Virtual Solos
Social distancing. Quarantine. Zoom. Creative cooking. IGTV. Meditating. Cleaning and organizing. The buzz words, suggestions and warnings of this strange time. There are days when I feel like I have the capacity to be creative and move and maybe even cook something new from one of my many Ottolenghi cookbooks. Most days, however, I feel tired, lethargic and bored. The virtual world is not for all of us, and as a millennial who is meant to be tech-literate and love cyberspace, it’s quite difficult to explain to my peers why I don’t partake in all that’s being offered online right now.
A Virtual Existence
The reason I choose not to stay connected via the World Wide Web is because it causes me anxiety, and has led me to feel despairing about the future. Tech literate or not, a few weeks into our new reality and I could feel my body and soul longing for human contact; longing to touch a person’s arm when they tell a funny joke, wishing I could hug a friend who hasn’t left their house in weeks due to depression and anxiety, and a deep desire to move my own body and to do what I enjoy, which is teaching Pilates and helping people feel strong, comfortable and mobile in their bodies. Being hesitant to enter the digital world meant that it seemed impossible to find that human contact I was longing for, or to find any version of my Pilates training, Pilates loving, Pilates needing “real world” self. Enter the virtual Pilates Solo sessions.
There is a lot of fitness content out there right now, but there truly is nothing like one-on-one time with a client who you know, and love to work with. The thing about a Virtual Solo in a time like this, is that it brings us together. We are social beings that require interaction, and when there is no other way other than online, not only is it currently the best option, but it’s actually a pretty good option.
In a Solo session in-person, the ability to create an intimate, mindful, personal connection through movement is not only possible but expected and championed. What happens when you take the in-person portion of this out of the equation? Well, not only do these virtual sessions allow us to keep the body moving in an effective, safe, efficient way, but it forces both client and teacher to focus on the connection to make sure we don’t miss anything. It forces us to be mindful when moving, becoming laser-focused on the verbal instructions given to you and your own proprioception, because you can’t rely on touch or physical guidance of any kind. This necessary direction makes it possible to guide a body in movement from afar, safely and effectively.
Change Is A Constant
Even though change is scary and can often throw everything we know on its head, life is change, and in small ways our bodies adapt before we know it. I have found that very quickly, with each client, the virtual Solos are focused, deliberate, and productive. Every client is poised to listen, and to grab onto every tidbit I have to offer them from each session. The focused mind, the post-Pilates magical feeling and the social interaction all come together to create a really holistic, enriching Solo session.
The vulnerability and trust that comes from being lead through a Solo Pilates session, I believe, is recreated through the virtual world in the same impactful way, the only thing that differs is how that trust and vulnerability are achieved. It may not seem like an important factor, but the fact that we are doing our Pilates magic in the comfort of our homes, being welcomed into someone’s private practice space, is something that we as trainers would be remiss to ignore. It provides that sense of intimacy that comes from working together in person. This opening up of our personal space shows how much both client and teacher care, and how much we are willing to give of ourselves to continue the work and care for one and other. While there is no tactic feedback or physical touch, that necessary human contact and connection comes from the openness in each of us required to learn, to absorb information and share our personal spaces. There are few professional relationships that are taken into the home, and perhaps, in a way, those relationships suffer because of it. Watching someone set up their space in preparation to listen and learn is truly magical. Seeing someone in their comfortable clothes, in the calm, private space they’ve created for themselves in their home naturally creates an energy of trust and safety. It is a piece of the virtual Solo world that, I for one, never considered being important, and yet, now that they are in practice I notice how truly “together” I feel with the person on the other side of the screen.
All in all, the virtual solo not only complements the “real world” in-person sessions, but this new medium of teaching stands to teach us about what we value when it comes to making deep, personal connections with other humans and how we get there. The way in which we are forced to prepare our physical space, prepare our bodies, and focus our minds on the online work, means that we are little sponges, sitting and waiting to reap the many benefits of intimate, albeit only, social interaction.
When we are forced to be apart, when we are forced to change our worlds as we know them, finding a way to connect, move together, carve out time to take care of yourself is of the utmost importance. Finding a moment in time to bring the familiar into the unfamiliar is not only important, but it changes the way we look at self-care, and the importance of human contact. Continue to move, continue to play, continue to do Pilates with us, virtually, as we continue to help create that intimate, personal, effective relationship, filled with intention, knowledge and love.