<![CDATA[Sayezz Pilates & Beyond | Pilates | Gyrotonic | Virtual Classes

<![CDATA[Sayezz Pilates & Beyond | Pilates | Gyrotonic | Virtual Classes | Membership - the bodymind experience]]>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 03:02:50 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[“wait, did i do that right?”]]>Fri, 30 Jul 2021 14:52:43 GMThttps://www.sayezz.com/mindful-blog/wait-did-i-do-that-rightyou tell me, friend. i don’t know what your “right and wrong” scale is.

moi? i don’t have one. especially for you. especially for movement. sometimes your choreography may look different than what i envisioned. i see that has a sign of your own brilliant awareness and your deep listening to your body. it makes me so excited for you and our partnership. it’s reassuring that i’m teaching the way i want to teach.

pourquoi? because the notion of “right” and “wrong” especially in movement does not exist. there is simply no such thing. unless you hold up an ideal. and that’s just some patriarchal bullshit.

(have you sighed with relief yet? i hope so.)

perfectionism is something that 1) i’ve had to undo in my own relationship to myself and 2) is just so counterproductive. there’s no such thing as “perfect” unless we agree on some idealized and fictitious notion of it. and why would we do that when variation and uniqueness are literally all over the place in nature?

my face when you ask if you did it “right”.

i’ve been really drawn to flowers lately, especially roses, sunflowers and lavender. partly because they live in our yard; partly because there are fields of tournesols and lavandes on our frequent trips to the maternité. perhaps it’s for the obvious comparisons that Georgia O’Keeffe significantly has already made…

and ya know what? i never find myself counting the petals on a rose or comparing the pink ones to the red ones. i never say to myself, “oh, this sprig of lavender is better than that one because it has just the ‘right’ amount of stem”. instead, i sweep my fingers on a bunch and bring the tips to my nose to inhale the calming aroma. the same with sunflowers and their seeds - it takes too much energy to count them all anyway.

plus, i’m a left-handed person, so the entire concept of something being “right” and thus “correct” is simply more bullshit. language is important here. you can be “left out”. “oh, we’re having leftovers again.” i’ve been watching the Olympics, particularly enthralled with the new event of skateboarding where you’re either in “regular” (right preferred) stance or “goofy” stance (left preferred). and in some ways, i’m grateful to be “irregular” in a structure so strong in the notion of its “right-ness”. i get to go against the norm.

but, again, in movement, there is simply no place for that kind of thinking. it’s not productive, it doesn’t help us gain confidence in our own body, and it sets up a binary that is just so damn passé. how can a movement be “wrong”? what is the scale or parameter set up for lifting your arm overhead, for example, that makes one way of doing it right and another way of doing it wrong? is it safety? is it aesthetics? is it from an anatomical perspective? is it from an efficiency perspective?

each of those perspectives come with their own rubrics, and are thus inherent upon judging. perhaps we cannot help it, judging, or needing a structure. so i’m here to remind you of the ultimate structure, and i feel a bit like a broken record, because all these words are simply another way of saying, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. it’s the only structure we need to guide us into that knowing. this is as important a practice as the movement itself.

long story short, i will never tell you what you’re doing is right or wrong, because movement is not a moral issue. i encourage you to rid yourself of those words as much as you can in movement and in daily life. especially as well move through the world in our own unique bodies. “unique” being the key word here.

wanna get more messages of support and movement flows to boot? why not sign up for my newsletter? plus, you’ll get a FREE 3-day taste of membership challenge, where you'll practice stimulating your chakras, a full-body mat flow, and finish with a feel-good pilateStretch class - all in the name of self-love and self-care. it’ll do your bodymindspirit good, and, you deserve it!

sign me up

]]><![CDATA[“you’ll get your body back”]]>Sun, 18 Jul 2021 15:25:37 GMThttps://www.sayezz.com/mindful-blog/youll-get-your-body-backbut wait - where’d my body go? i’ve heard that pregnancy is a means to an end, and that it’s okay, i’ll soon have my body back. i know this is meant to soothe me as i’m an active person living in an active body. and i truly appreciate this sentiment. thank you. but i believe the assumption is, perhaps, that i somehow feel limited with this pregnant belly and all the sensations that go along with it.

i’m here to tell you that the opposite is true. sure i have my fears about stretch marks and the extra weight. that’s partly hormones, partly ego. i definitely need to rest more, and i don’t mind going for slow, short walks these days. it’s difficult to put my socks on, rolling over in bed is a challenge, and every time i get up out of a chair, i need to fully engage my breath and use my arms to support my growing belly. i suppose all those shifts may seem limiting. but “limiting” simply isn’t the correct word. it’s a different experience, for sure! and actually, i think all of it is pretty hilarious. i mean, i can’t put my socks on easily anymore. that’s freaking funny.

honestly, my body has never been his alive, and i have never been this deeply in awe of what my body is doing. and i’ve done some stuff in my time. i trekked the 40 mile Maryland stretch of the Appalachian Trail in a single day; i climbed Mt. Whitney in about 17 hours; i danced continuously for 3 weeks in Durham, NC during American Dance Festival; i travelled to India and danced 10 performances in 13 days; i decided to begin running 5K races and either won my age group or overall female. i say this not to toot my horn (toot! toot!) but just to give everyone you a sense of the physicality i’ve engaged in over my 40 years on this planet.

whose body is this, really?

the difference now, with this little being growing inside of me, is that i’m literally doing nothing to make it happen. without me even trying, my skin and belly and bones and ligaments are expanding. my beautiful friend and colleague Tarnie Fulloon said it best, when she was helping me to rid my mind and body fears and emotional clogs, “pregnancy is something that happens to you”. now all i have to do it witness it. my body is HERE AND NOW, and possibly the most present it’s ever been. it’s literally alive with a little starseed inside who moves, consumes, excretes, rests, pumps it heart, all on its own rhythm. with a bit of assistance from my own rhythm and heartbeat and body. of course, i’m sleeping, eating, moving as best i can pour moi et le bébé. even still, the baby moves without any impetus from me. we are part of each other, and we are sharing this beautiful time together. but it is its own being already. that’s pretty damn remarkable.

admittedly, my feeling toward “getting my body back” ebbs and flows. i try not to go down the rabbit hole of comparison of pregnant folx i see in social media in their full on yoga practice, or stretch practice, or even remembering my dancer friends (most of my friends had babies in their late twenties), and how they performed 6 months preggers! when i feel that i should be doing more, i have to say to myself, aloud sometimes, “that’s not my story.” i repeat that until i feel grounded in the present. and then i get on with my day.

in some ways, my experience of this new growing body is kinda like the pandemic has been for me: in many ways, i don’t WANT to go back to the “way it was”. hence, um, the fact that i’m now en France in a tiny town of 500 people in la campagne navigating this new life with Ludo all while enceinte, preggerinos. i know my body won’t be exactly the same as before. actually, I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be better.

all that said, do i look forward to the day where i can lay on my belly or do a full pull up again? where i can join you for abdominals in class? HELL YES! where i can go for a simple run or pick up heavy boxes again? where i can look down and see my vagina or walk up a flight of stairs without being winded? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT! and i trust that my body will recover and be able to do again. there is just so much newness in this fascinating body growing and developing before my eyes and under my fingers and all this swirling life under my skin. it’s as if i’m truly a witness for the first time in my life to the incredible human body. and it’s MINE. that’s possibly the most exciting and bizarre reality to grasp.

the overall lesson here? there’s no rush to transition through this bodily experience, whatever yours is. this body is an anchoring to the present, it’s a reminder that we were never really in control of the perfect mechanism that is the human form, anyway, so why not sit back and encourage it to receive whatever it is it may need?

sign me up

]]><![CDATA[to keep a daily routine, or not to keep a daily routine?]]>Mon, 12 Jul 2021 10:30:22 GMThttps://www.sayezz.com/mindful-blog/to-keep-a-daily-routine-or-not-to-keep-a-daily-routinethat is the question, really. if you’ve ever taken class with me, you know that i like variety. you do too - you’ve told me so! so thanks for that. it’s also the same approach i take to setting a daily workout regimen or fitness “goals”. i know some of us lament not being able to set a daily routine. moi aussi! but here’s the thing: it seems that every time i resolve - out loud, or in my calendar, or simply telepathically to myself - something, i.e. my body, objects. why? because our bodies know what’s best. period. and sometimes a repetitive routine simply ain’t it.

when i was a young competitive gymnast, my lungs and left lower back objected at certain points in my training to the extreme and repetitive movement, stress and chalk. as a 19 year old Division I athlete, my left knee objected to the lack of sleep and shit diet i subscribed to my first two years of college. eventually, those injuries and misalignments added up to a mysterious lower back/hip thing - the PT i went to for help said, incredulously, “did you pull your glute max?” - when i decided to run 5K races in my mid-twenties whilst continuing to dance professionally. in graduate school for dance and choreography - though i survived a full professional, 15-year dance career - my left hip (do you see a pattern??) developed a pull injury that physical therapy sorta helped. and most recently, my pregnant body and lax ligaments objected to my resolve to practice a 10 minute weights and balance regimen every day. i was super excited to discover a squat and balance flow - nothing crazy y’all - and literally said out loud, “i’m gonna do this every day!” welp, the next morning, my right elbow said, “nope, you’re not!” as i was in quite a bit of “tennis elbow” discomfort, apparently, a normal side-effect of pregnant bodies.

i realize i’m able-bodied and extremely fortunate to have been able to perform at a high level of sports and physical movement in general over a long period of time. if i want to continue i ABSOLUTELY MUST listen to my body. i’m getting better at letting go of the urge to, in some ways, force my body to comply with what my brain thinks is best.

“premature labor”

and you know what? it’s liberating. yesterday i helped my mother-in-law dead head the roses and rake the leaves. lots of squatting and reaching involved. the day before i wheeled the barrow for Ludo who clipped the hedge. lots of walking and light upper body and back connection involved. i also taught Pilates class and played on my yoga trapeze. Ludo and i went for a bike ride last week. and my body has not objected to the variety of daily tasks, gardening, and bodymind movement all thrown together.

i know it’s tempting to want to enforce a routine on our body and set objective goals. and by all means DO if it makes you happy, floats your boat, and is sustainable. the takeaway then? 1) listen to your body, and 2) no need to beat yourself up if it objects to a regimen you want to keep up. shift it a little. there are zillions of ways incorporate daily movement, strength, and stretching routines. at least at this stage in my life, it’s all about creativity, variety and ease. where can you find the flow, friend?

sign me up!

]]><![CDATA[a new appreciation for the deep core]]>Sun, 04 Jul 2021 17:10:39 GMThttps://www.sayezz.com/mindful-blog/a-new-appreciation-for-the-deep-corei’ve always known, felt, and appreciated the deep core. from allowing me to cast to handstand on bars as a young competitive gymnast, to running fast down the lacrosse field, to hanging upside down on the Cadillac, to feeling connected in hamstrings series on the Gyro Tower. i’ve just never quite known, felt, and appreciated their full importance as the true center of being until now, during ma grossesse, my pregnancy.

i’m a pilates teacher, so of course j’adore the “core”. but oh my universe! do i have a newfound appreciation for it now that all of it - front, back, side-to-side, abdominals, back, hips, pelvic floor and diaphragm - are growing, expanding, shifting, and/or squishing beyond what seems possible, all on top of and around the bébé inside. here’s a few examples of what i mean; lately, i totes feel the importance of my abbies especially when -

blowing my nose
rolling over in bed
standing up from a chair
getting up from the toilet

literally, i/we cannot get away from our deep core. and, really, why would we want to? it’s function is to support our organs, our pelvic health, and literally keep us “centered”. so, yes, i have a wholly newfound and DEEP appreciation for not only my deep core muscles, but also my flesh, my tissue, my ligaments, my bones. it’s this funny thing: each morning i wake up AND I HAVE A BELLY! Ludo jokes, pretty much every morning and then each evening, after we eat - “hey - you look pregnant!” it’s wonderful to hear and see him marvel at zee belly. he’s the one that expressed how crazy it is that the abdominal muscles shift and spread to create space for the growing being inside. we even did an impromptu photo shoot to document the craziness, part of the benefit of having an artist for a partner:

“could’ve sworn i put the bun in the oven…”

all this to say that our bodies are constantly shifting and changing. no matter what age. no matter what cause. and that every time you breathe, get up from a chair, shift your weight when walking, bend over to pick up something from the floor, reach to get a bowl from a high cabinet, sneeze, fart, slip and catch yourself - it’s an opportunity to take a moment to give some LOVE to and share some GRATITUDE for your deep core. last week, i was encouraging us to recognize that stopping to smell the roses is actually an act of deep love. this week, i’m encouraging you to recognize simply how incredible you and your body

are. even if new sensations come in to your joints or your tissue the more time we spend on this planet, you can be certain that your deep core - and organs and tissue and joints - are doing all they can to support you - no matter what. that’s an amazing gift. to have a physical body under the weight of gravity on this beautiful planet. i encourage you just to take a moment to say, “thank you, body. i love you. i appreciate you. you’re amazing”

and, you know, don’t push too hard when you blow your nose…

wanna get more messages of love and movement flows to boot? why not sign up for my newsletter? plus, you’ll get a FREE 3-day taste of membership challenge, where you'll practice stimulating your chakras, a full-body mat flow, and finish with a feel-good pilateStretch class - all in the name of self-love and self-care. it’ll do your bodymindspirit good, and, you deserve it!

sign me up!

]]><![CDATA[it's the little things...]]>Thu, 01 Jul 2021 15:09:06 GMThttps://www.sayezz.com/mindful-blog/its-the-little-thingsexcept, it’s not. i’m convinced there’s no such thing as “the little things”. stopping to smell the roses. opening the door to a neighbor when you can see they’re struggling with groceries. picking up trash that isn’t yours at your local park. reaching out to a friend because they popped into your head. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING SMALL IN THESE GESTURES DRIVEN BY LOVE. ‘cause that’s what they are. and any time we bring LOVE into our lives and share it, it’s a MASSIVE, HUGE, EXPANSIVE act. plain and simple.

maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones in me talking… but the other day i was taking a walk in our jardin - it’s something i’ve been making a point of doing because where we live in the campagne there’s really no safe place to walk without being startled by a massive tractor rolling up the road - and i found the most perfect fraise, a strawberry. i wasn’t looking for it, i simply happened up on it. i didn’t even know we had a strawberry patch randomly situated in a corner of the yard. it made me so happy to cup this little gem of life in my hand as i continued on my walk and YES! smelled the almost neon-pink roses that popped up overnight. that “little thing”, that slice of perfection grew from one of the tiniest of seeds that is now stuck into it’s flesh. and when i ate it - which i certainly did - that sweet life force is now stuck in me. there is nothing small in that.

there’s nothing small in Ludo starting the quinoa for me knowing i don’t know how to work the damn machine before he drives to Paris and helps his parents move house.

there’s nothing small in flying or driving across the country during a pandemic (‘cause let’s face it, we’re still there) to visit family and friends, and connecting out of LOVE as you all are sharing your adventures with me.

there’s nothing small in showing up for yourself each week in class, connecting from all corners of the world to connect deeper into your individual and our communal “core”.

it’s an incredible act of LOVE and when LOVE is involved there is absolutely never anything small about it. never.

just a “small” reminder that you’re a HUGE BADASS ROCKSTAR, and i am grateful for you.

sign me up!

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