Luckily for me confinement has not meant that I have had to give up working and in fact it has opened up new possibilities that I thought just werent there before. With this in mind I decided that during this time I would focus more on how I teach and educate myself through online courses and workshops that have been made available to me as a Body Control Pilates Teacher. In this way I will be able to bring even more knowledge and continue to evolve my teaching to help benefit all of my clients, old and new.
Last week I attended an online class and webinar called ‘Fearless Spine’ taken by Cameron Angus, a renowned pilates teacher, international lecturer, physio and all round awesome guy. If you’ve ever suffered from back pain you will know the fear that comes from doing a movement or NOT doing that movement because you know its going to hurt, in this way you have probably started to stiffen up your body by doing less movement, thereby increasing the fear of movement in your brain. Recently, I have suffered some mild discomfort in my back and I have had to overcome that very natural impulse of my body telling me not to bend over and pick things up or not twist around to see whats behind me. Its hard to overcome your initial impulse and I know that I am fortunate that I have had the education that becoming a Pilates teacher has given me. It turns out the pain in my back is actually referred from my hip and by doing specific Pilates exercises to help my hip, the muscles in my back have released and reduced the pain. The place that we suffer the pain is not always the place where there is an issue.
Your spines are NOT fragile they are an amazing structure that enable us to move in all sorts of directions. We need to keep them moving!!
Now don’t get me wrong there are certainly some medical conditions where certain movements are not recommended, ie osteoporosis and ankylosing spondylitis, to name just two, but one thing I know for certain is that for lower back pain, movement helps ease that pain.
Flexion/Extension/Rotation/Lateral flexion are all SO important for your spine and even better lets put some of them together in exercises. Lets get twisting, turning, bending and reaching in exercise classes whatever they may be. After all, in real life we dont do everything on one plane of movement. We need to be strengthening and challenging our bodies in all postitions while we are exercising so that when we do things in real life your body doesnt suddenly go, ‘oh no I cant do that or my back will hurt’.
Pilates is an amzing form of exercise that has the ability to lengthen, strengthen, mobilize, and free your body to move it in whatever way you want. My aim in my classes has always been to bring joy back into movement. So if you’ve been suffering in silence, get in touch and lets free your mind and your body and give it permission to move!!
“A man is as young as his spinal column….If your spine is stiff at 30 you are old. If it is flexible at 60, you are young.” Joseph Pilates