The day Jay Grimes blew my mind

By Nathalie Gonthier-Thomas

A few years ago, during a workshop with Jay Grimes and Sandy Shimoda at Vintage Pilates, I was doing the Semi-Circle on the reformer and Jay was explaining that this particular exercise shouldn’t be felt on the quads/thighs. He came close to me, as he was watching different students, and I told him I was feeling the tension in my legs. I expected him to give me a guided answer, but instead, Jay’s answer was: “What are you going to do about it?” - with a smile. And he walked away to the next student.

His words instantly blew my mind. He wasn’t giving me an easy answer but was putting it back on me to figure it out, to try and try again to feel in my body what I needed to correct. That day I must have done the semi-circle exercise over and over a dozen times. With Jay’s sentence in my head “what are you going to do about it?”... trying to get off my legs and into my center. Over and over: “no, still in my legs, what are you going to do about it? Get off your legs!, what are you going to do about it?” The next day my legs were killing me!!! It took time and practice, but eventually, I got into my center and could achieve the articulation of the spine needed to perform that particular exercise.

That was the best piece of advice that I have ever had in my Pilates practice. Jay's answer forced me to connect my mind to my body, to feel and visualize my movements. There was no easy or standard type of answer to my question. I had to find it in me. All Jay had to do was guide me to be more conscious and in tune with myself. The choreography of the Pilates’ exercises is one, but the journey to perform them well, is as diverse as we are. As a teacher today, I am always thinking back to that day with Jay. Whenever I am working with a client, who is waiting for me to tell them what to do, I always think back to Jay and how he got me to figure it out. Once you know the movement, how are you going to perform it? How are you going to find it in your body?

This also goes back to Daniela Escobar’s blog post from the Westwood Pilates December newsletter: “Why should I pick up the box?”. Pilates goes beyond the studio. When we're out performing our daily activities, being at work, at the grocery store, practicing different types of sports, or moving boxes/laundry hampers etc, our Pilates body kicks in. Moving at once and in a safe manner. Nothing in our daily life says “engage your lats/quads/trapezius/rhomboids, etc”, which doesn’t speak to most people interested in fitness, Pilates (or when picking up grocery bags). We don’t think of our body in parts but when we learn to be mindful of how we move, we apply this knowledge to exercise and our daily life activities.

One other session with Jay that sticks to my mind, this time at Westwood Pilates, before the pandemic hit. I was doing the first back rowing exercise on the reformer. As I was rounding my lower back towards the springs and extending my arms back, Jay poked me on my upper back and said to me: ”You have muscles there. Use them!”.

Yes Sir, and thank you.