BIG NEWS - NEW OWNERS AT PENDLETON!

I am turning 50 in January. When I turned 40, I hadn't even considered teaching Pilates or running a wellness business or publishing a novel or writing a play. The last 10 years have been extraordinary and one of the things I am most grateful for is Pendleton Pilates. I opened a two-reformer studio in the fall of 2001. Now, we have four studios in the system and the best teachers ever.

And now, it is time for me to turn over the reins to new business partners Kate Graham and Sonya McDonnell. As of today, Pendleton Pilates will now be officially owned and operated by Loveland and West Chester owners, Kate and Sonya. Lucky for all of you that Kate and Sonya are equally terrific and the studio will operate much in the same way as it always has. That said, Kate and Sonya are really looking forward to working closely with all of you to make Pendleton Pilates the best Pilates experience possible. You will hear from them very soon as they begin to innovate for an even stronger studio system.

Also, I will remain involved as founder and as an educator. I will assist with teacher training and help Sonya and Kate whenever they need me. I look forward to teaching workshops soon. The rest of the time I will be focusing on the True Body Project, my writing work, and whatever new exciting thing comes my way this decade ... that which I can't even see yet is the most exciting of all.

I am eternally grateful to so many people, beginning with Lou Buschle, Kate Graham and Sonya McDonnell for helping me keep Pendleton Pilates a resource for so many people. And to all the instructors and clients with whom I have worked in the past many years, I am deeply moved by all of you. I look forward to more opportunities to move our bodies and learn our way to wellness together.

Hats off to Kate and Sonya and enjoy the next decade of Pendleton Pilates!

I think someone has planted an idea in my head!!

I just saw the movie INCEPTION and totally dig the idea of how powerful an idea can be, once planted. I know these ideas. Sometimes they say, "Make me a story." Sometimes they say, "Make me a play. No, wait, a MUSICAL! I want to be a musical!" And sometimes, like today, they are saying "Change your life. Do it. You are turning 50 next year. What the hell?"

I also know that right now, the cosmos is in a turmoil and is making most everyone on the planet feel this way. In layman's terms, I understand this summer is one giant astrological cluster f*&^k. Most everyone I meet is feeling a bit, or a lot, like just ditching their lives for something more ... um ... well ... different. That's the crazy thing about this idea. It is insisting on change and it doesn't even know what sort it is looking for.

So today, since I am feeling completely crazy and unsure about what voice to listen to, I am instead returning to the things I know that will help me sort it all out, the things that will help me ease into a knowing. That means I need to eat, sleep, breathe, read, move, dance, pray, love. I need to take baby steps. I need to examine my feelings of fear and frustration. And I need to ease up on myself.

And how about you? How are you holding up this crazy summer?

I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees.

This is not my line. I wish it was. It is from a song by The National. And I am obsessed with it.

I am gearing up for entire week of workshopping a musical I am working on called THE VIVIAN GIRLS.

You can learn more about it here .... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1044012638/the-vivian-girls-a-musical.

It is based on the mythology created by outsider artist Henry Darger. I am writing the book and lyrics and the magical Peter Adams is the composer. Heather Britt is the choreographer. And now, for the next week, 12 actors, a director, music director, etc. will be working with us to see what this piece really wants to be.

I am trying today to get prepared. I am done writing so I am trying to clean out the cobwebs in my brain, anything that is pretentious or fearful, and calling in everything that speaks to beauty and truth and the deep knowing available to us. If we listen carefully. And good.

I am getting there by reading beautiful words and listening to beautiful music and staring at beautiful pictures. I am asking The National and Rilke and James Salter and Henry Darger and Amy Cutler to let me in the club, if only for a week, so I can stay true. So I can listen. So I can get out of the way of the story that already exists.

Teaching Taylor Swift Pilates!

I am so excited. I get to teach Taylor Swift and her dancers Pilates on Sunday. Good thing I had some practice with Cincinnati's finest - Exhale Dance Co. dancers!

Oh and not to mention, Cincinnati's finest Pilates students ... all of you wonderful Pendleton clients.

I will report.

The quiet of winter, the silence of loss.

About a month ago, Nick and I put our cat, Molly, to sleep.

We rescued her from a shelter in Tremont, Ohio, when we were living in Cleveland Heights. This was 16 years ago. Nick picked her out. She was a polydactyl, so with an extra toe on each paw, she looked like a tiny boxer. Nick was 8 years old at the time. On the way home, he tried to hold her as best he could. Her tiny claws poked at him. He shook. He was nervous and excited. He named her Molly. I have no idea why.

As is often the way with family pets, she ended up in my care. I have moved seven times since then. I have had nine lives since then. But Molly was constant.

She drove me nuts.

About once a week, I truly paid attention to her. The rest of the time, I tolerated her quirks. I stirred her food for her since she liked me to pay attention to her Friskies even when I had just opened the can. She woke me up every morning, meowing in my face. I would push her off the bed and we would repeat the drill until I woke up to feed her.

Over the winter, she started eating less. I watched her napping one day and noticed her breath moved through her body like a wave, getting stuck somewhere mid-ribcage. We took her to the vet and they took 9 ounces of fluid from her lungs. She had heart disease, one of four diseases that an old cat gets.

Up until the last day, she purred every time I got close to her and rubbed her head. When she stopped drinking, she stopped purring. Nick was the one who called it: "It's time."

We were at the vet in an hour, holding her, petting her. They asked if we were ready. We said we were. They inserted a shot into her catheter and by the time the nurse's thumb had moved a quarter of an inch, Molly was gone.

I have never before watched an animate being become inanimate. I have never before seen a living creature die. It is humbling. It is mind-boggling. I am happy to have been given the chance to practice this experience on a pet before a human.

I never expected to feel so deeply saddened by this loss. I do not know how my friends who have weathered far worse have done it.

My home is so quiet. Who knew souls have such a big sound?

I yearn for the birds to fill the void. I am eager for the sounds of spring to tell me that I can survive another loss. A bigger one. Because I will have to. We all have to.

For now, I am humbled by the quiet of winter and the silence of loss.

Be ignited, or be gone.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, proper-
ly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is sug-
gestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don't think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of--indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.

Mary Oliver

PILATES ON SALE!

If you are already a Pilates fan or have been thinking about it, now is the time to get busy at Pendleton.

ALL PACKAGES ARE 10% OFF DURING DECEMBER. And you can split package payments into two payments, one month apart, if that helps. Contact us at info@pendletonpilates.com or at 513-478-3232 for more info!

So if you've been overindulging of late and are ready to find your best body and your best self again, we hope to see you soon.