How Pilates Got Me Through My 50’s

Tired of feeling crazy?

Going through your 50's as a woman can feel a lot like being a teenager again. You've got mood swings, a changing body, a brain that doesn't always work the way you need it to... and then there's the lack of decent sleep.

It's the perfect storm of craziness that sneaks up on you right at that time when life gets its busiest.

I've experienced all of this in the last 10 years! It's super disorienting to go through and made me wonder at times if I was losing it and if I would ever get my old self back again. While things did seem to calm down after I got into my mid-late 50's, I could tell I was now a different version of myself and I wondered what had happened. I finally found a book last year called The Menopause Brain and I realized something what that something was:

My brain got rewired.

When women go through the hormonal shifts that happen before/during menopause, it signals the brain to rewire and to shift its activity away from certain areas and increase that activity in others.

While learning about that was super validating and helped me understand better why I felt the way I did, what the book didn't talk about was what kinds of things help women with this rewiring.

How Pilates really helped me.

Because the physical and mental parts of ourselves are interconnected - you can't really separate one from the other - research shows our best bet for feeling comfortable in our brain and body after major life changes or stressors is by reestablishing the neural pathways between the two.

Pilates is awesome for this kind of neural training because it requires and builds a focused mind-body connection. Your brain & body have to constantly talk to each other to do the movements which in turn reinforces your sense of self and creates confidence in your body.

Pilates is challenging enough that you have to focus and be very mentally present while moving... which is great for fighting off anxiety and building resilience! But the movements can be done at a pace that doesn't drain you physically afterwards - and may even make you feel more energized!

Am I all better now?

No way... but I am sooo much more at home with myself and feeling in control than I was 10 years ago.

The biggest lesson I learned from the great midlife upset was that I couldn't take my physical or mental wellness for granted anymore. It's something I have to practice daily. To do that I had to build (and keep building) my own toolkit of resources & routines - and find health care professionals that I trusted to support me.

Lastly, I needed to make sure to nourish myself by moving and laughing and hanging out with loved ones as much as possible. 🤗

Need help building your wellness toolkit & support team? Message me!

~ Angie :)