Something exciting is happening

Last week Laurie and I were able to spend a day with a videographer from about.com.  I can't wait to post the videos when they are ready, but just as a sneak peek behind the scenes I wanted to post some of the pictures we took!  It was a fun day, and we can't wait to continue our collaboration with Dimitri!

Turning the studio into a Video set

Katrina teaching Jenni the Pilates Fundamentals

Dimitri LaBarge, videographer extraordinaire

The collaborative process

Of course Marion helped us with our makeup

Jenni and Laurie receiving direction

There are no words!

I have been searching for words of gratitude all week.  I have been searching for the perfect phrase that I could write that would reflect how grateful I am for the community at The Pilates Studio.  I have scoured the internet for the perfect quote about gratitude. I have even recruited the help of a literary friend to find the perfect poem for me…Yet, I haven’t found the perfect words because when I think about how lucky I am to work where I work I am rendered speechless, with a large case of writer’s block…This causes me to vacantly stare at the screen and think there has to be words for this feeling…and when they don’t come I hit google again…and the cycle continues!

At some point in this process, I found the following quote: 

When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.  ~Chinese Proverb

It’s not a perfect quote, but when I read it I looked at the bamboo on the counter at the studio.  This bamboo keeps me company every time I write a blogpost.  It has accepted many a gaze as the search for words takes me away from the computer screen.  It has watched over all of us as we greet people that walk in the door.  This bamboo has heard every fit of laughter that has happened in the last year.  This bamboo was a gift of congratulations from a client when Laurie and I bought The Pilates Studio.  If this bamboo had arms and legs, I am sure that it would join every mat class for the sheer joy of moving. 

As I was staring at the bamboo, I started thinking about the last year and the wonderful people that walk in the front door everyday.  I thought about all the stories I’ve heard, I thought about the hugs that I’ve received.  I missed the clients that I haven’t seen.  I worried about clients that are ill or injured.  I thought about all of the people and animals I’ve never met, but somehow I feel like I know them because someone that goes to the studio loves them.   I thought about how long I have been teaching in this space.  I thought about the happiness, love, laughter, grief, elation, anger…Okay its been enough time that I have experienced every emotion there is to be felt in this room.  I thought about how lucky I am to have a business partner that is both my best friend and perfect balance.  I thought about the teachers that are here, and again I thought about the clients.  Then I thought okay now I’m ready to find the perfect words.  I turned back to the computer and once again stared at a blank screen because there are no words…

That’s when I decided to tell you the story of the bamboo and trust that my actions will show my gratitude to each and every person that walks in the front door, I am a mover after all.  So I will close with THANK YOU, and hope that the capslock key does the trick!

With love and appreciation

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

Co-owner The Pilates Studio

Movement and Communication

“When Integrated Movement has occurred, a deeply held thought or feeling, even a statement of one’s world view, has been expressed.  Something valuable has happened in human communication, which bypasses the concerns, details, distractions of daily life in favor of a broader deeper meaning.  A door has been opened to communication”  -Ellen Goldman-

Ellen Goldman was one of my teachers at The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in 2000.  This quote is from her book As Others See Us:  Body Movement and the Art of Successful Communication.  This week I have had the pleasure of revisiting this book and along with it theory from Laban Movement Analysis that speaks to the communication that is inherent in our movement.  This communication is often unconscious and can be productive to our relationships or revealing of true feelings that we might not be expressing verbally.

Imagine the following dialog,

“How are you?” 

“I’m alright.”

“How’s work going?”

“It’s pretty good.  How are you?”

“I’m doing okay.”   

First of all, think about how many conversations have you had like this.  You might even have had one earlier today over breakfast.  Then read the dialog again, and decide what the written words are actually telling us.  Now imagine a person who is really excited for a vacation that is about to start.  How might that person say, “I’m alright,” differently than the person who is approaching a deadline for unfinished work?  What would you notice in their bodies? What kind of shapes might their bodies make?  Would one person seem taller than the other?   These are all interpretations that we make unconsciously and instantaneously.  We are a verbal species so we use words, but often the words we use are superfluous to the communication that is happening from within our body.

Imagine a gift being given to two different people.  Both people say, “thanks.” But one person hugs the gift to her chest and makes eye contact to say thanks, and the next person says thanks while holding the gift away from her body and retracts her head pulling her chin back towards her spine.  In this scenario who is really saying thanks…And what happens if the second person really wants to say thanks but needs glasses to see the gift more clearly.  I smell a miscommunication brewing, do you?  Being aware of our gestures, postures and any movement in between will aid in effective communication. 


Why might I be revisiting this information that I studied so long ago?  Well on May 4^th, 2012, I will be sharing some of these theories with the fabulous women that attend the retreat One Powerful Day for Women hosted and facilitated by Jeff Rock of Swift River Coaching.

This retreat promises to be fabulous and I encourage anybody who is interested to email jeff@swiftrivercoaching.com for more information.  

Pinwheels, Pilates, and Perfecting the Breath

Last week Laurie Johnson, inspired by her very first Pilates Instructor Charrette Boyce, bought many packages of pinwheels at the dollar store.  Why?  You might ask.  You may have read in a previous blogpost about Laurie’s mat classes and the plank.  You might have read about an entire class singing ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’ or you might have seen one of our facebook status updates about a noon mat class that spent the plank listening to one of the students tell stories about Emily Dickenson.  Laurie uses all of these sneaky ploys to keep a class breathing throughout the entirety of the fifty-second planks.  And now the pinwheel is Laurie’s latest ingenious idea to keep people breathing throughout the plank and other challenging exercises.  Why is breath important?  Why is breath the first thing any Pilates instructor teaches?  How does holding the breath impede exercise, or how does facilitating certain breath patterns aid in different Pilates exercises?  To begin answering these questions I want to first address the diaphragm’s role in core engagement and it’s relationship to the psoas and pelvic floor, and then from this point we can address the way to use breath to facilitate certain movements in the body.

The diaphragm is this fabulous muscle that walks the line between voluntary and involuntary muscle contraction.  It is voluntary in that when awareness is brought to the breath and we cognitively ask our body to inhale, the diaphragm is engaging in a voluntary muscle contraction.  The nerve impulse to work in this way comes from higher in the brain.  However, the brainstem that monitors the oxygen levels in the body can also ask the diaphragm to engage if it senses a blood oxygen level that is lower than ideal.   Here is the beauty; exercising the diaphragm with awareness can increase the duration of the inhale and exhale no matter what part of the brain is asking.  Thus it can also increase the blood oxygen levels when the higher brain is concentrating on other actions.  The reverse is also true, if the diaphragm is not exercised it will slowly lose elasticity and strength and so with time the blood oxygen levels will slowly decrease. Yikes!!  That’s the last thing a person wants!!! So in the interest of keeping blood oxygen levels at their best and continuing to improve the movement in the diaphragm, every pilates instructor starts with the breath.  Are you aware of your breath right now?  Can you maintain that awareness for the rest of this blogpost?

As you are noticing your inhale and exhale, consider the following myofascial relationships.  First, the diaphragm is fascially connected to the psoas.  The psoas when it is short leads to a lumbar lordosis (Increased arch in the low back) that decreases the spine’s ability for efficient movement and core control. Now, as you continue to be aware of your breath consider the exhale and put in your minds eye the diaphragm rising into your ribcage like a hot air balloon.  This hot air balloon is tethered to the top of the lumbar spine and as the diaphragm rises the low spine lengthens. This creates a more ideal posture for efficient core control.  Take a few breaths and imagine this happening.  Can you feel yourself growing?

Now, as you continue the breath with awareness towards the length of the Psoas and consequently the lengthened lumbar spine (low back), consider another relationship in the body between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor.  They work together to create support for the spine.  They move in a mirror like fashion, so on the inhale the diaphragm moves down into the abdomen and at the same time the pelvic floor moves down towards the ground. On the exhale the diaphragm moves up into the ribcage and the pelvic floor lifts up into the pelvis.  However, the fun part of this muscular relationship is in the opposing muscular contractions.  In the most efficient movement, when a person inhales the diaphragm as a muscle contracts to lower into the abdomen and at the same time muscles of the pelvic floor release towards the ground.  When this efficient mover exhales the diaphragm releases up into the lungs, and muscles of the pelvic floor contract to lift up into the pelvis. 

Are you still breathing after reading all of that technical mumbo jumbo?  Let’s take the awareness to the breath again.  When you inhale can you feel the diaphragm contract at the top of your abdomen?  And when you exhale can you feel the pelvic floor lift into the abdomen?  Continue feeling the breath…Imagine a ball being passed back and forth between the two spots in the body.  On the inhale the diaphragm passes the ball to the pelvis and on the exhale the pelvic floor passes the ball to the diaphragm.   When you lengthen the time of the inhale and exhale can you lengthen the distance this ball is traveling?  We are in your mind's eye, so the distance between your diaphragm and pelvic floor can be infinite?  How much can you grow? 

That was just thinking about your breath when sitting?  Now what about during pilates exercises?  Have you ever done pilates exercises and felt muscular tension in your neck?  What if you made breath facilitation your goal in the abdominal curl?  What if instead of focusing on abdominal strength you focused on the breath.  Imagine laying on your back, your hands are behind your head, you take an inhale and the diaphragm moves into the abdomen.  Then you begin your exhale as you nod your head.  You continue exhaling and as the ribcage narrows and the diaphragm lifts into the rib cage your spine begins flexing and your head floats into the air with ease.  You are focusing on getting all of the air out of your lungs so that your head can lift without tension in the neck. Now inhale as you place each vertebra on the ground individually.   Using the breath in abdominal work puts length in the spine, it makes abdominal curls so different than abdominal crunches!

What about thoracic extension?  How can we use the breath to facilitate extension.  Imagine sitting in a chair.  On the inhale as the diaphragm lowers into the abdomen, the sternum can lift away from it.  What if we used this increased length to facilitate extension of the spine?  On your next inhale imagine the diaphragm dropping away from the sternum and take this opportunity to lift the sternum to the ceiling.  Then exhale and imagine the diaphragm moving into the lungs as you return the spine to a more neutral position.  What about lateral flexion (bending from side to side)?  Imagine the diaphragm as you exhale and side bend and then inhale to your return to center.  And then there’s spinal rotation.  What does it feel like to exhale as you rotate to look over your shoulder?  Inhale return to neutral?  And then what if you reversed the breath and inhaled as you looked over your shoulder?  Which is better?  This is the best part of this kind of practice.  This is where I quote one of my favorite teachers Brent Anderson, “Breath is a Tool not a Rule. ”  There is no right or wrong answer. Exploring movement with the breath can accomplish many goals.  Our bodies will keep breathing, but what if we helped them breath better and longer?  Laurie’s pinwheels are tools to focus the breath, a reminder to keep the breath as an integral part of efficient movement, as well as a great distraction from a tremendously difficult exercise.  They are also a reminder that “playing” with breath is a fun and easy way to effect many systems of the body.  One pinwheel can help us improve circulation, calm the nervous system, and increase muscular strength.  Now that’s a toy worth buying!

Katrina Hawley C.M.A, R.S.M.E
Co-owner The Pilates Studio

Pilates Makes You Taller

On Monday, I taught a session in which the client and I were working on spinal mobility and length.  After a series of exercises, I asked this client to walk around the room, and she was certain that she was taller.  Unfortunately, as with many anecdotal stories, we only had a feeling.  Our comparisons had no quantifiable data so beside the joy I perceived emanating from her being; there was no “proof” that this Pilates session actually made her taller.  That being said, there have been many marketing campaigns that have shouted from the rooftops, “Come to Pilates, it makes you taller!”  Is it actually true, or are they speaking metaphorically?  Does Pilates make people taller? In this blogpost, I hope to explore how one might arrive at this perception, how we might go about measuring, and well maybe speak to the fact that maybe it doesn’t matter anyway because feeling taller is the most beneficial part of the process.

The first step is to define the variable we are trying to assess, what is meant by, “Pilates Makes me Taller,” and what can we use to measure this outcome?  As we begin creating this definition, every reader hopefully can agree that no bones will grow in length during a Pilates Session (this is the first argument that skeptics state, so let me be clear. I do not think that Pilates increases the length of the individual bones or muscles.) When I define this phenomenon I think of the relationship between the bones, the muscles, and the soft tissues of the body that create posture.  I imagine that Pilates can change these relationships, and it is this change that can make someone feel taller, or even better, can make the numerical measurement of height greater.  It is the change in proprioception when tissues lengthen, which then changes a person’s posture that makes the person perceive height change. The question becomes,  ‘Is there quantifiable proof to this perception?’ 

With our definition in place, it is time to imagine how exactly this phenomenon could be measured.  One simple way to gather data is to measure height from the floor to the crown of the head before and after each Pilates Session.  For instance consider the following generalized postures, if we measure each of these generalized postures at the crown of the head, the height is varied.  Different myofascial imbalances pull the bones of the body into different relationships; this in turn affects the height of the individual.  Pilates is a practice that often improves standing posture, thus if posture affects height and Pilates improves posture then Pilates might just improve height

Notice the height from floor to the top of the head

I am imagining a sort of pseudo experiment.   In this scenario a person’s height is measured before and after a pilates session.  Even though there is no control, at the end of the day two data sets with a pilates session in between could begin the formulation of a pseudo correlation. (My use of the word Pseudo I hope is acknowledging the fact that in this post I am stepping out of my scope of practice of mover and teacher and dabbling in the thoughts of researcher or statistician, and while I am sure my dabbles may be on the amateur side, I think they lead to a discussion across practices that is valid and interesting) This correlation that may or may not exist could lead to many other questions like:  Is one Pilates session enough?  Will the height increase over time?  Will a person be able to maintain his/her height from week to week?  Will the person have to do Pilates for the rest of his/her life to maintain the change in height?  And then in turn we would have to find ways of measuring data that erupts from these questions.  (If you’ve been at the studio and noticed the dry erase marks on the mirror, I’ve been dabbling in some pseudo science with willing clients.) This is all assuming that there is a correlation, but what if at the end of our pseudo data collection period no correlation is found…What then?

In my mind, if the data that was collected found absolutely no correlation between pilates and height, my temptation would be to say, “So what!!!” The psychological benefits of standing tall, the confidence that it brings, and the grace and ease of movement that can be brought forth by a perception of greater height are all benefits of this phenomenon whether it is true or not.  I have no way of knowing if the session that I taught on Monday actually increased my client’s height, but at the same time I don’t care because the ease with which she moved and the smile on her face told me that she was taller.  And the absence of actual quantifiable data would never have changed her perception, because in her mind’s eye she was taller.  Maybe our data set needs to move away from numbers and move into the benefits of improved posture.  Maybe our research questions need to evolve in the complexities of the human spirit and perception.  If you feel taller are you taller?  I for one think, absolutely!      

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

Co-owner of The Pilates Studio

Journey to the Core: an anatomical discussion for anyone who's interested

Its spring at The Pilates Studio and for us that means its time to start thinking about the March MAT CHAT.  Next week on Tuesday March 27^th, The Pilates Studio’s very own Katrina Hawley will give a talk about the Anatomy of the Core.   This latest in a series of Mat Chats at The Pilates Studio will answer the question, “What exactly is the core of the body?”  Inspired by the way in which “core strength” has gone viral in media outlets, Katrina will take a step back and explore the several muscular connections that make up the core, and then postulate that core strength might just mean a different thing for everybody.

Katrina has spent her entire life studying movement and anatomy.  Starting as a small child in dance classes, moving on to obtain a B.F.A in dance, then becoming a certified Movement Analyst, as well as a Pilates Instructor.  Katrina brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this emerging field.  Add to this Katrina’s wit, humor and talent for presenting complex concepts in easily digestible ways, this mat chat promises to be accessible and enjoyable for all.    

The Anatomy of the Core

7pm, March 27^th, 2012

Join us and find out what these crazy pictures mean!

Choose Your Own Adventure: Finding Balance at The Pilates Studio

Two nights ago I was making soup and I thought to myself, ‘this soup needs black beans, it is Mediterranean after all.’ I went to the cabinet and on the top shelf I saw the very edge of the black bean can.  I then proceeded to pull up a chair that had a wobbly leg, climb up onto it, and stand on one foot on the edge of the chair. I did all of this so that I could reach the last can of black beans out of the very back of the cabinet.  It wasn’t until my feet had hit the floor again that I realized what I had accomplished…and while getting the black beans in this way may not have been a stellar example of common sense, it was a great example of the kind of balance that Pilates can create in the body.  Really when you think about it, one could be say that Pilates averted disaster!

I jest, but I am positive that everyone can at least agree that balance is important.  Whether it is balance in myofascial connections that create posture, balance in standing, balance in spirit, or balance in any of the precarious positions that life throws our way, we are all striving to find a dynamic stasis that allows us to move in any direction we choose.  Now here’s the conundrum, one of the best ways to practice and improve balance is to throw the body into precarious situations that require struggle… It can be a frustrating thing, and I always say to clients that the minute a “balance” exercise becomes easy then progress towards better balance is halted.  It is at this point that the exercise has to be progressed by adding an additional proprioceptive challenge. For instance, if someone is standing on one foot without wobbling, then it is time to lift the heel off the floor.  It is in the struggle that the body shows the weaknesses that need to be improved.  The following exercises provide an introduction into balance practice.  Follow the instructions below and see what you discover!  Think back to the pre-teen  “choose your own adventure” novel that was popular about twenty years ago, and take a balance adventure.   

Marker Exercise - When starting a balance practice, it is helpful to use a marker exercise to measure progress.  For the purposes of this post the marker exercise is going to be standing on one foot.  Find your breath and take note of how the body feels, then keep breathing as you pick up one foot.  What is the body doing to remain vertical?  Are the hips shifting forward and back or side to side?  What are the ankles doing? What about your upper body? Asking yourself these questions will help you decide where to go next.  What is causing the struggle for balance?  After you’ve done the marker exercise, and assessed what movements your body did in the struggle choose on of the following options: 

·      If in your struggle for balance your body kept folding in half at the hip sockets,  Scroll down the page and try Gotta get me some hip power, anterior pelvic tilt, and More than just the plank. Then try the marker exercise again.

·      If your hips kept shifting forward and your back was arching, scroll down and try the photos of the log balancing sequence and toe taps on the foam roller then scroll up and try More than just the plank. Then try the marker exercise again.

·      If you tried the marker exercise and your ankle was wobbling everywhere, scroll down and try Stomping out foot pain with Pilates, and with that also try the  calf raise exercises on the step, and then scroll up and try Gotta get me some hip power. Then try the marker exercise again.

·      If your balance was perfect with no wobbles and your spine was perfectly still, then go back to the beginning and try the marker exercise again with either your eyes closed or standing on your toes.  Remember the best way to assess balance is when the body is struggling to find it. Then choose one of the previous options

·      If none of these items fit your marker exercise story, then write a  comment below, tell me what did happen and I will reply with some ideas.

      Gotta Get Me Some Hip Power

Anterior Pelvic Tilt

More than Just the Plank

Balance on the Log

First lift one leg

Then lift opposite arm

Then lift both arms

Toe Taps

Stomping out foot pain with Pilates

Calf Strengtheners

Calf raises with straight legs

Calf raises with a bend at the knees

Alternating calf raise

This was a fabulously fun blog post to write.  I got to think back to the wonderfully pleasant moments I spent reading choose your own adventure novels, and write about one of my most favorite areas of functional movement. What could be better? Please feel free to leave a comment with any questions.

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

CO-owner of The Pilates Studio.