My voice gave only a silent scream as I slowly opened my eyes. My heart thumped inside my chest like a horse kicking against a stall door, smelling the hay burning around him, causing pure panic, chaos, and fear to race through his blood. I blinked hard as my gaze fell on the walls in my room. I was safe! My breathing settled slightly, and I took a deep breath in and exhaled, and again, until I could feel my heart slow. Frozen in place, my body trembled as the realness of my nightmare settled in my head.
Why are these dreams happening?
Was it a dream?
The ink spattered and slithered across the paper as I wrote to release the mayhem. Scratching down my jumbled thoughts and half ideas, I was releasing the thoughts that haunted my mind. The trigger of these dreams, unknown. Maybe it was the pain periodically piercing my knee from the accident, setting loose havoc in my mind while I tried to sleep.
Whatever it is, it needs to go!
A ping on my phone came in, so I looked down and read the text: “Are you still interested in our FREE Pilates class?”
I placed the phone back down on the bedside table and began to stand when the pain raced through my leg yet again.
How could I possibly exercise or do Pilates if I can’t even stand without pain?
The room seemed to warm, my cheeks burned, and my hands trembled. I grabbed the phone and punched at it and without another thought pushed the send button.
I am going – and that is that!
PT and home workouts were not helping, and one little introduction class couldn’t hurt. Well, maybe it could, but what did I have to lose? So, I went!
The next two days, I waited to see if I was worse, hoped for the best, but expected nothing. I called, booked a class and signed up. A three-month commitment and nothing too expensive, just enough to manage, and if I was in pain, I could put my membership on hold for another month. That sounded reasonable! I joined, and after the second week of classes, I was able to walk the grocery store aisles and began doing things around the house again without pain and needing to elevate and ice my knee every hour. A couple more weeks passed, and I started to forget my knee issues.
Pilates low impact workouts and core training gave me hope for getting back to my ‘before acute torn meniscus’ life and I have Club Pilates Clermont to thank for that. Now attending Pilates class is so much more than helping my knee. It has altered my mindset and allowed me to see endless possibilities.
Two months later, my silent screams have become merely whispers in the dark. In my dreams, I watch the horse graze peacefully in the pasture, the stall door is open, and the horse is free. Permitted to kick up his heels and whinny into the breeze because the fear, panic, and mayhem have settled to a slight grumble.
As they say in Pilates: If it’s easy, it’s probably not Pilates.
Keep flowing, and don’t forget to breathe!
Thank you Club Pilates Clermont!
RA Anderson 