Why do you always start with my feet?

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One of my newer private clients asked me the other day ago,” Why do you always have me do these exercises with my feet at the beginning of our session?”  The exercises I was having her do can be seen in the video below and use a small ball to roll your feet out.  She liked the exercises and was even doing them at home, and more than anything was curious about why I always had her do them.

My answer: Your feet, and the tissues and muscles in your feet have a direct effect on how the rest of your body moves! By starting with the feet we are giving the rest of your body the best possible prep to move it’s best and get the most out of your session.  As an example I had her do the ball exercises on one foot first.  Then she did a slow standing roll down to check in with how the backs of her legs felt.  She was amazed at how just by rolling out her foot, her muscles in the back of her leg on that side felt looser and less stiff!  If you haven’t tried this yet…go do it now!!

If you’ve never really thought about your feet in terms of how they impact how the rest of your body feels….it’s worth a little examination!  Join me for my Healthy Feet Workshop On Saturday, August 26th at 10:30 a.m. and learn why you should pay attention to your feet and walk away with lots of simple exercises and movements you can use to keep your feet healthy and happy!!

 

Breath is a tool..not a rule

My friend Len was visiting this April and I overheard a conversation he had with a client who was asking about how to breathe on a particular exercise as Len had taught the reverse of what this client was used to.(asking her to inhale when she normally exhaled).  He took some time to explain why he was using that particular breath pattern and somewhere in the conversation he simply said, “Remember breath is a tool, not a rule.”  I love that phrase!

Do you ever find yourself wondering if you are breathing correctly?  Sometimes I find that clients are so worried about if they are inhaling and exhaling at the right moment that they totally miss all the wonderful other components of the exercise.  One of the first things I teach new Pilates students is how to breathe to their fullest capacity as well as informing them of all the wonderful health benefits that come along with learning to breathe properly and how to coordinate breath with their movement.  Then…immediately after that I tell them,”Try not to worry about or overthink the breath as you are first learning Pilates in your body….simply try to remember to breath and try not to hold your breath! Learning Pilates is a process and you are not expected to learn everything all at once!  Using breath to help us move better is something that takes time and practice to do!”

There are so many components to learning a mind body practice like Pilates that it can be overwhelming if you are trying to do everything at once.   For instance….learning the technique or choreographing of the exercises, keeping your newly found abdominal muscles engaged, keeping  your awareness of your whole body, being precise and controlled with the movements, learning  “new ways” to move in your body, coordinating your breath, etc….

If you are finding it hard to figure out the breathing, feeling a little overwhelmed by it,  or maybe feeling like you just aren’t getting it yet, here’s a few tips to think about:

  1.  Be aware of your breath.  How many times during your day or even when you do other exercise do you pay attention to your breath? Don’t worry so much about trying to change your breath but truly just notice it.  Awareness of your breath will give you a connection between your physical movements in an almost meditative way.  You’ll feel calmer and find yourself being able to better control your physical movements. This produces the immediate benefits of reducing feelings of stress and anxiety and helping you get physical results in your body quicker as you’ll be doing the movements using proper muscle engagement.
  2. Aim for bigger, slower breath.  Breathing quicker and shallower breaths is rarely the answer when it comes to using breath in your movement.  I like to practice this bigger slower breath all by itself first.. just lay on a mat and take 10 Pilates breaths seeing how slow and big you can make them.  We live in a pretty fast paced world and it’s rare that we take time to slow down and that includes our breath.  It takes some practice and retraining yourself to breath deeper and slower! The more you practice this bigger, slower breath the more easily you’ll be able to use it and connect it to your physical movements.
  3. Be playful with your breath.  Be ok with not breathing perfectly!  If the breath your teacher is suggesting just doesn’t seem to work- try your own breath pattern. Yep…it’s OK to inhale even though she’s telling you to exhale!! Let yourself explore how your breath can help you move better in your body!

Tips for Pilates teachers from my 14 year old son…

My son just turned 14, and like any 14 year old boy one of the first things he wanted to do is get his driving permit.  As a parent having my kid driving kind of terrifies me, but I knew that I wanted him to be a good driver and the best way to give him those skills was to get as much practice time as possible.  So I made a pact with myself to try to go out daily with him to start the learning process.  I figured I am a natural teacher…I spend my days teaching movement and Pilates to clients who often have no movement experience at all….how hard could teaching driving be?  I made a vow to be as patient as I could, try not to yell and give him lots of positive encouragement.

Before I tell you more, let me say overall I love our driving practice time.  Caden and I don’t share a lot of common interests these days and I feel like as he gets older it’s harder and harder to find things we can do together. I always feel like our driving time connects us a little more and I really enjoy it. That being said…I’m not going to lie….the first few times we drove were quite the experience.  Very quickly I realized I was not in control and there was only so much I could do to help him figure out what he needed to figure out.  I had to figure out how to calmly use my voice and my words to help Caden figure out what he needed to do, when he needed to do it and how he should do it.  So many times I wanted to be able to push the break pedal or turn the wheel for him…but I couldn’t!

I drive so much that I truly had forgotten what it was like to be starting from the beginning to learn to drive!  I had to go back to the basics and walk through all of the things that I do without thinking…gradually speeding up and slowing down (instead of slamming the brakes!), when to turn on your turn signal, how to keep your eyes on the road but still be aware of traffic behind you, knowing your speed limit, etc. And even bigger than instructing him on all of that stuff I have to give him time to practice and use what I’m telling him without freaking out too much!  As long as safety is not an issue..I kind of have to let him figure out things by practicing imperfectly.

And if me feeling very out of control wasn’t enough…he started asking questions while he was driving…How times should I turn the wheel when I turn? Is it a quarter turn, half turn or what?  How does the car work when you put it into reverse?  Is it illegal to drive without shoes? Those are just a few of the ones I remember because I did not have a quick answer for them when he asked.

This whole experience reminds me of watching my new teacher trainees as they start to learn to teach Pilates and movement to others.  By the time the trainees are teaching others they are very experienced with the movements in their own body and have a great understanding of what the goals of the exercise are and technically how do it it..but the challenging part comes when you have to teach someone else how to do it.  The teaching path is never as easy as just tell them how to do it …   Everyone learns differently so you have to prepared to give lots of different ways for a clients to learn something in their body.  And then even harder is you have to give the time and space to figure it out.  You have to let them do it “wrong”  or “not exactly perfect” as long as it’s not going to hurt them so that they can learn what they need to do.  And you can’t overload them with corrections and explanations or they will get frustrated and probably not want to keep trying!

Here’s a quick list of my favorite teaching tips I was reminded of by my son:

  1. Be prepared to have lots of different ways to teach each exercise.
  2. Keep them safe first.
  3.  Once you’ve presented the exercise and the information…let them practice and practice and practice and practice.
  4. Don’t overwhelm them with corrections.
  5. Give lots of positive feedback when they do something correctly.
  6. Be prepared to answer questions (that may or may not really affect them learning the skill you are teaching)!
  7. Don’t be discouraged if they don’t “get it” right away.  One of your most important jobs as a teacher is to make the experience fun, enjoyable and encouraging so they stick with it.  Any new skill takes time to learn, they will get it eventually if they stick with it!

 

 

Who loves to learn new things? (me, me me!!!)

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One of the things I love about my own Pilates practice is that I’m always learning.  I’m learning how to move better in my body, I’m learning to listen to my body, I learning about the anatomy of how my body works and how I can use that knowledge to feel and move better, I’m learning to use alignment to help my body function better and I’m learning why various movements are so good for me.  I think it just motivates me to keep moving, playing and progressing in my Pilates practice and in life….the more I know.  I often get similar feedback from clients at the studio and I truly believe this “education” part of moving is what makes Pilates, Yoga and any movement in your life much more than just a workout.

As a studio we decided that we wanted to be able to keep this learning and educating portion of your exercise sessions front and center so that you too would be more motivated to stick with it, more motivated to learn how to do the exercises best in your body and keep excited about your movement practice.  So we’ve planned out a whole year of learning for you!  Each month we’ll have a different topic or idea that is relevant to movement that we’ll be exploring.  We’ll blog about the topic so if you love to learn by reading…you can get some extra knowledge and then your movement teachers will tie in the value of each topic into your class times and session times at the studio.

This August, the first month, we are going to be exploring breath.  Breath is an integral part of any mind body movement practice and we’re going to be exploring why!  We’ll look at how we breath and the muscle activation, we’ll explore how breathing helps us move better, and we’ll give you practical tips on how you can improve your breathing in the studio and in your daily life.  We’re pretty excited about getting the chance to explore breath and other movement ideas in more depth and we hope you are too!!  Get ready to learn, play, and be inspired to do more in your body!!

Am I cheating if I use Momentum?

“Ooh, I cheated!  I used momentum!”   Have you ever said this?  I actually hear this all the time from Pilates clients. I have to tell you though- I disagree with that statement and I believe that you are not cheating (cheating to me implies you are doing something wrong..) by using your momentum to help you move better as long as you do it with control!  In fact, I teach my clients how to use momentum to their advantage and I really believe that part of learning to move better in your body is the process of learning how to use momentum to move better, more efficiently and with more control.

Case in point: “Rolling like a Ball” ( and really any of the rolling exercises)!  When I am teaching this I encourage clients to lift their heels away from the floor to initiate rolling back and then pull the heels toward their butt to initiate the coming back to start part of the roll.  I don’t consider this cheating.   I consider it teaching your body to initiate controlled movements by changing your body positioning.  Is it more challenging when you reduce this leg movement and try to initiate more from your center? Yep..it is and that’s a great way to keep challenging your body.   But if “using your momentum” helps you achieve the goals of the exercise…like gaining flexibility in your spine by rolling it through the mat and engaging your core muscles to do controlled, precise movements then by all means use your momentum.

Please note that how you use your momentum is very important!  There’s a big difference between throwing your legs up and slamming your back into the mat(ouch..!) and slightly lifting and lowering your legs in a controlled way to help you roll through your spine better.  Worried you are using too much momentum in your movements?  Ask yourself these questions:

  • Does it hurt or not feel good in my body?  If the answer is yes than you need more control, less momentum and probably a smaller range of motion.
  • Am I coordinating my breath with my movement?  If you can coordinate a specific breath pattern with your movement you are probably in control, don’t worry so much about using a little momentum.
  • Can you feel or are you aware of your core muscles engaging and working?  If the answer is no…slow down and figure out what you need to do to have more “core awareness and engagement” and if the answer is yes- you are on the right track…don’t overthink using your momentum.
  • Does it feel controlled or does it feel sloppy and out of control?  If it doesn’t feel controlled try slowing your movements down and taking the time to really concentrate on what you are trying to do in your body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When’s the last time you did something that scared you??

If you follow me or the studio at all you probably have seen some of my posts about Pilates on the Lake.  I teach a Pilates class on a board called a stand up paddleboard (SUP).  The boards are designed to be a surf board like board that you can stand on and paddle yourself around.  You can also sit or kneel on the boards to paddle and it turns out you can lay on them and do most of your Pilates exercises. The slight instability of the board on the water makes it extra fun!

As I’ve been teaching these classes I’ve found that many of my students are taking class because they want to try stand up Paddleboarding (SUP) for the first time. These new students are water people( you know…people that enjoy being in or around water and nature..) who are intrigued with the new Standup Paddleboard fad and want to try it out.

I’ve been having so much fun teaching and I think the part I enjoy the most is the “trying something new” experience that I get to help people with.  There is something truly inspiring about getting to experience a first in someone’s life.  There is something truly inspiring about being there as someone puts their fears to the side and tries something new that they know full well..they might not be so great at in the beginning.

quote by eleanor rooseveltIt reminds me of the quote,”Do one thing every day that scares you.”

I think we all can recognize the value in doing something that scares us. We’ve all seen the light on the other side after we conquer a fear or venture out and try something new.    But how many of us really make an effort to do those things that scare us? How many of us are willing to take a chance and be vulnerable in front of other people?

From a teaching perspective I try to keep the Paddleboard experience and class light hearted.  I try to remind people that it’s OK if you fall off your board(it’s a great chance to cool off and refresh!)and more than anything I try to just be in the moment with people and remind them how great they are doing( because they are!!). Whether we are paddling to our spot on the lake to anchor for class or playfully trying some Pilates exercises on the boards I think you’ll find it’s a great workout, the scenery is amazing and it’s just plain fun to do something new and different!

If you are looking to try something new this summer, maybe a chance to do something that scares you…I would love to see you on the lake!!  You can sign up for Tuesday evening 6 pm Pilates on the Lake classes by clicking here!