Q: When I correct a beginner student, should I keep it basic and just gently build on getting them moving correctly?

A: What an excellent question! Here we go:

Not all beginners are the same.

Let's look at these three potential Pilates beginners:

1. Student A has never taken a Pilates class before...

Q: I'm wondering about effective cues to activate the lower abdominals and the pelvic floor. For example, in “The Hundred”, using cues such as “belly button to spine” or “bring the sit bones together” can create excessive pelvic tilting and/or the rectus...

Pilates is all about control, don’t we know it.

In this video, I’ll talk about how co-contraction of agonist and antagonist around a joint makes your movement fluid and your joints stable.

Often we focus on the first part of the exercise, pulling on the bar or the strap, and then we...

Q: When I begin a class with breathing it sometimes feels more like a yoga or meditation session than preparing for movement. How do I get clients to leave the world outside behind and start to focus on the class? How can I help them stop the mind from wandering without sounding like a hippie...

Q: How do you explain what Pilates is? My first statement is “It's not yoga.” Then I say “Pilates teaches functional movement to help you get through your day. It strengthens your core and helps improve your posture.”

A: I like your answer. It's short and sweet and to the...

Pilates is different, don’t you know it. No matter how often I try to explain the method to a new student, it’s still difficult to get across, especially to someone who approaches Pilates with a fitness mindset. So naturally, I listen closely to students when they describe in their...

Have you ever wondered whether you should choose the flat back version of Short Box on the Reformer or Ladder Barrel or the round back version?

If you were trained classically, then you might do both, but if your approach is more contemporary or rehab oriented, you might be unsure of what’s...

Have you every wondered why you would choose one over the other? I'll try and give you some guidelines.

First of all, just by looking at the two apparatuses, the most obvious and visible differences between the two pieces are:

1. The barrel is round while the box on the Reformer is rectangular.
2. The...

I'm seeing more and more people at my studio suffering from plantar fasciitis (PF). PF has a tendency to linger around for a while; it seems to be difficult to get rid of, which might be one of the reasons for the increased number of people dealing with this painful condition. Inactivity...

Joseph Pilates talks several times in his books about the importance of following the laws of nature when exercising. He unfortunately never specifies to which laws he is referring.

I came - undeniably a bit late in my life - across Newton's third law which states: For every action, there is an...