If you are taking a posture and core-defining class with John Bolesta, you will often hear him asking this question: Yes, no, maybe? (The “darling” is optional, however). He wants to know if you are feeling “it.” “It,” meaning all the right sensations and tensions in all the right places.

Thankfully, I have been able to say “yes” to his questions more often now that I am in week 3 of my training with him. I am learning to define and isolate the parts of my body that are affecting my posture: Parts like shoulder blades, the rib cage, and my lower abdominals. Most of the ladies I work out with at the Saucon Valley Country Club are better at saying “yes” than I am at this point. They have been with John for some time and usually enjoy every minute of their class with him (except for the 3 minutes of hell, which I will need to get back to explaining later).

What I have learned in these three weeks is that I need to constantly remind myself to create what John calls, “lift and separation.” It seems I have been walking around in a rather blob-like state for many years with my shoulders hunched over and my hips pushed forward which only succeeds in pushing out the lower abdominal region. Yuk! This is one of the reasons why so many people are walking around with belly bulge.

It seems as though I am in a tough battle with my mind about where my body should be as I am only totally coordinating all the right movements about half of the time three weeks into this program. I am getting there-always being mindful that patience is a fitness virtue.