Why Navel To Spine is a Bad Cue (When Working in a Neutral Spine Position)
Pulling your navel in will encourage your lumbar spine to flex and your pelvis to tilt posteriorly (tuck). This means if you want to challenge the transversus abdominis, which works in a neutral spine position, but not a flexed spine, then “navel to spine” is not an appropriate cue.
...The Most Effective Way to Improve Kyphosis (It May Suprise You!)
When trying to correct a kyphotic posture you have probably learned to use extension exercises. It sounds logical: since the spine is bending forward, strengthening the spinal extensor muscles by bending the spine backward will help it return to normal/neutral, right?
Well, when working on...
How Your Breath Moves Your Spine
The inhalation naturally extends (arches) the spine. The exhalation naturally flexes (rounds) the spine. You can use the breath to either use this natural tendency to help you perform a desired movement better or prevent an unwanted movement. Here are two examples of how the breath can be used to...
Don’t Stretch Hypermobility
If you or your student have hypermobile joints it is not recommended to stretch those areas. If someone can do a perfect Roll Up their lumbar spine can flex plenty already, so there is no benefit in practicing more and more lumbar flexion exercises.
If you or your student can do a split,...
On the Importance of a Pilates Teacher’s Self-Practice
Do you find it difficult to make time for your personal Pilates practice?
We Pilates teachers give out our time, knowledge, and energy on a daily basis. Getting a chance to be the student goes a long way in filling us back up and reminding us why we fell in love with Pilates in the first place....
Which Way Are You Breathing In Footwork On The Reformer?
"I breathe in when I push out and I exhale on the way in."
Great. This breathing pattern will help you control the carriage on the way in, and by cueing to inhale into the back ribs you can melt your rib cage onto the carriage, hence helping keep the front ribs together and the abdominals engaged...
The Three-Point-Contact
The Pilates method lives in the details. We can get caught up in all of the many tiny adjustments. So when I come across a shortcut to fix someone’s alignment without saying much I frolic.
The three-point-contact is one of those shortcuts. Neutral spine is a term that has been obsessing...
How to Work with Asymmetries and Imbalances
Most of us are imbalanced in one way or another. One shoulder might be higher, one leg longer, the pelvis out of alignment. This is really fairly common, at least in the world of Pilates where we pay attention to such things. Are you wondering how to best exercise with imbalances?
- Double up on...
Pilates Exercises for Ankle Stability and Mobility
Ankles that are flexible and strong are key to preventing injuries, falls, and compensations up the kinetic chain. A list of ankle stability and mobility exercises has been added to the Pilates Encyclopedia.
Here’s a few to get you started:
Mat
- Balance on a half roller: foot...
What Happens After An Injury
When an area of the body gets injured, the local stabilizing muscles turn off to allow healing. Now that these deep muscles are not doing their job of stabilization, the larger more superficial muscles will take over a job that’s not really theirs. Once the acute injury phase has passed,...
