Lesley: Did you know Irmgard Bartenieff?

Martha: Yes, I had the good fortune of hearing her lecture at the Laban Centennial conference and then studying Movement Choirs with her in a small group of 7 people. Ultimately I trained with her and a wonderful group of faculty to become a CMA. I also taught on the faculty as an assistant the final year of her life.

Lesley: What was it like working with her?

Martha: I came to my studies with Irmgard loaded with questions.

I had already been studying dance from Laban experts unbeknownst to me at the 92nd Street Y under the leadership of Lucille Nathanson. Among my teachers were Bonnie Bird and Susan Schickele. In college at the encouragement of my high school friend I signed up for the “effort/shape” course. The Self that Moves was taught highly creatively by Tara McClellan and Diana Levy. Each of these teachers shaped my thinking and feeling about movement.

My studies with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (founder of Body-Mind Centering® and studied with Irmgard) shaped my understanding of movement efficiency, health, and fitness, establishing within me a profoundly holistic perspective – fitness of mind, body, emotion, spirit, and psyche.

As I began studies with Irmgard I wondered why she worked with ilio-femoral rhythm as a type of synchrony of movement when in Body-Mind Centering we focused on ilio-femoral differentiation using the principle ofcounter-rotation. To be specific in doing “the thigh lift”, the “pelvic shift forward” (in the sagittal plane) and in Bartenieff’s quadraped to standing “propulsion sequence” we work with finding a heel-to sit-bone connection that maintains a coordinated flexion or extension of the pelvis as the legs moves.

I asked Bartenieff why she didn’t emphasize the differentiation at the hip joint (having leg move clearly from the hip joint but involving the back) and she quickly demonstrated that she uses both types of movements. The “integrated” rhythm is important for walking and level change – integrating the leg with the back. The clear “action at the hip joint” (deep ilio-femoral flexion) is for sitting and bending over (as in the Alexander techniques “monkey,” or Movements Afoot’s “mooning”). This clarity was so satisfying and has served me for years since.

And of course that was just one of her gems. I just loved learning to jump and fall from an 80 year old woman. We also had delightful conversations on way home by subway – yelling or using gesticulation the whole way!

Lesley Powell, director of Movements Afoot

I have just heard interviews and the audiobook of the sellout book, “The Secret”. The bodymind connection has gone mainstream. My movement practice has taught me how to focus my mind. This concentration, once reached (a type of meditation for me), has changed my body and brought about relaxation.

To keep your mind focuses is a daily practice with successes and failures. Life and the stresses of work can take your mind into dark places. Movement has been my savior that teaches me how positive thoughts changes me.

As teachers of movements, we are teaching clients how to concentrate. We have to balance how much our clients can focus. Sometimes getting our clients moving with flow is the way to change the thought process.

Lesley Powell, director of Movements Afoot

My teaching of Bartenieff Fundamentals (BF) led me to Pilates. I was teaching classes and private sessions based on BF and conditioning to injured clients at Dr. Bachrach’s Center for Osteopathic Medicine in 1987. Teaching Bartenieff Fundamentals™ to an injured population taught me the power of this work. My colleagues while I was studying to be trained as a Certified Movement Analysis (CMA) were such great movers that I did not understand the importance of BF at that time. Working with clients led me deeper into the concepts of BF and their potential in assisting neurological re-patterning.

Because of my success with working with clients, I was invited and paid to learn how to teach Pilates at JRW Physical Therapy. The physical therapists at that time were having difficulties with traditional Pilates teachers working with an injured population.

A majority of the cases of the clientele of the physical therapy practice were suffering from repetitive stress disorder. Most were journalists who spent long hours in front of the computer. Because their arms/hands were in trauma, a lot of the Pilates exercises were contraindicated. Bearing weight on their hands especially on the footbar was painful.

Within my Pilates sessions, I would work with the clients on the fundamentals of the hand-scapula relationship. First goal was to get ease of motion of the scapula and then slowly adding resistance. The beauty of the Pilates machines is the proprioceptive feedback that they can give the client. I would keep the load light with springs until the client could work pain free.

As an example of the value of Bartenieff’s rehabilitation and efficiency methods - I am going to describe her exercise “the thigh lift” and how it can change the Pilates workout. Teaching the principles of the pre and thigh lift is a wonderful link to the single leg stretch of the Pilates mat. The thigh lift is an important principle to understand for all abdominal training and the Pilates mat. One must stabilize the pelvis to connect to the correct mobility of the femur. The psoas alone will flex the hip. Without the counterbalance of the abdominals, the pelvis is pulled to an anterior tilt and/or unleveling. A short psoas will also bring the pelvis in an anterior tilt. A tucked pelvis will make the psoas lax. Stabilization is about finding quietness in the spine with length as you mobilize the legs.

The thigh lift is a key action in just about any movement: gait and dance/sports activities. It is the dancer’s passé, the initiation of the kick in sports, yoga, fitness and most importantly our walking. The ability to move our legs and move us through space is essential for everyday activities. The freedom of the thighbone in the hip socket with the strength of the leg and torso muscles take us into standing, walking and more complex movement actions. A lot of problems of back, hip and knee pain can be a cause of poor patterning how the thighbone moves in the hip socket, pelvic stability and lifted to propel us in space.

A poor thigh lift disconnects to the deep use of the abdominals and the psoas will be lost. Other muscles will have to take over for the lack of this connection. In the Pilates repertory, the thigh lift fundamental will teach the differential of the thighbone from the pelvis.

Let’s now look at footwork and the relationship to the thigh lift on the reformer. In Footwork, one lies supine on the carriage with the feet pressing on the foot bar. The carriage glides in and out with flexion and extension of the legs. Footwork taught well is a wonderful link to gait. In traditional Pilates, the tucked pelvis can kick out the hip extensors when the legs are extended.

With teaching of the thigh lift fundamental with footwork, the client gets a better connection to the legs. The femoral fold is soft while the correct sequencing of the quadriceps and hamstrings come into play to move the carriage with the legs. If there is a contraction around this fold, one could be overusing other muscles such as rectus femoris, some certain fibers of the adductors and even the back muscles. When the back becomes involved, this gives the appearance of the hips hiking, anterior/posterior tilt (depends on the client) and/or rotating.

Leg springs or modified short spine takes the pre- and thigh lift to a fuller range of motion. The springs or straps give a wonderful spatial intent in counter balance to the hollowing and the spine lengthening in the opposite direction. With pelvic stability and this counter tension, the legs mobilize with a different connection in the hip sockets.

New research is coming out now of the importance of the pelvic floor, transverse abdominus and multifidus. Irmgard was revolutionary. In the section about the fundamentals in Coping with The Environment published in 1980, she was already addressing these concepts. It is possible to have ease of motion and dynamic strength in the Pilates repertory.

BF and Pilates is about connections. BF can enrich Pilates not only with its biomechanical principles but by taking the Pilates repertory into new spaces, creating increased and exciting neuro-muscular demands.

Lesley Powell, CMA
Director of Movements Afoot

>Bodymind Expo

Dr. Martha Eddy and Lesley Powell, the director Movements Afoot are teaching Somatic Fitness and more at the BodyMind Expo April 11 - 15, 2007 Santa Clara Convention Center (45 Minutes South of San Francisco, CA). Somatic Fitness 2-Day Pre-Conference is April 11-12. Then we go on to teach during the main conference April 13-15. Go to http://www.bodymindexpo.com/ for more information.

Why should trainers bring somatic concepts into fitness?

Lesley
I was talking with a Pilates teacher about how her teaching has changed. When she started teaching, her expectation of her client’s fitness success was “learning the repertory.” Being a dancer, learning repertory was easy for her. Problems immediately came up, because clients were unable to do most of the Pilates repertory. Her teaching had to change to problem solve how to make change in her clients. Martha, can you explain how our traditional learning is unsuccessful with many clients.

Martha
Teaching that is formulaic is unsuccessful because we are living in a time of rapid change and multiple experiences. Different people have widely different goals, expectations, degrees of bodily awareness, and perceived needs. Repertory is limited without the skill of internal listening for trusting oneself to make sophisticated responses based in anatomical, kinesiological, and humanistic knowledge.

We teach trainers to go beyond repertory and to improvise with their skills to address specific client needs. Somatic awareness helps a trainer to respond to each and every client with a unique set of tools. At Moving On Center we say, “We begin with the body.” That’s it – the body is only a beginning point. Using the subtle art of improvisation we address emotions, motivation, cognitive learning styles and more. We practice how to adapt, respond, adapt again, remember, integrate and play to meet a particular person’s specific needs; and we like to have fun during the process. And when I say fun it doesn’t mean we are always smiling and laughing but we are almost always delighted by the uplifted experience that comes from our wonderfully personal interactions. We encourage our students to trust themselves and their own compassionate sense of what works best in the body and mind. Our repertory is vast because we have hundreds of effectives techniques on our palette AND we teach how to “mix our paints” in limitless combinations.

Lesley

Improvisation to me is taking the time to learn the client’s goals and how they learn. Imposing a structure of my goals does not always work in bringing about the most progress in a client. Also each client learns differently. My improvisation is supporting how they learn best. Some clients are not visual learners like most dancers. I use somatic techniques that makes the client more responsible for their learning. This way brings about more change.

I remember taking a class with you, Martha, about the nervous system and learning. You taught us a simple sequence to for hand coordination and strengthening. We then did it in different ways; 1) copying the phrase 2) giving it counts 3) giving each movement a name 4) giving each movement a sound and 5) having each movement involve touch. Then we talked to each other about which way did we learned and remembered the phrase the best. I was amazed how many different responses there were to how we each learned. I am such a visual learner and made the assumption that most people learn that way.