Pilates Inspiration of the Month – Lindsey Gorzelanny

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Inspiration of the Month
May 2016
Lindsey Gorzelanny 
When did you start Pilates and what inspired you to start?
I started Pilates about 6 years ago when I was pregnant with our first child to counterbalance the additional weight, prepare for his birth, and stretch, strengthen, and tone my body.  It changed my life.  Since then, I have tried to sneak in at least one weekly session in whatever city I am in.
What benefits have you seen by committing to a regular Pilates practice?   
I can ALWAYS tell when I have missed a weekly session. My body feels tight and it hurts.  For me, Pilates is better than massage. Due to gravity, computer and phone use, and carrying a toddler my body is often out of alignment and Pilates allows me to pinpoint those weak areas and stretch and strengthen them. I haven’t found any other exercise that enables me to do that.  It helps with other areas of fitness as well; breathing, proper alignment, mind, body awareness, and core stabilization. Seeing the benefits of my Pilates practice, my professional athlete husband started incorporating Pilates into his training.  We have been enjoying  “Pilates dates” together in the off-season!
What were the benefits of staying active with Pilates during and after pregnancy?
I credit Pilates for allowing me to feel great during both of my pregnancies. I practiced Pilates on my due date with both boys (I delivered 2 days later with both). I tend to have long natural labors and my Pilates practice gave me the strength and endurance to power through the marathon of labor.  It also helped me recover quickly from pregnancy and the labor. I was not only able to get back to my pre-pregnancy shape fairly quickly, but I was also able to heal properly.   When you are feeding a newborn every 2 hours, carrying an insanely heavy diaper bag and car seat, not sleeping, and your core strength is non-existent, Pilates will save your life.  Pilates is the perfect low impact exercise for during and after pregnancy.  It is Physical Therapy and massage combined. For instance, when my core is weak due to pregnancy my lower back begins to hurt, so Pilates allows me to strengthen my core and stretch my back at the same time.
 
You are a busy mom, how do you make time to take care of yourself?
When I had a toddler and a newborn, a 50 minute Pilates session was the only time I took for myself. It helped me both physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I definitely struggle with taking time for myself, so I would sneak away when the baby was napping and my husband was home.  Now my oldest is in kindergarten and my youngest goes to preschool, so I can go to the grocery store, Target, Starbucks, and Pilates kid-less, and  it is the most amazing thing!
Do you have a favorite exercise or piece of equipment (or both)?

I actually like all the equipment for different reasons and it depends on the day and what my body is feeling.  Sometimes I want a quick, effective, toning workout, so I prefer the Mat exercises and/or the Chair. But other days, after I have been traveling and my body is aching, I prefer the Cadillac and Reformer.  After all these years, each exercise and equipment still is challenging to me and I am constantly making adjustments.
What would you say to other busy moms who are thinking about doing Pilates?

It will be the best decision you make for both your mind and body.  You will feel great and enjoy doing it!

Don’t wait until you’re out of pain to start Pilates….

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say, “I really want to try Pilates or get back to it, but I’ve been dealing with this chronic low back pain (or insert any other pain…) that I want to go away first.”  As a Pilates instructor I want to shake them and say, “That pain is exactly why you should start Pilates now!!” Of course you will want to make sure you get your physician’s approval and make sure you find an experienced instructor who knows how to adjust exercises for your body.

IMG_7102Individualized Pilates sessions are designed to work with your body where ever it is and more often than not the precise, balanced movement we do in Pilates can create balance in your body that lessens or eliminates pain!   Please note that I did say individualized Pilates sessions.

If you have pain in your body and you are new to the Pilates method I wouldn’t suggesting taking a large group class at the gym or following along with a video.  The best way to learn the Pilates method of exercise is with an experienced instructor and if you have pain you’ll want to start off with some private sessions to make sure you understand how to move safely and effectively before trying a small group class.

At Rivercity Pilates we offer a complimentary private session designed to help you experience Pilates safely in your body, learn about the possibilities and let you discuss how Pilates sessions and classes might be able to help you in your health care plan.  Schedule a session today!

 

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]

 

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!

Joy of Movement

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IMG_0462Like many of my male clients, Murray got talked in to Pilates by someone who loved him and knew that some mindful movement and breath done safely could help him feel better in his life. At 92 though, he definitely wasn’t my regular studio client and I’m sure that the little time we worked together taught me way more than I taught him.

Murray’s daughter had been a regular client of mine for awhile and since she was a care taker for her dad she often had days where she ended up needing to miss her Pilates sessions at the studio because it didn’t work out for her to leave him home alone. Since Becky lived closed to me I offered to come to her house for her Pilates sessions so she could still keep up with her Pilates practice. (If you are or know a caretaker you know it can be a LITTLE stressful and being able to have a mindful movement practice can be an amazing tool at keeping yourself healthy…this is a whole other blog…).

So I got to know Murray because he would often be sitting in his chair having coffee when I came over for Becky’s session or sometimes he would come out of his room part way through our session just to watch.  (He especially enjoyed watching when both Becky & Mike were working out and loved to give Mike a hard time about why he was sweating!)  We often joked with him about wanting to join us but he just said in a very Murray kind of voice…NO!

One day Becky sent me a note to let me know that Murray agreed to do 5 minutes of Pilates with me…maybe just some Pilates breathing.   I often get excited about new clients, but I have to tell you I was super excited to work with Murray as I knew that we could do some pretty basic simple things that would probably make a big difference in his life.

The first day I was there for a session Becky had Murray in his chair so he could do some Pilates with me. I could tell that he didn’t really want to do anything but was being nice for my sake (and Becky’s). We started with some Pilates breathing. Murray had COPD, so anything we could do to help his body breath more efficiently was going to help him feel better. I had brought some squishy 4 inch balls over for him to squeeze to help with movement and strength in his hands. I may have given him a few ideas of how to improve his posture and engage his core muscles….but honestly I just wanted him to get to know me better and see that what we were doing was not so bad and might actually help him feel better.  This is how our sessions continued. Usually we didn’t do much more than 5 or 10 minutes tops and I really just tried to get him doing some gentle movements that would help him strengthen and maintain flexibility and functional movement.

My favorite session with Murray was a day after we had more than a few sessions under our belt and he was getting more comfortable with me and more willing to try different things I suggested. We had been using a small playground ball for some inner thigh strengthening and then I was having him hold the ball in front of his chest and straighten/bend his arms keeping his good posture. Some how I got him straightening and throwing the ball to me just in front of him and him catching and pulling it back into his chest…we were playing catch! Murray had the biggest most genuine smile I had ever seen from him (or maybe anyone) and I knew at the moment I would remember that smile forever. I remember thinking at that very moment that is why I teach movement….joy of movement. He was having fun and playing catch and his smile could light up a whole room.

joyofmovementJoy of Movement…that moment when you are moving and smiling and enjoying yourself…not worrying about counting calories or which muscles you are strengthening or how many calories you are burning. Kids are great at finding Joy in movement…dancing, climbing, playing with no worries. As adults I think those moments are much harder to come by.

As a Pilates instructor I love knowing how the body moves, I love using movement to create balance in the musculature, I love teaching the Pilates method to bodies of any age, size, and shape…. But more than that I love helping people find Joy of Movement in their lives….