Before you begin, you might like to gently roll out your feet with a prickly ball  – remembering to roll from toe to heel.

Points to remember:   Sitting up tall on the edge of your seat (no slouching!) – knees in line with sit bones – remember that your knees are at right angles – so heel is below the knee joint.   Moving on to the feet .. remember arches in and arches out?  Feet should be evenly balanced so you are not leaning in to either the outside of your foot, or the inside of the foot – knees will move too, so that is a big clue!   Try not to tense the feet, or this can be done in a standing position, but keep feet parallel and in line.

Keep feet relaxed and lift all the toes – check you are not arches in or arches out (knees will give you a clue) – connect with that feeling of your foot arch – now here is the tricky bit – relax and spread the toes down to the floor, without losing the arch.

Keep feet relaxed and lift just the big toe .. be really careful not to lose the position of the rest of the foot, spread and lower the big toe down.

Keep feet relaxed and lift all the little toes, leaving just the big toe connected to the floor .. be really careful not to lose the position of the rest of the foot as you lift the little toes, spread and lower all the little toes to the floor.

Excellent !!  Well done 🙂

The Basic Principles of Pilates

Concentration – you cannot do Pilates exercises effectively without focusing exclusively on the way your body is feeling and how your muscles respond to each movement.

Control – it is better to complete one perfect Pilates movement, than ten sloppy ones.

Centre – a strong centre is the key to protecting the spine and stabilizing the rest of the body.

Fluidity – movements should be smooth and flowing, with no straining or jerking.

Precision – if you are only a couple of centimetres out of alignment, the movement will be much less effective. Less is usually better than more, so aim for small, clean movements, rather than large, imprecise ones.

Breathing – In general, we breathe in through the nose to prepare for an exercise, and breath out through the mouth on the effort. This can make a difference to the effectiveness of the movement.

Imagination – If you are able to visualize a movement, it is easier to isolate the muscles that will achieve it. Just thinking about your abdominal muscles controlling a movement will often help you to activate them.

Intuition – As you learn Pilates, you will learn more about your body – it’s strengths, weaknesses, asymmetries and capabilities. So, when a movement feels difficult or you get a twinge in a joint, you will understand how to self diagnose and take action to fix yourself. Awareness of your body will also help you judge when a problem requires medical advice.

Integration – There are many different things to think about during even the simplest Pilates exercise. You need to be aware of the position of every part of your body, including the bits that you are not working. You need to think about your breath, activating the muscles required for the movement, then performing the sequence of actions and counting the number of repetitions. Work slowly and rhythmically.

These are interesting excerpts from books by Alan Herdman, which I hope you will find helpful to enhance your Pilates progress.

Foam roller against the wall

Position sacrum and upper spine on FR – think of head reaching up. Check neutral position – as you would on the floor.
Hands on ribs – BREATHE 3 dimensionaly – keep height in body

(1) Awareness of thoracic spine on roller, feel shoulders heavy and wide, so they don’t lift as you bring arms to shoulder height.
Keep pressing upper spine against roller as you start to bring arms out to the sides (palms facing each other).
Notice the point you feel your back ribs/spine come off the foam roller. Move the arms as slowly as a snail to spot this. As soon as you feel ribcage coming forward, stop the outward movement and come back in again. So thoracic spine stays in contact with the FR the whole time.

(2) Same position, draw shoulders down your back as you start to reach arms long and up. Again this will be really hard work if you keep the connection. Most of us are tight in our lats, so you should feel a strong pull below to the outer edge of the armpit as you raise your arms, and keep that connection with serratus to hold the shoulder in place. Pull armpit down and stable to reach arm out and up.

(3) If you have a green ball or block, you can place this between your palms and squeeze to work the serratus anterior around the ribs. Same muscles as windscreen wipers. Or make your own resistance.