Practice What you Teach: Neck Pain and Practicing Swan

I woke up Sunday morning and my neck hurt!  I could tell immediately after I woke that I had slept on it funny or something and it was not happy.  In general my body feels pretty great and I don’t have a lot of aches or pains, so when I get one it drives me crazy! (and I’m a little impatient!)

So my Pilates practice started this week with lots of neck and upper back releasing as I attempted to get rid of my pesky neck pain.  I got out my foam roller and used some small balls to do some focused release and breath work and it did help although the pesky little pain didn’t completely go away until the end of the week!  I did a Reformer workout one day and a Tower workout another and really just focused on balanced work in my body and specifically not overworking or engaging in my neck and upper shoulders.  The movement always made me felt better and by Thursday the pain was completely gone(thank goodness!)

I ran across a great video this week of Pilates instructor Brent Anderson fine tuning someone’s Swan and it inspired me to do some extra play time with my own extension.  Brent gives some great explanations in this quick video!  (It’s a must watch especially if you don’t like swan!!) Throughout my workouts I took time to really pay attention to my extension movements and incorporate some of Brent’s teaching.  One of the things I love about the Pilates work is that something as simple as watching someone else teach and listening to how they explain something can spark  fine tuning in my own practice and movements and help me get more out of what I’m doing.