A recent study at Northwestern University looked at activity among 1,000 adults, between 49 and 84 years old, who had osteoarthritis of the knee. Ninety percent of the people were not exercising, according to lead scientist Dorothy Dunlop.

in Great article about arthritis

How to get America moving again?  Living in New York city, I am so lucky.  I walk a lot and there are many choices of classes to take that keeps me fit and interested.  I was talking with a client who use to live in another city.  Most cities don’t have the transportation system like NYC so everyone uses cars.  Walking is even frown upon by many.

Here is a great article about running.  Watch the video in news article!!

with Lesley Powell
Dates: Sun   10/23/2010
Time:  10 AM – 4:00 PM
6 hours PMA approved $200

We take walking for granted. When we lose the ability to walk comfortably, we lose our freedom to do things. Poor posture, lack of strength and mobility and diminishing balance skills affect our gait. This course is an introduction to how the body moves in gait and how as trainers we can plan a workout that encourages better walking skills.

We will learn observation skills about how the body moves and applications using the Pilates repertory to improve mobility and strength in relationship to gait. Applications to the Pilates repertory will also include modifications with diminished range of motion.

Section I The spine Posture is key in walking. Poor posture can affect the mobility of our hips and legs in walking. We will look how the spine moves in an ideal healthy walk. Learning observation skills about walking and simple movement exercises can help us evaluate our client’s movement patterns. Lesson plans will evolve around how to increase mobility, coordination and strength using the Pilates equipment and balance tools.

Section II The lower body This is an introduction how the lower body moves in gait. Pilates is a wonderful way to train for better tone and mobility. The coordination of our muscles is different with closed chain in standing than open chain and close chain lying prone, supine or side. Observation skills and program development will be learned to help the senior improve their gait skills.

To Register

Moving backwards

Centerworks Blog

Walking backwards is good for your brain

Through my studies with Eric Franklin, Irene Dowd and Amy Matthews,  I have come up with a podcast of simple ways to exercise your feet.

By changing your foot fitness will change how you stand and how you use your core.  In my DancingMindBody class on Friday mornings, I start with rolling the feet on the Franklin Balls and some kind of foot exercise.  It is amazing to observe how the tone of the abdominals improves after this foot warmup.  We haven’t even done an abdominal exercise!

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

Teachers,
Movements Afoot has an exciting season planned to help you with your education.  We  have a variety courses for different needs; PMA approved Courses, Anatomy in Clay®, Balanced Body’s Pilates Arc, Somatic courses and courses about teaching.

Dr. Martha eddy is teaching 4/11 on teaching different learning styles.  She is quite familiar with Pilates.  She had worked with Mary Bowen.

I am also in discussion with Shelly Studdenberg, my teacher who helped me understand muscular imbalances and using Pilates rep to make positive changes.  We would like to have a monthly lab for teachers (2 hrs during the day only once a month) to learn how to see muscular imbalances and to make use Pilates for rehab.  Let me know if you are interested.

BodyMind Fitness Certificate Program
LOWER: April 8-11 2011: underSTANDing $450 for entire weekend

• Friday:     ReEvolutionary Legs with Dr. Martha Eddy
• Saturday:  Anatomy in Clay: Muscles of the femur and movement with Doris Pasteleur Hall
• Sunday: Pilates Upright with Lesley Powell
• Monday:  Fitness Coaching with Dr. Martha Eddy

See below for more info about each workshop
ReEvolutionary  Legs:  Evolution of Fitness from Crawling-Standing-Running
With Dr. Martha Eddy  Friday April 8 5:30-8:30 PM  $85
Early registration by 4/1 $75
The next wave in fitness takes you back to go forward. Work out w crawling, hopping, and leaping. Learn how your earliest movement skills affect your current muscular tone, posture and coordination. Practice special developmental movements to strengthen you core and activate your limbs in a safe and integrated way. Gain better alignment for walking and balance.

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.

April 9:  Femur  Early discount $250 sign up by 4/1
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

PILATES UPRIGHT
with Lesley Powell
Dates: Sun   4/10/2011
 Time:  9:00 AM – 4:00 PM $200  Early registration by 4/1 $175
PMA Approved 6 cec -

Taking a stand

Pilates Upright is a dynamic workout that incorporates the training of Pilates mat with weight bearing exercises in standing. Pilates Upright gives you a new underSTANDing of the coordination of your muscles & bones in standing, which is very different from exercising on the floor

Fitness Coaching: Matching Learning Styles

With Dr. Martha Eddy  Friday April 11 1-4 PM  $85
Early registration by 4/1 $75
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.

Balanced Body’s  PILATES ARC
With Lesley Powell 4/24/2011  9:30-4:30 PM PMA 4 cec
$199 plus $25 for manual
Sign up is with Balanced Body 1-800-PILATES
Create exciting new Pilates workouts with the Pilates Arc. It’s a lightweight Pilates Step Barrel and a whole lot more!

Balanced Body's Pilates Arc

Balanced Body’s  Pilates Arc instructor training includes an introduction to the history and principles of Pilates, the features, function and safety precautions for the Pilates Arc, the complete repertoire of exercises on the Pilates Arc with modifications and lectures on class order and programming in a studio or fitness setting. Whether you are an experienced Pilates professional or a beginner, this course will provide you with everything you need to start teaching Pilates on the Arc.

The Pilates Arc:

• Increases core strength and stability
• Improves the mobility of the spine
• Strengthens the upper body
• Develops balance and coordination
• Plus its fun, easy to use and provides exercises to challenge anyone from the beginner to the most advanced Pilates practitioner.

SHOULDER WORKSHOP: 
Scapular Revolution
with Lesley Powell Time:  
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM Sunday 5/22  9:00 AM- 4 PM $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.

Gait Workshop
with Lesley Powell
Dates: Sun  8/7/2011
Time:  9:30 AM – 4:00 PM
6 hours PMA approved 6 cec  $200
Early registration by 7/29  $175

We take walking for granted. When we lose the ability to walk comfortably, we lose our freedom to do things. Poor posture, lack of strength and mobility and diminishing balance skills affect our gait. This course is an introduction to how the body moves in gait and how as trainers we can plan a workout that encourages better walking skills.

We will learn observation skills about how the body moves and applications using the Pilates repertory to improve mobility and strength in relationship to gait. Applications to the Pilates repertory will also include modifications with diminished range of motion.

Section I The spine Posture is key in walking. Poor posture can affect the mobility of our hips and legs in walking. We will look how the spine moves in an ideal healthy walk. Learning observation skills about walking and simple movement exercises can help us evaluate our client’s movement patterns. Lesson plans will evolve around how to increase mobility, coordination and strength using the Pilates equipment and balance tools.

Section II The lower body This is an introduction how the lower body moves in gait. Pilates is a wonderful way to train for better tone and mobility. The coordination of our muscles is different with closed chain in standing than open chain and close chain lying prone, supine or side. Observation skills and program development will be learned to help the senior improve their gait skills.

1. I am thankful to have movement in my life.  When I visit my mom at her retirement community,  I see so many adults barely able to walk.  Movement is essential for well-being. When you don’t use it, you lose it.

2. Movement also helps me with my stress.  It is my way of meditation. By concentrating on the fantastic gift of our bodies and its anatomy, travels me away from the stress of running my own business.
   
3. I have gotten back to my creative self by going to art classes. Now that I am not dancing and choreographing, I had a void in my life.  I am especially into watercolor.
   
4. I also gotten back to ballet class.  Now it is for me without the competition.  I have had trouble finding something aerobic, that doesn’t hurt my knees and interesting.  The right ballet class I am able to warmup properly with my knees feeling fine.

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

I took a wonderful workshop w. Irene Dowd yesterday on Posterior Lateral hip muscles. We didn’t do a lot of reps but I feel it today.  Irene talked a lot about valgus strain.  I definitely have some valgus on my right knee.  My knee felt great after this weekend.

We have  great workshops coming up in 2011 if you want to know more:

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.

BodyMind Fitness Certificate 
Level I

CORE: February 4-7 2011: Core of Anatomy
LOWER: April 8-11 2011: underSTANDing

• Friday:     LOWER Overview  and Anatomical Info: Pelvis
• Saturday:     Body fitness class and seminar: Methods for holistically working with the     Legs
• Sunday:     Working with the functional standing
• Monday:      Assessment, Feedback and more Applications

PILATES UPRIGHT

with Lesley Powell    
Dates: Sun   4/11/11 Time:  9:00 AM – 4:00 PM $200
PMA Approved -Pilates Upright is a dynamic workout that incorporates the training of Pilates mat with weight bearing exercises in standing. Pilates Upright gives you a new underSTANDing of the coordination of your muscles & bones in standing, which is very different from exercising on the floor

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/