Greetings Friends,
Short story: Once upon a time in a land far, far away my brother Corey invited me to join him for a Spin class. It was awful. I have never taken another cycling class since. The end.
Longer story: In 2007, Norman Wilson and I were stationed in Germany and Corey and Elizabeth (his future wife) came to visit us. During this point in time:
A. I was struggling to rehab my knee after surgery and in a great deal of daily pain.
B. I hadn't yet found my Pilates teacher and mentor in Germany.
C. Not only was Corey taking tons of Spin classes, he was also teaching Spin classes.
D. Did I mention that we were stationed on a Army base and that military folks tend to be super fit, highly motivated, and perhaps a wee bit competitive?
Disaster in the making.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into and within the first three minutes of class I was nearly having a panic attack while trying not to fall off the bike. The teacher was teaching to the room (as she should have been, no complaints there) and not paying attention to the one supremely out-of-shape woman in the corner trying not succumb to cardiac arrest in her early thirties.
(That woman was me.)
Corey, gamely standing up in the pedals and sweating his happy little heart out at one point looked over at me and shouted over the music: "You don't have to stand!" before once again cranking his tension up. I swear, he was climbing Mt. Everest on his bike while I was silently dying.
If you've read this far you are probably wondering if I'm trying to scare you away from Nancy's Cycling Classes.
I'm not and in fact, I'm sharing this story to encourage you to come to Nancy's Cycling Classes!
Corey's advice in that moment saved me. "You don't have to stand." He saw me struggling and gave me permission to go at my own pace. There was no way I could have kept up with a room full of career military, Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and one extremally dedicated computer nerd (Corey). There is no way I should have expected myself to do so.
"You don't have to stand."
In giving me permission to keep my rear on the seat, my brother helped me make it through the rest of the class. I stayed down, pedaling slower and slower and slower but I didn't quit. I made it to the end of the class and didn't even fall off the cycle.
While it's true that I've never taken another cycling class since, what I have done is complete a 36 mile bike race as part of an "adventure triathlon" with my bestie Torey. We biked 36 miles, hiked 8 miles carrying a pack weighted with 20% of our body weight, and then kayaked 6 brutal miles against headwinds.
What I have learned in those intervening years is that "you don't have to stand". Most of you have probably heard me say in Pilates class "you do you".
Only you know your body.
Only you know your capabilities and your limits.
At TerraLuna, you are in charge of your pace and your experience for your class!
Whether that means taking it a bit easier on a given day in Pilates, making a goal to keep pedaling slow and steady through a Cycle Class or go all-out in a Barre Class, as always, you do you!
You are invited to experience each of our new class offerings when the full schedule starts on Monday September 30th (you can find the schedule here) and you are encouraged to take each class on your own terms! I look forward to taking my second Cycling Class ever with Nancy on Tuesday, October 1 and I hope to see you there too!
And remember, you don't have to stand.
May you find peace in each day and joy in your body.
Blessings,
Lynelle
p.s. Gratitude to Mary Jane for inspiring this post by sharing your singular (so far!) cycling experience with candor.
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