by Lesley Powell

Ohhh the scapula comin around the ribcage.
Ohhh the scapula comin around the ribcage.
Ohhh the scapula comin around the ribcage.

Hee Haw

Freeing the Shoulders to Connect to the Core , an article in Pilates Pro, I go over how the bones of the shoulder girdle move. I always in my lesson plans with clients, am teaching them about their bodies.

“Embodied Anatomy improves function” Eric Franklin

One of the first things that I teach is how the scapula glides. When the scapula moves properly, you will solve many problems why the shoulders are up and tense. You will also improve the connection to the anterior serratus.

The movement

1. Begin to raise your left elbow to the ceiling, feel the shoulder blade gliding wider on the ribcage. Gradually rotate the humerus bone outward so the entire left arm bent is now facing the wall in front of you. Reach the left elbow to the ceiling to help abduct the scapula more.
2. Glide the scapula in more upper rotation and gently increase the outer rotation of the humerus bone to bring the left elbow over your head. The arm stays in the same plane as the scapula and gradually rotates more outward. For most, this will bring your elbow in front of your ears. (To get the elbow in line with the torso, one has to improve the mobility and the mechanics of the scapula).
3. As if you were running the film backwards, return the arm back to your hip paying attention to the gradual rotation of the arm and the scapula. When the arm returns to the hip, the arm is slightly inwardly rotated.
4. Repeat 4 more times
5. Reverse to the other side and other arm

Now try a full arm circle. Can you initiate the movement from the shoulder blade? If you have a partner, let the partner place their hand on the shoulder blade to assist in its gliding. Do not worry about depressing down right now. See if you can get the tip of your scapula to make a small circle around your ribcage. As the scapula follows the curves of the ribcage, many of the problems of the shoulders can be solved.

Next week: Anterior serratus training.

by Doris Pasteleur and Lesley Powell
Edited by Dr. Martha Eddy

Movement is the shifting of the body’s weight on different surfaces. Different parts of the body may shift on the ground or surface. However the weight shift is the propulsion of the center of the body, the pelvis through space to cause locomotion or a change of levels and locomotion.

Building blocks: A good weight shift is the coordination of the body to (1) ground into the floor (surface) and (2) to move the body in a specific direction in space. Before we can move up, we must have the foundation of down, grounding. Grounding is a basic foundation. Without a foundation, there can be no building. Weight shift involves the coordination of dynamic alignment seen in the sequential leverage of our bones from toe to head, organized by the muscles, and accompanied by the fluids and organs moving in synchrony.

Propulsion: When a person releases his or her own natural body weight into the floor, it helps the brain estimate the amount work needed to coordinate the necessary push off to shift the body into space. Even when pulling a heavy load successfully involves having a person push her or his feet into the ground first. An improper weight shift puts undue pressure on the spine and superficial muscles of the limbs.

Pelvic Shifts: Irmgard Bartenieff divided the concept of weight shift into two building blocks of movement, pelvic shift forward and pelvic shift lateral. Of course this fundamental action includes multiple aspects, for instance the pelvic shift forward includes a pelvic shift back. A healthy gait has elements of both the forward and lateral pelvic shifts.

Weight shifts enable level changes from lying down to sitting to standing. They are the building block for locomotion - traveling across space. There is a constant changing relationship of weight shifts from one body part to another, a dynamic dance.

By Dr. Martha Eddy and Lesley Powell

Lesley: When I was working at Dr. Bachrach’s Center of Sports Medicine, one of the client with a back injury came to work with me. He asked how long would it take to get back to playing tennis. I didn’t answer, I just started doing the Bartenieff Fundamentals with him, particularly the knee drop, diagonals and arm circles. This client had very little rotational ability in his body. When a person is unable to move well in one plane, they will often overuse the other planes. It was clear how he misused “his body in space” had led to his back injury. His rotation improved immensely as well as total body mobility.

The rotary factor is an important in all of our movement. To rotate is to be human. First look at the human body. There is not one bone without some kind of curve and/or spiral. The pull of the muscles on the bones must follow along the lines of the bones. Rotation is underlying in all of our movement. The movements of the bones are usually rolling, gliding and rotating. Rotation has enabled us our mobility and strength. It is rotation that enables us to make level changes and move through space. The simple action of getting out of bed requires internal and external rotation of the thighbones and the pelvis rotating on the femur heads. Observe a baby lying on the floor and its transitions from the floor to sit, crawl and eventually stand up. You will see gradated rotation of the thighbones and the pelvis to accomplish these tasks.

Martha: I am glad that you talked about babies Lesley. We all begin as babies and babies usually begin their movement workout on the floor. On the floor we can spread out, relax, and see the world. Judith Kestenberg - child psychiatrist and movement expert noted that children gain movement repetoire first on the floor and during this time they gain spinal flexibility and perceptual flexibility.

As we go grow older, the LMA systems believe, that this flexibility transfers to the ability to explore options. In our BodyMind Fitness approach we encourage clients who have lost their capacity to twist and spiral physically to find the horizontal plane again AND to re-engage in exploring options within their environment and attitudes. Our approach to rotation has nuances as well. We use phyiscal therapist Irmgard Bartenieff’s brilliant concept of gradated rotation to activate muscle chains in a sequential fashion. This awareness gives equal power to all of the joints along the pathway (from vertabra to vertebra or from finger tip to elbow). By equalizing forces we balance muscles and realign joints. Then we ask clients to note what feels different and how this new way of movement may bring out a new attitude or choice, or not. Options are always options. To quote Bartenieff - “there are always multiple possibilities.” In our fast paced forward moving world the pressures of life sometimes block out our sense of options.

At CKE our motto is “relax, feel, move, take action.” In our BodyMind Fitness work we often also take the somatic approach to finding rotation by getting down on the floor. On the floor we take time to breathe, widen, release, spread out - letting go of the intensity of gravity. Then we activate core and distal muscles with awareness of our movement through space. Instead of just crunches we provide movement options in many different directions. Rotation is just part of the picture but one that is often missing. Our3D Fitness series puts all the pieces of the puzzle together. Join us on April 12 or send a friend at Movements Afoot
Go to online scheduling and workshops to sign up!!

by Dr. Martha Eddy & Lesley Powell

Traditionally in fitness “core” use to refer just to the abdominals. When someone has back problems, the traditional approach has been to train the “abs” and then the back separately. In our BodyMind Fitness training, one has to train the spine 3 dimensionally for posture and daily movements. First a person has to get in touch with how the spine moves in different directions - moving front-back, sideways and rotating.

3-D Spine with Dr. Martha Eddy & Lesley Powell at Movements Afoot
Dates: Sat   4/12/2008
Time:  4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Somatic Saturday with Dr. Martha Eddy & Lesley Powell
April 12 4-6 PM $60

In our upcoming workshop at Movements Afoot, the 3-D Spine the 3-dimensionality refers to the anatomy of the spine as well as to these various movements of the spine. Part of the lack of effectiveness in overcoming back problems is that people do not understand how the spine moves. So in our workshops, we get you to experience how the spine works. We look at the shape of each vertebra and the Sliding action of the facets in movement. The 3-D core refers to the volume of the torso and the internal contents. This awareness gives you a different understanding of your body. We learn some of the organ anatomy and how to breathe into the torso to feel supported.

IN our upcoming workshop at the BodyMind Expo called Laban Space Harmony: Bringing 3-D to your Session we will incorporate concepts from the 3D Spine, 3D Walking, and 3D Swing. Perhaps you will join us in New York or in CA!

by Lesley Powell, Director of Movements Afoot

Testimonials

This month I taught Balanced Body University’s Pilates Mat I-II. It was so wonderful to teach just the right amount of material for a weekend course and have the time for everyone to intellectually and physicality experience new materials. Sometimes courses are so jammed pack with information without enough time to experience the material on a physical level.

Students were really able to make changes in their own practice and practice new teaching techniques on their colleagues. They learned to problem solve teaching with the Pilates material on different bodies. When issues came up such as the spine was too tight to do a rollup, I was able to give information how to open the back and how the BBU’s movement principles can facilitate change.

We also talked about teaching. Teaching is a passion and a skill. To be a successful teacher, one has to understand how clients’ learn, how to cue well and lead different teaching situations from privates to group classes.

Dr. Martha Eddy once led a class on the nervous system and learning. We were to learn a simple hand phrase.

1. We copied her phrase
2. counted it
3. gave names/images to each movement
4. sounds to each movement
5. use tactile cues such as using the floor, wall or our bodies

Then we talked to each other which method helped us learn the phrase. Everyone had different answers! I am such a visual learner and assumed others were the same. This class really taught me to try to understand my client’s preferences for learning.

The students had to teach a 45 minute class to each other and then I was to evaluate them. How I wished someone helped me in my earlier years of teaching. How one talks, phrases their voices and organizes the class are essential ingredients to a successful class.

In the structure of Balanced Body University’s Mat courses, there is detailed information about teaching. How wonderful to go over these materials, talk about our own teaching experiences, dealing with different types of clients and how to improve teaching skills.

by Lesley Powell, Director of Movements Afoot

This is a series that I learned when I was doing the Franklin Method training. Eric Franklin’s Books

Rolling on the balls is like giving yourself a massage. Tight muscles are poorly functioning muscles. Tight muscles hold the bones in positions that are not always the design of how the body works. Getting bones to move in their normal range is another way to release tight muscles.

Foot Release

Pelvic floor Exercises

Psoas Release

Pelvic Tilts

The Wrong Fork in the Road

The connection of Bodymind Spirit and Pilates
By Kim Fielding

I had big plans. I felt my whole life was ahead of me. My career as a Health/Fitness and movement professional was coming together, I had big plans but on December 24th, 2003 my plans ended. Eating and my weight were never a problem. Movement, exercising and staying fit was my whole life. I was once your everyday girl struggling to stay within that ever-daunting 5 pounds, more or less. I wish all I had to struggle with was my 5 pounds weight loss goal and achieving my big plans.

On December 24th, 2003 a traumatic event took place and from that moment on my life spun out of control. I did not have the coping skills to deal with what had happened to me. I sank into a deep depression with emotional eating as my coping mechanism. I resigned from my job…my friends…I resigned from life.

I stayed inside and compulsively binged on food. I gained 80 pounds. I was no longer superficially struggling with my self-image it was a real problem. Mind you…I tasted nothing…I felt nothing I didn’t know who I was and no sense of my spirit. I wanted to become invisible…to disappear…the irony of my growing size doesn’t escape me. I didn’t think, I just kept eating and protecting myself with layers of skin and fat. No one would know who I was.

I finally completed my mission to destroy myself. My brother took me away to Florida and no one looked at me. Not a soul. Not a man or a woman. I was not acknowledged. It seemed strange, but I felt better. I didn’t have to deal with any one. I could push everyone away…the cat calls, the looks…the predators.

It had been months since I felt my spirit. A friend of mine asked me to be a student of hers while she completed her hours to be a certified Pilates instructor at Movements Afoot. I walked in and right away I knew I was in a healing, supportive environment and it would become the right place, right time and right people to help me start my recovery.

In that first Pilates session my friend was teaching me and to my shock I felt something in my core…

I felt something that reminded me of me…
I felt the essence of me…
I felt the real me.
I felt my spirit, twinge to a small degree.

…it was time to journey back from the depths of my depression.

After connecting to Pilates in this way I made a conscious choice to become a Pilates Instructor through the guidance and support of my Master teachers Doris Pasteleur Hall and Lesley Powell; I found myself on the most profound journey of my life.

My Pilates journey didn’t stop my emotional eating. I was still gaining weight probably another 20 pounds.

During my Pilates Certification training, my teacher had asked me how my ‘teaching’ was doing?
I said my teaching is doing great. I can teach people things like engage their pelvic floor muscles, but I can’t engage my pelvic floor muscles. She said sometimes when a traumatic experience happens, we disconnect. I couldn’t believe it, it was right in front of my face. I completely disconnected from parts of me - Body, mind and spirit.

I felt so self-conscious about my body. Especially being the biggest one in the program and of course I thought the biggest one in the world.

I found out that my weight had nothing to do with my movement. It had a lot to do with my fear…my self-esteem…and my negative thought patterns…my self-loathing…my self-judgment…my feelings of inadequacy and my anger.

Pilates and movement were the answer for me. Pilates connected me to my strength inside and out. It helped me focus on what my body can do, and not what it looks like to others or myself. I discovered that I am a great mover even with being overweight and still dealing with emotional scarring. It has changed how I see my own body image. It has helped me to appreciate my body’s ability to learn and move regardless of my size. I like how I look.

The December 24th, 2003 traumatic event was an experience that hurt me deeply. Please know time and movement will heal.

While teaching at Movements Afoot I want to help all voluptuous, curvaceous, women and big men to know the beauty of their own body.

by Lesley Powell, Director of Movements Afoot

When teaching clients with hip replacements, it is important to find out what kind of hip replacement did they have. At the moment, there are 2 different type of surgeries: the incisions are in front of the hip or in the back. Because of the incisions, this leaves the hip vulnerable to displacement due to weakness and the incision. I highly recommend that you and the client talk with their Doctor about their surgery and contraindications for training. With new advances in hip replacement, things are changing.

For instance, surgery from the back, movements of deep hip flexion is contraindicated. That means not to push hamstring flexibility by trying to bring the leg close to the body. Training the posterior hip is very important. Building strength of all the muscles of the hip and legs is important. In Pilates, diminished range of leg circles are great. Full short spine is not recommended. (Some of range of motion depends on their fitness before the surgery. Dancers have a unique range of motion.)

The most important thing to remember with hip replacements is not to push extreme range in the hip. Building dynamic strength is essential. Some clients, who tried to avoid surgery, developed compensation habits around the painful hip. Part of your teaching might be teaching your clients better function of using their legs.

by Lesley Powell, Director of Movements Afoot and faculty of BalancedBody University

Take Your Pilates Certificate to the next level

Balanced Body University offers an opportunity to easily bridge over to their program.

The advantages:

• Full classical repertory of the Pilates Mat and on the equipment: reformer, cadillac, wunda chair, barrel, step barrel, toe corrector and magic circle
• Beautiful manuals with detail information about the function of the body, how the machines work, newest research about function, teaching skills and contraindications for specific injuries
• Examples of workouts from different points of views.
• Education in anatomy especially the unique courses of Anatomy in Clay
• Continuing education with any Pilates company and courses relating to the body

Requirements for the bridge*

• Full certificate from another Pilates Teacher Certificate Company
• Enlist in Mat I, Reformer I, and Apparatus I
• Purchase of all the manuals

I taught to the staff of Movements Afoot and prospective students for BBU the movement principles of Balanced Body University’s underlying concepts. The material is so rich. The principles takes you to understanding how the body moves 3- dimensionally, principles of lumpopelvic and scapular humeral stability as well as connecting to the rich material of Thomas Meyers, the author of Anatomy Trains. This material goes beyond simple anatomical principles. The body is dependent on dynamic changes of stability and mobility for all activities from walking to our movement loves of sports and dance.

For instance,  my Pilates education included the sequential bridge and a neutral bridge.  The neutral bridge from my education at the Laban Institute was called the pelvic shift forward. BBU’s movement principles include many variations of the bridge in many planes.

Why is this important?

Bridging in many different planes helps trains the legs and pelvis for all the movement activities that we do.  In healthy walking, the pelvis moves in many planes.

By Amy Matthews, Certified Laban Movement Analyst, BodyMind Centering and Yoga teacher

Breath is an amazingly powerful tool for increasing the effectiveness of our fitness training and enhancing our movement skills. An appropriate and efficient breath pattern supports core strength, stabilizes the spine and creates freedom in the limbs – and when we hold our breath, we make ourselves work much harder than we need to, and create situations where we are more likely to overwork and injure ourselves.

Paying attention to the breath is an excellent way to gauge the appropriate level of exertion, and to tune in to what’s going on in your body. Sometimes we hold our breath to avoid feeling pain or to hide from an experience – and when we’re avoiding a sensation, we’ll be less able to attend to the rest of the experience (such as sensing form or timing or alignment).

On the other hand, changing a habitual breathing pattern can be one of the most profoundly unsettling things you can ask of yourself, or someone else. When we change our breath we are affecting ourselves in the most fundamental ways we can imagine – many of our breath patterns were developed as very young children, and in one way or another had to do with survival on some level.

It’s impossible to say that there is one ‘right way’ to breathe – it depends on the situation, the position of the body, the action being performed and the person performing it (with all the experiences that the person brings to that moment).

When we work with someone to help them find a ‘better’ way to breathe, we need to take into account the anatomy and kinesiology of the ribcage, spine and accessory structures that affect breathing (which could be just about anything in the body!). At the same time, we need to be sensitive to the effects of the breath on the body and on the psychological states and emotions of the mind and spirit.

With knowledge, skill and sensitivity, we can use various movements and exercises to help people have different experiences of their breath, and increase the number of options they have about how to breathe.

ByAmy Matthews, CMA