As movement practitioners, we often try to play detective and connect the dots for our clients as to why they may have developed certain asymmetries over time.
“How do you sit at your desk? Have you ever noticed how you stand at the sink to brush your teeth? Do you sleep on your side or your back?” It’s always fun to hear a client come back into the studio and say, “oh my god, you’ll never believe what I caught myself doing without even realizing it!”
It’s a constant topic of conversation in this work. How do we help our clients build awareness of what they are doing and build more optimal movement patterns for them?
While having a version of this conversation with a client recently, something finally clicked for them in noticing just how often they stand with a posteriorly tilted pelvis.
Being an inquisitive person, they asked an intriguing question, “Am I the kind of person that has their tail tucked between their legs? Do I have that kind of personality?” My first impression of this particular client is… “no.” However, I do think it’s really important to look both to our external and internal environments and how they shape our posture and inform our movement. Are you just slouching because you’re tired? Have a bad desk set up? Or feeling so overwhelmed by work and family life that the weight of the world is pressing down on you?
It isn’t always the most fun thing to unpack, but pushing through our fears to look at all aspects of ourselves bravely, no matter what we may find, has enormous pay-offs in the end. Especially when we are looking to make long lasting change, we have to be ACTIVE participants in our own healing. Showing up in your body is a great way to start that process and feel better while doing that hard work.
That conversation reminds me of another one I recently had with a fellow instructor about what we are actually teaching? It’s not just fitness. We aren’t just burning calories or building muscles (don’t get me wrong, those things are really important). We concluded that we are teaching people how to connect with themselves; how to know themselves better. In a time where competing screens are vying for our attention, creating spaces where people can reconnect with themselves and honor their bodies is a mission we can behind - and have gotten behind!
With the theme of connection in mind, we are excited to announce our next workshop "Pilates for Better Sex!" We will be partnering with one of our valued pelvic floor physical therapists for this workshop to help inform our practice. You can expect this workshop to touch on:
Myths around dysfunction during sex and pelvic floor pain
Pelvic floor anatomy
Pelvic floor awareness exercises you can do anywhere
Stay tuned for more details about this new workshop available specifically for women (in this first iteration) happening in February 2020!
#lookup!
While working with one of my long-standing clients recently, it occurred to me: why do so many of my clients look down instead of out during exercises? I often have to cue to look out the window at the tops of buildings because they're generally looking at the floor. Sometimes they don't even move their heads along with their torsos.
These cues stuck out in a new way with a new meaning: Take your head with you... Watch where your body is going... Take your eyes with you.
In a session or in life, your focus will likely dictate where your body goes. If you're looking down, it's hard to go up.
Client Quote of the Week
Instructor: “Make your feet look like a little birdy perched on a branch on the foot bar.”
Client: “That’s not exactly my power image...”
Instructor: “Fine, make your feet look like eagle talons on the foot bar.”
Client: “THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!”