see she's
got really strong clauds, why am I going to work
our quods? You know in the session, I'm going to
focus on working her glutes, work her ham streets. It
gets her connecting into the core. And these athletes they're humbled,
they're like This is actually really arn.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
We're chatting with Mary Lou James, owner of Exhale Plates. Today.
We're delving into the health and wellness benefits of plates
and it's unique philosophy around movement. Stay tuned as we
uncover more insights. Back after the break, Welcome back. We're

(18:11):
chatting with Mary Lee James, owner of Exhale Plates.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Today.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
We're delving into the health and wellness benefits of plates
and it's unique philosophy around movement. Let's get back to
the show.

Speaker 5 (18:22):
And you know, the other thing that's interesting is in
the athletes, maybe a little bit hesitant maybe at first,
that's one demographic and when there's the youth, you know
that are looking at that high naxity side of things.
But we all know that if you're an athlete, you're
going to have those eightes and pains later on in life,
you're gonna want to have some movement. What age category
can benefit from plates? I'm guessing everybody can and you
could probably cater it, but like, what are the age

(18:44):
demographics that really benefit And.

Speaker 4 (18:46):
It's really true every age category. I had a client
she was thirteen years old. It's a fantastic gymnast but
she had issues that she needed to work on, so
I trained with her for a few months. I have
twenty year old clients, but they're still trying to figure
out I don't really like lifting weights. I find it
really hard, you know. I often hear those say that

(19:07):
I find it hard. I'm not very good at it
if it's my back, my knees. So I think they've
probably tried quite a few different types of exercises before that.
I've heard about blodies through word of mouth. It's a
lot of word of mouth, especially in the city, and
they heard, oh, okay, well, everybody's saying you can get sitch,
you can get tall. So they come in the door
looking for that. Whether they stay or not, you know,

(19:28):
that's the different story. They might just move on and
try something else, and they're in that face and like
where they're just trying to figure out what they like
and what they don't like. Thirty year old. I find
thirty up easier to get them to understand and really
appreciate and become quite passionate. And it takes to pilates

(19:50):
because they've already tried other forms of exercise that are
just not working. They can't sustain it. If you don't
have your inner units, your core strength, your transverse, you
dive from floor, your multiitus. If these muscles are not
on working and firing, ninety chances out of ten you're
going to first yourself if you're trying to lift, you know,
fifty pounds over your head, so then forty up. They

(20:15):
love it, I think because they like a more relaxed
exercise that's actually kind of calming at the same time,
really affective and challenging, but you actually feel quite relaxed
when you're finished. Fifties, I think they're focusing on their posture,
their mind, body connection, feeling better mentally when they finish

(20:39):
working up. It's not a stressful workout. Your stress level
is love. It's actually you feel better, you steel taller,
you feel like you're more in your body, you're more
connected to your core, and that just goes on and
on and on. I mean, I have a lot of
clients in their seventies and they love it because they
feel good, they feel right, they don't have any and paints,

(21:01):
so yeah, they got it and they love it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, I feel like that's one of the big benefits
from it all.

Speaker 5 (21:06):
And that's why I think a lot of athletes have
sort of taken up the ploodas and the yoga and
those different movement type activities because they balance out that strength,
and those were entirely gay experience. But yeah, I can
definitely relate to the fact that it's nice to go
into a workout, come out of it and feel looser
and ready to go. You know. One of the things
you mentioned is that PLATES does have a bit of
its unique characteristics, right, So that could be the words

(21:28):
you use, but also some of the equipment you use.
I know you can use lots of body weight in it,
but are what are some of the special devices that bloodies.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Incorporate, So still using the same equipment Joseph Vlotti's invented.
Fast forward to twenty twenty four. It has evolved tremendously,
but it's still the same concept. We have a reformer
bed which has different resistance, so you can be lying
down a bet, pushing off a bar and you can

(21:56):
add quite quite a bit of weight, so it's like
a line down spoil a very safe effective way. So
we can build strength in offer lower core by using resistance.
So you take it from the mat using weights to
a machine where it's kind of closed some of the
exercise that chain sort of closes pushing off a bar

(22:19):
or adding that the weight to the resistance.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
And you also mentioned that changed quite a bit, even
though it's got some similarities to when I first started.
What are some of the trends that you're seeing in it,
like what's what's kind of new on the horizon versusbody
you may have tried in the past, but looking at
revisiting it, well, I can just.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
Speak for X health. I teach now rebounding, so rebounding
so bouncing on your own individual mini trapoline. That is
a part of pilates because it actually rehabilitation for your
transverse pelvic floor strength, so it builds strength in your
pelvic floor in your lower of doveles. Also, I teach

(22:56):
pilates with TRX, so using your own body weight. And
now we just started using little basic ankleweights risk weights
one pound each. They've been around for long time, but
now they're much more comfortable when they were first invented,
and it just gives you that little extra bit of
weight to strengthen the muscles just a little bit more.

(23:19):
Not so much new equipment. There are a few equipments
here and there. There's a new phone roller now that
has leg and arm straps attached to it. It looks interesting.
I have brought it to the studio. Besides from that,
not very much.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
That's good.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
You know a lot of things have been around for
a long time and it ain't don't fix it. I've
ever had some of the interests of them when I
first started to my basement, lived the rights to still
the ones. But one of the questions I always like
to pick the brains and people that are doing this
for a living, that have dedicated their career to it.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
How do you.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
Manage your day to day? So what does your typical
day look like? Being able to manage all the different
responsibilities you have as a business owner, but also being
able to incorporate this and do it the job.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
It's definitely very taxing on the body and on the mind.
So I have very much a set routine. I am
here seven days a week, so I have to take
care of myself in order to be able to help
help my clients mentally and physically. So I'm somebody who
gets up very early, maybe around five I start. I

(24:20):
needed two hours at home before I start my day,
so I start my attention for the day. I'll sit,
have my coffee, I go through my body, sign the client,
my clients in for the day. I do have to
do my Instagram posts for the studio, answer my emails,
and then I sort of I take my bath, I
do my own journaling, my own meditation to set my

(24:43):
attention for the day, try to drink and hydrate, and
then I start by healthy gain and then I go
to bed very early. And I'm a big naperk I
get an hour nap every afternoon, same time, religiously, and
that gets me to the next part of my day,
the next easing set of classes and clients.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
We're chatting with Mary lou James, owner of Exhale Plates.
Today we're delving into the health and wellness benefits of
plates and it's unique philosophy around movement. Stay tuned as
we uncover more insights. We'll be right back after the break.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
You're listening to what we broadcast of The Wellness and
Healthy Lifestyle Show with doctor Mike Wall. Listen live Thursday
nights at seven pm and Sunday's at four pm.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
We're chatting with Mary lu James, owner of exhale plates.
Today we're delving into the health and wellness benefits of
Platius and it's unique philosophy around movement.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
Let's get back to the show well.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
And you know that sort of lead us to this
whole philosophical side of things. But anybody is like doing
it themselves, but also working with other people as a
different perspective on like how other people's lives are as
well and how they're trying to struggle to incorporate things in.
You know, what's your view on like work life balance
or a charm il like these little better is like
work life and corporation for people that are trying to
fit in things that are good for them while they're

(26:05):
being hold in a million different directions.

Speaker 4 (26:07):
I guess at first, try to find something that you
actually enjoy doing right, you know, if it's just taking
a walk every day, being in nature, I find it's
very very helpful. I mean, I don't know anybody who
said I just walked in nature, and I don't.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Feel that I agree.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
I don't think I've ever heard that. I think the
first part just get up and do it and go
and then once you start that routine, you're not going
to feel the same if you don't do it, So
it becomes a part of your mental physical well being.
You just you just you feel better. So, especially thinking

(26:45):
about January, for people who maybe never exercised before or
especially after COVID, they're in a rut and they just
cannot get back to moving. You got to just take
that first step because it's not going to get any better.
It's only going to get worse. Right, You've got to
take just that first step. And I would literally say,

(27:05):
don't try to Oh I'm gonna go walk for an
hour and a half, go for ten minute walk. Just
go for ten minute walk, or put on a YouTube
video at home that just talks about breathing. Just anything
to not think about why you shouldn't be doing it,
think about all the aches and pains. Yes we have
aches and pains, but they're only going to get worse.

(27:26):
Just start moving, yeah, and change your mindset of get
rid of the negativity, try to be positive and try
to move forward.

Speaker 5 (27:36):
You know, I couldn't agree more. And you know it's funny.
Every expert I talked too, they all say the same thing.
I think it's important for people to hear that message
and that is that they know that it's really important
that you go slow, that you progress, that you fit
in what you can.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
And I think.

Speaker 5 (27:51):
People stress out a lot about these expectations that we
see on social media, expectations in the media, and that's
one of things we're trying and clarify. And the show
how does doing those little things at ten minutes, that
going to a Bloodi's plot, doing something that's good for you,
reducing that stress in your body actually impact our mental stress.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Oh one percent.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
I mean pilates is now literally called mindful movement. It's
it's the connection of the mind and the body. If
you feel good, if you start to feel better physically,
you start to feel better mentally. Which one comes first?
If you start to feel better mentally, are you going
to go out and exercise or maybe both are on
the same level, You're just not feeling good at both

(28:34):
at the moment. I think maybe I would say also
about pilates is that if people hear that plates makes
you feel better, you feel better once you start practicing.
So around the city of you would say, oh, I
try this place, I just feel better by aches and
pains are done. So I think that's why plates has
become more popular even in Saint John's because it's known

(28:58):
to be the feel good exercise and you feel better.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
It's not stressful.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
So I could only speak for pilates. But I'm trying
to motivate someone to start. I say to them, I
guarantee you. I mean, in all the years I've been here,
I've never heard a person say, I really wish I
didn't do that today. I really wish I didn't take
that cuss Ten out of ten, the client says, I
feel better. Yeah, you're well to feel better. Yeah, but

(29:24):
to give that person the push, only you could do that, right.
I can only do as much as I could, only
motivate you as much as I can. You have to
do it well.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
Mentor once said that he trained athletes the soul life,
and he can't count the number of times he's wanted
it more than the athletes. So the people do on
to have it, but they also have to do stuff
outside of it. So we all want too. Deep down,
this would be a rabbit hole.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
We could talk forever offah.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Sure, But like if you were to give people like
three things that they could do better for the nutrition
to complement this type of movement, this type of function.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
You're regaining in the body.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
What would you give somebody if I walked into your studio,
I said, look, I want to do this, but said,
do these three things for food make a difference.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
Number one, cut out sugar. Sugar is toxic, It is addictive.
Number two, drink water. If you can't cut out the sugar, okay,
steal this sugar. You just can't control it. Just drink
more water. The first sign of depression people don't realize
is dehydration. You're dehydrating. Your brain is not functioning. You

(30:26):
are dehydrated. Drink more water. Just add one glass, two
glass that you'll shocked the difference in somebody once they
start drinking water. The third I am an intrimitt faster.
I don't eat in the warning. But I can't. I
can't say to somebody, don't eat in the warning because

(30:46):
everybody is different. You know, everybody's bodies work differently. Try
to stop eating after eat o'cock.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
Yeah yeah, that's a big one, especially the wrong foods.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Right yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
But I'm not gonna ex sure, stop eat the potato
chips and more safe. They're probably gonna want to go
home it's just right after I said, yeah. It's also,
you know, one thing, you got to read the world,
so you got to get to know that person. Like
as I get to know you, I kind of started
to understand who you are person, what might work and

(31:19):
what might not work with you. You know, you got
to know your your client individually.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
So that's great. Those are good. Those are good. I
agree with all those two.

Speaker 5 (31:29):
And I think they're they're very palpitable. The other thing
is like, you know different, so like learn about yourself.
Like you said, like you know, you have your thing.
I think imp is a thing, and that's really important
people not to just go on some cookie.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
Cutter approach, especially in cookies.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
But absolutely, I mean we're sort of wide down here now.
But I was, how can people reach you if they
want to learn more?

Speaker 4 (31:50):
I mean social media, Instagram, Facebook, call me, email me,
any of those avenues you can you can reach me.
And I really do genuinely like to chat with you on.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
The phone first.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
I mean, I'll spend ten minutes, twenty minutes on the phone,
it doesn't matter, ask me any questions you want. I
think that's really how you get the ball rolling, making
that person feel comfortable right off the bat.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah, yeah, totally. They're going to be trusting you with it.
It makes perfect sense. I think that's it.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
So it's also reciprocal, you know, and I know what
that's like from working in that world as well, you know.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
So I really enjoyed our chat. I've learned a lot today.

Speaker 5 (32:27):
It's really like in TV too, which is great. But
any thoughts you want to leave the listeners with, especially
like you said, you know, going to January, go to
the cold months.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
Well, I'm gonna more of a thought of not even
just January. A couple of things. Why does it always
have to teat like January understands begin here? So say
you fall off the wagon in January, I think every
first in my brain it works this way. The first
of every month, start a new intention. If it didn't,
if you didn't succeed that month, start again the first

(32:58):
of Jebruary. It didn't work the first of March. Just
start every month the first day of the month with
the intention of working on your wellness and your your
fitness and your diet. But don't give up. Don't give up. Also,
the other thing, think about, you know, we spend our
whole life focusing on financially taking care of ourselves when

(33:21):
we retire. I think there needs to be more balance
of us taking care of our wellness for when we retire.
There should be a balance of the two finances. Yes,
but you can have the finances, but you can you
don't have the you don't have the wellness. You know,
you're not able to enjoy your life after you work

(33:42):
so hard to get to that point. You have to
take care of you. You know, if you can be
sixty retired and you feel great and your sixty seventies,
whatever I mean that is, that's well, that's it right.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
I agree.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
I heard that's saying that, you know, people spend their
whole life making money and then spend it all trying
to regain their health making the money.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah, exactly, yeahct I was.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
I was really curious about your answer with the genuary.
I agree one thousand percent. There's always a good time
to start. Is right now at this moment? Is only now,
and then you know the yeah doesn't even it's gone.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
So adik. That's great. Mary Lou, thank you so much
for joining me today. I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 4 (34:18):
Thanks you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
I want to thank Mary Lou for joining us today.
It's been a really enlightening conversation. We've gained valuable insights
into the world of pilates, from its history and philosophy
to its numerous health and wellness benefits. Mary Lou shared
her personal journey with Plates and how it transformed not
only your life, but the lives of her clients. Her
expertise in the mind body connection and her holistic approach

(34:43):
to pilates and fitness is really inspiring. For those interested
in learning more about PLATES or exploring its benefits, you
can reach out to Mary Lou at Hexhale Ploates. They
offer a wide range of classes and personalized training. They
cater to all experience levels. You can find them at
Instagram under Exhale, Underscore Plates, Underscore Yoga. Well, thanks for
tuning in. I'm your host, doctor Mike Wall. We'll see

(35:05):
you back here and next week for another episode of
The Wall Show on your vocm