Every so often at Power Pilates, we get a client letter that really makes us smile.  This letter came in to one of our Client Service Representatives this past week.  Elleen, who wrote the letter, was nice enough to let us share with all of you:

Here is the background as to why I love Power Pilates.  My mom needed help 10 years ago with some of the chronic illnesses she was managing.  I searched and searched for what could make her abdominals muscles strong enough so that her back could be what it needed to be.  We both lived in a farm community in CA where the word pilates was a foreign language.  So,  through the process of my search, I found pilates, began learning from a book written by Alycea Ungaro, doing the Introductory level that was in that book 2 times a day.   My goal was to learn it well enough in my body, to translate it to mom to relieve her pain.   What I discovered was that it relieved MY pain, both in my physical and emotional state (nasty divorce happening at that time), and I could adapt enough of it to help mom on the days she was able to physically do this.   It helped her walking, it helped her balance, it helped the stress level, I restructured my body without knowing it as I worked to help mom!!!   2 years later, I moved to Boston, mom was stable, divorce was long done and over, and so I bought a one way ticket, took 3 suitcases, and moved.   I did not want to do career 1 (degree in Chemistry, minor in Math and Physics), did not want to do career 2 (tutu maker for designers, costumes and wardrobe for musical theatre, etc), decided that what I LOVED was pilates, so I began to research what was it that I had learned.   After months of searching, I found Power Pilates – how it embraced and preserved what Joseph Pilates had done, how its mission and purpose lined up with me, and how to my great surprise, there was an affialate here in Boston – Kathy Van Patten!!!  I was still doing the Beg series once or twice a day, and took courage, signing up for a certification workshop.  I went to Kathy’s studio to speak to her.   I watched her and her passion.  I listened, and because our daughters had all 3 been at San Francisco Ballet at the same time in the school, there was a understanding between us.  She accepted my reservation for the workshop and I studied, worked, read, to be ready to absorb EVERYTHING that would be offered. 

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Summer is finally here. But with the nice weather can come some nasty downsides. So we’ve compiled a short list of summer tips that will guarantee a good time no matter what – From avoiding pests to salvaging that sunken cellphone, these tips are sure to come in handy.

Relieve Mosquito Bites
It’s inevitable – if you’re going outside, you’re going to get stung. But don’t worry, next time your scratching away at that bite, try a little toothpaste or vinegar right on the bump. Within a few minutes, you’ll forget it’s there. Another option is to crush some aspirin and add a few drops of water – rub on the bite and done. You can stop scratching and get back to horseshoes.

Save a Soaked Cellphone
Oh no. You jumped in head first and forgot your phone was in your pocket. It happens. Try quickly dropping your soaked electronic device it in some uncooked rice. The rice will absorb all of the surrounding moisture and, hopefully, draw all the water away from the vital sections of your phone until completely dry. In some really severe cases where phones are all but lost to water, try spraying them down with some WD-40. WD-40 actually stands for Water Displacement Formula Number 40 – so it’s designed to repel water. It may buy you enough time to dry out the phone before it’s lost.

Repel Bugs Ch

Between the high heat, the unrelenting humidity and oily sunscreen, your skin can take a beating during the summer months. But there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy a perfect complexion along with the summer sun. Here are some tips to keep you looking and feeling great.

Exfoliate Daily
Before you go out and in the sun, it can be a good idea to rid of all the dry, dead cells sitting on the surface of your skin. Using a lightly abrasive scrub, towel or loofah will help remove this dried up layer and get you ready to shine. Exfoliating will also help stimulate your skin, encouraging new growth and overall health.

Use the Right Moisturizer
After you exfoliate, shower or shave, it’s always a good idea to moisturizing your skin. It’s important to find the brand that works for you. If it ends up clogging your pores, you’re going to have a harder time keeping your skin rash and complexion free once you hit the heat outside. Read the ingredients and experiment with different types to find the one you like the most.

It happens to all of us – we walk into another room to grab something and suddenly can’t remember what it is we were looking for. For the most part, episodes like this can be attributed to lack of concentration. Unfortunately, we can all count on these events happening more often as we get older. Well, new research shows, maybe not.

Much of our creating and accessing a memory day-to-day is based upon pattern separation. Although we might eat oatmeal for breakfast or park in the same area each morning before work, we tend to recognize the smaller differences in each day. This helps separate and “file” our memories accordingly. You may have had oatmeal three days in a row, but maybe you had it with apples on Monday, yogurt yesterday and cinnamon today. These small, but significant, details help provide a distinct memory.

Age, as we all understand, has a tendency to dull the ability to make these distinctions causing our memories to blur together. That’s because of a degenerative process caused by aging to our dentate gyrus – the part of brain thought to be responsible for the formation of new memories.

But new

With spring in bloom and Memorial Day just around the corner, many are getting excited for the summer weather. And it’s a good thing too. It’s a little known fact that many Americans don’t get enough sun throughout the year – something that normally doesn’t get a lot of attention.

We hear a lot about staying safe while in the sun, and that truly is important. But one thing we don’t often hear is how important the sun can be for both our mental and physical wellbeing.

Did you know that many Americans suffer from a vitamin D Deficiency – a symptom, among many others, often caused by lack adequate sunshine?

Sunshine