Practice what you teach: Breath and concentration can do wonders..

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Breath and concentration (two of our Pilates principles) can do amazing things! I woke up on New Years day with a pesky pain in the muscles between my shoulder blade and spine. It was nothing horrible, just a “I must have slept wrong” kind of pain.

My usual routine in the morning is to start my day with my Pilates Mat work and even though I was feeling a little tight and twingey by my shoulder blade, I wanted to start the year off right and get my day started with some movement. I grabbed my foam roller as that spot in my upper back really just felt like it needed a good massage. I spent a few moments just lying on the foam roller in different positions and massaging near the spot- which helped although it was still there.

I decided to go through my mat routine and make my focus breath and specifically breathing into the area that was bothering me. Throughout my routine whenever I felt that spot I took a deeper breath and really envisioned my breath expanding into that area. Even though I tell people all the time to try techniques like this I am always re-amazed when I use them on myself and they work! I love to be reminded of how amazing our thoughts, our bodies and our ability to create change in our body is!!

Needless to say I felt soo much better after getting my Pilates Mat work in. The spot by my shoulder blade had not completely disappeared but it was so much better AND what happened the rest of the day was even better. When I found myself feeling that tightness I went back to my practice of breathing into that space and it was better. By the time the Hawkeyes were headed onto the field for the Rose Bowl I wasn’t feeling the pain at all!