The medical model has been to look at the pathology of specific static structures through special tests (X-Ray, MRI, CT Scan, etc).  Many medical practitioners do not know how to look at the organization of a moving body to understand poor function. This model can be good when there is acute injury or exacerbation like a car accident.

On the other hand, many injuries are the causes of poor function, muscular imbalances and overuse injuries.  A functional approach looks at the body; its processes and systems within the body.  Pain at a specific place is not always the originator.  Janda looked at how the neurological and muscular system can be reflected at different parts.

Join us this January with Dianne Woodruff teaching about Janda’s work.  I am so excited to have Dianne return back to Movements Afoot.  Her workshops last spring were amazing.

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

Lower-Crossed Syndrome

With Dianne Woodruff Date: Saturday January 15.2011 Time: 9- 5 PM  $200
Lower-Crossed Syndrome is a faulty postural pattern that starts from the feet and knees and shows up as an excessive lumbar lordosis and weak abdominal wall. The problem cascades into the upper body so that our dynamically self-regulating posture is compromised. Dr. Janda identified this problem as a series of dysfunctional muscular relationships which, when understood, can be changed and maintained. You will need a working knowledge of human anatomy.

Upper-Crossed Syndrome

With Dianne Woodruff Date: Sunday January 16.2011 Time: 9- 5 PM  $200
Upper-Crossed Syndrome is that slumped posture of the back/shoulders along with a forward neck and head. Learn how to recognize, assess and treat this wide-spread postural problem identified by the late Dr. Vladimir Janda. An understanding of this syndrome and how to work with it are excellent tools for solving postural issues in yourself or in your clients. Participants must have a working knowledge of human anatomy.

To register click here.

Dianne L. Woodruff, CMA, PhD, has been teaching for 35 years and has been in private practice for 20 working with people who have movement difficulties and unresolved myofascial pain. Her newest video, 3-D WORKOUT™, vol II, an integrated approach to fitness, was released in 2006.  A Certified Movement Analyst with a doctorate in Somatic Education, she developed the anatomy curriculum for Stott Pilates in Toronto. She writes and lectures widely.www.body-in-motion.com.

Traditional fitness people hate this statement. Does Pilates make your bones and muscles longer? NO! It does work on the coordination of your muscles around your joints to improve mobility and stability depending on the particular movement.
Mobility and stability are very important for posture and movement. When you walk, your muscles are constantly changing in their use to assist the movement. If you lack strengthen and mobility, this will affect your walk.

Look at an old person who no longer walks well.
Did you ever notice some older people shuffling in their walks?
A lot has to do with their posture.

Stand slumped and walk.
Did you notice that you had to take smaller steps?

When the spine is poorly aligned and compressed, it will affect the movement of the pelvis and the legs. The upper spine should counterbalance the movement of the pelvis in a healthy gait. When a part of the spine is rigid, it will affect the entire sequencing of the spine and limbs.
When you walk, one side of your pelvis and legs mobilize to swing the leg through.  Mobility can be different from stretching.  Mobility of the hip for instance is the ability of the thigh bone to glide in the hip socket in all the directions of the design of the hip socket.
The other side stabilizes to assist the mobility.   Otherwise you would be on  the floor.  A lot of people have loss this proper sequencing of mobility/stability.  This could lead to back pain.  Rudoph Laban’s concept of mobility/stability is key to physical health.

In stability, there is a coordination of muscles around a joint to give stability.  For instance, the muscles around the hip and spine help us stand on one leg.

There are muscles around the knee that help coordinate its movement.  When the alignment of the knee and the balance of the muscles working around the knee are correct, you will stand different and be pain free.

Feel the difference in standing when your legs are parallel.
Now knock your knees in!  How does this make you stand?

Improving the coordination of mobility/stability of the entire body will change how you stand and move.  Mobility gives the joints the proper space to move.  Dynamic Stability (as Irmgard Bartenieff would call) supports the body to move in space with its proper mobility.

You can feel like you have grown taller
when you reconnect to the coordination
of muscles around the joints for both mobility/stability.

Here are podcasts to help you make a faster and deeper connections in your body:

• Pilates breath to a new core: http://movementsafootblog.com/2010/07/19/pilates-basics-breathe-yourself-to-a-new-core/
• Pilates basics of core: http://movementsafootblog.com/2009/04/26/pilates-basics-enhancing-the-core/
• Pilates Basics – back of core: http://movementsafootblog.com/2009/12/05/pilates-basics-back-of-core/
• For other podcasts to your new Pilates body: http://movementsafootblog.com/12-steps-to-bodymind-fitness/podcasts/

“Paying attention to the body is like shining a direct spotlight on areas of pain. Not such a great idea, to focus on pain? Actually, it is the best cure for pain because the attention spotlight helps to direct the body’s own healing resources to the affected areas. Body sense is medicine. It is nature’s perfect blend of psyche and soma in which the practice of attention regulation promoted by slow movement practices combines with the body’s readiness to direct its resources toward healing. It can only do that if we reduce stress, slow down, and pay attention.” by Alan Fogel in Psychology Today

It is so great to see this article.  Awareness is key to change.  How we learn is through our senses: verbal, tactile, emotional and smell.   There are days I awake feeling my body out of align.  When I do my practice whether it be yoga, dance or pilates, I can feel my body making changes.

This month at Movements Afoot we are talking about challenging balance especially with tools of the physioball, foam rolls and togu ball.  The tools brings up our reflexes which deepens our internal awareness.  It gives an new tactile experience to our senses.

“Knit your ribs together and pull down.” Would this feel great?

There are generic cues that you hear over and over. We need to modernize our cueing and imagery that will really enhance function. This cue is a poor solution for hyperextended ribs. I see so many dancers overexergerating this cue that they have made their ribcage rigid to not be able to use their arms and back correctly and expressively. One of the most beautiful lines is the arabesque or attitude. Pulling the ribs down will change this line.  We need to come up with cues and training that will enhance the line and improve function.

As teachers, we need to look deeper why there is poor function. Why are the ribs hyperextended?

• Tight structures such as back muscles and iliopsoas.
• Are the ribs in response to poor grounding of the feet and hyperextended legs?
• Is the neuromuscular system going first to the back muscles firing in shortness?

Knitting the ribs together is not a dynamic cue.  It does not solve the problem and can create other problems in different level changes.  Why don’t we go deeper in our cueing?

1. Put your attention to your spine and give support for the entire spine.
   
2. If your ribs are hyperextending, visualize the hyperextended section has support to bring that section back to neutral.
   
3. If you are doing footwork in Pilates, stop in the middle of the movement when the ribs start hyperextending.
4. Relax the back muscles and imprint the thoracic spine back to neutral.  Continue footwork.

Understanding the function of the spine and legs can make huge differences.  When the facets of the spine are evenly spaced for neutral and move equally extension or flexion,  there is an invitation away from compression.  Hyperextension is usually at one section of the spine.

When the legs are hyperextended, important muscles for stability are kicked out.  Improving function of the legs will enhance the placement of the spine.

Remember: When you see a problem, look above or below.   The problem is usually an organization around a poor function.

Excellent sources to read are Liz Koch and Eric Franklin.

POSTURAL ANALYSIS WORKSHOP at Movements Afoot

Taught by Doris Pasteleur Hall
and Nicola Wiener, Physical Therapist

This workshop is open to all Pilates, yoga, and dance teachers; personal trainers; bodyworkers and health care providers.
Date:   Sun   3/21/2010
Time:  1:30 PM – 5:30 PM
$120.00

Posture reflects our most fundamental organization and has the most profound influence over the way in which we move.  Postural analysis is an invaluable tool for interpreting this structural information. Developing the skill of understanding postural patterns can help us find ways to become more efficient and powerful in our movements.
Join us for this workshop in which we will:

• Observe the key bony landmarks from the front, back and side view
• Explore different ways of recording this information
• Discuss your observations and interpretations
• Consolidate your existing knowledge and expand your assessment skills
• Discuss problem solving strategies for different movement/bodywork modalities

Please come dressed in layers with appropriate lab clothes for assessing posture (shorts, sports bras, bathing suits etc.)

To register

Lesley Powell

Dancers, athletes, and many movers have always known about the importance of the mind on the body.  How you think, concentrate and your awareness can make huge difference in your body.

Eric Franklin in his workshops does a great exercise about how the mind affects the body. Circle your shoulders.  Now think how much you hate doing this exercise.  See how it changed the movement.  Now imagine your shoulder blades are soap and you are lathering your ribs with soap suds.  How did this change this.

Learning to focus your mind is a skill.  It is great to have teachers who can guide you to think differently.  When I take Amy Matthew’s BodyMind Centering  & Yoga Class, she directs me to think differently about my body in a yoga pose.  What I love about learning how to focus, is also a stress reducer.  Especially with running a business, it is great to take the mind away from this for a moment.

How do you know if you are using your abdominals correctly?

If you are sitting/standing in a public space like a subway or restaurant,
practice pulling in your abdominals narrow, in and up.  

If you do it wrong,
it will shorten you and pull your head forward like a chicken.  

Correctly,
you should appear taller
and with ease in your spine.

Decades ago, I was the movement trainer at a high-end club.  Clients would come to me after their sessions for stretching or to help with an injury.  A man came to me about his back.

I had just observed him doing a hundred crunches.
His form was terrible with his cranking his head to perform the crunch,
bulging his belly out and activating his hip flexors.

I asked him to pull up his abdominals in standing to improve his posture.
He DiDn’t have a clue how!

Your new practice of hollowing your abdominals in will change your posture and the quality of your workout.  Every exercise you need to be hollowing the abdominals in to have the best and strongest ab workout.  Doing more incorrectly is not the answer.  Watch Our Podcast how to change how you use your abdominals.  The hollowing is like creating your own natural corset.

Twilates: Pilates for Teens

A bootyliscious and rock’in abdominal Pilates class for teens &

A Pilates Equipment class for Young dancers

Twilates: Pilates for teens 6 weeks Thursdays October 1- November 5, 4:00-5:00 PM$100

Minimum of 4 to run class  To Register

Pilates equipment class for young dancers

6 weeks Thursdays October 2- November 6, 4:30-5:30 PM $100 Minimum of 4 to run class To Register

Movements Afoot, 49 W. 27th Street is sponsoring special Pilates classes for teens.  Twilates will be every Thursday at 4:00PM October 1 – November 6, is a 6 week class and Pilates equipment class for young dancers at 4:30 for 6 weeks.  For more information on how to participate, please call Movements Afoot (212) 904-1399, email us at_movementsafoot@me.com, or check out our website: www.movementsafoot.com.

Movements Afoot is committed to bring fitness to everyone. Our kids especially need to get in shape.  Once being faculty at Drew University for dance, Lesley Powell, the director of Movements Afoot, was amazed how weak the students were.

Our sitting all day can be a leading cause of back discomfort to come. In this New York Post’s article, OBESE KIDS DO WORSE AT SCHOOL, “Physically fit elementary- and middle-school students perform better academically than their out-of-shape classmates, according to a new city study.”  Training the mind-body connection will make a difference in learning better concentration skills, posture and endurance.

At Movements Afoot, come and have fun, in Twilates featuring below the belt bootyliscious exercises and rock’in abdominal work that will sculpt your core. A hip and healthy way for tweens to workout.  The Pilates equipment invites a fitness with lifetime goals. As a young person, a lot of physical activities did not interest me because they were so sports oriented.  Pilates is about yourself.

Pilates equipment class for young dancers is a special class taught by Denise Vidal, a former ballet dancer with the Metropolitan Opera.  “If I could do my dance career over again, I would have done pilates at an early age”, says Lesley Powell.  Pilates gives you the strength and muscular balance to support the high physical demands of being a dancer.

Twilates: Pilates for teens 6 weeks Thursdays October 1- November 5, 4:00-5:00 PM$100

Minimum of 4 to run class

Pilates equipment class for young dancers

6 weeks Thursdays October 2- November 6, 4:30-5:30 PM $100 Minimum of 4 to run class

Pilates Forum

Pilates Wellness Studio

At a staff meeting, there was a request for a time that teachers could get together, share ideas, questions, working out and problem solving.  Especially with this recession, I would like to offer a monthly meeting time at a very reasonable price of $20  for a two hour session.

Come together.  Pilates teachers. Share. Workout.  Problem solve.  Laugh.  This meeting will be moderated by Lesley Powell.  Come with ideas, questions about the body, problem solving about professional issues (i.e. Difficult clients, non-payment by clients, burn-out, etc.)

First meeting 4/7  5:15-7:15