Ferncliff Cemetery Memorial

Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to this special event. And My name is Brent Anderson. I've been asked to Mc, uh, this memorial service for Joseph Hubertus Polonius and it's great to be here, uh, some 49 years later to be able to be in a very special place that we can celebrate this together. I had the chance to talk to Lolita and to, you know, him as we were sort of thinking through this and planning and Lolita has obviously given much thought to this over the years in putting the things together for mooching, GLAAD bark and for all those that have helped her with those projects. And this being the same thing that we can celebrate on this day. [inaudible] Day. Uh, before as we were driving up today, I was going through my phone and looking at the Facebook posts and Instagram posts from all around the world. Pretty amazing thing from Rio de Janeiro to Europe to, uh, Australia people celebrating piles day. And what a great thing.

And one of the things that, uh, Lolita wanted me to share is just to think of how shocked Joseph and Clara would be today, 49 years later, to see us gathered together here. I don't know if he's happy, shocked or, I dunno, I never knew him personally. So I can't say I know how he would respond. But we do have people here that didn't know him personally. There'll be sharing some of their thoughts with us today. And, um, you know, even though his body was taken from us, uh, 49 years ago, I think it's important for us to realize that the spirit lives on and the spirit lives on in us and the many people that are teaching his philosophy and his work around the world. And even in his eighties, his body was quite the spectacle of what he could do and what he showed us that the body was able to do. Um, even in the aging human. And what I wanted to make sure happen today was more built around the gratitude that we have for this great work that we've been blessed to share it.

And the gratitude, and I'm sure I speak on behalf of all of us. Um, when I say how grateful we are to Joseph pilates or as Lolita would say, Papa [inaudible], um, for the rich inheritance that he's left us. And I think sometimes we unfortunately think of inheritances differently. We think of inheritance as being wealth. We think of it as being, you know, how many stocks in retirement funds and, and all this money. Um, Joseph didn't leave any of that, that we know of. Um, I certainly haven't participated in any of that. Uh, but, but I also, um, think that we, we definitely participate in a rich inheritance that he left all of us, which is a quality of life. And think of Joe's work, work more in lines with, uh, quality of life rather than thinking of it as a temporal gains or temporal blessings. He left us with a lot more of body of knowledge, a philosophy of health and wellbeing. Um, one of my favorite quotes of his is about the happiness. And he said that happiness can be achieved by having a healthy and strong body and a mindfully developed to its limits. And then the important part, I felt it said that was capable of doing as many very daily tasks naturally, spontaneously with vigor and pleasure. And when I hear those words, there's some beautiful words in there that really to me drive home the essence of quality of life. And when he talked about his whole body health, he talked about not just exercise, he talked about nutrition and hygiene and sleep habits. He talked about getting fresh air and sunshine and a balance between work, play and rest. And those are to me, vital aspects that people always need those nine elements to be healthy.

And if we practice those, we would be a much healthier world. Statistically, there's about 12 million according to her, says vast report, about 12 million people in United States of practice plots or claim to, whether it's at home with a DVD or a plot is anytime or in a studio or a gym. And we think, uh, Ursa reported 100,000 teachers in the United States. And I've gone around and around and trying to figure out how many people of all the schools in PMA. And we come up with like 25,000 teachers. So that means there's self-proclaimed teachers of over 75,000 or a country.

They claim to be pilates teachers. But I want to focus on the part of those of us that the 25,000 that really do embrace his work and have gone through the training and feel how important it is to continue on the legacy of his philosophy of life, his philosophy of work in philosophy of mind, body, and spirit. Um, if we think of his vision built around joy, pleasure and how it's affected millions of people. And uh, we're lucky today that we have a lot of people here who have either been very intimately involved with the first generation of teachers or are the first generation apply these teachers. Uh, Lolita had a quote, and I want to reiterate, it said, when we practice [inaudible], we are all United spiritually in presence, in reverence and in love. And I thought that was a beautiful quote that when we embody this idea of unity, I've heard her use that word multiple times. We love the idea of community collaboration. We cannot afford to not collaborate and work together to continue on the legacy of Joseph [inaudible]. And with that, I'd like to open this ceremony with a prayer in honor of Joe's applies.

And if you'll join me with that, we'll do that. Now. Our gracious God, we are so grateful this day for the opportunity that we have to join together as friends and to collaborate as we celebrate the life of Joseph Pilati is in Clara PyLadies. We're so grateful for the mini lessons that we have gained in our lives. We're grateful for the blessings that have been in our own bodies and the bodies of those that we serve. But more importantly, for the spirit of Joseph and Clara Polonius, we pray that we might emulate that spirit, that we might continue to disseminate it throughout the world and bring joy into the lives of all those who participate in this philosophy of life and the quality of life that he so graciously gave to us in this world. We pray that as we go about in our different directions that we might also be that light and be that beacon that brings joy and peace into people's lives through understanding these principles of life in principles of movement and these things we offer humbly with great gratitude and love in the name and in thy presence. God. Amen.

Thank you very much. I'd like to introduce our program. Many of you have it in front of you. We'd like to begin and we'll go up to this point where Elizabeth Anderson will be the first to share some thoughts. She's executive director of the PMA. Following her comments, Alicia and Guerrero will speak about her experience with Romana Christian Alsco and following her comments blossom. Crawford will speak about her experience with Kathy Grant.

Pat Guyton will then follow and speak about her experience with Ron Fletcher and Deborah Lessen. We'll speak about her experience studying with Corolla tree air and we'll go up to that point. So we'll turn the time over now to Elizabeth Anderson. Morning everybody. It's great to see everyone here. I feel so honored to be at such a unique first time experience here at, at Ferncliff. And um, I w when I s when the lead a called to tell me about the fact that Joseph and Clara's remains had been located, I, it occurred to me that it had never occurred to me where they were, you know, I just thought, how could that have never entered my mind in all these years? So it's a very heartwarming and gratifying that they've been found and that we can come here and, and honor them.

That was the first thing that occurred to me when Lolita told me about this. And the second thing was, how are you going to organize this so fast? Cause it was just two months ago and I, and I said, yeah, yeah, that's just, you can't do that. That's too fast. You said, I can do it, I can do it. So I'm, I'm, she did and I'm thrilled. It's great. Um, I just just wanted to say that the Pilati staples is actually established by the board of directors of the PMA back in 2003 when Kevin Bone was at the helm. And [inaudible] it's been great to see it grow and develop. And this year for the first time we received a grant, which we hired a PR company to help publicize it and I can see the effect. Um, this year, uh, just a couple of days ago, in any event, we had about 165 events going on in 18 countries.

And those are the only ones that are with the PMA knows about. There's probably many, many others that are done that has, that we're not affiliated with. So that's a huge growth. And, uh, just one little aside, um, any, the Americans here know, have this some reality show figure. Bethany Frankel, she posted about Pilati stay on her Facebook page and I thought, wow, you know, she may be there. She has a staff of people looking at press releases about interest, interesting of tidbits to pick up. Uh, so the, it's really becoming more and more and more and more well known and it's just a tremendous, tremendous gift. So I'm really thrilled to be here and it's wonderful. I completely agree with what Lolita always talks about, about unity. Um, this is where we can come together and welcome all lineages and all approaches and all the different kinds of value that people get out of practicing.

Coladas so thank you so very much Lolita. And I'll turn the mic over to Alicia. Hi. Um, I'm going to read from a prepared statement. Um, it's, I will say one thing I'm prompt too is that it's interesting that whenever you ask any of our, the members of our community to come together and really kind of dig down into their heart for something to say that we all echo the same sentiment. So you'll probably hear similar words from me that you heard from Brent. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Joe and Clara [inaudible] as as many of you know, my teacher Romana spoke of them daily, not a day went by in the studio that she did not share words or regalias with her tales of her time with Uncle Joe. It is through these stories, her memories and the time I spent under her tutelage that I came to know Joe just a little. Ramana taught me so much about [inaudible], about the body and about the work and by speaking about Joe and Clara and the old days in the studio, she taught us all to respect and honor our history and to keep true to the vision that Joe had for his method. Most of all, she taught me about life and about our role as teachers and as givers.

Before a camera one day, a reporter referred to her as a master teacher. She rejected this. She shrugged off the notion and dismiss the title abruptly that that she was some type of master teacher somehow seem to offend her, her sensibilities. Instead, she defined herself simply by saying, I am a [inaudible] person. What does it mean to be a [inaudible] person?

I thought certainly to do Polonius is a piece of it, uh, to share plots. Maybe an even bigger part of it, but perhaps it means something else. Maybe PyLadies is an opportunity. I thought for each of us to come together in community for all of us to create something valuable and an opportunity to learn more from each other, from ourselves and from a body of work that we all all hold dear. I read once that [inaudible] is a state of mind, a concept and an idea. I learned that under Romana watching her teach everyday, I saw how the idea of [inaudible] impacted different people with different needs. I watched how Pilati sessions morphed from lists of exercises into a body of work unique to each individual.

I listened to the tone of her voice changed each person, some tender, other's aggressive, all somehow appropriate. And what I took away from my time with her was that all of the lists and the series of exercises in this vast syllabus were just a vehicle for this concept. That plot is, was in fact an idea. And idea to be disseminated as widely as possible. I cannot imagine what Joe and Clara would think of their work today, or of the incredible reach and impact their creation has had on so many people.

I'm so grateful for the idea and for the opportunity of Pele's. I'm grateful to Romana for giving me the opportunity to be with all of you here today. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to give plots to others and I am most grateful for the opportunity to expand our pool of people to invite new Palladio's people into our midst. So thank you Joseph and Clara Palladio's for bringing us all together. Although many of us have never had the chance to meet you.

We are PyLadies people. Indeed. It's an interesting time. May I always think of actually Cathy dying. She died six years ago this May. And um, before she passed away, I was lucky enough to, she sort of gave me some of her very special, precious PyLadies thing. Some of her things and in the stack of photographs was a little envelope that simply said, I can consider this Clara's letter.

And so I thought I would read a little bit of Clara's letter to her and a OTU. So it says, Dear Kay, apparently she, Kathy's was said that Mr Polis, Clara always said k they called her k because the th of the Kathy was too hard for the German accent, right size stretch instead of thigh stretch. Anyway, so here it goes. Dear Kay, you wonderful woman. I am deeply touched by your thoughtful consideration during my illness. Many heartfelt thanks for your gift. I love it and appreciate it very much. I feel kind of guilty as I do not know what to do in return for you.

I thought that was interesting. What to do in return for you. I mean, it had been done, it was done many, many times over. Um, and then it goes on, but then it says at the very end, Love Clara, November 25th, 1974. Um, that was a year before I was born, which is also funny. And, um, it's sunny. I've, a few years ago someone interviewed me and they said, well, you're like a [inaudible] historian. I said, um, I don't think so. I said, no, those are, I said, no, those are other people. I said, and I should I talk to my friend who is a historian. And I said, what, what, what am I, cause I'm not a historian. She said, well, you really just came of age in plots during this amazing time. And it's really true. I happened to be 17 when I met Kathy and, and just lucked upon this amazing woman. And um, you know, six years later it's a, I wish I could say I don't miss her as much, but I still do. And, um, I think I've learned a little bit how to stand on my own and live without her a little bit, a little bit. I think I cry every time. I sort of have that moment. Um, but what surprises me every time is the sense of family that I feel when I see like Jan and he loves, I mean all these people like Deborah, when you are the first person who looked at me and you said, Kathy is Italian and I didn't believe you. And um, I met you so long ago to Pat [inaudible]. I mean it's just, it's ridiculous.

And, and Jillian, I think I borrowed a unit's hard for you from you the first PMA conferences. I didn't know what I was going to do and I didn't bring clothes. I thought I was just bringing Kathy and so I didn't have, I didn't have clothes so I borrowed a unitard from Jillian cause then cause, cause I was like oh I'm demonstrating okay. I mean it's ridiculous. But you know when Kathy was close to her death, I remember her, she was always really concerned. She said, well what's going to happen? What, what is my legacy going to be? And she was always concerned about her role that she played in the lawsuit in, in this whole plots world. And, and you know, with that whole Polonius apocalypse apocalypse thing came out. I have to say, I was not rattled one bit.

I was there like what ever if Kathy grant and Romana and all those people can keep it going through the dark ages, we are fine. But because I think, you know, I think actually I was just telling Elizabeth the story that my husband, when he first came to watch, um, Cathy and I present, he sort of comes from a business background. He said, you know, blossom, your everyone really cares what you, you and Cathy have to say, what do you want? Uh, yeah. And he goes, but none of you make a lot of money. And I thought he was, I thought it was being really rude, but he was saying, you know, like, we get paid to go to those things and we're not even paying attention. He goes, they actually come and pay attention. So, you know, we, we do, we do with love and blood and sweat and tears and heart and bodies and pain. It's all in there. So we're going to be fine. So thank you. Thank you. And thank you for having me speak on Cathy's behalf.

So, um, I met Ron in 1995. And, uh, when I first learned about [inaudible], I was in a period of my life, I was a single mother living in boulder, Colorado in $17,000 a year. And I was introduced to PyLadies and I was sitting down on my couch one day meditating and I thought to myself, you know, this is really good stuff. So whoever's up there, the universe I call it, covers everybody. If I can be of use then use me. Never thinking that I would be standing here in front of all of, to be so honored. So I met Ron in 1995 and um, he would always tell stories.

So I sort of threatened Lolita yesterday or today and said, if I start talking about Ron, I could be up here for an hour, but I'll try to, I'll try to truncate it. So Ron said that he had an injury, he was dancing with the Graham Company and somebody said, you need to go over to Joe. And so he described the squeaky elevator, you've heard about the elevator, the ones with the cages, and they go up and kind of over to the side. And Front to back. And you know, he had no idea where he was going and the elevator cage opened and suddenly he was looking at what he thought was the inquisition and he said, I knew I was in the wrong place. But nonetheless, he stayed and he worked a lot with Clara. Uh, Ron had some injuries himself. He eventually ended up out in California where he had his neck surgery with Kathy and Kathy's husband was his anesthesiologist. And I think Clara adapted a lot of things for Ron's body.

So Ron tells this story where he was on the reformer working with Clara, and he doesn't necessarily name the exercise, but I'm imagining that it was rowing back and he's busy doing it. And think about when you were a beginning of pilates student, it's important to be a student first. And he was going at it. And Clara said, this is not a rowboat, so haven't we all done the rowboat. And one of the things that she told him was Ron knee, that's what she called him. Ronnie, it goes here to go there, to go here, to go there. So there was no carriage stop and I'm thinking of it every time he would tell the story here to go there, to go here to go there.

That's the in sign for infinity. So there's no beginning and there's no end. And so Ron also would say, you know, the day that you lose your teachers, it's a very sad day. Think of it. We aren't fortunate very often to find really good teachers and he lost many of his teachers, including Clara and Joe. So I'm standing up here and I'm thinking that they were part our first were part of that infinity and how fortunate we are to have Mary and Lolita, but you each of us and each of our students, we are part of that Infiniti.

We are the ones that are going to go from here to there, from here to there. And I am grateful for each and every one of you and for allowing me to have my moment to say thank you and thank you. [inaudible] I don't have, I don't have any entertaining stories about Corolla. Um, precipitously. Yesterday we were able to film an interview with Doris Nathan, who is a cousin of Corolla's.

We've been trying to arrange this for three years and not having any idea what I would say today. Doris came up with the goods. Um, but I just want to start by saying that Corolla didn't talk about Joe and Clara really at all. It was about the work. It was always about the work. She would refer to Joe as Joseph [inaudible] and that's what she taught was based on his work. She always gave credit to him, always, always.

I was aware that there was a personal relationship, but that was private. She never spoke about it. Um, I'm sure that she was very concerned with Joe's approval of her teaching as I, I'm wondering if she would approve of how I've carried on behind her. And I think that, you know, if we all keep us, keep this in mind, it challenges us to be the best that we can be. Um, I asked her once, one of the only things I ever asked her was how did you start teaching on your own? And she said with a doorway and a spring, no equipment, just a spring. And in the video that Jillian says she, she sells Corolla, says that she had a spring that you would take on tour with her to do her exercises for her knee rehabilitation and she called that Spring Joe. Um, um, but, but the work was never reliant on the equipment.

It was about feeling your body, feeling your movement, knowing your body, being specific. Um, what her cousin, Doris said yesterday about Corolla is that she poured her heart and soul into teaching [inaudible] she was very grateful, number one, that Joe helped her with her own body out of terrible condition that she was in. And number two, that he gave her a life's work. That is an amazing gift. And, um, Corolla set a fantastic professional example that I hope I'd carried forth through working with the PMA. And she was very, very serious about the work. She was also an excellent business person, but it was never about the money. So thank you and thank you Lolita and crew. And I turned this over to [inaudible].

Right. Thank all those who have spoken so far and shared their thoughts and their words and, and uh, Deborah, I don't think you or anybody that's spoken and people in this room have to worry about whether or not they would be smiling and excited and proud of you for carrying on the work. There's no other way for the work to move on. I mean, if it wasn't for you, the work would die. And I think that's important for us to understand is each one of us carry that work on. And the next two speakers or presenters are our dear Mary Bowen and Lolita San Miguel who both trained with Joe and uh, had the chance to know him and to know Clara.

And so it's with great pleasure that I turn the time over to first Mary Bolin and then Lolita. And then I like to just finish it with you. Stay in your seat. I'll come up here with Lolita and I just want to, maybe we can have a moment of silence and gratitude together before we, we break. So turn the time over to Mary Bowling. Thank you. [inaudible] [inaudible] at this Mosley. Joe Is never given the attention and then the acceptances he needed and that he deserved. But I really in his mind what his dream to do. Nothing.

He would have thought of these people coming up here 49 years to his grave site. I think this would have really stunned him. So he's made it now. I think he did. He doesn't care anymore. I think he's so pleased, you know? But I thought I wanted to thank [inaudible] because it was a genuine Indian, very [inaudible]. You said we're, where is Joe? Is Anybody, she said it's important to us in Kiev, in Ukraine. Do you know Everson's buried well, John Steel was sitting with this and he said, I can tell you so. So that have, then she came in and she actually found the place and she sort of took the pictures incentive to us and Lulea the best organizer in the world has got us all here today.

So I'm going to talk a little bit myself about just few memories of Joe, the sound of him. What I still hear from him in my head. And I was looking at a newspaper and there was a man there just sit in their legs standing there in the newspaper by the site. And I read down a little, and what I got caught by is he said, I based my method on the baby and the cat. So I went to Joe, but I'd never had a baby or a cat. I had a bad back and that was [inaudible] good reason. So he just greeted me at the door and he was so natural and so regular and he's listened to me and mean it. And then he said, you have to come to three times a week. Well, I took a train from above new haven and I said, Joel, only maybe two times a week I might be able to do.

And if he didn't get his way and he had to accept what he could get, he had a certain peculiar sound that he made, which he did at this point. And then so there I was in the group now for six and a half years, twice a week. And what do I hear him say? Oh, I was 29 at that time he was 76 the year was 1959 and what I hear in his head is I hear it in my head in here of the year in deer out here that was abreast and that's how I always hear it. And then I would do one, two, three, one, two, three as you be crawling up your [inaudible] back with his hands, like a bears ball in the spine, stretch forward. Everything was one, two, three. Unless it was a hundred and then I remember that. No, it's just stick to the order. I was a roaring into intuitive and sometimes I just make something up on my own.

And he would look at that and he said, that's good. Just be sure you're using your whole body. And that is such a billion part of [inaudible]. You know, maybe it takes two old age to really be able to be in your old body. But it is a brilliant part of the plotting. And the next thing that he said, he said to John Steel, but he said it to the world and he said it to every one of us. He was just a day from dying and John visited him in a hospital and Joe managed to get out, go whole world. We'll be doing my math, and he had failed as a business. He had failed in his health, but he never failed in the vision and the dream that he had for his life and he was right to even the day before he died.

He was right that the whole world would be doing it then. Some of us have worked hard for that, but it was meant to be. No, it was a really, really important vision and the next time I heard him speak was 1975 eight years after he died, Romana just given me permission to teach and Joe knew that Joe was really working on the other side. The moment I was going to teach, he came into my analytics studio and now I've as a human psychoanalyst stuff in Massachusetts and he said, I want you to only do pull audience. Well, I couldn't only do polities. I had three offices for analysis. I had 11 cats, I had a husband, I had, I had a sailboat. I mean I explained I couldn't only do, but I promise you George said I will always do glottis. So once again he couldn't get what he wanted and it was, he had to accept what he could get and he [inaudible] dead or alive and the same sound.

So then there was one more thing he said. And then I think he was pretty beginning to get some hope, but it was only in 1981 then we really weren't out in the open until 2000 but these, he had parts that were really digging in and I was now in a big studio. I had saunas and massage rooms and I had a big city, had trained teachers and we're three of us on the floor. And I just glanced at the door and there was Joe sitting watching and we had that chair there for anyone who wanted to come in and just watch. Well, I excused him then myself as a client and I went right over and I sat on his lap. It's his a dream. And I said, Joe, I'm trying. And he said, I know you are. And I say it now always to all of us.

We are still trying each one of us in our own way with our strengths and our weaknesses with our gifts and our limitation and maybe always remember to respect the work we're doing because it's a lot of work and also respect everybody else who's doing their kind of work. And I think that, you know, all of you are pretty experienced, all of you I think. But every year you have a vetted a lot of these teachers every year, now it's 41 years for me, but every year you're also more yourself. That's a big dual highway that we're on the profession, the work and ourselves. And I just, I just, I don't have to say good luck to all of you because you, you, you had been having good luck. And yes, we don't make much money, but we have enough. We have at work that makes us happy. We have, we have fulfillment and we have friendship beyond most professions, long term friendships. So I just think we have a, it's a privilege to be a [inaudible] teacher. And I think Kashi, again for sparking is, and I think Lolita for the enormous work, but she's the best organizer and I think most of all you Joe and you flow through being there 40 years, every day on the floor, working with everybody who came through doing the best you could for them with a lot of good intention and a very professional attitude.

And I think we just in gratitude will always be in gratitude. Thank you. [inaudible] well, welcome and happy. We led this day listening to blossom. Talk about a uh, no, it was actually Deborah who said Corolla always said Joseph h p Latisse that whom she trained with. Well, I went to her but like eight, nine years. And yes, I heard Mr [inaudible] great reverence. Well, he died in Germany. She's German. He was German. I Love Matt. What he done till one day Cassie says to me, and I was at the end of my apprenticeship with Corolla and she says to me, and I said, you know, I really don't know what I want to do with this training, but I do know that I don't care to work for Corolla.

And she looked at me and she said, well, why don't you go to Joe's? And I said, Joe, Joe, who? She said, GOP Latisse. I said, Joby Latisse he's dead. Isn't he in Germany someplace? So she said, no, he's right here. I mean, this was, I had started doing Pilatos in 1958 this was 1965 I had been doing [inaudible] regularly going to Corolla and I had no idea that he was at nine 39 eighth avenue, three blocks away from where I was standing with Cathy. At any rate. Long story short, I had his last year and four months there where I was going to his studio and it w it was not his best time because at that point he was not feeling well. He was not, you know, remember the 17 cigars and the cigarettes.

Then his lifestyle, which he enjoyed lesson, but he had the feeling that the end was near and on his bad days we would say Kathy and I called him bad days. He would just, he was going through a very depressed stage. He would just come into the studio, he would sit and he be moping when we would call it, very mopey, very down. And it was obvious. So people would tell me, Joe, come on, what's the matter Jevs now? And Clara was always, you know, the other side of the coin. She'd come and she'd hug them and she'd say, Oh, come on Papa. Cheer up. Look at all. We have to be grateful for. Look at all the people we've helped command snap out of it. But he always said the same thing. During that those periods of depression, he said, I have not achieved what I wanted to achieve with the method, which was sad that he felt that way and let's face it. Back then, he was not that well known at the time he died.

So Joe Dreamt of, he had goals. He had really such vivid goals. He dreamt of educating the young, have them start young, incorporated into their lives, grow up with it. They'll be so well off. They'll be, they won't [inaudible]. They wouldn't be wars. And you know, he knew what the wars, he loved animals, he loved nature.

He said if they started young it would be a different society. He also said every hospital should have a rehabilitation center with Pialat this equipment and [inaudible] training. You know, we've all seen that wonderful video of him rehabilitating with Eve gentry and he came so close to realizing that goal. Somehow it escaped him. He also talked about training the military. You know, he had done that in the past and he wanted to do that and he felt that very plain and simple. Some days a whole world will do p Latisse and it will be better off.

Okay, well to me these are still our goals. These are goals are still here. They are still what we need to work for. We have such a treasure that we were given and let's not waste energy on nonsense. You know you. That's why I keep saying unity, unity, unity, let's work together to achieve these goals. They're not unachievable.

They really are not and you know the great need, their ace for achieving these goals. Well I know I count. I can count on all of you out there whether I'm here or not to work for more unity, right? More working to achieve his dreams. That's beautiful. I also one to mention a few of his wonderful sayings because he certainly was a philosopher when he said physical fitness is the first prerequisite of happiness. True. We all know that.

When he said it is the mind that guides the body. True. You are right. As young as your spine is flexible, doesn't matter your current or logical age, unimportant. You are as young as your spine is flexible. When he said balance, what balance in life and this most of us are not very good at doing, which is a balancing rest, work and play.

Most of you and including myself, we work too hard. You know, we are so passionate about what we believe in that a I here to teaching 12 hours, come on, you know, balance. Let's keep that in mind. And he may have worked long hours. He was, he lived a very humble life all his life, from birth to death. But we must work to balance our lives better so that we can have more rest, that we can have more play. And another wonderful thing in the air.

So you can announce the air, right? And we know breathing is it. Now, there are several things that I believe in and that we know the three piece, patience, practice and perseverance. And I add two, those three passion. You really have to have passion if you are in this business. And if you believe in this work, and if you believe that we can really, the whole world should be doing it. You must have passion.

So remember, not three p's for peace practice. You gotta practice, you gotta work on it. Be patient, be persevering and be passionate about it. I also have another person saying, many of you know that I believe the great deal and continued education. I believe that we don't stop learning. We should be learning forever. The day we stop learning, it's a sad day. The day we think we know everything there is to know. It's an even Saturday.

So I think of two things. Preserve and evolve. Preserve and evolve. Keep growing, keep improving. He would not be unhappy with us if we just keep evolving.

Like once Clara said a to run when, oh, it was Fletcher. When he was saying, come over here and she's, and he said, well, I can't walk around because y'all wouldn't let me. She. And he said, well, Joe's not here. And so we have this wonderful treasure that these people have left us. And the more we let the world know what, uh, our heritage is, what our legacy is, how privileged we are to be able to teach the body in front of us to be able to impart that knowledge to others. And we know how grateful they are when they feel better.

Right? So with that, I conclude and I would ask Brent something that comes to my mind is just thinking of how many great people in this room, they could also stand up and have shared beautiful thoughts. And for the dinner today after the, the event that we would continue sharing stories, there's so many people that have great stories. Um, we didn't hear anything from about Eve gentry today. There's Jay Grimes, other names. There's people here who trained with them directly. So again, to keep this going on and there's, there's never a lack of it, but I thought the word that came up over and over again was gratitude from the beginning as gratitude. Many of the presenters talked about gratitude. Mary definitely talked about gratitude. Lolita talked about. I thought if we just all stood up for a second and grabbed hands with people next to us. So just take a moment. Maybe we'll go for a minute. A minute might seem like a long time, but we should have plenty of things to be grateful for for 60 seconds.

So I will be quiet and just close our eyes and just enjoy and Baskin gratitude. And when you're ready, just open your eyes and just to, uh, to say that how much we love the work of Joseph and Clara [inaudible] and we're so grateful to be part of it. Um, we're going to wait for instructions on how we get over to the niche, but in the meantime, feel free to embrace and hug the people that you're around as we wait in this chapel to be led to where we're going next. Have a great day. Thank you so much.