As I sit down to write down about the PPP event over the last weekend, I’m still in a little Prosecco haze, feeling a bit rough around the edges. But it was absolutely worth it. The day was amazing!
It all started with an idea about half way through the Melbourne lockdowns in 2020. After lockdown took away our friends, our family, our work, our schools, our SANITY, and our community… I wanted to find a way to use my skills as a Pilates Instructor to bring those things back. I wanted to give to my community an afternoon of fitness with fashion and fun- an experience that can be shared and enjoyed by many.
Our original date in September had to be pushed out due to the seemingly never ending lockdowns in Melbourne, so we were lucky to secure the new date of November 28th before the Christmas rush really began. That extra time only made the anticipation of it greater.
To say I wasn’t nervous would be a big fat lie! My nerves did ebb and flow, and by the time the day rolled around, I was pretty calm. All the hard work, organising, planning, practising, sorting, booking, stuffing, and buying was done, and there was nothing left to do but set up and roll on! And roll on we did!
Bump in started at 11am at the beautiful Button Factory in Cheltenham, Bayside, Victoria. It was a flurry of unpacking boxes, booze, food, clothes, mats, jewelery, decorations, and goodie bags, organising models, rehearsal, and sound checks. We had 2 hours to pull it all together, which was a breeze when you rope your Mum and two Aunties in to help! And thank goodness I did… it would not have come together so swiftly without them!
At 1pm, it was go time. I started the Pilates class with a little welcome speech and visualisation exercise. It was really important to me that I conveyed the message about community and self care. We’ve all heard the saying about not being able to pour from an empty cup, and I think that was especially evident through the worst parts of the pandemic. So this event was a little piece of self care in the form of fitness, fashion, and fun!
When I was thinking about how I wanted to talk about community and why it was so important to me, I think about community as a frequency. I have a frequency of my own, and you have yours, but when I tap into your frequency, my frequency grows, and when you tap into mine, yours grows- they feed off one another. They get bigger and more electric and the energy goes up, up, and up and you can feel those higher vibrations in the room. There is so much joy and fun in connecting with our communities again and the best part about it is it strengthens the individuals who are a part of it. It’s a win win. And I wanted all the attendees to feel like they had won the day that day!
It’s a little daunting to teach a class of 45! I’ve actually never taught a group quite so big, so I specifically wanted to start the class with the lemon imagery exercise. It’s a powerful example of the mind-body relationship and how the words we tell ourselves have a direct impact on the physical body. You can read the lemon imagery exercise in its entirety here . I knew there would be all levels of bodies in front of me and some things would not be accessible for some bodies. But instead of telling yourself, ‘I can’t do that’, which cuts off the possibility pathway, I encourage a reframing of the ‘can’t’ to the ‘I wonder what my body can do for me today on this mat’?
I might have been the boss of the class but I am not the boss of 45 bodies! Our attendees need to make the decision about what their bodies can be doing for themselves. It takes a lot of courage to meet your body where it is on the mat, and I love seeing all my clients honour themselves like that.
The last part of class was the most fun! ! We paused momentarily to get a glass of prosecco which we incorporated into the last few exercises on the mat. Let’s just say, fine motor skills were being challenged and then rewarded with a drink!
Next all the mats were rolled away and the bar was opened. We set up for the fashion show and everyone brought their drinks back to gather around the runway where the mats once lay. Gemma from Hudlow and Alex from Alextempany Jewelry produced a gorgeous fashion and jewelry show.
We managed to rope in 4 friends to give us a hand with the modelling, and they were amazing, strutting their stuff like they were born to be there. Bunch of legends they were, I mean, they put their hand up for that gig- I couldn’t do it, I’d be terrified!
After the show, Alex and Gemma surprised me with a bunch of flowers to say thanks for pulling it all together. I loved what they said about all good teams needing a leader, and it’s true, I do like to lead (cough cough, be a boss lady), but it was so unexpected, I got quite emotional about the thoughtful gift. Thanks gals, like I said on the day, it would be nothing without you, thank you for jumping on board with passion and grit to produce the most epic event with me!
After the show, I let out a big sigh of relief: the hard part was over! It was time to shop, drink, eat, and mingle.
Gemma and Alex were offering some amazing discounts on the day which many jumped on, andit was so great to see plenty of people supporting those two talented individuals.
I even scored myself a new t-shirt from Hudlow too!
