Freeing the Shoulder by Lesley Powell for Pilates Pro: a more in depth article

Relax your Neck – Liberate your Shoulders
With Lesley Powell, Franklin Method Teacher, Certified Movement Analyst, Balanced Body Pilates Faculty
$60  Early discount sign up by first of the month.February 11, 2012  Saturday 11 AM – 1 PM

When you embody the body’s natural support structure, ‘you’ don’t have to ‘work so hard’ to stay upright and moving forward in a world of ‘stress’.  Discover the flow and ease that exists within you. Lengthen and balance shoulder and neck musculature to dance through life with free healthy shoulders, a liberated neck and a dynamic supportive spine.

The counterbalancing effect of the shoulder blade is especially helpful in arm elevation. Dancers, gymnasts and anyone attempting to reach for the coffee container on the top shelf needs to be able to lift their arms effortlessly without disturbing their centers or increasing tension in the shoulders, back and torso.

In this workshop, you will learn simple and profound ways to catapult your shoulder experience to a beautiful new awareness and then integrate this magical sensation into your daily life movements. Use this every day and embody easeful shoulders and an easeful life. This workshop is highly recommended for dancers, movers, shakers, yogis, desk sitters, children, grown up kids, sky divers, swimmers and anyone who carries a bag.

My own search for the wellness Holy Grail

Our society is so wounded up by youthfulness.  But shouldn’t the real holy grail be wellness.  It is always changing especially as we are aging.

My last year’s resolution was to get back to me and taking care of myself.  Isn’t it odd that I as a business owner of a Pilates wellness studio, have trouble taking care of myself.  I am moving all day but I demonstrate on and off.  I don’t consider this a workout because I am concentrated on the client and not myself.

This last year I have put aside time to take ballet class, take private Pilates sessions and some somatic classes like Feldenkrais and Hanna.  Last summer I hurt my knee hiking.  It is definitely sliding around, but I am not in pain.  When I get my form correct, my knee feels great.

As an ex-dancer, most aerobic activity either aggravates my knee or I am bored.  Getting back to dance, I feel spiritually and physicality great.  The slow bar warmup allows me to get my knee warmed up and not clicking.  It is moving the entire time so I definitely feel the heart rate go up.

Finding time for my own Pilates practice has helped so much.  I don’t know how people can work out with no guidance.  My teacher challenges me and balances my body.  We all have overuse injuries popping up whether it is like me pulling on springs all day or the person sitting all day at the computer.

I love the somatic work.  I see it as a moving meditation.  Somatic practices like Feldenkrais, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Hanna and BodyMind Centering help put my mind and my nervous system on a new calming journey.  Again, going to class helps me focus my mind.  Running your own business is so stressful and my mind turns frequently on what I need to get done.

So What will be your search for your own Holy Grail?

Pilates teachers do not realize the tremendous influence Irmgard Bartenieff had on our work.  Eve Gentry, a second generation Pilates teacher, took  the BARTENIEFF FUNDAMENTALS into her pilates practice.  Many Pilates teacher certification programs have been influenced by this work.  

Eve Gentry was one of the founders of the Dance Notation Bureau.  She had studied with Irmgard Bartenieff when she lived in New York City.

Come Experience these principles to enhance your practice and your teaching with Dr. Dianne Woodruff.  Last year at Movements Afoot, my body went into heaven using the Bartenieff Fundamentals to enhance function.

INTRO TO BARTENIEFF FUNDAMENTALS: MOVEMENT PRINCIPLES FOR LIFE

With Dianne Woodruff  CMA, PhD

November 5 & 6   9-5 PM.  $450  Register by 10/15  $425  To register, click here

Take this workshop to learn how your body is designed to move. In this course, understand the basics that keep us moving elegantly and efficiently on two feet. Teach them to your clients for lifelong readiness to move. Wake up and tune up your muscles, nerves and connective tissues for movement. The basics of movement organize your body so it is responsive to your wishes and needs. 

Re-vamp your exercise life If your exercise program is not working there’s probably a reason. Your body is organized in patterns that support everything you do but most conventional exercise programs skip over this. When you lack these patterns your exercise program may be a struggle. Maybe you drop out and think you are just not suited to exercise. You could be right. You need something else. 

49 W. 27th St. Mezzanine B, New York City 212-904-1399 www.movementsafoot.com

Working out with certain kinds of pain can weaken the nerves and/or exacerbate the injury.

When a client has back pain that is not disc or nerve related, I look at their posture and how they move during their sessions.  Many injuries are caused by poor habits, repetitive motions and poor support/mobility of the body.  I use the Bartenieff Fundamentals/movement principles to evaluate their form and teach better function.  Teaching extension exercises of the spine and hips are very important.  Most lowback clients are very weak in their backs and legs.

Sometimes when teaching extension work, clients complaint of pain.

A lot has to do where the movement is being initiated.  For instance, neutral pelvic bridge is an excellent exercise for backs.  Because they are weak in their legs, they will push from their backs.  Too much posterior tilt at the beginning of the bridge can kick out important muscles of the hips and legs that help extend the hips.  These muscles are important in standing.

Another big problem is getting clients of understand pelvic stability with leg mobility.  Some clients unleveled their pelvis to lift their legs.  This could lead to back discomfort.

Differentiation of thigh bone

Irmgard Bartenifeff’s Thigh Lift is a precursor to all Pilates mat exercises.

Can the client differentiate the thighbone from the pelvis?  So many are tight around the hip sockets.  They lift the leg up partially from unleveling the pelvis.  My goal is to teach them the amazing hip socket as the hinge for movement instead of the disks.

Bartenieff Fundamental - The X roll

Joint Mobility Drills  Here is a great article about the importance of movement.  A warmup can be simple and make incredible changes how you feel in your body.

Even a few reps of my doing Bartenieff Fundamentals, I feel a surge of energy in my body.  If you feel stuck anywhere,  the Bartenieff Fundamentals are a gentle way to invite movement in all the joints of the spine.  The purpose is not loading a muscle or stretching it.  When joints do not move correctly, it will affect your fitness and well being.

If you want to get more of a taste, join Dianne Woodruff, CMA, PhD this November.

INTRO TO BARTENIEFF FUNDAMENTALS: MOVEMENT PRINCIPLES FOR LIFE

With Dianne Woodruff, CMA, PhD
November 5 & 6   9-5 PM.  $450  Register by 10/15  $425

Take this workshop to learn how your body is designed to move. In this course, understand the basics that keep us moving elegantly and efficiently on two feet. Teach them to your clients for lifelong readiness to move. Wake up and tune up your muscles, nerves and connective tissues for movement. The basics of movement organize your body so it is responsive to your wishes and needs.

Re-vamp your exercise life!   If your exercise program is not working, there’s probably a reason. Your body is organized in patterns that support everything you do, but most conventional exercise programs skip over this. When you lack these patterns, your exercise program may be a struggle. Maybe you drop out and think you are just not suited to exercise. You could be right. You need something else.

Pilates teachers do not realize the tremendous influence Irmgard Bartenieff had on our work.  Eve Gentry, a second generation Pilates teacher, took  the BARTENIEFF FUNDAMENTALS into her pilates practice.  Many Pilates teacher certification programs have been influenced by this work.

BodyMind Fitness May 20-22 2011:

Revolution of Hand-Scapula & Shoulders 

$476
 Please call office for this deal and register for entire weekend

• Friday:     Revolutionary Shoulders 5-7 pm
• Friday:  
Fitness Coaching: Matching Learning Styles 7-9 pm with Dr. Martha Eddy
• Saturday:  Anatomy in Clay® with Doris Pasteleur Hall
• Sunday:  Scapula Revolution: Hand-scapula Relationship with Lesley Powell

49 W. 27th St. Mezzanine B, New York City 212-904-1399 www.movementsafoot.com


Revolutionary Shoulders 5-7 pm
With Dr. Martha Eddy
Friday May 20 5-7 PM $60 Early Bird discount by 5/14 $50

Learn how shoulder carriage and movement is improved by attention to breath, spinal use, and overall posture. Find out how baby movement is still important for adults in our fitness regimen!

Fitness Coaching: Matching Learning Styles 7-9 pm
With Dr. Martha Eddy
Friday May 20 5-7 PM $60 Early Bird discount by 5/14 $50

This is a laboratory for wellness professionals. Do you wonder how to better motivate your clients? Learn to match your style to those of each of your clients. Learn the theory of Multiple Intelligences. Get great results in motivating, dealing with complex issues and feelings, improving alignment and fitness, and activating healthy habits. Holistic fitness is important and current, be on top of the wave.

Anatomy in Clay®
with Doris Pasteleur Hall
Saturday 9 AM -5 PM  $275  
Early discount see dates below

Building the muscles of the body on a Maniken® model allows you to observe movement from a 3 dimensional perspective. Placing, sensing, and observing the layers of muscles will help you integrate their relationship. Going back and forth between the model and movement, we will become aware of the layering of the deep to superficial muscles.

• May 21: Shoulder Girdle Early discount $250 sign up by 5/14
• August 6: Knee and Feet Early discount $250 sign up by 7/29
• October TBA: Spine

SHOULDER WORKSHOP: 
Scapular Revolution 

with Lesley Powell
Time:  9:00 AM – 4:00 PM Sunday 5/22  $200
Early registration by 5/13  $175 PMA Approved 6 cec

The arms connect to the torso through the shoulder girdle, shoulder blades, clavicles and humerus bones. Each bone moves in different degrees of rotation and timing. The timing and the control of these motions are essential to a healthy shoulder. This “scapular-humeral rhythm” is like a symphony—each bone is an instrument playing a different variation of a melody.
When the shoulder girdle moves correctly, great function is invited.  Each bone of the shoulder girdle; the clavicles, the scapulae and the humerus bone, have a unique rhythm of movement to facilitate the arm moving in space.
A great scapular-humeral rhythm will invite the correct phrasing of the arm and core muscles. When you get a client to better use her shoulder girdle, her arm strength, posture and connection to the core will improve. Learn how this rhythm works and how to help your clients improve theirs.

What is Core?

This weekend we ran BodyMind fitness: Core.

I shared the teaching with Dr. Martha Eddy, Doris Pasteleur Hall and Kim fielding.

Core is more than your abdominals. It is the torso that houses important organs for breath, circulation and digestion. Giving 3D support is not only important for backcare; it gives the organs room to function. If a person’s posture is chronically slumped, can you see how it will affect breath and the movements of the diaphragm and lungs. With diminished breathe, comes poor circulation without the right amount of oxygen getting to the blood and heart. A domino effect!

A lot of fitness’ core training is bracing down on the torso. Great core support should uplift you. Getting to the deeper
muscles of the core takes great awareness and sometimes backing away from more superficial muscles such as the rectus.

Training of the Pelvic floor, transverse abdominus and the multifidus have a different quality of tone than many muscles. It is the coordination of these in dynamic movement that it becomes complex. Take the plank pose, a full body action.  Bonnie Baindridge Cohen has a great image about deeper muscles.  They current into the joints for stability where our larger muscles groups current out.  When you see poor torso stability,  you see the larger muscles groups compressing the torso down.

Wow!  Did my body feel fantastic after this weekend!  It was so great to plunge back into Bartenieff Fundamentals as a practioner, teacher and observer.  Most of my earlier Bartenieff Fundamental training was very intelletual.  Until I started teaching them on an injured clients at Dr. Bachrach’s, I began to appreciate their power.  I can count on one hand teachers who really got me to experience the depth of the work.  I especially want to thank Janis Pforsich when she came to Movements Afoot to teach workshops,  Bob Dunn and Dianne Woodruff.

A lot of teachers get caught of doing more and lots of variations on a theme.  Dianne kept going over the same material for us to experience on our own bodies, to practice on others and then how the work changed one’s gait.  Less is more.  Especially getting older, I need more time and warm-up to get my body moving correctly.

BodyMind Fitness

BodyMind Fitness Takes off Feb 4.

Sign up before 1/31 for entire certification and receive a special discount.