Finding a movement/fitness practice is hard for all. It is especially more difficult for those suffering from an injury or neurological disease. Traditional exercise does not always address how to create a fitness practice when the body is not well. How the mind influences the body can determine better function for most.
Traditional exercise has an emphasis on the loading of muscles, repetitions and sweat. This is important in the end result of good healthy fitness. The process for finding fitness should be different when the body is not well.
A lot of classes and fitness are too fast and/or too much exertion for the person who does not feel well. Sometimes the body will go to the muscles that are already overworked when the load/exertion is too much. For instance, abdominal and bridging exercises are important in back care. Many complain of back pain in these kinds of exercises. What is happening here?
The brain is giving the wrong feedback to the body.
Instead of initiating the movement from the abdominals in the crunch,
the brain goes to the back muscles to start the work. How do you make change?
You retrain how the mind thinks about movement. This is a practice in itself. These techniques are used by athletes, dancers and gymnasts.
Essential tools are:
Breath Imagery
Better understanding of functional anatomy
Cueing
Mental rehearsals
Relaxation techniques
We are going to look at how to train the abdominals and the legs using new tools. Breath is your road to deeper concentration, relaxation and core support. For further in depth practice see my podcast on breath. One can also used breath as imagery to assist in change. When you blow up a balloon, it swells up into a moldable shape. When you allow a balloon to let out the air out, the balloon releases back to its original shape.
Focus your breath to an area of tightness in your body.
Imagine the breath expanding that area like a balloon with the inhale.
As that area expands, feel how the muscles lengthen, widen and release.
On the exhale, imagine the muscles falling softer towards the ground.
Breath can be a great tool when the body is fatigued or in pain.
Let’s say you are in a class and you have reached a place of fatigued.
Instead of leaving class, go back as the class workout to the breath. Only join back into the class when you feel well.
ANATOMICAL IMAGERY
Understanding how the body works can really help one find new connections and a preventive measure from re-injury. We are going to look at the Bartenieff Fundamental, the thigh lift. This is a underlying concept how the thighbone moves in the hip socket. It is essential for a movements of the legs such as walking and level changes such as getting up from a chair.
When someone comes in with a back injury,
I look at how they do a thigh lift.
When the thighbone is not gliding well in the hip socket,
the pelvis will unleveled to lift the leg.
This repetitive motion can lead to more discomfort in the back, hips and legs.
Here(see above podcast) is the thighbone placed into the hip socket. Notice how it is a deep round socket for the head of the femur bone. When the leg is lifted, there is an opposition of movement of the two distal points of the femur bone; one where the knee is and the other, the femur head in the hip socket. In the thigh lift, the head of the femur will glide in the opposite direction of the knee. The higher the knee is lifted, the head of the femur will roll and glide lower in the socket towards the sitz bones.
Image the bone gliding down in the hip socket as you do the thigh lift.
Feel how the back lengthens with the bone gliding well in the hip socket.
When you understand how the body is designed, you will have better movement. As Eric Franklin says “Embodied anatomy improves function”. When the thigh lift is done correctly, the correct muscles will be invited to work. The Bartenieff Fundamental, the thigh lift is the underlying concept in all abdominal work and movements of the legs.
(See my podcast on Pilates Basics: Enhancing the core)
Mental Rehearsal
This is a technique used by musicians, dancers and athletes. You review the movement in your head like it is a film. You image the movement with complete success, expression and enjoyment. We are going to look at the Bartenieff Fundamental, the pelvic shift forward. This can be a great exercise to get the legs stronger and stabilized the spine. Sometimes when the legs are weak, the back wants to overcompensate. This can be painful for many.
Visualize yourself doing a pelvic shift forward.
Press down on your feet feeling equal pressure on the inside and outside lane of the feet.
Feel the hamstrings engaged against your thighbone
Using your leg muscles rise the pelvis forward towards your feet.
Your relaxed spine rises up in one piece.
Your back is relaxed and the legs are doing the work
Imagine your legs are like an elevator that carries the load of the spine up and down.
Slowly descend your spine down with your spine in neutral. Your spine should come down in one piece.
Practice this a few times and then try to do a real Pelvic technique.
Mental rehearsal is great to use when you are fatigued or in pain. Research has shown through biofeedback that muscles are charged even with mental rehearsal.
Relaxation techniques
Sometimes to get to the correct muscles usage, one needs to release the overcompensating muscles. Stretching can be positive for some; for others over-stretching can put a muscle in spasm. Constructive rest position is a practice of lying on your back to release unnecessary tension in your body.
Lie on your back
Have your legs bent with your feet on the floor or on a stool/chair. A belt can help keep the legs together. This can help diminish tension.
Observe how your spine feels on the floor.
What areas of the spine lay well on the floor?
How is tension in your body affects how you lie on the floor?
Use breath and image of the balloon to create new releases in your spine.
Special pilates group sessions Movements Afoot would love to set up special classes for special needs. We would love to bring pilates movement to people who would love a Pilates class designed at the pace and needs of their present health. Please give us a call if you and your organization would like to set this up.
Possible Special Pilates classes:
MS
Arthritis
Back care
Fibromylia
Chronic fatigue
Parkinson’s
Other resources Somatic/body therapies:
Alexander technique
Bartenieff Fundamentals
BodyMind centering
Feldendrais
Franklin Method
Hanna Somatics
Pilates
Restorative yoga
For further information about constructive rest:
Andre Bernard
Eric Franklin
Restorative yoga
Another great book about release techniques Paul Escosque Pain-Free
We are going to talk about the important of bridging and how to do it correctly.
How we use our legs is very important for posture, moving and helpful in backcare. Bridging is very helpful as the building blocks for better understanding of how the legs need to be strengthen.
When someone comes in with back pain, I look at their bridging.
Many are weak in the legs.
They compensate with their backs to initiate the movements of the bridge.
Our lack of understanding of the correct use of our legs creates different kinds of POSTURE.
First of all, the legs are not under-standing the relationship to the pelvis. When there is a poor tailbone-heel connection, the legs and feet work unevenly to support our upper bodies. For many, one tucks to bring the pelvis over the feet and pulled the front ribs down to solve the problem of a poor head-tail-heel connection.
So we are going to look at types of bridging and how to use them in your warmup.My teacher, Irmgard Bartenieff, created a great concept about the neutral bridge. The Bartenieff Fundamental, the pelvic shift forward, is a bridge with the spine neutral. The legs lift the pelvis up. The pelvic shift forward relates how we use the legs to move and support the pelvis.
Pelvic shift forward is a concept of how the legs and the pelvis influence the weight shift. The best example of this is our gait, walking. The pelvic shift forward is our getting from sitting on a chair to standing. The pelvis and the legs influence our moving forward in space. Our hips have to go through hip flexion and extension to propel us through space.
Poor posture and gait diminishes proper shifting our weight forward for simple actions. This poor action forces our upper bodies to shift us forward to walk.
The pelvic shift forward is a different bridge than the articulating bridge with the pelvis begins in posterior tilt. The articulating bridge is about the sequencing of the spine. For some clients with certain back injuries or spinal osteoporosis, articulating bridge is not recommended. The articulating bridge for a healthy spine is a great exercise of opening the back.
To extend the hip through the legs, one uses the hamstrings and depending on the force needed, the gluteals. We only think of the gluteals as of squeezing the buttocks. This is primarily the gluteal maximus and the fibers closer to the gluteal cleft.
Tucking occurs when both sides of the gluteal maximus are fired at the same time. In gait, we are firing one side of the gluteals at a time depending on the gait cycle. Recent research has proven the gluteals are being used to assist us in standing and moving on our legs. There are other sections of the gluteals we want to put our attention to. These muscles are the attachments to the femur on the side of our hips. The gluteal medius, gluteal minimus and the lateral fibers of the gluteal maximus help us to stabilize on one leg. The gluteals help us extend our hips especially in larger forces needed as in walking up stairs, changing levels such as a deep lunge to standing and standing on one leg. The tone needed to extend the hip is very different than in tucking.
I want to talk about how to work with clients with low back pain. These clients have already ruled out by the medical professional where exercise is contraindicated.
To start a client with low back pain, my first goal is to observe their form as I teach the movement principles/fundamentals.
I am working first on teaching stabilization.
I am conservative about stretching until I know how they will react. Some clients with too much stretching, their muscles go into spasm. Sometimes the tight muscles are the ones trying to stabilize them. Without educating them about proper stabilization, the body does not know what to do.
Teaching the fundamentals, you can see how poor patterns will be reflective throughout the entire workout and their gait. Fundamental education will create better awareness, control and injury prevention skills.
Differentiation of thigh bone
I always start with the thigh lift and the pelvic shift forward, a neutral bridge.
A lot of clients are not using the hip socket correctly. The pelvis is unleveling to lift the leg.
Is the pelvis stable when the leg is lifted?
How is the ease in the femoral folds?
If the pelvis is unstable, is it rotating and/or unleveling?
Bridging: Having a leg to Stand on. (upcoming a new podcast on proper bridging)
I always look at the neutral bridge with back clients. Many clients are very weak in the legs and using the backs to compensate for leg weakness.
In the neutral bridge, the pelvis should shift forward over the feet. The Bartenieff Fundamental, the pelvic shift forward is a perfect name for this action.
The highest place in the bridge should be the pelvis.
When the legs are weak, the back usually arches to push the body higher.
Back care clients are very weak in the deep muscles of the back. Many are compensating with the superficial muscles of the back. This can cause compression/pain in the back. Simple extensions exercises of the upper spine and legs are essential skills to learn. Can your client lift their upper spine and/or legs and then entire body pain free? Are they shortening their backs to do any of these exercises.
By teaching your clients, the basics, you are also giving them tools to take home to practice. Once they accomplished the basics, don’t forget about the Pilates mat exercises:
Single leg circles
Single leg kick
Double leg kick
Shoulder bridge
Stretching
Once I hurt my back seriously carrying a computer. My back was in spasm for over a week. I stay away from stretching the back. I did a lot of stretching of my legs on the floor with a yoga strap. Roll downs were too painful at that time. Then my next goal was using downward dog to lengthen my back. Even a client putting their hands on the barrel or a wall and doing a modified downward dog can be helpful.
It is essential to teach stabilization exercises. Then intertwine these concepts with your workout using the machines. For example, before doing pulling straps on the long box, here is a routine on the long box.
3 upper spine extensions. The Spine raises in line with the box.
3 right leg lifts, 3 left. Leg lift is in line with box.
3 modified swans. The spine and legs are in line with the box.
then, pullling the straps.
Below is a link to great exercises for back care. Please feel free to share this link with your clients for their home practice.
The Bartenieff Fundamental, the thigh lift, is in all Pilates exercises. Learn how to stabilize your pelvis through your deep core muscles and mobility of your thighbone.
I have had the great fortune to have studied with teachers that have made anatomy exciting and how to apply it to my movement. By understanding the body not only intellectually, embodied anatomy has deepened my concentration and improved my function.
Especially with my teachers Amy Matthews and last weekends workshops with Eric Franklin and Morton Dithmer, this approach has improved my own teaching and my own connections. I love how this work centers my mind. A lot of meditation has you try to clear your mind of all thoughts. A great practice…but advanced. By putting my attention to a particular part of my body changes my concentration.
Eric Franklin’s workshop on the psoas last weekend was amazing. I have been having a lot of problems with my right psoas. This workshops released my psoas and back in such an amazing way.
Amy Matthews teaches at Movements Afoot an amazing yoga class bringing in embodied anatomy. Her background is in Laban/Bartenieff, BodyMind Centering and yoga. She teaches usually Wednesdays at 1:30 PM. Do check the online schedule since Amy is travelling a lot with her teaching.
Eric Franklin will be back June 28.
Relax your Jaw, Align your Spine.
A Franklin-Method ® Workshop with Eric Franklin & Morten Dithmer
June 28 10 AM -1 PM $110
More muscles are attached to the human jaw (mandible) than any other bone in the body. Through these myriad connections the tension and positioning of the jaw influences our alignment, flexibility, stress level and muscular tension. An aligned and relaxed jaw increases the efficiency of our posture and movement in exercise as well as in all our daily activities.
The temperomandibular (TMJ) joint, which connects the jaw to the skull is the most commonly used joint in the body. Talking, eating and gesturing and emotional states all relate to the jaw. Coordinating the movement of the TMJ greatly benefits our overall ease of movement.
In this Workshop we will use experiential anatomy and imagery to balance the TMJ it the jaw muscles of tension. These processes commonly alleviate or even eliminate disorders related to the jaw, such as ear ringing, grinding of the teeth, tension and migraine headaches. Dancers and athletes benefit by improved technique, Pilates teachers and others with exercise expertise benefit by refining their teaching skills and increasing the benefits gained from their training. Lay people are able to eliminate headaches, teeth grinding and muscular tension in the jaw and neck.
Learn how to:
Release tension in the jaw and neck
Experienced the balanced function of the TMJ
Align your spine in a new ways.
Reduce stress and increase your energy
Feet for Life: Organizing our Dynamic Base
With Eric Franklin & Morten Dithmer June 28 2:30 -5:30 PM $110
Our feet carry us throughout our life-yet most of us are unaware of the amazing design that makes this possible. A myriad of bones, joints and muscles interacting in complex fashion allow the foot to propel us forward, adapt to terrain, and serve as a foundation and sensory organ. This course will elucidate the function of the foot in an experiential manner, allowing us to improve the agility and well being of our feet in all situations, including walking, running, jumping and dancing. In dance as in life the strength and agility of the feet are key. Without strong and well-aligned feet good posture cannot be attained and safe jumping is all but impossible.
Gain insight into the functional anatomy of the foot.
Learn imagery exercises for creating strong, flexible and agile feet.
Practice Theraband exercises to strengthen the muscles of the foot and ankle.
Learn imagery and self-touch exercises to improve the efficiency of the bones, tendons, muscles and joints for walking and jumping.
PILATES PRINCIPLES
The coordination of the stability of the torso with the movement of the legs and/or arms is essential for good function. This is deep core work. Stability is a dynamic coordination of the muscles of the torso and entire body depending what the movement is. It is not a static position, but changing as we move in space.
We first need to learn how to apply core stability to simple movements before more complex movements. These are building blocks of foundations for larger, more complex movements.
The thigh lift (Bartenieff Fundamental(tm)) is the precursor to more difficult abdominal exercises as well as a component of our walking. One must stabilize the pelvis to connect to the correct mobility of the femur. The psoas alone will flex the hip. Without the counterbalance of the abdominals, the pelvis is pulled to an anterior tilt. Remember stabilization is about finding quietness in the spine with length as you mobilize the legs. This should be the major underlying principle of all abdominal exercises. To challenge the abdominals more, one can extend and/or lower the legs away from the torso. This is the single leg stretch, the hundred, etc.
THIGH LIFT
Hollowing the Abdominal
Purpose
To learn how to stabilize the pelvis as you lift a leg. This principle is important in all Pilates mat exercises with the use of the legs. The engagement of the core is essential in stability of the pelvis through the deep abdominals.
To start
Lie on the back with parallel legs bent and feet on the floor. The spine is in neutral. Place the hands on the femoral folds. This is where the hinge of the thigh and the hip
Inhale and feel the width of the sacrum and back ribcage.
Exhale and hollow.
The movement
Thigh Lift
Inhale and breathe wide into the back body.
Exhale to deflate the abdominals in and lift the bent right leg. The hands are feeling the softening of the femoral fold.
Inhale and lower the right thigh back to its original position.
Exhale with a hollow and lift the bent left thigh up to 90 degrees. The pelvis should remain in neutral.
Repeat 3 more sets
Observation
Was the pelvis quiet during the thigh lift? Did the hollow deepen as you lifted the leg? Or did the belly bulge out? If the back muscles engaged, you must learn to deepen the hollow and maintain it before and during the leg lift.
Double leg.
Inhale and feel the width and depth of the back body.
Exhale; hollow and do a right thigh lift
Inhale and hold the position
Exhale, hollow and lift the left bent leg next to the right thigh
Inhale without losing the hollow and lower the right leg down
Exhale and lower the left leg
Inhale and deepen the length and width of the spine
Repeat again starting with the left leg
Observation
Were you able to maintain the hollow throughout the movement? Did your pelvis remain quiet?
Breath is the key to connecting to the deep abdominal muscles. With breath, the connections of the diaphragm pumping in and out of air forces the transverse abdominal to be like a corset. Being like a corset, this muscle pulls the torso contents in. The pulling in of the abdominals like a corset, we are going to call, the hollow. This is when the transverse abdominus engages. This corset-like muscle is responsible for flattening the abdominal wall and stabilizing the torso.
Breath is one of the best ways to encourage this action. There are physical connections between the diaphragm and the transverse abdominus. The breath is like a hydraulic pump. Inhalation causes the diaphragm to move downward, open the lower ribs and relaxation of the back. Exhalation releases the diaphragm up like a parachute towards your head. The lift of the diaphragm helps the lower abs engage. Consciousness of breath and it’s being three-dimensional is a great way to open the spine and connect to our internal support.
To Start: Lie on the back with knees bent and feet on the floor.
Hollowing
Breath & the diaphragm
Inhale into the lower ribs. Visualize the diaphragm floating downward. This downward movement is widening the lower torso with depth in the back
Count the duration of the exhale as the belly deflates. (Start with 8 counts. Each count the belly should sink deeper towards the sacrum. This is the hollow.
Repeat two more sets
Breath & the Hollow
Place your hands near your navel
Inhale for 4 counts
Exhale (8 counts) and narrow your abdominals underneath your hands towards your navel
Inhale
Exhale (8 counts), narrow again underneath your hands
Adding on, inhale
Exhale (8 counts), narrow and sink your abs towards your sacrum
Inhale
Exhale and feel your abs narrow and sink towards your navel
Inhale and add on
Exhale (8 counts) narrow, sink and rise your abs up your torso.
Inhale
Exhale, feel your abs under your hands narrow, sink and lift towards your head.
Now practice this in different position, sitting, on all fours, standing and in your pilates practice. Hollowing is essential for making change in your core. It is better to do a few exercises with hollowing than lots of repetitions with the abs bulging out. Practicing poor habits does not make you stronger.
* I would like to thank all of my teachers especially Irene Dowd for deepening my knowlegde about the body.
Many overuse their backs due to weakness/stability in other areas of the torso. Another issue is overuse of the superior muscles of the back and weakness of the deeper muscles, the multifidus. Learning correct stabilization is key.
Laban’s concept of mobility/stability is about differentiation. To mobilize a body part, one has to stabilize somewhere else. If the attended mobilized body part is rigid, the body will hypermobilize above or below.
In the last post, we talked about the psoas. This post addresses when the thighbone is not moving well in the hip socket and other compensations in the body. Sometimes the back and sacrum compensates when there is a lack of mobility in the hip socket.
When the thighbone moves inside of the hip socket, it needs to roll, glide and slide. If the thighbone is not moving well, the hips will unleveled or tucked to lift the leg up. There is some posterior tilting of the pelvis, but it is in degrees.
In standing, the back can compensate with a weak standing leg. Many clients (dancers as well) have weak gluteal medias on the standing leg. They compensate to make the hips level using the quadratus and/or shortening the psoas.
I took a wonderful workshop at the Laban Conference in Novemeber in NYC with Diane Woodruff, CMA, PHD on hip abduction. Diane had us observe different initiations of side leg lifts. Many people were lifting from the back, the quadratus, the tensor facia latae, etc.. She had us do some very simple things to wake up the hip abductors and make sure the initiation stays correct. Alignment is key. Do you have a good head-tail-conncection? Diane had us tap the side of our hips, the gluteal medius & minimus. Then we lifted our leg up cueing to where we had tapped. After each lift, we had to rest. The rest helped me to get a new length of my abductors and assure the initiation was happening in the correct muscular use. It was amazing how by working correctly how standing changed. So many people are lifting their legs without being conscious of their form. Form is key. Doing a 100 legs lifts wrong can do more to train your back to shorten than toning your legs.
I think of side kicks (abductors lifts) as a sideways differentiation of the thighbone moving in the hip socket and stability of the pelvis. When people cannot feel how to move the thighbone freely in the hip socket, the muscles around the pelvis have to work harder. Harder does not mean functionally well. If the qradratus is working instead of the gluteal medias, this takes away from training the tone of the leg muscles.
In footwork on the reformer, a lot of clients are pushing from their backs and muscles around the femoral fold. I have clients start doing small pushes out half way without unleveling and/or tucking the pelvis. As they learn to feel more stability, they have to work their legs better. Than I increase the range of motion of footwork without the pelvis changing. If the pelvis changes as the legs extends, the workload ususally travels away from the leg muscles and Core.
My “lowers” issue is morphing into a psoas issue.
I DEFINITELY feel stronger in my lowers, my pelvic floor especially.
But I have a “numb” zone where I should be firing my psoas.
Right between the top of my pubic bone – in the “bikini” zone of
my lowers, I just can’t feel it. Occasionally, I have a moment of
“got it”then it’s gone. BUT, I can then pick it up from my
belly button to my ribcage.
I do wonder if it has something to do with the trauma of pregnancy and childbirth (another colleauge who has 2 children feels the same as I do in this area). No matter “why”, now I want to find it and feel it. I’m thinking a lot of pelvic clock, especially on the arc, to try to focus on it. What would you suggest as a prescription?” Student
Since the iliopsoas is such a deep muscle within the body, feeling can be quite different from feeling the quality of tone as in the abdominals. We also get confused with a tight muscle as feeling with a truly functioning muscles.
Stand up, bend your knees and flex your spine. Place your hands on your belly and try to soften the abdominals muscles. As you soften your belly, sink your hands deeper into your solar plexus. Try to pick one leg up and you should feel the psoas bulge out.
Study an anatomy book and look at where the iliopsoas connects to the upper spine and then connects to the lesser trochaner. Since the muscles are so deep within the body, visualization is key to good function. As Irmagard Bartenieff describes “the iliopsoas is the key to pure hip movement. “ With correct initiation, the thighbone differentiates from the pelvis. The iliopsoas, psoas for short, is one of the deepest muscles of the torso. It connects the trunk to the leg. It is responsible for the flexion of the hip. The psoas major connects to the lumbar spine. It diagonally crosses down in front of the pubic bone and attaches to the lesser trochanter of the femur. The iliacus attaches to the inside of the iliac crest (the hip bone). It also connects into the lesser trochanter.
Tightness of the psoas can lead to dysfunction and change the alignment of the body. Lie on your back with one leg straight and the other foot bent. Observe how your psoas feels on both sides. Is one side tighter? Where…upper, middle or lower? I will do a variation of constructive rest like this. Sometimes I do 5-10 minutes on each leg. As my psoas relaxes, I feel a totally different space inside of my torso.
Place your hands on the front of the pelvis. Now try to slide one leg down to straight on the floor and then return back to bent knee with the foot resting on the floor. This is a Bartenieff fundamental, a pre-thigh lift. Here you do activate the psoas but it should not change the torso’s length and stability.
Laban’s theory of mobility/stability is an important concept in engaging correctly the psoas. If the pelvis changes with unleveling or out of neutral spine, the body will go somewhere else to move the leg instead of the psoas.
Thigh Lift
The flexion of the thigh, the femur bone in the hip socket should feel like a folding of a hinge. This femoral fold should be soft if one is connecting to the illiopsoas. If there is a contraction around this fold, one could be overusing other muscles such as rectus femoris, some certain fibers of the adductors and even the back muscles. When the back becomes involved, this gives the appearance of the hips hiking, unleveling and/or rotating. The awareness of the movements of the pelvis and the thighbone are very important to establish for correct sequencing.
Definitely pregnancy, illness and stress can affect the psoas. When my digestive problems act up, I feel my psoas tighten.
Great reading is Eric Franklin. Eric will also be at Movements Afoot April 5 to teach a workshop on the psoas.
I also would like to thank my teachers about my understanding of the psoas, Amy Matthews, BodyMind Centering and CMA, Irene Dowd and Nicola Weiner’s Psoas Workshop.
Learn how breath is the secret to deeper stronger abdominals 
Breath is the key to connecting to the deep abdominal muscles. With breath, the connections of the diaphragm pumping in and out of air forces the transverse abdominal to be like a corset. Being like a corset, this muscle pulls the torso contents in. The pulling in of the abdominals like a corset, we are going to call, the hollow. This is when the transverse abdominus engages. This corset-like muscle is responsible for flattening the abdominal wall and stabilizing the torso.
xes, I feel a totally different space inside of my torso.
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