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
When I arrived in New York in 1975 I found the person that I would call my mentor in the Pilates world. Her name was Carola Trier. I realized when I met her that I had found the teacher, which would make me understand the essence of Pilates. Her mentoring instilled in me a sense of appreciation for good movement, an encouragement of opening my observations skills and the use of guiding hands to direct the quality of movement.
Carola had her studio in midtown Manhattan. She was one of the first protégés of Joseph
Pilates. She was given permission to open her own studio while he was alive around 1958. You have to remember that this was a time before certifications and that the elders or first generation teachers where still in contact with Joseph as an ongoing apprentice association. This association lasted years not weeks or some months. This type of apprentice association I also had with Carola. From the time that I began studying with her, to assisting and then to teaching took 5years. I was one of the last teachers trained by her before she closed her studio.
My association with Carola began as a client. Carola always gave the first session and I have to say I remember it vividly. Carola was this very petite woman with long bones in black leotard and tights, beautiful coiffure hair with a voice that carried a strong German accent. She was a very dynamic woman. She placed you in front of a tall mirror surrounded with a white wooden frame on rollers. This was her introduction to your body posture/assessment. When that was done, then the session moved onto the reformer and finished with some mat. The session was one hour long. Carola would stay with a new client for at still the first 10-20 sessions. When the student/client became more confident then they were introduced to the other teachers. Everyone was on the same page with the teaching of the material and Carola had her eye everywhere.
Carola had a very good eye in terms of body alignment and sensing a flow of movement though the exercise. An exercise that was accomplished meant there was a good balance of breath, concentration and flow. Concentration was exampled as being able to do an exercise correctly 3-10 times, depending on the exercise. The concept was that the third repetition should be as important as the first or fifth repetition. As one got better with the exercise the idea was that the last one might be even be the best one. So concentrations of the mind as well as the body were then connected as one. When one accomplished this balance of concentration, breathe and flow over a certain amount of time then you processed to the next harder exercise. She did not tolerant doing things sloppily. The best way that I can explain is this: first, you do A, when A has a good foundation then you move onto B. So as the years went by I got to experience all of the Pilates material, beginner to advanced with all of the equipment: Reformer, Cadillac, Wunda Chair, Ped-a Pul, big barrel and mat. It took about 3 years.
When you were given a new exercise, Carola always knew that, first you needed to a get a sense of the movement. Once you knew the exercise then corrections were given. When the corrections were well applied then more detail of the exercise was specified. You always felt challenged mentally or physically. By the time you finished learning an exercise, all parts of the body had been given a connection to the whole body. The exercise slowly formed itself into something dynamic.
Thru the years, I would stay and hang around to observe what was being taught. When there was time, questions could be answered. Then one day you where asked to change a spring. Time spent in the studio infused a sense of trust, stimulated the observation skills and understanding of the Pilates material. At least that is the way I took it. When I did begin to teach I was given the more beginner exercises to teach and with time evolved to the more complex. As a client/student or teaching, there was always a sense of building blocks. That was the common ground between being a client and being a teacher.
A very interesting article was in the NY Times last week. Core training needs to be 3-dimensional. Just training the abdominals is not enough. Especially with our culture being in so much flexion due to computers, cars, tv and the lack of exercise, people are really weak in their backs.
I just taught a Balanced Body University’s Pilates course this weekend. All the students were active professionals. Most were having trouble with extension in getting to the deep extensors of the back. When the deep extensors do not initiated the movement, the back shortens and for some, cause discomfort.
Another problem with abdominal training, is finding qualities of tone. To get to the deeper transverse abdominals, breath is essential. Once found, it has tremendous lightness. In teaching all clients from beginners to teachers, many are firing and compressing the rectus too strongly for the required action. For instance, the rectus abdominus assists in flexion of the spine in crunches and rollups. Many are unneccessarily firing the rectus with a simple pelvic tilts of the lower spine.
“Abdominals come in many flavors” Doris Pasteleur Hall
Training of the spine in different positions is essential for dynamic stabilization. How you organize your spine lying down is very different from sitting, standing, plank pose. Getting aware of where your spine is in space is important.
This simple exercise can be difficult. Many are firing the rectus which will lower the head down. Some have trouble keeping a head-tail connection. You will see the spine rotate and/or unleveled.
What the NY Times article is not addressing is how the training of the limbs in coordination with the core is important. Awareness of how the body moves is lacking in most training. We have constant pressure by clients of having a stronger workout. Many of these clients lack internal awareness of their bodies and training of deeper stabilizing muscles. Many of the deep stabilizing muscles will never have the feel as a bicep firing to lift a weight.
Learning good form is essential for proper conditioning and balance.
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.
Balanced Body is now creating their own podcasts. They are amazing and will give you new ideas about teaching. My favorites are by Elizabeth Larkam. Elizabeth is a wealth of information and has created some new exercises. This exercise below looks simple. It truly reflects if clients are stabilizing correctly. I have been teaching this to all of my clients from beginners to advanced. Even my dancers are challenged by this exercise.
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.
Isn’t this video amazing? Standing work brings into all your connections, core, arms and legs.
Watch how Joe does front rowing. You can see the anterior serratus kick in when he reaches the arms forward. Doing full body work like this and the plank are amazing full body exercises.
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.
Learn how breath is the secret to deeper stronger abdominals 
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