Pilates, a way to change your own world
Pilates, the real thing, is a whole new world to discover and experiment with, every day. Most of all, it brings you more self-awareness, a better posture and an efficient use of your body and energy.
If you haven’t tried it yet, you are in for a treat.
These posts will share some glimpses of how it feels like. Spoiler alert: it is tough, it’s engaging, it’s hugely beneficial.
Exercise Flow – Wunda Chair and Cadillac
Wunda Chair - Footwork This was a nice warm up exercise and an interesting one. Instead of focusing on extending the hips, the focus is on the “return of the pedal”, to the initial position where flexing the hip is actually the main movement. This requires a conscious effort to let go of the hips, letting them fall into their sockets, while moving this whole area. It doesn’t come naturally but it surely sets the note for the rest the session where one needs to let go of the old habits and explore something different. The different foot positions (toes, middle foot, heels) are brilliantly designed to work on the different lines, enhancing the purpose of a nice warm up. On toes: Currently the easiest one, stretching and engaging the Superficial Back Line. It’s a nice stretch and if you manage to keep your upper body centered, you really feel a nice stretch all the way up to the back of your head. On arches: A bit more of a challenge as, unfortunately, my initial thoughts still go towards “I have flat feet…, there are no arches”. Which is a pity because, actually, now there are arches (compared to a year ago) and these feet deserve some more recognition. Moving on, in this position to main line is the Deep Front one, which is the one that tends to bring all these surprising reactions and emotions to the surface. To be treated with respect and curiosity. When it works, it really works and there’s a sense of growing emotionally and literally. On heels:The toughest, from a mechanical perspective. It...
Expand and let go
A Pilates session aimed at letting go and releasing a lot of tension in the hips. How embracing fears and insecurities can enable your body and flexibility.
Stretching
Pilates is really underrated, incredibly underrated. Playing with a ball while lying on a mat is not, by the way, Pilates. That's playing with a ball while laying on a mat. There's a lot of content online about what Pilates is so I wont go into it in detail but one of the main things that is worth highlighting is the extreme effort and focus on improving your body. It's a lot of mental, emotional and physical hard work, regardless if you use the "torture machines" or just the mat. I love it. So I decided to become a trainer and I am now an apprentice to become a certified instructor. Here is why Pilates matters so much to me. I was working and studying at the same time, with this huge workload and amount of stress. When things finally got better, I collapsed on the street and I hit my head pretty hard. The bruises on my face eventually went away (still have a tiny scar to prove it!) but my neck was injured and hurting badly. I went to the doctor and he told me I had hyperextended it too much and that I should get used to the idea that it would always hurt. Still, I could try Pilates or Physiotherapy - "one of those things" - to see if it would improve a little. I tried Pilates; twice a week for maybe a year. It might seem like a tacky before-and-after commercial but my neck really is back to normal. There's one exception: sometimes, when I fly and we are about to land, my neck...
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