What is mindful movement?

Mindfulness has become very popular over the last decade.  Apparently we have all become too busy, too stressed and too plugged in that we need to retrain ourselves to be present to our surroundings and to ourselves. 

Our constant contact with the social media and texting has turned us into the ADD culture we are today.  As always the pendulum swings then reverses direction in a very drastic way.  That is what mindfulness looks like to me, the very opposite of edgy, stressful and on the go lifestyles.  Instead of constantly thinking ahead, to be still and present, unencumbered by the chattering in our heads.

Mindfulness has become so popular that there is even a magazine devoted to it, and yes, you guessed it, it’s called “Mindful.”  I picked up this magazine and read several of the articles that are all published by life coaches, psychologists, nutritionists, and authors who all have something to say about slowing down and the power of “now.”

Mindfulness has become it’s own industry.  

Now I can’t exactly say that I myself haven’t been on the mindfulness bandwagon.  But in practicing it for the past couple of years, I have learned more about where to apply it in my life, and it’s created a balance that I no longer really notice in going about my day.

More importantly is how I try and use it in my massage and Pilates practice.  And here is where it starts.

A while back I started taking a Yoga class from a good friend of mine. She called it “Mindful movement” or maybe it was “mindful yoga”, I can’t really remember but the name isn’t that important.  In this class she didn’t use your regular yoga terms like down dog or warrior 1.  She might have sprinkled them in but rather she just told you to put your foot here, reach your hand there, turn you head up, etc.  She told you how to do the poses but what she tried to get you to focus on was how you felt in each pose, what did you notice?  The key word for me was “notice” it comes without judgment.  It’s an observation.  Each week the class was pretty much 80% the same, with some varying poses here and there.  Normally I would be bored.  I am a teacher too and I like to mix things up and make things different each time.  At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like this sameness every week, but what I realized is I stopped thinking about what I was doing and I started “feeling” and “noticing” things.  I realized that some days I was looser, some days I was tighter.  Maybe my mind wandered more at times and other times I was in the “zone.”   The great thing is that no practice was the same, not really, because we come into each day with a different body, a different mind set, and maybe different external or internal stressors. 

I have to thank her for not only teaching me this, but how it also changed the way in which I taught.  Granted, I still mix things up as that is the style in which I teach and for me being mindful can happen at any time in any place and routine isn’t the only time we can be present. It’s especially challenging when the routine changes or we find ourselves under stress.  

So what is mindful movement?  Well you don't have to do yoga to be mindful. The best way for me to describe this is that you are present in your body, your mind isn’t running the show.  Yes, you need to make a decision about how and what you move from your central nervous system, but then the task is carried out to the end of that neuromuscular track.  What happens most of the time is we don’t feel our way through a movement because our brain is already going on to the next thing.  It’s like a conductor who is conducting a symphony without ever listening to the music being played.  To truly be present in your movement you think, then you feel.  The feeling part is the noticing.  If we notice that feels weird, we might make a small adjustment or change.  But if we are too busy pushing or moving on, or even worse ignoring our sensory system we can develop faulty movement patterns which can lead to injury.  Then it becomes a problem when all you do is notice that muscle or joint that hurts.  I liken this to a child who throws a tantrum because they aren’t getting the attention they need. 

So being mindful in your movements requires your brain to listen and stop talking.  The great thing about this is that the learning takes place within this communication.  We learn more about our bodies, our minds, and our patterns.  We understand load and distribution of weight. We can feel our limits and know when and where to push them.  We can listen and identify triggers because we are paying attention.  Those triggers then can be adjusted.  A whole new quality of movement and practice can take place and we all know what that leads to….results!

The worst thing you can do for your body is to ignore its signals.  Sometimes clients ask me, “is that right?”  I usually respond, does that “feel right” to you?  I may know because I am a trained professional but I want them to be their own pros and in the end they do know better than me. 

When i start my classes or private sessions, I always get my clients to lie on their backs and take some deep breaths and just focus on feeling their breathing.  It’s a great way to turn off your brain and train yourself to be present.  In that hour really nothing is urgent, no phone needs to be answered. Texting, emailing, and social media can wait.  

We can sit and be present, listen, and move our bodies because really they do a lot for us and being mindful in those moments are some of the best ways to take up this new trend.  

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Resolutions - Not for everyone

Well it’s that time of year again.  Holidays are over and the most common New Year’s resolution is in the form of health.  Either people want to lose weight, get fit, exercise more, eat better, quick smoking, quit drinking, etc.  

Every year the resolutions are basically the same and almost every year by the second month more than 50% of people have broken them.  That means January and February are the biggest months for change.  You can see this by the massive gym membership ads, Groupons, and deals on the internet, TV and radio, starting in January.

I am not one for New Year’s resolutions.  I think I have made two my whole life.  For one reason, I think a resolution can be made any time of the year, not just the first of January.  You want to get healthy or be in shape?  You can do that in May or even November, right before the holidays.  You do it when you feel like you are ready.  

We spend a lot of time trying to self improve.  We want to change something about ourselves we don’t like or maybe we are trying to be like someone else.  

We see something out there and say, if I look like that, if I have that…I will be happy.  I will have “arrived.”

I admit, I am fortunate to have a tall and thin figure that doesn’t struggle a whole lot with weight.  I do practice Pilates and try to move everyday.  I eat “mostly” healthy but I have been known to indulge here and there.  My vices are cheese and wine. I am not this way because I live by a crazy diet (although I have tried many - some out of pure curiosity), workout regime, or lifestyle.  I am this way because I try to choose a balance of self-improvement and self-love.  And I have learned it is not an easy thing to do.  I struggle along with everyone else in this manner. 

The improvement part can be physical or psychological, but I find the two aren’t very far from each other.  We all want to look good in clothes or a bathing suit.  We all take an extra look in the mirror checking on the amount of wrinkles we have gained in the past years.  There is nothing wrong with looking good or caring about looking good.  Part of taking care of yourself IS self-love.  This is our only vessel on earth. It is also our first impression to others.  Many animals take time to clean and care for themselves.  Male birds, like the peacock fan out their colorful feathers in an act of vanity to attract a mate.  We are not the only species on this planet that care about looking good.  

But just as the saying goes, “Beauty is only skin deep.” It may be our first impression but, it cannot get us what we want if we are not happy on the inside.  And I say “happy” because it’s a word that everybody knows but it is also a state of mind you are in at any given time.  It is NOT a destination.  If we try too hard to look or act a certain way because we deem it better or superior, thinking this will make us happy, we are not truly looking inward. 

So maybe using the phrase “self-love” might be better.   Basically, do you like yourself?  Do you like who you are?  Can you spend hours on end with your own company?  But if you spend all of your time trying to improve the outside you won’t get anywhere on the inside.  Now don’t think you have to rush out and buy the latest and greatest self-help book. 

Self-help books are big sellers these days because everyone out there is looking for that answer.  I have read quite a few.  In fact, I read so many at one point my head was spinning.  After several books, I just sat there thinking….”GOD, I have so many problems!”  There is a back lash to self improvement….I like to call it “Self confusion!”  I had so many problems I didn’t know where to start.  How did I not know how utterly messed up I was?

Some voice inside of me said, “STOP!” 

I just had to stop trying to improve - my body, my mind, my environment.  It was exhausting and I didn’t get anywhere.  Well, maybe I did, because here I am writing this blog.  I found that I just had to follow what made sense to me.  I realized that at any given moment, I needed to check in with myself and say, “I’m good.” 

So instead of the insurmountable problems I think I may have had, I chose something that I could work on.  I choose to balance self-love with self-improvement.  The difference is that I choose to be OK with my current state even if it isn’t what I want or what I am reaching towards.   Reaching towards something implies movement and that is the key.  We can physically move and we can also mentally move…they both have the capability to produce change. 

Going back to those New Year’s resolutions, maybe the reason why so many people fail to keep them is because they only hit the surface.  If we look inside as well as outside, I think we have a better chance at sticking to our goals and in doing that, we make changes that are more long standing. 

That looks different for everyone.  Some people want to improve how they look, some how they feel. Maybe you have a goal to run a marathon, or maybe you have a goal to get more organized and spend time with your kids.  These are all different ways we want to improve our lives.  Don’t be afraid to check in with yourself, it’s so important to choose something that is true to you and not someone else or just the latest trend.  

And when the time comes, don’t feel bad about fanning those feathers and being proud, resolution or not. 

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Winter Blues

I was thinking about the holidays and the winter season and how I always get stressed and moody.   Is it the pressure of the holidays?  The year in review?  Looming tax season? Is it all of that as well as the addition of long hours of darkness and the lack of sun? I am a person who loves sun and outdoor activities. I love being warm.  I love everything that summer brings; hot days, long nights, tanned skin, less clothing, warm lakes, and pools.  I’ve tried several times to move to a warmer climate because I just can’t seem to get through winter without the blues.  

What exactly are the Winter Blues?  They are generally characterized by significant downturn of mood, loss of interest and general apathy, fatigue, sleeping longer hours, overeating, and boredom. The reason why they are called the Winter Blues or more clinically known as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), is that it just occurs only in the winter months and it goes away in Spring and Summer.  If you tend to get this way every year, you are known to have SAD, but if you just feel this way occasionally it’s considered the Winter Blues.  Either way, no one likes the feeling of being down in the dumps all winter long. 

So what can we do? There are many people who take advantage of the winter here in Spokane by going skiing, sledding, snow shoeing, and ice skating.  Being outdoors when there is sunlight can help tremendously.  Our bodies need about 15 minutes of unprotected sun time to simulate Vitamin D, however if you live in some of the northern most regions of the country, it's impossible to produce Vitamin D from the sun because the sun never gets high enough in the sky for its ultraviolet B rays to penetrate the atmosphere.  I would suggest an artificial sunlamp.  Light therapy is known to be helpful for mood disorders.  “In many cases, light therapy can replace medication for people with seasonal and nonseasonal depression, bipolar depression, and depression during pregnancy,” said Michael Terman, PhD, director of the Center for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at Columbia University Medical Center and author of Reset Your Inner Clock.“ 

Even if your not getting the D, you can still boost your mood and keep the blues at bay by being active.  Exercise has been shown to increase seratonin in the body.  Serotonin is known as a natural mood balancer. .  By being outdoors and active in the winter, you are boosting your bodies seratonin levels and hopefully getting some good Vitamin D.   However, I don’t particularly like winter sports because I hate being cold and I never have the right gear to stay warm.  Cost, time, and interest seem to be my obstacles.  That leaves me with indoor alternatives.  I practice Pilates almost everyday.  Last year I tried a combination of Pilates, Yoga, and Barre.  I also took a lot of vitamin D and kept eating healthy, being careful not to load up too much on carbohydrates which we crave more during the winter but tend to make us feel more sluggish. Even though I took care of myself, I still managed to get those Winter Blues. 

What I realized is I fight the urge to hibernate.  I feel like hibernating is unproductive.  It’s 4:00pm in the afternoon, it’s dark and I want to get under a blanket with a good book or binge watch some TV on Netflix, but in my mind I feel that is a waste of time and I should be doing something to stay productive.  So I give myself little winter projects to keep my mind off the darkness and boredom.  What ends up happening is that I create a whole new set of stresses because I’ve busied myself just for the fear of stillness.  The mind chatter gets going and now I am fighting the urge to hibernate and stressed out to get these new tasks done. No wonder I get the blues. 

So this year, I am giving in.  I am hibernating.  I am choosing to do what our bodies are meant to do, slow down.  I preach over and over again about the importance of listening to our bodies and finding balance, not pushing too far and turning off our internal dialogue.  My own words are ringing in my ears.   Guess what, we need the winters, just like the plants and animals do.  There is research that says people with SAD are just feeling the affects of an “evolutionary left over.”  Our bodies worked to conserve more during the winter by slowing down when food was scarce and we needed the body fat to stay warm. 

Our minds are what keep us from hibernating.  They like to stay busy and have projects and be thinking and coming up with solutions and sometimes creating new problems to solve.  We have learned to live by a clock and not by our internal rhythms.  Many of us avoid the changes we feel because we live in a world of artificial daylight. We have fought to stay up later and still get up early and it’s the hardest thing to do in the dead of winter, especially for those of us who are only getting 8 hours of natural sunlight.  If we are part of this planet and all living things why are we the only species that doesn’t change with the seasons? I have been fighting it for years.  It’s not working. 

What if we took that time in winter to slow down?  I do know our bodies aren’t supposed to be in constant go all year long.  It’s just not possible.  What if we curled up under that blanket and read a good book?  What if we went to bed at 9pm and got up at 7am and slept 10 hours?  What is so bad about that?  Now I am not saying we should all sleep and eat our way through winter.  No one wants to look at the scale in the Spring and feel daunted by the task of shedding heavy winter calories, but we can do things that slow us down that are still healthy.  Instead of an extreme high intensity exercise class, we could take a restorative yoga class.  We can eat seasonal food and drink warm beverages filled with healthy benefits like a good bone broth.  For our minds, meditating can be wonderful ways to get in tune with ourselves and can elevate your mood just as much as exercise.  So I am trying some of these things.  I am taking it slower, I am resting more.  The urge to do and stay productive is hard to avoid, but I think I will emerge in the Spring happier and healthier. 

What an amazing gift to those of us who actually get to live in four seasons.  We have the opportunity to recharge, to rest, to be still, quiet, and calm.  

So for those of you who are like me and maybe aren’t enthusiastic about winters and don’t engage in winter sports, be thankful we have this time to rest, relax, and recharge.   

The Value of Breath

About 3 years ago, my little boys became enamored with a Nickelodeon series called “Avatar, The Last Air Bender.”  Luckily for me it had enough adult entertainment and meaningful messages that it became our favorite family program to watch.  In this series there are people who control the 4 elements, earth, air, fire and water.  Often we would get into discussions about which element we would choose if given the chance. 

I chose air.  Air is all around us, it is available to us unless we are in space or stuck in a vacuum.  It is vital to our being so much so that as soon as our breath stops, we have only seconds to live. It is also our link to the outside world. 

Breathing helps to regulate our heart beat, our emotions, and is key to supplying every living cell in our body with oxygen.  Without it, we would not survive.  Yet we never stop to think about our breathing.  It keeps going no matter what we are doing.  We don’t think about it, inhale and exhale naturally.  

If you have done any guiding meditation you will note the first thing the instructor says is to “Breathe in, breathe out. Follow the breath in; follow the breath out.  Clear your thoughts and just focus on your breath.”  Do you know why they tell you to focus on your breath?  Well, one reason is our vitality.  We came into this world and took our first breath and we will leave with our last.  It is a way of connecting to the self and clueing into our emotional state.  If we are charged, we breathe shallow and rapidly. Our mind is racing - panicking almost - and sending our nervous system into flight or flight.  You may actually be reading this and breathing shallow unknowingly.  Most people do. 

When I ask clients to focus on breath and take a big breath and become present, I sometimes see a struggle.  They can’t take a deep breath.  There is no space for them to do so.  Is this lack of space created by faulty movement patterns, sitting over a computer, or texting endless hours hunched over?  Is it from perceived threats of our sympathetic nervous system?  Is it a holding pattern, “I can keep it together, just power through?” 

Mind or body will affect our breath. If you’ve read my previous posts you know how I continue to point out how the mind and body are not separate but intertwined in our thoughts and actions.  There is this wonderful book called the Anatomy of Breathing, by Blandine Calais-Germain.  This book is devoted to taking a deeper look into the anatomical structures and forces that affect our breathing from the finer movement of the cranial bones to internal organs and the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at the capillary walls.  She writes, “ The act of breathing permits interactions between two levels.  On the one hand, it is mostly unconscious and automatic.  It influences our actions and our emotions and at the same time is influenced by them.  On the other hand, it is an action that one can influence in a conscious, voluntary manner, by changing it in various ways, with consequences on many different levels.” 

Respiration’s primary goal is to exchange gases within our bodies to the outside world.  Simply, we take oxygen into our body an - essential element of life - and we exchange it with the byproduct of carbon dioxide. There are several anatomical structures involved in breathing.  The boney structures of the spine, ribcage and pelvis are the largest and most involved.  More deeply, the muscles around and attached to those structures, including the internal and external costal muscles of the ribcage, the scalenes of the neck, the diaphragm of the abdominal cavity as well as our transverse abdominis and pelvic floor.   

The ribcage serves as a protector of our most vital organs the heart and the lungs.  The exchange of gases does not just involve the lungs but this relationship is strongly intertwined and cannot be eliminated from the role of our heart.  The cardiovascular system carries oxygenated blood away from the heart to the body and returns deoxygenated blood back to the heart. However, without getting into some anatomy and physiology lecture, I shall simplify.  Upon inhalation, the vital element of oxygen has to travel into our lungs which do the job of sending it to our blood system so that it can be carried to our organs, our muscles, fascia, and anything else that requires it. You could say the circulatory system is a vast network of messengers carrying product and bi product.  Our respiratory system is our connection with the outside world pulling in elements such as oxygen and pushing others out.  So the ribcage is protecting the two major players in life, the heart and lungs.  

We have all sat down and eaten ribs before at a 4th of July picnic or other summer BBQ.  So what do you think your chewing on?  Sorry my fellow vegetarians, but that tasty meat is the muscles that help our respiratory process.  They allow the ribcage to expand and contract to take in air and push it out.  They move the bones in such a way to allow the air to flow freely.  Take a moment and hold your ribcage as still as possible and try to take a breath in…..Ugh! These muscles although small are constantly working with each breath we take.  They work along side another major player, the MVP of respiration…yep you guessed it, the diaphragm.  That large muscle shaped like an umbrella sitting on top of our abdominal cavity contracting downward and upward thousands of times each day.   The diaphragm sits just underneath the lung and heart and separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. There is a continuous connection between these cavities. It is widely known that altering your breathing and deep meditation can help with stress, a major factor in heart disease.

The diaphragm moves down on inhalation and the abdomen and it’s contents push down and out, the pelvic floor is like a little trampoline absorbing the contents as they move down then pushing them back up.  Inhalation is the active phase of breathing while exhalation is the relaxation phase of breathing.  That is why sometimes it’s harder to take a deep inhale because it is more active and may feel like work, especially if certain structures are stuck.  

Try this: If you are having a hard time breathing in, focus on exhaling.  Push the air out strongly like a deep and heavy sigh make sure you get all the air out, your inhale will come automatically and fully.  It will feel a little easier.  You’re working with that relationship between the two cavities. Sometimes it may be easier to force something out.  What goes out must come back in.   

There are many more structural elements to breathing, it’s as if the whole body is involved.  In fact cellular respiration by definition is a set of metabolic processes in the exchange of nutrients into waste products. Even our cells breathe. But how can our mind affect our breathing? Our mind affects all aspects of our internal structures.  A perceived threat or anytime we are anxious and nervous by events in life can all affect our breathing, but usually its our thoughts about those events, how we perceive something that causes this.  The brain via the nerves will turn on the “fight” or “flight” response, which could result in faster heart and breathing rates, increase in blood pressure, holding and tensing muscular patterns etc.  Keep in mind, in our modern age we actually don’t have many real threats, at least not the ones our ancestors encountered hence the reason its called the “fight” or “flight” response.”  The great thing about this is we can change perceived threats by either changing the way we “think” about them or we can begin to change our mind by adjusting our bodies response to tell the mind, ”Hey, it’s OK, we are in no real danger here.” 

One way to do this is to relax your butt.   If you tighten your pelvic floor, there goes your base of breathing.  The trampoline that allows the breath to fully form and rebound. It takes just a second of tightening your butt and there you are in a state of stress.  Wonder why people use the terminology, “tight ass?” I have a theory of why people clench there. When we are fearful our ancestral DNA tells us to protect vital organs so clenching and folding in on oneself to protect the abdominal cavity is automatic.  This past fall I experienced this hands on when I went to an amusement park with my kids.  Every time that roller coaster went down the rails fast, I clenched my butt and pulled my stomach in. I was literally trying to protect my insides.  How often do you feel like your day is a metaphorical roller coaster? We don’t even realize we are clenching down there.  Take a moment now and feel if you are clenching.  If you are take a full breath, let the belly distend down and outward and see if you can feel the downward pressure upon your pelvic floor.  Play around in your head with the trampoline image.  Now if you feel you have got it, try the opposite by clenching your buttocks tightly and try and take a deep breath.  Do you notice the difference?  Warning: it may be wise to urinate before trying this. 

Another way to release tension and aim towards better breathing is to open the back of your throat.  In yoga they call this the Ujjayi breath.  Breath through your nose fully opening up the back of the throat, then exhale with the sound of “Haah” in the back of your throat but keep your lips lightly closed. If this seems challenging, try to imagine dry heaving (I know not a lovely thought) but it works the same muscles of the throat onthe exhale.  We hold a lot of tension in the back of our throat and jaw, something people with TMJ know a lot about.  When we clench down in our mouth we constrict the muscles in the back of our neck and throat, this closes off our airway.  The diaphragm cannot move down fully and so the pelvic floor will never “spring” into action.  If we breathe by fully opening our air passageways it makes it much easier for the rest of respiratory muscles do their job. 

Lastly, there is also an emotional aspect to breath.  I call it “letting go.”  If either of these techniques don’t work for you, take some time and dive deep into what may be bothering you or keeping you from taking a deeper breath.  Sometimes we don’t want to face the things that are there, but again these are just thoughts about an event that has already passed or an idea about a future event.  When I feel this way, as we all do from time to time instead of facing something unpleasurable, I focus on what lights my life: my kids, my family, the passion I have for my work, a beautiful sunset.  I try to think about being in the moment, not anticipating the future or worrying about the past. We can conjure up any source of happy thoughts or moment at any time.  Try it and see if your breath changes.    

Ideally, we can change the way in which we think about something, work on being present and engaged, and soften our attitudes towards things.  We can honor our body’s wonderful mechanics that keep us moving and alive by doing our breathing exercises to help the structures involved stay healthy and moving.  

Breath is so vital, the air around us that we breathe is so important to how we live but also how we perceive and interact with our environments.  Joseph Pilates used to call it the “internal shower.”  It cleanses us. It fuels us. It is our relationship to our outside world.  It is a super power.  

Stop for a moment, take a breath, enjoy what it is. Focus on the breath and be glad to be present and alive!

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So who was this Joe guy?

So who was this Joe guy? 

Many do not know where Pilates came from and what it’s all about.  I have been practicing Pilates for 16 years and have been a teacher for 12 of them.  There are a lot of misconceptions about what it is. Over the years this is what I have heard.

    It’s Yoga on Machines

    It’s like Yoga - lots of stretching

    It’s for dancers

    It’s for women

    It’s really hard but I don’t know anything about it

    I hear it’s really good for your back

    I hear it’s really good for your core (as they point to their tummies)

I sigh…..

I have tried to come up with one line that describes Pilates, but I just can’t.  Have you ever heard of the elevator speech? You should be able to sell your wares, your idea, or what ever it is you do within 30 seconds or less.  I suck at this.  I can’t do it.  When I start talking about Pilates, I just keep going.  I don’t think I can describe it all in 30 seconds.

What I would like to do with this post is talk about the man, Joseph Pilates, and who he was, what he started and my interpretation of his work and what it means to me. 

Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born in 1883 inMönchengladbach Germany.  He was a sickly child suffering from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever.(For those of you who don’t know what rickets is, it’s a softening or weakening of the bones in children due to a Vitamin D deficiency.)  Due to his illnesses as a child he became devoted to improving his physical strength and health.  We are talking about late 19th century when there wasn’t a lot of exercise knowledge or even people engaging in regular physical activities for health reasons.  He studied various forms of exercise from the Greek and Roman societies as well as the Eastern practices of martial arts and Zen.  He became a boxer and gymnast, and by young adulthood he had sculpted his body so that he was posing for anatomical charts. 

In 1912, Joseph moved to England and taught self-defense and continued boxing.  When World War 1 broke out, as a German citizen he was interned among other “aliens.”  In camp, he began to refine his exercises that we know today. He trained other internees in the camp. For those that were injured or bedridden, he took apart the beds and rigged the springs so that they were also able to move and exercise.  This would mark the innovation of the Pilates equipment that we know today.  When the 1918 outbreak of influenza hit England, killing thousands of people, not one of the internees in his camp got sick.  Joseph claimed this as a testament to his exercises system.  

Joseph returned to Germany after the war, training dancers as well as police officers but when pressured to train the new German army, he decided to leave Germany for good.

In 1926, on his journey to the US, he met a young nurse named Clara.  She would become his wife and a large influence over his work.  Clara is known amongst the Pilates community for adding the softer and more therapeutic touch to Pilates.  

Joseph and Clara opened a fitness studio in New York to teach the method that he called “Contrology.”  His fitness studio shared an address with the New York City Ballet, and his first and most devoted students were dancers.  In 1945 he published a book of his exercises and philosophy called Return to Life Through Contrology. In this book are detailed instructions on how to perform his exercises and the guiding principals for them.

He was rarely sick and was said to be seen in the middle of winter jogging down the street in his exercise briefs.   He liked to drink whiskey and smoke cigars.  He was once said to never tell you what you did right or wrong in a session just “Yes” or “No”.  These are all stories from his protege’s that help build a picture of his personality.

Joseph died in 1967 at the age of 83.  He taught in his studio in New York until his death.  It was his life goal to spread his work and make “Contrology” mainstream.   As his original students started studios of their own teaching his method, the name Pilates stuck more than the name Contrology and now it has spread to all areas of the world.  It is unfortunate he was not able to see the fruits of his life work. 

I have heard many stories of Joseph Pilates from those that worked under his original students as many of them have now passed on as well.  He seemed eccentric, visionary, and never ceased to learn. Many believe that Pilates must be done exactly as it was taught.  These are the purists or as they are often called the “Traditional” or “Classical” methodologists.

I believe the method should be preserved as it was taught, it is our lineage and of great value. However, this is not the way in which I teach.  Why?  After I read Joseph’s book Return to Life, it was the guiding principals that resonated most with me.  His principals of breath, control, core, alignment, flow, mind body connection speak to me because those principals can be applied to any exercise.  He was basically saying to be present in your movement and to have intention, to work to the best of your ability and keep at it.  Keep practicing.

I am a why person.  I like to know why I am doing something, what is the benefit of this, how will this help me?  When I teach, I like to give the reason why, even if it’s just for fun because joy in movement also means your more likely to do it again.  

As you practice and gain knowledge you become more body aware and are able to feel and move more efficiently.  What is the purpose of efficient movement or becoming more body aware?  One of them is less wear and tear on your body.  The other is that with body knowledge comes control over your neuromuscular patterning.  Just read my blog on nudging…

One of things Joseph used to say that continues to run around in my head when I am doing Pilates is don’t do a 20 pound move for a 10 pound exercise.  Know what is required of you and perform to that task.  He said “A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are worth hours of doing sloppy calisthenics or forced contortion.” There are days when I can only do 20 or 30 minutes of Pilates, but I do them well. My clients all know the value of a good Pilates crunch. 

But among all of his principals it was probably the Breath that was the biggest focus of his work.  He called it the “internal shower”.  It is the simplest thing, but yet the most difficult task for people as we tend to hold our breath when we are focusing and exerting ourselves.  The respiratory system is our first line of defense for eliminating toxins from our body, more so over our largest organ, the skin.  Maybe the reason why those people in the internment camp didn’t get sick was because they were doing deep diaphragmic breathing every day.  A thought I contemplate when someone comes in with a respiratory infection. 

When you can perform an exercise with all of his principals in concert that to me is Pilates.  It is the ultimate goal and it is sometimes the hardest.  Not every move needs to by physically exerting. Sometimes the move requires more mental focus on the mechanics of it or maybe you need to make it more fluid and not so jerky.  Sometimes I tell my clients they need to concentrate less and just feel their bodies and again when in doubt just BREATH!

It is no wonder the dance community embraced him because if you see Pilates done well it is beautiful and graceful.  It looks effortless.  It takes a lot of work to make something look effortless. 

After 16 years of being a faithful practitioner of Pilates I still have some “aha” moments even as a teacher when I think….”maybe that is what Joe meant” and I have a whole different understanding of his work.  It never tires. It never dulls and I never cease to be amazed. 

I guess that is why 30 seconds just isn’t enough for me. 

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Nudging

I recently finished reading this book called Presence by Amy Cuddy.  She is a social psychologist who’s mostly known for her Ted Talk over 3 years ago, titled, "Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are.” Her recent book goes into further detail about the subject; and how the way in which we move, sit, and present ourselves shapes our minds.

So we all have heard about that mind/body connection.  The phrase came into focus about 15 years ago when Pilates and Yoga were gaining momentum in the fitness industry and we started paying attention to how the influence of the mind and body can affect how we move and feel.  Joseph Pilates used to say that the mind controlled the body and the mind could and would master the body if we practiced everyday.  He didn’t expect people to master his exercises right away but he did say to do Pilates every day and be present and focus your mind on the exercises thus mastering mind over body. 

That is certainly true as the muscular skeletal system is the only voluntary system in the body and it is controlled by nerve impulses from our brains that we can control with our thoughts.  However, we are now discovering that control goes both ways.  We know that our sensory system sends signals to the brain about temperature, touch, smell etc., but the body also sends signals to the brain on our mood interpreting our actions as anger, fear, weakness, anxiety etc. You could say that the mind doesn’t always have feelings, but that the body does and the mind interprets them. 

So going back to this idea of nudging.  

Nudging came from Cuddy’s book because how we think and move can’t change overnight.  Habitual patterns in the body build what I like to call freeways.  They are deep neuromuscular tracks.  To go off these tracks takes an extreme amount of effort for both mind and body.  Anything that requires effort, dedication, and time tends to be rather daunting for us in the 21st century who have lived by immediate gratification.  So how can we change these patterns?

After more than 12 years working with clients, what I notice is often they become discouraged when the results they want don’t come overnight.  They give up too quickly.  My first Pilates studio was called The Pilates Life. I named it that because I saw Pilates as a life choice, not an exercise choice, but the philosophy of mind/body alignment and the balancing of them were things that I could relate to, build upon, and improve in my own daily activities - not just in how I moved. 

The concept of Nudging is not making goals that are broad and far reaching but asking yourself what is it you can do now to get you a step forward.  So if we decide we want to get in shape, what does that mean?  Shape?  Then we trudge ourselves to the gym and think of this shape that we want, but it makes no sense.  We run on the treadmill. We join a boot camp. We start moving, and after a few weeks we get discouraged because the idea of shape is not specific. It’s not attainable because it’s nebulous.  Or worse, we have decided we want to look like a supermodel or have a flat tummy and we are 20 plus pounds over weight. We are reminded everyday of what we are not…. a supermodel or what we don’t have…. a flat tummy.  The goal then feels impossible because it is too far or unrealistic. How is this getting us anywhere?  We become defeated and we get depressed.  

What if we changed this attitude and took out the idea of “shape” or “supermodel” and just said I want to walk 3 miles a day because I have more energy and feel better.  This week my goal is to walk 3 miles 3 times a day.  Then guess what? We do it. We feel good and then we create another small goal.  Maybe it’s 3 and a half miles, or maybe we decide to run those miles instead.  The concept of shape or flat tummy is out.  Our goal is specific, measurable, and attainable.  

As Cuddy says “when you give yourself a self-nudge, the gap between reality and goal is narrow; it’s not daunting, which means your less likely to give up.  As a result, your behavior change is more authentic, lasting and self-reinforcing.”

I talk about this with my clients when they have specific problem areas or pain. I start by asking them to make some small postural or movement change with how they sit, stand, work, or even breathe. However, some people struggle with making small reasonable changes because they believe nudging won’t get them anywhere.  It happens most often post injury.  We want to heal faster and get back to our former selves or better selves.  This is where our goals need to change.  Over a year ago, this happened to me.  My brother had been begging me to go to Crossfit with him.  He loves Crossfit.  I love that he loves it. He has these small goals and reaches them.  It pushes him forward and he has lost several pounds and has energy and gets inspired to try new things.  So I went to support him.  The Crossfit model is exactly the opposite of the Pilates model, but I like to try other modalities to understand trends and also help my clients along the way if they come to my studio from these places.  Well after several squats, jumpboxes, the row machine, and pushing myself to complete exhaustion, I moved to stretch my hamstring, it pops.  The kind of pop that as soon as you hear it you say to yourself….”This isn’t good!”  I pulled my hamstring.  I have never pulled a muscle.  My first time at trying Crossfit and I pull a hammy.  It took an entire year for that muscle to heal.  During that time, I cursed myself because some of my personal goals had to be set aside.  I had to baby it, I had to take it slow and I had to listen to my body.  Injury is the worst.  It defeats us more than anything.  So much so that it affects our mood, we start to feel less than a whole person.  We think about ourselves pre-injury like this special and unique perfect person. During this time, there were many modifications I had to make during Pilates and Yoga, but what I discovered was something different.  I first realized that I had to be patient and realign my goals. Maybe that forearm handstand I had been trying to do in Yoga class had to wait or some of the Pilates exercises I could do before had to be modified or avoided all together. I had to make small changes that improved my progress and when I did, it elevated my mood and encouraged me to keep going.  I stopped thinking about my older goals pre-hamstring. The other thing I had to learn was to stop giving my hamstring all the attention.  We get obsessed about our injury. We turn off our sensors to other parts of our body.  And in recovering from injury our whole body needs to be involved because nothing is separate or compartmentalized.  I remember at one point I completely forgot that it was injured and accepted the fact that it might not ever get back to its former glory.  Then one day I did a move and it didn’t hurt, it didn’t pull and it didn’t resist.  I was overjoyed, but the thing is I had already moved on.  I had already modified my goals.     

So how can making small changes really affect how you feel?  Well you know, it does….it just does.  Get over the idea that you have to suffer through these mighty feats to create change.  Those neuromuscular tracks are deep and we can’t just bulldoze our way through them, we have to slowly dig out of them.  Re-patterning takes time. As we dig them out we discover all kinds of things along the way, we adjust, we realign and we keep moving forward.  We have these small feats along the way. We are able to rejoice and our bodies, our minds, our confidence, and self worth is all rewarded. 

This idea of nudging isn’t just for making changes in our bodies or recovering from post injury but a concept in how to change the way we think and feel.  When we focus on the process and not always the goal we can change our attitudes about ourselves, our environment, and those around us.  We can create long lasting changes and enjoy moments along the way. 

So Nudge your way forward, as you go, you might discover what you really thought you wanted may change. 

Sometimes less is more

Back in the day, before massage, before Pilates....before a lot of education and training, I was a gym rat.  Yes, I was one of those girls at the gym on the stair master, eliptical, treadmill or whatever cardio sweating machine there was.  I would go for 2 hours on those machines listening to my favorite tunes on my walk man (yes, I realize I am dating myself).  What did I get out of it, a runner's high, a lot of sweat and a feeling of accomplishment.  I worked hard thinking this was the way you were supposed to do it.  Now a days, it's just the opposite, many people are trading in their cardio days for High intensity training, high weights and pushing the limits of their bodies.  However, the similarity is that we are still overworking.

I think I am priveledged enough to be at a certain age where I have seen a lot of different fitness trends come and go. I remember doing Aerobics and Jane Fonda with my mom when I was in junior high.  I remember the birth of the gym, an all-in-one mega building with cardio, weights, classes etc to the more streamlined boutique specialized studios that teach Yoga, Barre, Pilates, etc. Either way, we are always pushing ourselves to extremes and trying to find that perfect fit because somehow we feel if we don't do it 100% we are not doing anything.

That is not true.  There are so many health benefits to movement, any movement and not just a lean body and weight loss.  Our minds and bodies are connected and we push ourselves to extremes and we don't give ourselves a break.  So the changes we are striving for don't actually occur, no matter what particular regime we are doing. What I've noticed through out time is that sometimes less is more.  I've seen people transform themselves with just walking everyday, or doing a small self guided meditational yoga class.   These things elevate both mind and body in unison. I have also experienced this in my own body.  When I first found Pilates I remember getting on this long torture looking piece of equipment and feeling that the workout wasn't "Hard" enough, but I did notice that I liked the way my body felt afterwards, so I kept going.  In time, my body started changing more than anything else I had ever done.  The other benefit, which snuck up on me is that I felt better, my mood started to change.  Mood has a huge affect on how we move and feel.  Many of us spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer or a phone.  When we are sedentary for a long time our mood starts to change.  We feel sluggish, tired, maybe even depressed. 

We need to train our minds and bodies and we need to give them a break from overworking. The break we need is doing less but still doing.  Our ancestors did not have Barre studios and Cross fit, they had labor, real labor.  Some days were harder than others, but they had to move to find food, shelter, and to survive.  They moved every day. 

A few years ago, I started a concept studio with a good friend of mine who is a former competitive athlete and yoga teacher, we called it Movemore because we both had been working in the fitness industry and saw the need to create change.   We both saw more transformations when people worked less but unified body and mind in their movement. They work in unison and if we are not truly present and in tune with our bodies it doesn't matter how much we want something to happen, how far we push, it just won't.  Its hard to tell someone who is used to pushing and taking their body to the edge to slow down, to breath and back off.  The key to a healthy and strong body isn't always taking it to extremes.  Our muscles are meant to work at 100% capacity all the time. We called it Movemore because that is exactly what we wanted people to do, move more.  You can move more frequently and with less effort and you will actually achieve results that are long lasting. 

I have trained a lot of people who have burned out their bodies at younger ages, with hip replacements, knee replacements, shoulder injuries and other over use injuries because they were all pushers. Now they would be happy to just move and not feel pain.  If we can take time to listen, be present, move, and keep going then we will be doing a service to our minds and our bodies for the long run. 

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