Learn about some of the influential members and leaders of pilates, also known as the Pilates elders.
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THE GOLDEN YEARS
Learn more about Joseph Pilates and his life.
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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.
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Where did Pilates come from? – The Beginning
Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1880. His father was a gymnast of Greek origin and his mother German and a naturopath. Naturopaths believe in stimulating the body to heal itself. His mother’s healing philosophy probably influenced his view on and approach to exercise as we will see. In time Joseph came to believe that modern day life-style, poor posture and inefficient breathing were the root causes of poor health. He decided to answer these problems with a series of physical exercises to enhance and help correct muscular imbalances thus improving posture, coordination, balance, strength, flexibility and increase breathing capacity and organ function. In essence, restore the body to its original, healthy state.
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 moreWhat is neutral and imprint position?
In this issue we will look at the second technique emphasized in Pilates. We’re going to look at the pelvis and its placement. Sometimes when you’re lying there trying to “engage” all the right muscles, breath, get your arms and legs coordinated your instructor will start going on about “neutral position” or “imprint position”. What is this Lululemon clad person getting so excited about? Your pelvis and its placement
Read moreBasic principles of Pilates – Breathing, Part 2
There are so many things to remember when you start Pilates. I still cannot remember it all. I try to remind myself of one thing only: the more I can implement the techniques of Pilates, the better and quicker the results. This I have seen from experience. We will just focus on the breathing in this issue.
How hard can it be to breath, you’re wondering. Depending on how you want to breathe and how do breath it can be difficult. There are different types of breathing, Costal or Chest breathing, Abdominal or Diaphragmatic breathing, Clavicular breathing and 3-dimensional breathing used in Pilates.