Laura Peralta's 21st Century Pilates Program

NOT ALL WORKOUT TECHNIQUES ARE FOR EVERYBODY OR EVERY "BODY"

2012-01-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

I see so many people rotating from one trendy workout technique to another. Bored with the one they go to, and buying the commercial pitch of reinventing magically your body, we expose our bodies to the most risky injuries, based on the not only poor on nonexistente knowledge about body mechanics, but a training that in 5 hours you can teach a group class.
Our responsibility is to choose wisely. This means, know your body and own what is your base training.
for example,
if you are a runner or you like high impact techniques, or free weight training/body builder, with time your movements will be and look rigid and short, controlled, find a technique that integrates everypart of your body, will give a slower rhythm to connect with yourself, will give you back the flow and grace in your body; be careful with yoga, as the twisting and weight on joint will be far from beneficial to you, find a stretching technique that is more mild and do not include twisting.
If you are a dancer, yogaist, swimmer or gymnast, avoid high impact techniques, like martial arts, kickboxing, running, boxing, ect, as that body and joints cannot handle and have not been trained in a way to support the impact, besides the permanent shortening of the muscles and tightening of the ligaments.
If you are overweight is also a risk for high impact workouts, you can get cardio without over-stressing your joints,
If you love a sport that produces body asymmetries, baseball, golf, tennis, soccer, volleyball, hockey, be mindful of finding a technique that will compensate and correct the disbalance. If you don't, you are perpetuing strong spasms and hypertension in the opposite group muscle or side of your body, buying a sure ticket for arthritis and multiple pains in the future.
What ever sport and workout technique gives the opportunity to feel your own power and enjoyment, you have to stick with it. That is the only way to make a progress, jumping around from one workout to the other will not only give you more frustration of not amping your fitness level, but you are taking risks at injuring yourself. in the same line, look for how that selection affects your body as a whole, look for another one to compensate what its missing.
if you have any question or want advise, contact me, ill be happy to help you.

LAURA PERALTA, BC-DMT
www.fusionmstudio.com
www.21stcenturypilates.com

IF IT LOOKS WEIRD, IS BECAUSE IT IS,

2012-01-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

IF IT LOOKS WEIRD, IS BECAUSE IT IS,
responding to the post at http://networkedblogs.com/sR9Vb a discussion a bout HOW different trendy workout techniques can WRECK YOUR BODY, by Walts Fritz
I have encounter the same situation more than may times, i have been a dance teacher for 30 years, have tried and injured myself with every new trend, even though my body is resilient, ignorance and commercialism in a new workout technique can produce the most unthinkable injuries.
I created my own conditioning system based in all the errors that others did, including and excluding many movements and stretches, that took me to create 21st CENTURY PILATES from almost 2 decades of working basically with injury recovery from the traditional pilates technique, reformers, free weight practices, ect.
this past Saturday, for the 3rd time in different YOGA classes, I injured my Terris Minor doing a inverted plank position, with an amazing teacher, the best of all, I must say, so that excluded my suspicion about the professionalism and care of the person in charge, it is a technique that is ignorant about body mechanics. Trying to heal, my chiropractor, that treats 100s of injuries from yoga, we agreed in that my judgment fail, “if it looks weird, is because it is”.

I will add, in total fairness and unbiased, that not every technique is for everybody and every "body", follow the next article.
Laura Peralta, BC-DMT
www.fusionmstudio.com www.21stcenturypilates.com

Pilates 3 downloadable DVDs series.

2011-07-15T00:46:00.000-07:00

3 downloadable DVDs series, less than $10e.

RE PATTERNING PAIN PATHS

2011-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

Much has been said about pain, from how to deal with it to the extensive pharmacological list, meditation, alternative medicine, energy work, etc. I am pretty sure that at some point in life we have all tried desperately to find a solution, not just to temporarily alleviate this interfering sensation.
When it comes to injuries, stroke, even Fibromyalgia, I have noticed a huge, fast improvement in focusing on how the brain has processed that information.
While the body's wisdom starts flagging that path as painful, other muscles and nerves around it start compensating this inflicted asymmetry. Not treated properly, and specifically I mean some PT techniques and approaches that focuses in the area specifically, creating more irritation and inflammation in the suffering area. of course this reinforces the pain path, to the degree that the individual will start developing "anticipated fear" even before starting an exercise already proven to be painful, alerting the brain again, producing a contraction in the area to protect itself from another irritation session. There is no solution here.

Using the holistic approach in seeing the body and mind as a system, so when you modify one part, the others will too, i decided to implement this technique in clients with childhood injuries, recovering from a stroke, and a mother and a daughter suffering from the incapacitating burden of Fibromyalgia. In this entry I am going to focus on them. Their chiropractor and sport medicine doctor recommended 21st Century Pilates and the tri-dimensional approach including emotional counseling and changing dramatically their eating habits.
We started with classes three times a week. Testing their tolerance more than fitness level, i noticed from the start where those pain patterns where held. Instead of pushing through the pain creating more frustration and anxiety, we would stop at the first sign of irritation, lowering down the level, and with a thought-repatterning technique from Cognitive therapy, we started seeing vast improvement in a matter of a week. I also identified what was the clients preferences and passion, dance being one of them, a dream from her teenager years, so I restructured the class in giving her what she wanted. As the first legs rise without pain and recovering the flexibility by 60%, tears poured out with joy. It is so easy to adapt and respect the person infront of you, and meet her where that person is, instead of pushing, almost shoving a theory or technique.
Her daughter advanced faster, ex soccer player and loving dance, her motivation was to be able to join a regular dance class. Being very picky in the class for her, as careful as it could be in order not to reignite the pain pattern, our goal was to make awareness of the first sign of irritation, stop and breathe, not to push through, soothe anxiety and adapt exercises. In this matter controlling frustration was the critical emotional factor in the flare up of Fibromyalgia. They were "given permission" to respect where they were, how simple this is and how hard it is to practice if you are not aware, they had to stop without feeling bad or comparing themselves to the rest of the class. "I hope you are practicing this for yourself." That was their part of the deal, and I would pass them to a group class.

Once we identified the emotional factors and pain triggers, we just avoided them, fooling the brain and working around the area so it would relax instead of contract defensively, and slowly moving forward to the area with no pain. Of course pain produces many asymmetries, so correcting the posture is fundamental for the execution of the exercise and progressing into another level. If this is not in place, the client will never progress.

I am happy to report that in less than 2 weeks, 6 classes, the daughter was joining a dance class. With the mother, we evolved into working diagonally in the body, left and right side coordination, in a progression including all levels of the brain. First looking and copying, then tracing the body part, to help the brain remap the area, then including the verbal description of the exercise while performing. This approach exceeded all my expectations. Within another two weeks (six classes), the results were beyond words.

Of course we don't only owe it to 21st century pilates, we did a complete and strict turn around with Food Combining respecting their food sensitivities and intolerance. They not only lost weight, but started eating less with reduced anxiety eating, and became more nourished in a 2 month lapse.

Emotional counseling was the other key factor; and the studio community offered them a friendly, not competitive environment to be accepted and welcomed.

We worked intensively for 3 months with stable results over time. A follow up helps us stay connected and keeps the energy active and flowing.

I love them dearly, as my community still does. I will be always thankful to them for trusting me with their bodies, their minds and most of all, their hearts.

INJURY RECOVERY

2010-02-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Laura Peralta every time you get injured, your body gets misalign to compensate, asymmetry starts to build up and your recovery time will be longer.
get align by your chiropractor, and then use PILATES as the only way to recover the symmetry and hold the alignment in place. our studio offers the best instructors in this field, trained to adjust the exercise for you and recover in 1/3rd of the time!!! BE HEATHY, BE MOVING

PT has a very different approach from 21st CENTURY PILATES. they focus in the problem area, working through the pain.

we have a holistic approach. We work the muscles strengthening all around it to protect the injury from reoccurring or going worst. we releive the tension from compensating in the complementary muscles or the other side, by stretching and lengthening.
Don't stop moving all together, our class and DVDs works your whole body, taking extra oxygen, blood flow and nutrients into the damaged area. Your recovery will be in one third of the time.
NEVER WORK OUT THROUGH PAIN. work around it to avoid irritation.
Always tell your instructor so she will be aware and will help you stay in control.
THIS IS THE ONLY BODY THAT YOU HAVE, take care of it in a healthy respectful way, and it will give the performance you want.
Laura

visit us at www.fusionmstudio.com for classes in AZ, and www.21stcenturypilates.com to have the DVDs handy.

MCL injury recovery

2010-02-13T11:26:00.001-08:00

Laura Peralta i love my classes!!! all the exercises that we do are also for MCL rehab, couldn't find a new one that we don't already do. less 17 days and i'm at 80%. Gotta love 21st century Pilates

PAIN & TENSION

2010-02-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

PAIN and TENSION

join our FUSION MOVEMENT GROUP at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=238023458769.

Post #1

You wrote14 minutes ago

so much of 21stCenturyPilates is the art in finding different adaptations when somebody is injured, or stiff or has pain.
remembering that the origins of Pilates was PT, at the studio we are excelling in creating and doing movement research for each injury protection and fast recovery.
when there is pain your body is saying "STOP doing that", we have been badly trained is associating the 80's motto "no pain no gain". Let us all send the PT bill to the person that imprinted this in the media.

Our studio has the opposite view, all our instructors follow it strictly, you feel pain, then do this exersice, still come every class, bc moving the rest of our body, helps the healing process and provides the symetry lost in a injury as we compensate.
make sure that you always tell your teacher what feels painful, we are fantastic at adapting it for you.

share your experience of recovery when coming to our Pilates class

BE MOVING, BE HEALTHY
Laura

THE BEST SOUP. BUTTER SQUAHS healthy, nutritious and low kal

2010-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

Here you go!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
½ onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh thyme
½ butternut squash – peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups chicken stock
½ cube chicken bouillon
1 pinch ground cumin
1 pinch ground allspice
Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and Thyme in the butter until onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Add the squash and chicken stock; bring to a simmer and cook until the squash is tender. 10 to 15 minutes. Crumble the bouillon into the soup; season with cumin, allspice, salt and pepper, remove from heat.

Pour soup into blender, filing the pitcher no more than halfway. Hold lid of blender in place with a kitchen towel and carefully start the blender using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a serving bowl.

Very yummy – I actually used a whole squash.

Laura no está (Italiano y Francés) Cerena Et Nek

2009-11-08T22:38:00.001-08:00

fantastic song...lets all enjoy

Joe Pilates: Contrology

2009-08-16T00:03:00.001-07:00

he is still the original inspiration, Laura Peralta and her 21st CENTURY PILATES has taken his knowledge even further with new studies of injuries and body mechanics, excluding some excersices and adapting and improving others. with the vision of DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY guiding the sequence we have taken fluidity to another level furthering body mind integration and a empowering joyful fleeling obtained with the specific sequence and posture

history JOSEPH H. PILATES

2009-08-15T23:38:00.001-07:00

wonderful clip of original moments. you can see all the adaptation, safer movements that 21stcentury pilates has improved with new body mechanics research and dance movement therapy philosophy

Hugged without permission

2008-12-30T22:33:00.000-08:00

After a28 hours flight, I noticed I was suddenly feeling happy and fulfilled…not tired as I expected.
A trip through the “time machine” to Argentina, hugged by friends, kissed by strangers like they known me for ever; snuggled in tango where words are an interference, accepting & being open to a deep connection, long conversations with a single “cortatido”,…just made me realized how comfortable and natural that was.
My house is always so populated, as there is “permission” to be close, hugs and kisses are shared as you cross my door or my studio, entering Argentinean territory, where there are no second thoughts, no under messages, no worries of “what would they say, feel, is it too long, is it appropriate?”, I would have never thought of this before, its just a different code.
Many things, encounters happened in BA, I danced for a friend answering to the question “how are you?”, having Flor as a witness, validates my feelings. I guided a Dance Movement Therapy session, feeling honored and respected as a therapist…called all the time, sharing dance space with friends, laughter…I felt awakened.
In all I can resume my visit as “togetherness”, where you don’t need a verbal permission for a hug, you just need to feel it, you just need to receive it, you just need to be you.

ZUMBA with BETO, are we having fun yet??

2008-12-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

Jan, Santiago, Laura, Beto, Krysia, Marisel & Nathalie, sweaty after class!!!

Who said that working out was an effort??? this was pure fun, plus loosing 3lb.!!!

this was an amazing, electrifying class. 274 people dancing zumba. the energy was through the roof. Fusion Movement crowd was there with always fun and spontaneity.

Our new Certified Instructors

2008-11-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

So many things have happened in these pasts months...
Our new Certified 21st Century Pilates Instructors, are up and running! I'm so proud to see how they are putting in action their passion for teaching, taking care of each student as if it was the only one. their responsibility and joy reflects my vision for those who want more.
i personally congratulate my first group of trainees, now Instructors!! i enjoy each one of our monthly meetings where questions, new info, updates, new adaptations, supervision, new exercises are shared.
Susan has a PILATES FUNDAMENTALS Mondays & Wednesday at 9, with her pleasant, calming and earthy touch. Nektaria teaching a Saturday at 10 class, has developed an interest in a dancers population, so she will be the one that will carry on my PILATES4tango sequence. Omaya, has grown her group of fan, teaching INTERMEDIATE, every Tuesday & Thursdays at 7pm for the past 3 years. the feedback is amazing and rewarding to know that every student has build a true interest in a "Health-Fit-Joyful style.
the new look of our studio is completely different and reflect our mission. everybody is invited to see our new home. 7850 east Evans #106, Scottsdale az. www.fusionmstudio.com

hidden in the sodas

2008-09-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this on the blog: I saw these ads on two different nights. I couldn't believe they were pushing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCs) and totally putting a blanket over how bad they are and misleading the general public. I came across the following info about the evils of HFCs just by chance in my book "YOU The Owner's Manual- An Insider's Guide to the Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger: Hold the Syrup: Your digestive system has two main hormones that control hunger and appetite Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and increases your appetite. When your stomach's empty, it sends ghrelin out requesting food. Leptin tells your brain that you're full. When you eat, your fat cells secrete it so that you stop eating. One of the biggest evil influences on our diet is the presence of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sugar substitute that itself is a sugar found in soft drinks and many other sweet, processed foods. The problem is that HFCS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you're full. And it never shuts off ghrelin, so, even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that your hungry. Many food manufacturers may eliminate fat but make up for its taste with sugar and HFCS-Which are simply empty calories that serve no nutritional purpose.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsgXPt564Q&NR=1
Susan

Evolution of Dance

2008-08-15T19:37:00.003-07:00

end your day with a smile :)

Evolution of Dance

2008-08-15T19:37:00.001-07:00

end your day with a smile :)

Girl Smile

2008-08-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

A good woman is proud of herself.
She respects herself and others.
She is aware of who she is.
She neither seeks definition from the person she is with, nor does she expect them to read her mind. She is quite capable of articulating her needs.
A good woman is hopeful. She is strong enough to make all her dreams come true.
She knows love, therefore she gives love. She recognizes that her love has great value and must be reciprocated. If her love is taken for granted, it soon disappears.
Agood woman has a dash of inspiration, a dabble of endurance.
She knows thatshe will, at times, have to inspire others to reach the potential God gavethem.
A good woman knows her past, understands her present and moves toward the future.
A good woman knows God. She knows that with God the world is her playground, but without God she will just be played.
A good woman does not live in fear of the future because of her past.
Instead, she understands that her life experiences are merely lessons, meant tobring her closer to self knowledge and unconditional self love.
Girl Smile .....ANN

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY !!!

2008-07-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

In Argentina, we have a very special day.
A day to celebrate friendship, loyalty, laughter and tears, endless conversations and those looks where words are redundant.
…today is that day. It is really very easy, we let names come up from our hearts, because they have been there one way or the other.
Today or yesterday..
No matter in what part of the world I am, I still celebrate this day.
Feliz dia del AMIGO!!
Post, Call or send a message to those that have touched your heart…
Laura P.

to my son

2008-07-18T00:36:00.000-07:00

Absence.
Emptiness of a moment that it has been tried to be hide.
Routine. Busyness.
One heart that beat out of rhythm
In the darkness of a moment.

Yes, of course I can live without you,
Yes of course life goes on.
Yes, so much blah, blah..

But at the end of the day,
I’m confronted
with the silence of an empty chair,
An empty room,
An empty ventricle,
That struggles
to by pass the day ..
to by pass the night…
With out noticing your …
Not not being here.
It’s what not being here means.
What represents,
What entails…

PERFECT MOMENT 1, the origin

2008-07-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

Some of you asked me for the original "perfect moment, 07", so this is it. Now you have the line of perfect moment 1, 2 and CLICK, by Santiago. I post this thoughts in the hope that you'll want to share yours. As this is personal, please write about what this made YOU feel and think. The more we share it the more we promote and enhance our awareness to live this life to each moment.
-"I was sleeping in bed holding onto my husband arm, and I started spontaneously praying. After each Holly Father I was thanking for something, after each holly Mary I was thanking for something else…and my eyes opened wide awake and I surprised myself in one of those “perfect moments” were I was feeling truly happy, grateful and spontaneously praying!. I knew that this was an example of a thankful exercise. I thought to myself in the darkness and warm bed, “I’ll write it tomorrow”, but I knew better, to remember having epiphanies in a almost dreaming stage and then forgetting in the morning. By this time I was wide awake and determined to write it up.
as I was holding my husbands hand and pressing it to any part of my skin, I was thankful that with all these traveling he arrives always safe, and once more, today he was home and happy to see us;
I was thankful that one of my sons was at ASU and offered to pick him up, as I was driving to a doctors appointment as an emergency…and I prayed.
As soon as they see me they get me in for a shot, that I have resisted for many years, watching my mother suffering from them. Leaving with a sharp pain running through my right leg from the dark substance I limped to the pharmacy, thinking “wow my lips feel better already”. I remember looking up and I felt thankful” for that. I prayed. I paid gladly the expensive new prescription antihistamine, because I took in account the personal journey and extensive experience with this ailment from a caring, deep and generous beautiful lady, that share her path with me. I was paying attention!, and I was thankful for that. Immediately I felt thankful to have the $60 + 25 + 25 available to not even have to hesitate. And as I was driving, I was letting go of my earlier feeling of anger : “having a day stolen from my life”. Holly Father…
Then it came to me, being thankful to have called and asked for help. My friend without letting me finish my explanation said, “I’ll do it, you rest and we’ll meet some other day”. How thankful could I feel of having a friend like this!.
Even with my breaking heart of knowing her plans ahead, I felt thankful because in my, now flooded eyes, I felt the tears of the friends I left in Buenos Aires, now understanding the one endless year of grieving the good byes. This is not the first time that I feel this, but it sure feels like one. Many, many thoughts and body memories of laughter, hours of talking and listening, witnessing her growth… I’m so thankful for that. And I prayed… I took an extra 25mg to make sure that I would make time to see her and catch up after she was done, and we did!. I’m thankful for that. Holly…
As I was rounding my prayers, I thought to my self –“isn’t this a perfect moment?!”, with joy and tears, saying a thankful prayer at 1:26am in my dark bedroom.
And then I thought again, and I realized that the perfect moment doesn’t exist, it is just perfect because I “see” the great things, the good things are “up in the front”. It is perfect because the not great things (my husband being away for work; looking un-presentable, not been able to pick up my husband at his arrival, not been able to teach, to be depleted of energy, that I couldn’t walk because of the pain from the shot, a prescription drug, how expensive it was, my friend leaving…) still existing and all true, were “put in the back”. Where or how would I be, if I focus in the not so perfect things???!!!.
It was my choice. Was it? I was asleep. Then I have to believe, that even in a very bad day, were I felt frustrated and angry, wanting to crawl back into bed; something lit up, something clicked, when I was less aware. My unconscious and my spirit were saying -“No, you can’t think that only one side of the coin exists, you have to look and “see” the other side.” Then I thought. Of course, only God is perfect, He has no sides, He’s whole. He might be awake and frustrated with my feelings about my day.
With humble, I accept my imperfection, and I’m thankful, that my belief is stored in my cells somewhere, and they remembered this truth: “even when it’s cloudy, the sun is always there” .
I discover something else. That I’ve made some active choices tonight, and that there is no good or bad time to make them. A good choice can happen at 3;22am in my kitchen table."-
Laura

FRIENDSHIP

2008-07-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Friendship

Today my mom and I went to see Sex and the City. I thought it would be just another movie. I was looking forward to spending time with her but not prepred for the outpour of emotion that came from such a silly movie. I've been here in KS about 6 months now. I love being close to my family. I have the job that I dreamed of that gives me the perfect balance between work/life. I'm excercising, taking care of myself mentally and physically. But today I was reminded why there is a part of me that feels empty and incomplete- friends. I have grown to love each of you as if you were my sister. The studio was a safe place for me. A place that I felt loved, accepted, needed, and wanted. So whether you were someone I spent time with outside of class, or just shared the place next to me on the mat, know that I carry your energy with me every day. Life will continue, environments change, people move on. But you will never be far from my heart. All my love

Carrie

when syncronicity strikes

2008-06-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight,
One more time,
Escaping loneliness
And embracing being alone,
I submerge into my thoughts
As they are been challenged by two young minds.

Gathered by the hunger of understanding,
Attracted by what each other gives and receives,
Tonight, I fear none,
At the edge of a future
Only equal by the passion of my teenager years.

Little that I knew,
That intensity for life will always be in my days.

Learning how to be
In each unexpected moment,
When synchronicity strikes
And opportunity taps me on the shoulder.
I’ve been confronted with my fears,
Lately, more that ever,
And with my pocket full of endless excuses,
I grasp for air as I find my self saying yes,
And giving into an unknown situation
I somehow trust that I have what it takes.

Resisting the “freakiness” of these manifestations
Is a different story…

-Don’t run away,
Don’t be afraid,
Calm down…, breathe.., wait.., stay…-
My only prayer is
-..”see what you need to see”-…

laura

another CLICK by Santiago Peralta

2008-06-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

CLICK
It being 9 am in the morning and just arriving to the model’s apartment makes me wanna go to bed, but I can’t just yet. With the reaction of my perfect moment, I am compelled to share yet another story with you while it is still fresh in my mind…
Tuesday, June 17th… 10 PM my time, so 7 PM Arizona time. One of my best friends, Mike Anderson calls me up because we had agreed that we were losing touch a little bit and that we wanted to continue our talks about life, and philosophy and essentially our evolution as people. Ready for a long conversation about life, I am stunned by his reply of “I am going to pick up my new car” to the question what are you up to? I immediately ask for a development of his past statement and he quickly responds that he is going to pick up his new Jaguar XF. Suddenly everything clicks, and I remember that he told me that he entered a contest to win a Jaguar XF and today was the drawing, at 7:30 at Casino Arizona.
Both of us being followers of the “Secret,” we get in the mentality that he already won the car and the only step is to receive it. After a few idealistic, yet potentially true phrases exchange, he asks for my help to win the car. As his best friend, that was a rhetorical question at best. My next move was meditation; I knew that if he wanted that car, he needed my positive energy and the fastest way to get there was through a concentration of thankful and positive experiences.
After we hang up the phone, I go outside, sit down on the ground and pray. Not pray for him to win the car, or pray for him to be happy, but I pray to get into a positive trance. I think of vacations, trips, moments in my life that made my life, family, friends, but most of all, smiles. Smiles are what make me one of the happiest people on earth, and just thinking of all the people that care about me and that had genuinely smiled at me in the past propels me into the state of bliss that is not only unrivaled, but also unaffected by the material world. By now, my smile takes up most of my face and my eyes are already watering. Seconds after I achieve this state, Mike calls back.
He had gone to the wrong casino, and it was already 7:45, but fortunately he had just found out that he had until 8:10 to register. I could sense his energy through his tone of voice and the emotion in his speech was unmistakable; he was where I was. For no reason now, two best friends were laughing on the phone telling each other how amazing it was to be in this state and how fun it was going to be to drive this car. Ha ha nothing could bring us down… we were once again at the top of the world.
Mike then meets up with our mutual friend Ron and our phone call comes to an end. Our state of mind, however, did not falter. 3000 miles away we fed off each other’s energy.
My manager calls me up shortly after the conversation with Mike ends and announces to me that I have to wake up at 4 am so I can do a morning show for a News station. Sensing his fear and frustration, I gladly accept this job.
One more text message is exchanged in between Mike and me… a wish for good luck. I attempt to fall asleep, but at 12:10 am, I get a phone call from Mike saying that he did not get the Jaguar, some black guy had gotten it were his expressions. The voice was not content, but not bothered. And to my astonishment, not for one second I had lost faith or happiness.
4, 4:05, 4:10… ring ring ring… My alarms go off and a touch on the shoulder of my agent accompanies my last alarm. With the gentle, “Santiago, it’s time to wake up,” a playful “I’m up, What’s crackin?” responds. What? Why was I so energetic?? Why was I so happy? This was just stupid, now. I am not a morning person, it is 4 am, on 3 and a half bad hours of sleep. I am confused. As I make it to the kitchen half-dressed, I chow down with a tiny red delicious on one hand, and a carton of “Hawaii” juice (Yes, that’s the pineapple, peach, orange kind) on the other. Brushing my teeth, I noticed that I was actually rather awake. I finished getting ready, grabbed a Cliffbar, threw my backpack on and shoved the Ipod default headphones in my ears. I made my way down stairs by 4:34, out the door by 4:35. Strangely, right on time.
Wait, I realized I didn’t have my train ticket one minute into the walk to the Ditmars Blvd. subway station. Picked up a light jog back to the apartment, received a very strange “what the hell are you doing back?” look from my agent, which was replied by an “I forgot my train ticket” smile by me. Again, running a little late, I calmly jogged to the train station, but not before I swapped headphones. I did not feel like being disturbed by the outside world, I was way too happy, and horn honks and city noises just did not appeal to me at 5 in the morning. So I put on some, might I say pretty baller, in-ear, noise-cancelling headphones on and I threw the other ones in the top pocket of my backpack.
Sitting in the subway listening to Go On by Jack Johnson, it came to me. It clicked. Damn, I can’t believe I did not think about it before. My accomplice in always being positive, Mike, had to hear this. I flipped open my Krazr, and texted, word-by-word, “Wow something just slapped me in the face… hard lol… the contest last night wasn’t for the car, it was for the energy… you noticed how excited we were about something so minute… it was an opportunity to give thanks and be as happy as we can be… we re never gonna win contests like that, we work too hard for s**t to be that easy… If it was that easy, we would enjoy it for like 10 minutes and then it wouldn’t matter anymore… But because you still don’t have that car, I don’t know about you but I woke up at 4 am happy as f**k overflowing with energy and that’s when it hit me… its to show us that every moment is an opportunity to be happy no matter what happens… make sense?” Yes, I actually sent that long of a text at 5 am. The response came in the form of an “I love u and ur right.” A few more texts were exchanged, but that is not the point.
We sent out to the universe, that we want to be happy, that we enjoy positive energy and that we thrive on it… What do we get in return? A car? Hell, no. What would something so materialistic and simple do for us? What is 10 minutes of happiness in comparison with days worth of it? What we got in return was the opportunity to be happy. The opportunity to call your best friend who is all the way across the country and unify your energies to make a random moment the happiest that we can. The opportunity to crystallize a simple hope into a powerful happiness without the hope ever becoming concrete. And what did we do? We did just that. We took a moment, and we made it our moment. We used our human nature to develop into a fulfillment of desire without anything becoming true in this material world. Everything happened in our minds, “hearts” and “souls.” So maybe we are wrong, maybe this material world is not all there is. Maybe our true happiness does come from the inside. Maybe we do need to change our inside, before we can even think about changing our surroundings. Or maybe, as we change our inside, and as we fill ourselves with positive energy, the outside world adapts to us; it adapts to our own energy.
Maybe someday, this will click for you too. Maybe, it already has. Just make sure that when it does, take it for what it is. And be honest with yourself. Don’t lie to yourself and tell yourself that that is what you believe in and then get mad because you spilt a cup of coffee, or because you have “too much homework,” or whatever your self-handicap may be. Just remember, that at the end of the day, you can’t fool yourself about being happy. It is your right to be happy, and it is your job that you are happy. It is your responsibility. So maybe it is time that you make it happen, otherwise, what’s the point?

1st generation of 21st CENTURY CERTIFIED INSTRUCTORS

2008-06-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

yesterday we started the training, all of the applicant, and me, were soo excited and ready.
This group, which i've known for many, many years are ready to open their minds to a new dimention of learning: to learn who to teach. The training is intense and thorough, there is a lot of materials that i've collected through 2 decades and selected what really works.
I know that Jayne, Marcie, Ann, Carrie, Emily, Nektaria, Omaya, Susan share my passion in health and in sharing, as the curiosity of knowing and wanting more.
This fist selected group of ladies will carry my vision : "BEAUTIFUL BODY, POSITIVE LIFE"to reach people that they just don't settle for an OK life.
I'm honored.

Perfect moment 2-

2008-06-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

Perfect moment 2-
As seen by Santiago Peralta
Saturday at 11:18 am. As my mom, not mother, has stated in her perfect moment, there is no bad or good time to make a good or bad decision. She made hers at 3:22, I made mine at 11:18. Mine, however, was different, she stumbled upon her perfect moment, I picked mine. It was when I realized that not only perfect moments can happen anytime anywhere, but also by choice.
I stood next to the kitchen counter, the house being deserted by my parents, and my bro, not brother, out cold in his bed, and I just gazed outside. I thought to myself after looking around and reminiscing upon one of my favorite breakfasts: in about five minutes, its gonna happen to me. That perfect moment, I know it is. It started as soon as I thought about it. I took my Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and a banana. As I peeled half of the banana (one half for my stomach’s instant gratification purposes and the other for my cereal), I already felt relieved. And that’s when I began thinking about my mom’s perfect moment, and I began pondering upon if I should write about it and share it with people. Right after that thought cautiously entered my mind, it quickly evolved into an: is it my duty to share it with people? Is it my responsibility? It became a rather simple internal conflict that led to where I am right now.
Anyways, after topping off my cereal with what was left off the original banana, I proceeded, already with a smile on my face, to adding soy milk. All of this was my mom’s fault by the way as she was the one who essentially turned me off anything that is not at least partially healthy. As I finished my breakfast preparations for my perfect moment, I looked around one last time. A mild smile turned heavy, which in turn, shifted into a laughter of absolutely pure joy. As my eyes squinted more and more, they began to tear up a little bit. The first drop slowly came down my right cheek and as I wiped it with the backside of my right hand and looked at it, I realized that I had began to appreciate life. I had gone back to being a child pointlessly chasing after bubbles and having the time of my life doing it.
So as I took my first bite of crispy flakes and crunchy oat clusters, my memories splashed me with a surge of indomitable emotion. All positive. A smile with a side of laughter was unavoidable now. And as I looked outside repeatedly an intense aesthetic moment allowed the first part of one of my favorite quotes began to make sense: “all nature is but art, unknown to thee.” I was able to see the beauty behind the common. And it was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever experienced; life made sense, and I saw that it was meant to be beautiful and abundant. From that moment on, every chance I get, I allow myself to go into that trance. I allow my eyes to be opened by the natural beauty of the universe and to appreciate everything for what it is.
One of the things that I noticed about my perfect moment is that as we are socialized by work, the educational system and like things, we lose the essence of being human. We lose that love for the simplest things and we only seem to be satisfied by those things that we can’t achieve. And even if we achieve the unachievable, we do not give ourselves time to appreciate it, we just move along to the next goal. We seamlessly idle through time thinking that we reach our potential only when we rush through everything. When the truth is that when we rush through everything, something dies in us. Our passion dies; our happiness dies. And a mundane, all too ordinary life takes over… so how do we change this?
Make your moment. Create, don’t conform. Make your breakfast the ideal moment of your life. Reminisce and bathe in all the good memories in your life over a bowl of cereal or a tall caramel machiatto at the local Starbucks. Laugh to laugh and smile to smile. Do it privately and publicly without fear of being judged or criticized. Start living your dream today and become the change you wish to see.
Alexander Pope once said:
“All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right”
Allow yourself to be inspired, appreciated, loved, taught, swept off your feet, whatever you want to be… and you will be

SPECIAL SUNDAY FOR MOTHERS

2008-05-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

for those arms that were always there
for that comforting smile as we bumped our heads
for that special look that would stop us from wrong doing
for the eternal forgiveness
for the endless love
for all those nights of cold bathtubs and thermometers
for those times that we looked for them in the audience
for all the band aids

now we have become one
and now we now what all those "for" are about.
in each gesture, in each nag and snug,
in so many ways alike and completely different
in our hearts and in every lucky heart
we now,
that there is only one particular being
that would qualify for such a life.

today we thank our mothers
the perfect and the imperfect ones.
today allow to be thanked to for all those 'fors'
and those that we weren't even aware of.
today our hearts can rest of worrying.
....but just for today!!!

happy mother's day
WITH ALL MY RESPECTS.
LAURA

post your mother's day message here. thanks

welcome to our new shared space !!!

2008-05-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hello & Welcome to this exiting shared space.

for more than 9 years now, we have been exchanging secrets and recipes among the Pilates students fans. Now we will make it bigger and available to everyone that chooses a Healthy and Joyful lifestyle.

here we'll share recipes, beauty secrets, suggestions about treatments that work, things to avoid, comments about the classes and exercises, advise to others, thank you notes, invitations to events, good quotes...
my vision is to have a Positive exchange of information, feelings and findings.
i want to invite all the ladies that have tried THE TRI-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH; pilates, nutrition and emotional support to share their experiences with the group. also i encourage you to post a before and after picture, so we can all admire you.
How 21st century Pilates have helped you, in private or group classes, how are you liking the bands ex.?
always sign with your name
there are some rules. always be polite and respectful; if you have a recipes, make sure that is low calories and fat and is compliant with Laura's FOOD COMBINING(if you have any questions, email to me first). no advertising please or check with me.
always email me at laura@fusionmstudio.com, with any questions.

i'm very excited to have this new tool

21st Century Pilates

2007-08-16T09:51:00.001-07:00

21st Century Pilates

http://www.fusionmstudio.com/21stcenturypilates/home_eng.htm