What do you see?

A most beautiful thing happened in class yesterday.

One of the class members exclaimed 'Oh my goodness!' as we transitioned from floor to standing. Knowing that she currently has a hip issue, which is causing her pain, I admit that this was my first inclination as to why she was crying out.

But, as I looked over I saw that she was standing transfixed by something that had caught her eye outside of the window. ‘Look!’, she said and so we all went to the window to see what it was that had grabbed her attention so remarkably.

But we couldn’t see what she was looking at. ‘The tree,’ she said. ‘Look at the tree’. Again we couldn’t see what she meant.

‘Look how beautiful it is….’

And then we saw! There in the churchyard opposite stood the most gloriously red tree silhouetted by the surrounding greens and browns. We had seen it, but hadn't really looked at it. And so we all stood and marvelled at its beauty and its presence. It was exceptionally beautiful. For a few moments all we were focused on was the tree. Everything else was forgotten and nothing seemed to matter. 

At this point, I remembered the ‘hidden’ art installation (see picture) that lives within the trees in that churchyard and asked who had noticed it. Some had. Others didn’t know it was there. We had all however at some point walked past it many times, oblivious to its presence, until it had been pointed out to us. Once it has been you can't help but look at it. 

We pondered for a moment.

Our original ‘tree spotter’ apologised for distracting us from our pilates. I thanked her. Not for her apology, but for allowing us to see what she sees. The moment had connected us all. An apology was far from needed.

As I then guided the class through some movements I marvelled at the sight in front of me. Everybody moved so well and with such ease. My heart sang as I observed. I shared this with them and reflected on the movement journey that we have come on together. One class member was surprised that I saw a difference. Not because she didn’t feel it herself, she said, but she was surprised that I could see the difference. In turn, I remarked that I was surprised she didn't know that I could see how wonderfully she moved (it is a delight to see). 

We pondered.... And then continued to move and flow. 

And today, I am still pondering, that wondrous class of yesterday. I believe we each in our own way opened our eyes a little more yesterday and left the room with new insight into each other and the world around us. 

It truly was a beautiful hour of movement. 

CT :-) xx