Practice What You Teach: Getting outside my Pilates comfort zone…

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One of my goals in my own practice is to pick one new to me Pilates Anytime video and do it each week.  And I made a deal with myself that once I picked one and started it…I would finish it.  You see many times I find myself picking something to watch and workout with and if I don’t like it ( ie it’s not what I expected, it’s more challenging than I wanted that day, or it’s a style of teaching I don’t love) I just stop the video and do something else or maybe even call it good for the day.

I decided that there are so many reasons I shouldn’t do this like:

  • Getting outside of your comfort zone is good( as a teacher it’s a good reminder that this is what a new student feels like in my class…)
  •  The stuff we don’t like is often what we need most( following my own advice…)
  • There is always a takeaway, a lesson, something positive in any situation ( again…following my own advice)

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This week I happen to be scrolling through Facebook and saw Pilates Anytime had posted a new little clip of Portia Page doing Single Leg Stretch with a big ball promoting her latest class.  I thought….” I need to sneak a workout in and I do love a little Pilates Mat and Big Ball”.  So I opened up my Pilates Anytime app to check it out.   It was a 30 minute workout which was perfect for my schedule so I started it up on my phone.

Right away as the video started I knew it was not what I expected it to be.   We started with some standing squat like movements and Portia was talking about getting your cardio in, music and having to coordinate to the music(ahhhh…coordinating with music is not normally my thing!) I really wanted to stop the video and try something else. This was definitely not the style of class I was thinking it was going to be, but I could stand to get some cardio in and I had made myself that promise, so I stuck with it.

2 minutes later….This was not your traditional Pilates workout, and I clearly was not doing everything exactly right or getting all of the choreography(I’m a little bit20160519_112434 of a perfectionist so this drives me a crazy!!) but I was getting a workout!  My heart rate was up and once I just let myself not worry about being perfect…it was fun!  Portia is a great instructor and as I was doing the workout I was thinking that there were definitely some things we were doing that would be fun to add into my TGIF Mat class where we often played on the big ball.  I really loved her positive attitude and just plain enthusiasm to move and have fun!  The unexpected cardio and Pilates based movements ended up being a perfect workout to start my day.  Lessons learned and noted!

 

Our Muscles Obey our Mind…

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I was teaching footwork to a client this morning on the reformer.  I asked her to stop for a second and just pay attention to how her body and her backside felt on the reformer carriage.  I then requested she put weight into her left hip, and left rib cage and just notice the balance between the two sides.  She did what I asked, found a balanced place and then we started the footwork sequence again. Her movement was much more balanced and I could tell she was working more efficiently, with more ease and ultimately having to “work” a little more to find that balance.

joequote22After our session she was talking about what an amazing difference that made and how she could really start to feel that balance in her body.  She was amazed at how just thinking and “commanding” her body worked to help her create balance and work her muscles more efficiently.

This to me is a great example of how simply effective and powerful we are in creating change in our bodies by changing how we think.  It’s one of the things that I love about the Pilates work. By practicing Pilates you a learning a skill that will help you move better and feel better in everything you do in life, not just when you are on your Pilates Mat.  I also love that you don’t have to be at any certain fitness level to learn this skill and start implementing it into your life.  I’m not asking you to run a marathon or lift an absurd amount of weight….I’m asking you to check in with your body, think about how you are moving and maybe change how you are thinking….

IMG_0887In Return to Life, Joseph Pilates states,” Ideally, our muscles should obey our will. Reasonably, our will should not be dominated by reflex actions of our muscles. Contrology begins with mind control over muscles.”  Well said Joe!

[tweetthis]”Contrology begins with mind control over muscles.” ~ #JoesphPilates #ReturntoLife [/tweetthis]

 

Pilates Around the Clock Exercise – the Commando Exercise!

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Taken from an exercise instruction sheet that Joseph H. Pilates used to sell for $1.00 in 1943, here’s your instructions for Around the Clock from Joe himself:

Are you game to try a Commando Exercise? It looks simple – but it’s rather straining until you have had lots of practice doing it. This exercise develops muscles and tissues that the usual physical drills and even swimming and hiking do not call into play. This “Around the Clock” stunt is especially effective in correcting bad posture, double chin, flabby & weak abdominal muscles, fat thighs, bulging hips, constipation, poor blood circulation and other similar physical imperfections. Below is the explanation how – in one minute morning and evening – you can go “Round the Clock”. It will do you no good whatever just to read about this simple exercise. It must be performed twice daily, day after day, without let up. Be a Commando and command yourself to do this one thing each day. You’ll be surprised at the result!

Directions: Lie on your back with arms pressed tightly against your thighs, as shown on diagram at 12 o’clock. Bend head forward until chin touches chest – with straight legs lift feet about three inches off floor and inhale deeply. Next, exhale fully and double up your legs against chest, thus helping to expel your breath. Now raise the lower part of the spine slightly off floor and with a pivot-like motion, twist the body around to the right to position shown at one o’clock on diagram. Again raise spine slightly and give another twist into position shown at 2 o’clock and stretch out flat as at the beginning. When you have moved from 12 to 2 o’clock, you have completed a cycle of these combination exercises. You then repeat this process, going to 3 & 4, then 5 & 6, until you again reach 12 o’clock. When you are proficient in going round the clock as a clock hand does, you can reverse the process and do it in reverse order.

 

 

Practice What You Teach: The Power of Words

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This week I did a Tower Class workout on Pilates Anytime with Pilates instructor Benjamin Degenhardt(which was amazing!) During and after the class I was reflecting a little on how much harder I worked during my workout just because of the words and imagery Benjamin used.  The exercises themselves weren’t anything new to me yet I did some of them differently just because of how he taught the exercises and the words he used.  Sometimes a cue he used would have me doing “more” or getting “more” out of that exercise than I would have been doing had I just been practicing on my own.

A cue he used a couple of times that really worked for me was to roll through the space behind your heart.  I usually think about IMG_7013rolling through my upper back but there was something about the heart cue that immediately gave me a sense of more movement in my spine. As a bonus, all week long I could hear his words when I was practicing on my own and it really helped me move better!

As an instructor this reminded me of how powerful our words can be in helping others find movement or create change in their body.  As a student it made me grateful for the opportunity to learn from a variety of instructors over the years. I feel like each teacher shares their own gifts and their own words and they are all important in keeping my movement practice evolving, which in turn keeps me healthy and happy!

 

Does this scare you?

This picture showed up on my facebook feed today.

I opened up my Facebook to find this picture and I just had to laugh.  I’m guessing if you have back pain and are lacking flexibility and strength in your body you are not going to look at this picture and say, “Wow I want to try wrapping myself up like a pretzel in those straps and hang upside down! I bet that will get rid of my back pain!”

In fact just the thought of trying to get yourself into one of those positions might scare you (and it probably should!!) I’m a Pilates instructor who loves to move, play and try new things…but the thought of just trying to put myself into these positions at home just makes me laugh as I can envision myself falling on my head or getting hurt trying to get there!!

Teaching movement for many years has taught me so many lessons and today I want to share one of my favorites!

Effective movement and exercise that gives you results such as more strength, more flexibility, more balance in your body and less pain does not have to be complicated or scary. In fact, the simpler the better.

Of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to get to a place where you can do movements like those in the above picture, but it is not at all necessary.  I find that most people just want to feel good in their body and be  able to live their lives with ease and without pain.  They want to have energy to experience life and all the movement that is built into our lives.

One of the reasons I believe the Pilates method of exercise is so effective as a movement program for so many people is because instructors are taught to teach bodies how to move correctly starting with the simplest, most basic forms of movement.  Teaching people basic concepts like how to engage their core muscles, how to stabilize their hips and shoulders, how to breathe more efficiently and how to use the mind to control their body’s movements. These are skills that make your workout or exercise time more effective whatever type of workout you are doing and these skills are translated into our everyday movements throughout our life.  Learning these basic skills and then practicing them is where the Pilates magic happens!

By taking some basic movement principles and incorporating them into your movement life you will start to see and feel changes in your body.  AND the good news is learning these skills does not involve bending yourself like a pretzel, hanging upside down, doing the splits or any other movement or position that seems scary and completely undoable in your body.  When you are learning Pilates we’ll be using movements you probably do all the time in your day to day life and we’ll show you how you can apply the Pilates principles to those movements to move better.

If you’re interested in learning how to move better, create a balanced body that is strong, flexible and moves with ease…schedule a complimentary session where we’ll introduce you to some simple movement concepts that can create big changes in your life!

Eve’s Rules of Teaching Pilates….

Eve’s Rules of Teaching Pilates

  • images-1Your personal problems along with your street clothes should stay in the dressing room where they belong.
  • If your client doesn’t understand or can not do what you are asking them to do – it’s not the client’s fault, it is yours.
  • You should teach your clients so well that they no longer need you.
  • In order to be a good teacher, you have to be a good student. Never stop learning!

I never had the chance to work with Eve Gentry, but ran across these teaching rules from her the other day ago and couldn’t agree more!  I might add to this list:

  • Only teach what you know and know in your own body

I would love to hear from other instructors on any other “rules” that might follow!!
Just click on comment and let us know your “rules”!