Who are the Elders?

If you study Pilates, you'll hear name dropping. Known in pilates circles as the "elders" there is a first generation of teachers who studies with Joseph Pilates. Only five of these teachers are still alive. There were others who greatly influenced many who are no longer living, also. Joseph Pilates and his wife Clara had no children. While he was alive, Joseph was very much involved in the day to day teaching of his technique and inventing and generally enjoying life. They were no wills to his legacy in place in the world of what he called "Contrology". Unfortunately, amongst some of his most devoted students, this causes a long running destructive rivalry. Most people would say that some of this bitterness has begun to subside with the creation of the Pilates Method Alliance. Although some refuse to become involved in this organization, the majority of teachers are trying to work together to create a harmonious and wonderfully diverse pilates world.
The following is a list of some of the people considered Elders and a brief description of their philosphies.
Lolita San Miguel- Lolita was a New York dancer who injured her knee in her twenties. First, she worked with Carola Trier, another disciple of Pilates. Later, in 1966, she began to work with Joe. She and Kathy Grant received a certification in the Pilates method from New York State. She now lives in Puerto Rico where she teaches pilates and in the Ballet Conciento of Puerto Rico. Lolita is open to diversity in pilates instruction and has recently released her first dvd, "Lolita Shares Her Pilates".
Kathy Grant still works at the New York Univerisity's Tisch School of the Arts teaching pilates. Grant managed the Pilates Studio withing Manhatten's Henri Bendel Department Store from 1973-1988.
Ron Fletcher can to Pilates after a studying with Martha Graham because of a knee injury. Thanks to Joe, Fletcher was able to extend his dancing career for many years. Evenutally, the fast lane caught up with Fletcher and he had an alcoholic breakdown. This was after the death of Joe and Clara Pilates was the angel who helped Ron recoup. Eventually, with Clara's blessing, Ron moved to California to start his own version of the studio. Fletcher added many of his own elements to the method including towelwork, standing and centering and percussive breathing.
Mary Bowen was one of the few people who came from somewhere other than the dance world. Mary was a comedienne and actress. She worked with Joe and Clara from 1959-1965. She also studied with other studio owners like Bob Seed and Bruce King. Bowen eventually studied psychotherapy and her unique style of teaching combines pilates with this discipline.
Romana Kryzanowska was also a dancer who came to Pilates with an anke injury. Kryzanowska studied with Joe and then left for 15 years of living in Peru. When she came back to New York, after Joe's death, Clara appointed Romana to run the studio. Romana participated in a legal trademark case which left the pilates world fractured. She wanted to keep the name trademarked, while other elders like Ron Fletcher and Kathy Grant testified against her to put the name Pilates into public domain. Romana and her backers lost the case, opening Pilates up to the rest of the world.
The following are some of the other students of Joe's who have now passed on: Carola Trier, Eve Gentry, Bob Seed, Bruce King and Robert Fitzgerald.

Should I Take Pilates?

This is a question I get a lot from all sorts of people. I work in a health club and in a casino. It seems that everyone has heard about the benefits of pilates. They have heard a little bit, but not enough to know whether or not it would be for them. I think everyone can benefit from Pilates. The problems come in when people thing that they will receive something they will not from Pilates or if they do exercises their bodies are not ready for.
-First, ask yourself this question- do you have any medical or orthopedic problems that will make exercises dangerous or less effective? For example, do you have a "bad neck", knee problems, back problems, weak wrists or osteoporosis? If so, it doesn't mean that you shouldnt' do pilates, it just means that maybe you shouldn't do every pilates exercise. You'd be much having sessions with a qualified pilates trainer or even a physical therapist who is also trained in pilates to teach you to properly modify your the exercises to meet your needs.
-Do you have the ability for focus your mind and your body for at least 5 minutes at a time? Pilates demands absolute attention. Through continued practice, you will be able to gain more and more focus to your exercise.
- Some people approach pilates in the same way that they approach many other areas of their lives. For example, some people are "speed demons" in everything they do. Pilates is not always most effective if you are just doing the exercise to "get it done". Particularly on equipment, this approach can be dangerous.
-Some people do not believe an exercise is effective unless it hurts. Pilates should not hurt. It is meant to invigorate and balance the body. If you feel like you always need to feel the burn, you are missing the point.
-Can you trust yourself and trust the process of Pilates? Sometimes you just need to tune into you body and trust the exercises will do their work. Somethings need to happen in their own time. When I first started Pilates, honestly, I thought it was just a fad, a trend and couldn't possibly be as effective as other types of more painful exercise. Was I wrong- yes! Thankfully, it is possible to have an effective form of exercise that is not painful and is also effective.

Tips for Beginners Taking Their First Pilates Mat Class

I often get new people in my mat classes who have never done a mat class, but have heard about all of the great benefits of pilates. I teach most of my classes in an all women's multipurpose health club. Our classes are open to new people and they do not cost extra for members. So, we have to teach very carefully to many levels.
You will need a mat of some type. The more padded the mat, the better. A plain yoga mat on a hard surface will sometimes not be enough padding for some of the rolling exercises.
If you have any injuries or special needs, you should probably try to talk to the instructor before your class. It is better to catch them sometime other than 30 seconds before or worse yet, 5 minutes into the workout. If you do not get a chance to talk directly to the instructor and introduce yourself as "new" just make sure that you do not do anything in the class that you either know you probably should not do or that does not feel safe or comfortable.
New class members should be really aware of your neck safety. Pilates exercises involve a lot of forward flexion of the spine, with an unsupported neck. Make sure that you look into your sternum on the exercises where you head is off the ground. Also, think about keeping the back of your neck long. If you need to, keep your head down for some or all of the reps until you develop the strength and control to have you head up. If you need to, you may want to put a small pillow underneath your head if it is uncomfortable for you to be on your back with your head on the ground.
In almost every exercise, you will need to remember to keep your shoulders away from your ears. Your instructor may say something like "imagine you are wearing long, dangley earrings and they do not touch your shoulders" or "pull your shoulder blades down you back into your back pockets".
If you have wrist issues, some of the plank moves may need to be modified. You can first try to do the exercises with bent knees, thus decreasing the total amount of weight you need to support. You also may want to support yourself on your forearms instead of you wrists.
Try to listen to the instructor's cues. Tune in verbally as much as possible. Although your instructor may demo the moves and do the class with you, many pilates instructors expect you to be able to do a class with verbal and tactile cueing only. If you are watching, take care to make sure you are not craning or twisting your neck to see what the instructor is doing.
Don't get to hung up on the breathing. If you want, try to breath in and out when the instructor says to. If you get confused, just breath. It is most important to refrain from holding your breath.
On the rolling exercises, make yourself round like a ball. Don't touch your head on the ground and don't touch your feet.
If you feel an exercise is "easy" you are probably not getting the essense of the move. Give Pilates and its unique exercises a chance to work their magic before passing judgement about how intense the workouts are. You may be suprised.
Some pilates instructors follow the classic order and number of repetitions. Some instructors focus on something different each workout and do pilates exercises in the order which suits their goal and focus. Once you know the basic mat exercises, you will be able to perform the workout with any type of instructor.
You should feel energized, balanced and invigorated after your pilates workout. The next day or even the day after, you may fell a little muscle soreness in some muscles you may not be used to using in that way. Eventually, most of the soreness will subside.
Have fun!!

Pilates Cues for Instructors and what Breathing Can Do for Everyone

As I said yesterday, today I will give some examples of breathing cues and also give a brief explanation of why breath helps create length in the body and why it is used so much in pilates.
Generally, exhaling is done when one is flexing the spine and inhaling is done when one extends the spine. This makes sense when you think about the fact that filling your lungs with air lifts and expands the ribcage and that this will help to extend the spine. Exhaling is aided by a muscle called the transvesus abdominus and this muscle helps to flex the spine (otherwise known as a crunch of a curl). The transversus pulls the navel in towards the spine and pushes air out of the lungs. If you think about it both inhaling and exhaling should lengthen your spine. Inhaling is pretty obvious. It's easy to imagine growing taller on an inhale, but what about an exhale? Like a tube of toothpaste, if you squeeze your torso in in the middle, you stand up taller. Exhaling pulls you in in the middle. It also causes your vertebrae to have less pressure between them by lifting them up with the squeezing of the muscles around your midsection. You almost have to practice this to believe it. I'll post some ways to feel this kind of sensation later.
Here are some cues and visuals you can use to help "get it" when you are doing breathing exercises with your pilates moves.
---Pull your navel up and in towards your spine
----Imagine you need to zip up a pair of really tight jeans as you exhale
----Knit your ribs closer together on the exhale
----Imagine you have to zip up a tight dress on the exhale
----As you inhale, feel your ribs expand behind you and laterally out to the sides.
----As you exhale, allow belly to pull away from the ceiling (when you are one your back)
----As you exhale, grow taller
----Pull your pelvic floor up (ie do a Kegel) as you exhale.
----As you inhale, imagine you are puttine sails up on your back.
-----As you inhale, grow wise across the collarbone.

Pilates instructors sometimes disagree about when and where you should exhale. Some want to go more with modern physical therapy methods and some prefer to stay to the traditional ways of doing things. Both ways have great reasons and both have their place in your pilates workouts.

First post and introductions

Hello Pilates World. This is the very first post to my very first blog. Please forgive the learning process you will see me going through.

I thought it would be fun to diary some of my favorite pilates cues. Some of these might actually work with other group and individual exercise classes. Some I have stolen. Some I made up myself. Some I don't remember where they came from. Let's start with exercise cues appropriate for the roll up or any exercise that involve articulation of the spine.

-Obvious ones to start.... Roll you spine down like a string of pearls. Expensive pearls go piece by piece. Cheap plastic beads do not.
..... Imagine your spine making an imprint in warm sand as you roll down.
.... Peel your spine up like a piece of tape coming up from the floor.
....,Roll down or up, bone by bone.
......Tuck your tailbone under like a dog tucking his tail between his legs.
......Imagine your spine is like a xylophone or is made up of piano keys. You want to hits the keys in sequence and one at a time. Each vertebrae has it's own tone.
......As you roll down, soften through your rib cage..
......Relax your jaw as if you could drool.
.......As you round forward, imagine you are hugging a giant beach ball.
.......On bridging, tilt your tailbone under first, then continue the roll up from your rear-end until you and in a low shoulder bridge.
.......On lowering from a bridge with a variation, roll down from the top vertebrae, then bring your hips over to the side an inch or more, like typewriter carriage, then roll down another bone, move the typewriter carriage again to the other side, roll down the next bone. Continue until you are at the bottom.
.......If you feel like your vertebrae come down in a chunk, just notice this and work through softening and exhaling gently when you come to this part of your spine.
.......exhale as you flex your spine, inhale as your extend.
......."As much as necessary, as little as possible"
...... Allow each vertebrae it's own time to move through space.
......Take your spine through the longest possible arc of movement.
......Imagine your spine is a series of building blocks and stack each block one at a time on top of the previous block.

That is enough for today. Tommorrow I will write some cues to use with single leg circles. I will also write a little blurb which is more of a guide for beginner students of pilates and how they can make a class safer and easier on their bodies.