Word(s) of the week:
Movement Integration : “The movement of the mind is reflected in the movement of the body and the movement of the body in the movement of the mind. To move is to develop the strength of this dynamic relationship between the mind, body and the living synergy of one’s environment.” Dawn Strom
Wow! What a powerful statement. I love this concept as it relates to Pilates. This is why people move, and in my case why they chose to continue coming regularly to a class or a private session. We all want to run like a finely tuned car. Mine happens to be a 1965 convertible baby blue mustang! It looks great on the outside and is very intricate as far as all the moving parts on the inside. You could have a great looking car and detail it and wash it, and inside could be a rusty, un-oiled, uncared for mess! We want to be sure the car is taken care of on the inside and outside with a computer (in our modern cars today) that tells us what we are doing or how to correct our movement to be more efficient.
Our bodies are much the same. We need our engines fired up, “grease” in our joints, a mind that controls the “machine”, and attention to the fine tuning of this great body. So with movement integration, one can put all of the pieces together, such as breathing, alignment of the spine and extremities, use of the core or abdominal muscles, freedom of movement in the spine in all planes of motion to perform an advanced or even a simple exercise or activity with mindfulness of how we want the exercise to be executed.
The other piece that is important to take note of is the environment that we are moving in. This piece affects us more that you realize. If you are wanting to connect your mind and body together performing a home exercise or even in a gym or Pilates Studio environment, you want to make it optimal for you. Music can help you to focus, or a quiet place that is the right temperature for you with soft lighting may help to enhance your mind-body connection. So as you try this next exercise for movement integration and for spine rotation mobility, think of a way or a place that will optimize your experience. Be sure you have a mat or a soft blanket to work on and a pillow for your head.
Lie on your side, hip on hip, shoulder on shoulder and arms straight out in front of you, palms together. Knees are bent 45 degrees toward your chest. This is called “Book openings”. (Polestar Pilates 2007).
Imagine that your arm is a cover of a book and you want to open the book. Reach out through your fingers and move your arm toward the sky keeping your eyes on your hand.
Continue to turn your chest toward the sky as the arm opens as an extension of your chest. Continue to open the arm toward the floor behind you.
You’ll feel your upper body rotating on your lower body. Your arm may hit the ground or it may stay slightly off the mat depending on your flexibility in your spine and shoulder. Hips stay relatively quiet. Reverse the movement to “close the book” and return to the starting position.
Be sure your arms are straight and that you’re keeping your moving arm in line with your chest (don’t open too far as shoulder capsule may stretch too much in front).
Things to think about: Think of an easy breath, elongating your body, “wringing out your body” like a dish cloth, using your eyes to guide the movement, and feeling relaxed in the movement. Set yourself up in an optimal environment for your body- everyone is different. (Perfect music, lights, scents, and temperature).
Think of these things in other exercises you may be performing. The mind will connect much more easily when you are mindful of your body and the environment that surrounds you. This will be especially true in exercises that are more difficult. You can experience this “ambience” and movement integration in our studio on Flynn ave. Come visit Pilates Space for intelligent movement!
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Word of the week- Alignment.
1: the act of aligning or state of being aligned; especially: the proper positioning or state of adjustment of parts (as of a mechanical or electronic device) in relation to each other. 2 a: a forming in line b: the line thus formed. 3: the ground plan (as of a railroad or highway) in distinction from the profile. 4: an arrangement of groups or forces in relation to one another . www.m-w.com/dictionary
I was asked by a friend of mine to write up something on “alignment”. We were sitting on the porch having a beer overlooking Lake Champlain, talking about how she had back pain, and I mentioned that when she got in and out of her chair I noticed that her knees were collapsing together. (Yes, this is what I think about at cocktail parties and grocery stores, etc.). It seems silly to think that the way her knees line up could have anything to do with her back pain, however over a long period of time just getting in and out of a chair for 30 years with not so great leg alignment could contribute to her back pain and possible poor support for her trunk.
In Physical therapy as well as Pilates we look to be sure that people have their hip lined up over the center of their knee cap over their second toe, in one line, so that when they bend to pick something up, get on/off the toilet, run, garden, get out of a car, sit and stand at work meetings and at their desks that they will have proper lower extremity alignment. It is important to have a good base or “ground plan” as it mentions above to hold the rest of our bodies up. If we can demonstrate “good alignment” from the lower part of our bodies, it might make it easier for the upper part of our bodies to line up and thus function well instead of “grinding” the gears or our joints! As an example- if you try to build a building with a faulty foundation and the first floor doesn’t exactly line up under the second floor very well, chances are that anything else built on top will have to be modified to balance out the poor foundations that the building was built on. Or… it might crumble and fall down!
Try this… The next time you get out of a chair or the next time your friend gets out of a chair, notice what your knees or theirs knees do. If you can, it is even more revealing to try this in front of a mirror. Initially, don’t change anything in the way that you normally sit and stand, just notice what your body does. Then allow your body to point those knees directly over your second toe and rise up and sit down. If you can become aware of the habits that you have, good or bad, you can begin to change them to “better” and more efficient just by noticing that you do something. Not everyone has poor leg alignment. Its just something to think of in our activities of daily living and leisure. IT will allow us to expend less energy as we stack ourselves on our bones.
I won’t get into it now, but alignment can also apply to your upper extremities, or arms, and can also have to do with our spiritual alignment as well. Wouldn’t it be neat to improve the way we stand, or sit and stand and then reach a higher or more enlightened spirituality? Some say that’s why they take Pilates and Yoga or other forms of exercise that promote “mind, body and spirit! “. If you can create more awareness of your body it should follow that you become more aware of your spirit or spirituality, whatever form that may be. Hmmm... Something to ponder.
To check your alignment come and visit one of our talented instructors at Pilates Space near Oak ledge park! We are a place for intelligent movement.
Pamela Stone Turner, MSPT
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Word of the week: core
: a central and often foundational part usually distinct from the enveloping part by a difference in nature : a basic, essential, or enduring part (as of an individual, a class, or an entity): the inmost or most intimate part www.meriam-webster.com
Let’s get down to the “core” this week. If you are new to Pilates you may find your self coming in contact with this word often. It is probably the first thing that someone talks about in describing what Pilates is and will often be incorporated into initial sessions as well as throughout your continued workout. In Pilates, the “core” consists of 4 layers of abdominal muscles. From superficial to deep they are the rectus abdominus, external oblique, internal oblique and the transverse abdominals. The deepest abdominals are responsible for constant postural control and stability of individual segments of the spine and work more on an unconscious level. The outer layer of muscles is responsible for larger movements like abdominal curls as well as rotation and side bending the trunk. It is important that these muscles work as much as necessary and as little as possible in most of our daily activities. If you want wash board abs, you might need to isolate certain muscle groups more than others. In general if they work together with other trunk, leg and arm muscles your body will move and flow easily in your daily activities.
The word “core” is definitely not isolated to the world of Pilates however. I think that it really gets to the essence of our being in some ways. I think that many of us can go about our daily lives without a thought about what we are really “doing it” all for. This includes work, life, play, exercising, etc. By stimulating the “core” part of our body, our center, our powerhouse, what ever you want to call it, the body can start to access other things that relate to the mind and to what we are all really about. So in my business of teaching Pilates and performing Physical therapy techniques with people, I think I am also helping them to find a more solid sense of themselves and getting into those “gut feelings”. So the next time you are working on your core, make sure to think about your mission in your life or your essential needs and gifts and hopefully you can enhance both the mind and the body all at the same time.
How to engage your lower abdominals and get into the core…”Dying bug exercise”
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet so you could stand through them. rock your pelvis toward your tail bone and then flatten you’re your lower back into the ground and do this several times back and forth like a boat to find a neutral place for your back with just a small space under your lower back. Your shoulder blades, ribs and sacrum- or lowest part of the spine should touch the floor. Exhale and gently allow your belly to pull in, up and wide into your body, flattening out your abdominals.
Next allow the pelvis to remain quiet as you start to lift one knee up folding at your hip to about 90 degrees off the floor and then put it down with out rocking the pelvis side to side or front to back.
Repeat on the other side. If your pelvis can remain quiet then try 1 leg up then the other- using the abs a bit more then put one down and then the other. Finally as you gain awareness of that quiet pelvis and ribs on the mat lift both knees up at the same time and then down. Be sure to breathe the whole time- no holding breath.
You can monitor your lower back by putting a hand under your spine in the center to be sure the small space you started with remains the same throughout the exercise. Stop if you experience any discomfort and consult your favorite Pilates teacher.
