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Mo' Bodies...Mo' Problems


Week of June 3rd




Hi my Moons, my Bright Stars, my Gorgeous Gravitational Forces!


Happy June everyone! Or as Noemie exclaimed yesterday staring at the sunny stormy wild weather outside, "Wait...is it CHRISTMAS?!"


We've all heard the expression "two's company, threes a crowd", or the term "3rd wheel." Usually referring to how 3 people can throw off social harmony, the natural rhythm of a 2 way dialogue.There's ebb and flow ... and then there's just floundering. It's why I've seen many playdates of 3 end in tears. By the time the toys are divvied up, one poor kiddo will end up with the shortest straw - the wonky looking stuffy with fruit sticker face tattoos and a missing eye. Also when playing house and all the main roles are quickly spoken for. All that's left is the sidekick character, the quirky annoying neighbor that forces poorly timed cameos. Well in physics this is also the case. Except it's not just a slight disturbance of social balance - or throws a wrench and tantrums during play time. In science it could actually be catastophic. Scientists put their heads together and came up the perfect word for this serious issue, they call it a "problem." Specifically a "three body problem."


A three body problem is when you have three objects of approximately similiar mass trying to maintain a stable orbit. The motion of the three-point mass particles trying to remain stable under their mutual gravitational interactions. The problem is normally when two objects exert force on each other, it's easier to predict the objects' rotation. You can not in the orbit of three bodies, like planets or stars, when they're trapped in each other's pull. So in Star Wars for instance they had a double star system. The two suns and the planet were stable. If you throw in a 3rd sun the same size then it could all go arry because they don't know where the gravitational allegiance is. Like three strong horseshoe magnets facing eachother, and a paperclip in the center. That paperclip's orbit will be an uncoordinated do-si-do. Which is why it is impossible to write a standard equation that gives the exact movements of three bodies orbiting each other in space. The three-body problem is a centuries-old physics question that has stumped Isaac Newton. My favorite breakdown of this complicated dilemma is from one of the more entertaining, and most followed, astrophysicists - Neil deGrasse Tyson.


 

Netflix even has a new dystopian sci-fi series about exactly this, called "The Three Body Problem." We started it but, I have to admit, we were too distracted by how good looking they made the scientists. A diverse, perfectly glammed cast in earth toned clothes, working underground in a concrete bunker. In every scene everyone just looks perplexed and pretty. Almost like being a scientist is their unnecessary side hustle to their successful modeling career. Anyway, if we can somehow get passed that we will try to pick it up again.


Personally, I think astrophysicists do not need a powerful telescope to study the 3 body problem. Neither do Netflix viewers need to watch a show about it. They just need to come to our house. Because we are displaying a pretty perfect chaotic representation of it today. Also the reason why this email is getting out so late. We happen to have exactly 3 bodies in this house. The two that usually function off each other, stay in a tight work-from-home orbit, had an unpredictable tiny asteroid spiral it's way onto the belt. Staying home from school - puttering, coughing, and sparks of snot spraying off it. Which caused regularly scheduled productivity to spiral, exhaustion to set in, patience to thin. The two parent planets are now at odds over screen time and how the other one is handling the small but forceful asteroid's pull. When that disgruntled planet should just be GRATEFUL they can concentrate on their full work day because everything is totally handled. AND! They should worship their counterpart planet (like the sun itself!!) for everything it does every waking turning spinning sleep deprived day!


I digress, my only point is scientists might have benefited from observing the unharmonious bodies in motion under our roof today. We also might have benefited from a marriage counselor. They all would have concluded that an orbit of a three system body is mathematically chaotic.


When it comes to our Pilatecising classes however, we defy the laws of motion and mathematical theories. In the studio, the MORE bodies in motion on the same gravitaitional pull - the MORE harmonious. The MORE sparks of sweat flying, the MORE fun the energy is, the MORE motivated we feel, the MORE effort we put in, the MORE stamina we have leaving class. Last week we had the most bodies in the studio yet! That room was bursting with sparkling energy and I gotta stay it was contagious - and stayed with me all weekend long. I had some new faces that threw themselves into the rotation of a sweaty circuit class, it was awesome. Because whenever I have a moment of doubt of how I'm going to get to everyone at once - I remember I have a whole class I can rely on. The energy the studio as a whole created just took care of it. The natural gravitational pull directed the course and set the tone. So in this case, instead of a three body problem, our full classes have a six body solution.


In honor of our galaxy's spinny spiraly system, we will do lots of fun releases and twists this week. Predictable foundational strength moves but with an unexpected twist. Like a 3rd body of movement trying to throw us off. So when we cool down, unraveled and wrung out, we have that full body connection and that outer body cathartic feeling. Thank you all again for spreading the word and bringing friends, but mainly for bringing your own beautiful contagious sparkly energy. 


" Professors of physics say to their students, "do not involved in the three body problem." Because its a problem to get a solution to...and here's why. We are standing on the 1st body problem - the sun. The sun is the body, and we are doing that around the sun (finger motion spinning around centered finger). When you've got three bodies the gravity is pulling in various directions and you can't predict it because it will depends on whatever movement will be influenced by the three. So you can't predict where it's going to be. That's the kernel of our story, a planet has a 3 body problem. We don't have a 3 body problem. The 3 body problem is someone else's. That becomes our problem. You're welcome."

~ actor/fictitious scientist Liam Cunningham



Excited to make your bodies sweat, smile, and stay strong in your orbit!


XO,

Celeste



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