Anywhere Pilates

A wonderful side effect of practicing Pilates is a hyper sense of bodily awareness. I stand taller than I used to. I sit straighter. I am conscience of my shoulders; are they hunched over while I type? I believe that because of the roll over affect Pilate’s has on my daily life I feel better and am less stressed. I was once a victim of nagging tension headaches for which I had a medical prescription. I don’t need the medicine anymore because the headaches have all but gone away. I credit this to the attention I pay to my posture. With the desire to alleviate these headaches from my life, I took inventory of my body. I found that I am particularly tight in my shoulders, which causes my neck to tighten. I keep all stress tension locked in my shoulders and constantly remind myself to relax. Locking your muscles by holding them tight does to your blood flow what standing on a water hose does to water flow. I believe that by making an effort to pull my shoulders down I release tension from my neck, therefore increasing the blood flow to my head. Also, I try to give myself a mini massage, focusing on the trapezius muscle.

So, to get back on point, I credit Pilates with my overall well being. In Joe Pilates book  “Return to Life Through Contrology” he talks about the importance of good posture. For those of you new to Pilates,  Contrology is what Joe Pilates called his method. After his death, the name Pilates became the term to describe his revolutionary method of exercise. He writes ” Good posture can be succesfully aquired only when the enitire mechanism of the body is under perfect control…. the proper functioning of your own body is the direct result of the assembled Contrology exercises that produce a harmonious structure we term physical fitness reflecting itself in a coordinated and balanced tripart of body, mind, and spirit.” Whew! What a mouthful!  To translate ( this was first published in 1948, after all ):  By training your muscles in the body to act as a unified entity rather than separate parts, you can achieve overall well being. You might even compare this theory with the metaphor of your body as a machine; each part compliments the other and when one stops working the machine breaks down.

By focusing on your walk you can alleviate hip and knee pain. Concentrate on the placement of you feet: do they roll in or out when you walk? Imagine your feet like a triangle; the toes are the base and the heel is the tip. Your weight should be evenly distributed throughout from your little toe to your big toe. Try to keep 60% of your weight in the ball of your foot, or the base of the triangle; the other 40% in your heel. This is a great thing to practice while you are standing in line, making dinner, or any other situation you find yourself in. Here is a link to some great foot exercises to create awareness.

Don’t forget about the rest of your body; your hips; are they shifted? If you are like most people, you stand with most of your weight on one side of our body. This can be a habit that is very hard to break but think about it like this:  if a structure is built with it’s weight unevenly distributed it will eventually break down and fall. Try standing with your feet like we discussed above and keep your hip bones over your knees, knees over your ankles. Tuck your lower back in so that you don’t put undo pressure on your lower back. Pull your shoulders down, connect your navel to your spine and stand tall. You can apply these lessons to your sitting posture as well. We spend so much time in the car or seated elsewhere it  is a challenge not to sit slouched and hunched over the steering wheel or the desk.  Concentrate on aligning your shoulders over your hips and keeping your spine straight.

There is more to think about and focus on ( of course ) but start slow. Concentrate on your standing posture and on your shoulders while you sit at the desk, in your car, at the computer, ect. I promise you will feel better (and look better too) !

standing tall,

Christine