When someone says they do Pilates - what comes to mind?
Flexibility? Strength? Stretching? Hard core workouts?
For me, Pilates has been a huge journey of discovery; learning what it's all about, what it's not about, how we shouldn't move and most importantly, how we really should.
Like many, I spent years having no understanding of how my body fits and works cohesively together; of how important and beneficial good form is for exercising and sports, how posture is impacted both during pregnancy and after it, not to mention, the implications of bad habits and having such a sedentary office based job.
I've learned from personal experience that over time, repetitive poor form /misalignment, ultimately results in one part of the body compensating for another part of the body, often to its long term detriment. These factors, amongst others ultimately can impact upon how comfortably we move, if not now, then perhaps in later life.
Pilates is undoubtedly a huge personal journey of self and bodily discovery for each and everyone of us. Everyone comes to the mat for different reasons, with different motivations, movement patterns and experiences. From the graceful movements of ballet dancers to the more rigid movements of high impact sports people, people with histories of injuries or breakages, people who drive or sit at a desk all day - we can all learn from one another. Everyone has their challenges, everyone has their journey. So don't worry if you're not moving with the same range of movement as the person on the mat next to you - it's not competitive - that's not what Pilates is about.
It's personal.
It's about moving safely, with complete and utter control and understanding of your own, very personal, range of movement. It's about understanding, taking ownership and responsibility of that movement, exploring and challenging it further.
So, how can I as a teacher help you on this personal journey? As a Body Control Pilates teacher ®, I'm rigorously trained to assess your posture in a variety of positions - how you move, where you are stable/unstable, where you are mobile/immobile - what's moving and what shouldn't be. We'll look at your history, your injuries, your goals, where you are now and what we need to work on. I don't teach from my mat - instead I watch you as I explain the movement - that way you concentrate on you, and don't simply copy me. I get up, close and personal, very hands on making small adjustments so you can feel significant changes. Safety is always my priority and I will only ever let you do exercises which are suitable for your body. You won't get that kind of feedback learning from a DVD. Finally, I'll make Pilates personal to you - relevant to your everyday life, whether its how to do a Roll Down to safely pick up socks off the floor, how to do a Pilates squats to help climb stairs or get out of your far too comfy sofa, how to do a waist twists (rotation) to help your golf/tennis swing or how diamond press really helps to reverse rounded shoulders.
Whatever your movement motivations, struggles or niggles, I can tailor every single Pilates exercise that we'll do. Specifically for you, personally.