Listening to the Body at The Pilates Studio in Hadley

“Hmm I’m hungry?”

 “Danger!”

 “I should have worn a warmer jacket!”

“I’m not sure that I like this person”

“I’m so tired”

“It’s Hot!”

“Woh too much coffee!”

All of these phrases might make up a part of our internal dialog.  They are our reactions as human beings to sensations we feel in the body.  Information comes into the body, and we listen to it and react.  Our tummy grumbles, to remind us we’re hungry.  We might have goose bumps in the face of danger.  We shiver when we’re cold.  Maybe we feel like there’s a pit in our stomach when nervous.  We sweat.  We shake.  And then subconsciously we analyze and respond.  It’s amazing how much our body can tell us about the world if we just listen.

This kind of listening can also be applied to pain.  Have you ever been in the presence of someone who just talks and talks and talks, but never listens?  The conversation that you can’t get a word into… You want to convey something yet there is so much talking.  Think about your feelings when this happens…If you absolutely have to communicate, is your voice louder?  Do you have to be more direct?  Is the other person often startled when you say, “Will you PLEASE let me speak????”  I like to think of pain as a similar kind of communication.  And I always tell my clients that if you don’t listen to the small messages from the nervous system then your body will make you listen! I mean your body will send you a message so strong that you have no choice but to listen. 

Now let’s talk about injury prevention.  What if we listen and respond to aches in our feet and tightness in our calves?  Would we ever experience plantar fasciitis?  What if we did something about the tightness in our hamstrings?  What if we tried to stop the nagging pull around our knees when we walk up stairs? What if we tried to make sure that we could put socks on while standing?  Would as many heels, backs, knees, and hips be injured?  I want to hypothesize, I think not!   

You might be thinking, “Now what?”  Listening to pain is not as innate or ingrained as understanding our body’s shivers.  “What do I do once I’ve heard the pain?”  Well it may seem too simple, but you move.  You move with care and awareness.  You stretch.  You strengthen. You find balance between stretch and strengthening. You learn how to do this!  You give your body experiences that allow for you to learn movement, and if the pain happens when you move, you seek help to find movement efficiency.  And hopefully after this article, you’ll seek help before the pain prevents you from doing the movement you have grown to love!  And if you’re in the Pioneer Valley, you seek help at The Pilates Studio.  We know how to move and we absolutely love teaching other people every thing we know! 

Katrina Hawley, C.M.A, PMA-CPT

Director of Instruction at The Pilates Studio

The Beauty of Pilates Mat Class at The Pilates Studio

 Pilates mat classes are everywhere.  They have found their way to gyms, senior centers, swimming pools, yoga studios, and anywhere else that movement may be available.  However, the quality and quantity in the training of a Pilates Mat instructor varies more than any other Pilates Instructor, and at The Pilates Studio we are proud to have high quality mixed level mat classes that challenge the strongest students and are safe for the newest of newcomers.  However, there is something else offered in the pilates classes at the Pilates Studio that words almost can’t describe.

One day I was coming back from lunch when I walked into The Pilates Studio and Laurie Johnson was leading her class through the planks!  Now for a little over a year Laurie has been working with her class to develop the muscular endurance necessary to complete these planks with ease.  On this particular day, as I entered the studio something different was happening.  The class was singing while doing the planks…In fact they were singing Old MacDonald. I smiled to myself and thought there is something special here…

When I talked to Laurie after class, she mentioned something about one person being a preschool teacher and then the plank came up in conversation and then all of a sudden she had a class full of people singing Old MacDonald taking turns on who gets to pick the animal that goes “moo moo here and moo moo there.”   People come to The Pilates Studio to gain strength and flexibility, but they also find an opportunity to let the seriousness of life go for a bit.  The participants in this class were playing…

There seems to be a trend in the fitness field today of intense workouts that require a lot of serious effort.  But it seems to me that real change and learning happens in the body when people are playing much like children learning on the playground.  The Pilates Studio prides itself in the creation of a fun and playful environment.  In each pilates class the participants are not being led through a recipe and regimented course. Each class is designed and choreographed with goals and concepts in mind, and each teacher has the uncanny ability to improvise when necessary.  (Even if it means encouraging a room full of people to sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm) 

At The Pilates Studio, teaching Pilates mat classes is considered a special kind of art form. Each teacher strives to create a community within the class that gives a sense of camaraderie to all of the students while also giving a great workout.  The mat classes at The Pilates Studio illustrate the wonderful ethos of the studio, they are an hour in which people who would not know each other in their everyday lives come together and learn, move, and create health and wellness in their own bodies and in the community at large. The community in these classes makes them so much more than a simple exercise class. Where else would you find a grandmother, a French teacher, a Spanish teacher, a high school principle, an owner of a horse barn, a Mount Holyoke student, a social worker, and a development director in the same room following the words of their pilates instructor.  That wasn’t a cheesy joke…It was the beauty of The Pilates Mat Classes at The Pilates Studio.

Katrina Hawley C.M.A, R.S.M.E

Co-Owner of The Pilates Studio

Click here if you want to learn more about the Pilates Mat Teacher Training starting in September at The Pilates Studio

Click here if you’re interested in learning more about play and learning in adults

The Psoas and World Domination

 My dear friend and client often comes into the studio and says, “It’s been a tough week so my Psoas is yet again vying for world domination.”  We laugh and then she heads to the Cadillac to stretch her Psoas.  What is the Psoas? And how might it vie for world domination…Let’s think about the metaphor.  Is the Psoas a dictatorial tyrant?  Controlling?  Powerful?  Can it be manipulative?  Is it stubborn? Can it change?  Well the answer to all of these questions depends on as many factors as there are people in the world.  There are so many opinions, and so many disagreements that sometimes when I think of the Psoas I think of it laughing maniacally in the background as our bodies try to organize themselves around it.  So yes, it is possible for the Psoas to vie for world domination, but there are also ways to empower the tyrannical Psoas into benevolence and diplomacy so that it gives up on such a quest. 

Ok…The first question to answer is what the &^$& is the Psoas?  I have found some pictures to illustrate the location.

So you can see from the pictures that the Psoas originates at the Twelfth Thoracic Vertebra and has a slip that attaches to each Lumbar Vertebra and then inserts at the lesser trochanter of the inner thigh.  There is no need to know all of the fancy words to understand the Psoas, so if you want to disregard the anatomical description picture this:  Close your eyes and picture your belly now imagine your way through the layers of abdominals to the visceral cavity (organ bag) behind this is the spine and running along the sides of the spine is the Psoas.  It is a large meaty muscle that swings the leg when walking.  Also remember two dimensional anatomical pictures often make us think that the Psoas is flat or linear.  Rather try thinking of the Psoas as a column of support for the spine; it has depth and thickness.  I also sometimes think of it as a triangular sail that is blowing in the wind. The Psoas gives the image of long beautiful legs an entirely different meaning.   Picture a graceful gait where the legs are swinging easily and the ribcage is floating in an easy rotation with the spine, and then pay homage to the power of the Psoas.

Now what strategies are there to create a benevolent philanthropic yet powerful and strong Psoas? Like I’ve said before the strategies vary from person to person, modality to modality, and personality to personality.   In my experience, the Psoas craves aware breath.  It needs the kind of breath that fills the body cavity with air three-dimensionally.  It needs the kind of breath that might make someone dizzy because there is so much more air.  The Psoas also craves a complete exhale and softening. It wants the kind of exhale that triggers a sudden inhale.  The Psoas also craves strength in length.  It wants to move through its full range of motion, and it wants to perform all of its functions in a balanced way.  The Psoas wants to be nurtured…cared for…released.  The Psoas wants to be benevolent.  Really I promise it does! 

There are many teachers out there who have written about the Psoas.  Tom Myers, Irmgard Bartenieff, Nancy Topf, Liz Koch are a few of my favorites. Check out their websites, and start your Psoas journey today!