Pilates isn’t just beneficial for the body but also the mind. It helps reduce stress in the body but also the mind through it’s breathing, control and more.
Read more
Is Pilates just for women? Is Pilates for men?
Too many think Pilates is just for women. Not sure. It is for everyone including men. Joseph Pilates was a man! That’s not a reason to do Pilates but it is nice to know!
Read more
What are the benefits of Pilates, if any, over other forms of exercise?
Are there other benefits to a pilates practice besides the “strong abs”? A good question to ask and even better answer which also answers, “Why do pilates?” at all.
Read more
Besides Joseph Pilates, has anyone else been influential in the Pilates world?
Learn about some of the influential members and leaders of pilates, also known as the Pilates elders.
Read more
THE GOLDEN YEARS
Learn more about Joseph Pilates and his life.
Read more
WAR YEARS
In the last issue Joseph Pilates and other German nationalists were interned in a “camp” for enemy aliens in Lancaster, England. During this time, he taught wrestling and self-defence and boasted that his students would leave the camp stronger than they were before they were interned. Here is where he started devising his system of original…
Read moreMindfulness for the body, is that a thing?
While your mind is busy working all day, your mind isn’t always considering the needs of body sitting there, constrained, or standing all day a counter serving customers, walking around serving customers, hunched over on a roof replacing shingles and many other work place roles where we just take for granted our body has to do what it has to do to get the job done. Learning to listen to your body, being mindful of your body’s needs can only help with productivity. Think about it…mindfulness for your mind help minimize stress and anxiety in your thoughts; mindfulness / awareness of your body’s “stresses” will help minimize the stress and anxiety your body has in it.
Read moreHead and neck, cervical, placement in Pilates
Many of us out there have experienced tension and strain in our neck and shoulders while doing crunches or sit ups. This pain in the neck is usually due to using the muscles in the neck and shoulders to pull the head and shoulders up rather than using the abdominal muscles to flex the spine. The natural curve of the cervical spine is said to be anterior convex.
Read moreWhat is your scapula? And why do you stabilize it?
Our shoulder blades are flat bones that lie on the back of our ribcage and are very mobile. Why are they so mobile? The shoulder blades are not attached to the vertebrae in any way. The only bony attachment shoulder blades have to our skeleton is to our clavicle (collar bone) by means of our acromium process (the bony bits on top of each of your shoulders.) As a result our shoulder blades are very mobile.
Read moreRibcage placement in Pilates
Your ribcage placement gives a good indication of the engagement of your abdominals. The abdominal wall is attached to the bottom ribs. Keeping the abdominal muscles engaged helps prevent the ribs from “popping up”. What is “popping up”? Well, your back arches, or extends, more than normal and as a result your ribs “pop up” or “out” more than normal, depending on whether you are seated or lying supine, that is face up.
Read more