Author Archives: elizatwist

Happy Birthday MLK!

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mlk and washington memorial

I raise a special thanks to Anu Garg for reminding me that today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.  If you’ve been visiting this space for a while you know that Dr. King is one of my personal heros and I like to pay my respects periodically with whatever thoughts his words have sparked in my own mind.  Admittedly, I don’t know much about MLK, but I am always inspired and impressed by his words.  And I am so grateful to live in a place where I am frequently reminded of his many insights.

My favorite part of the A.Word.A.Day emails is the thought for today.  I don’t have the kind of mind that takes in new words for their own sake, but thoughts are another matter.  Here was today’s thought and I must say that it strikes such a chord with me (as MLK’s quotations always do).
Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. -Martin Luther King Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)
There is something to be said for truly honoring oneself by considering our higher self when making choices of how we act in this bewildering world of ours.  Indeed, such thoughts are often on my mind these days as I review the choices that I’ve made and my consequent frustrations.  Knowing why I do what I do keeps me on track even when it seems like a different course would be easier in the short term.  And I must say that the words of strangers in cyberspace have been a salve to those frustrations too.  It’s comforting to be encouraged in whatever form.

For today, here’s to honoring the ancestors by remembering that we are more than flesh and bone.  (I do still have some new years thoughts to type out, but 2014 is currently having its way with me.  I’ll be back soon….)

How Long Does it Take to Establish a New (and better) Habit?

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A world of possibilities...

A world of possibilities…

A while back, a client clued me into this TED talk on the topic of taking on new projects.  I was intrigued and indeed keen to know more about the thirty days that Matt Cutts suggests.  His justifications were somewhat inspiring, but I was looking for a little more information on the topic.

A quick google search yielded this myth-busting article and this one with tips aplenty.  For me, it’s the plan that makes it.  When I’m determined to really do something beyond my usual, I draft a plan and I set up some framework to keep myself accountable.  This approach has worked for me since I was around twelve years old and I’ve accomplished nearly everything that I set out to accomplish.  It’s good to remind myself of that when I’m feeling like an underachiever.

I realize that not everybody is into resolutions or personal transformation.  To each his own.  But it’s good to know that even a person who doesn’t make a habit of new habits can apply some simple rules to get ‘er done, got ‘er did when it’s really worth doing.

Start the New Year Off on the Right Foot

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baby on foot corrector

(In thinking about how I wanted to be a mom, long before it actually happened, I knew that I wanted my babes close by, especially in my little Pilates studio.  What better way to give them a foundational relationship to the work that is intended to be a foundation to everything else that we do?  My boy has taken to the equipment like a fish to water as the above photo from over a year ago demonstrates.  Just yesterday we three were in the studio for some play time and he was showing me his exercises on the ladder barrel, reformer and the mat, but of course he started with his feet – such a smart boy.)

toddler toe corrector

In my studio practice I got a jump start on new year’s resolutions a few weeks back.  I’ve always been a fan of checking in with clients to learn about what goals they may have for their practice in the year ahead.  As of now, everybody has at least one thing to work on, be it new exercises, memorizing an order, or finally giving appropriate attention to an oft neglected corner of the Pilates system – which is to say that everybody is working on their feet these days.

It’s ironic that Joe Pilates’ first patented invention, the foot corrector, should be the first one that we forget, and yet I can understand why.  The work on the feet is subtle and that quickly gives way to tedium.  My frequent attempts at sharing the valuable information have mostly been thwarted by clients’ lack of interest and my lack of stamina.  But it’s such foundational work.  As Javier Velazquez points out in the recent biography, Joe Pilates’s understanding and emphasis of the importance of the feet is indicative of his genius.  So it seems to me that those of us who are inspired to pay our due respects to the originator of the method that we now happily practice have something of an obligation to continually face down the challenge of engaging with our feet and getting our clients to do the same.  I’m certain that if we keep at it, we will cross through the tedium into an enlightened awareness of just how important our feet are to the whole of our bodies.  And the more earnest we are in our presentation, the more willingly our clients will follow our lead, much to their own benefit.

Once again, Happy New Year!  Let’s get to work!

My Pilates Body Boost Part Two: The Cadillac of Pilates

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pilates_body_boost2_before

Happy New Year!  It is rather uncommon that our contemporary calendar syncs up with the moon’s, but today it does.  Today we begin a new year with a new moon, which in and of itself seems promising.  Furthermore, it seems a perfect time to begin phase two of my personal Pilates project.

As promised a while back, the next phase of My Pilates Body Boost is finally in the works.  Because November and December are a challenging time of year to make such things happen (especially if you are a crafter buried under craft projects), and our family has been hit with a vicious and unrelenting viral attack, it can’t happen soon enough.  It turns out that I tend to do much better with a framework for my workouts and I’ve been missing that.  Given that there is such an easy breezy routine all in place, I was thinking that the reformer would be my next frontier in bringing my body back fully into the Pilates fold.  To my way of understanding the system of Pilates, the reformer and the mat have the most established sequences.  But as I lay in a meditative state one morning, I realized that I’m not quite ready for the full reformer.  And if I gave myself a couple months to really dig into the cadillac, perhaps I could get myself a little more ready.  (Yes, I realize that I could just go ahead and begin with the reformer and it would be absolutely great, but I’m looking to address longstanding patterns of tension and limitation in my body and so it makes sense for me to approach the complete reformer sequence in the best possible condition).  The main reason the cadillac is the place for me is because I’m looking for more space.  I addressed this topic recently and have been continuing to think on it in the studio and I do believe that I’m on the scent of something good.

Here are two more stories from my days of study that put me on this track in the first place.  While I was observing Pamela Pardi with one of her regular clients one day I ventured to ask him what he felt when doing the leg spring exercises.  His answer surprised me and opened up a whole new world to me:  stretch.  I had never felt such a thing while doing leg springs!  I set out to discover what I was missing.  That along with the idea that regular leg springs are key to keeping hips working well has done me a great deal of service over the years.  Thanks Pam!

During one of her visits to our bay, Kathi Ross-Nash chose to address a couple folks’ issues on the cadillac with a whole lot of opening up and lengthening out.  It was enlightening because rather than nitpick at all the little details of alignment that were apparent, both people had a list of body happenings, she let the exercises do the work, and toward a very good end too.

I realize that many of the stories that we’ve heard in Pilates are not historically accurate, and again express my gratitude to those who have enlightened us, but we all have a choice as to what to do with those stories.  To my mind, even the potentially inaccurate stories have little lessons in them, lessons that I value.  Here’s one such story.  According to what somebody told me, Joe and Clara had a client who had a fair number of concerns and who was so greatly helped by his work on the table that he proclaimed it “the Cadillac”, which in the heyday of Cadillac Motor Car Division was to say, the best apparatus ever.  Like that legendary fellow, today I’m placing my bets on the cadillac.  I’m giving myself till March 29th to see what this miraculous apparatus can do for me.  And like always, I’ll share the results with anybody who cares to have a look.

In the spirit of new beginnings, I’ve got a few more posts lined up for the next several days.  Each one has to do with resolutions, good intentions, positive changes, etc.  Perhaps it is my transformative Scorpio nature coupled with the fact that I’m a Pilates instructor, but I’m sort of a resolution buff.  So off we go into a new year rich with promise and possibility!

Three Christmas Gifts

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stockings

It’s tough to narrow down my list of gifts received in recent days for life itself offers us such a bounty.  But there have been a few moments of note and I thought that it would be nice to share.  What I’m writing here, is about as close to my heart as I can get in words, and yet I post this on a day and in a place where few are likely to ever read what I write.  So I guess it could be said that I write to remind myself.

I.
I am finally working my way through the first chapter of a long awaited book by a favorite professor from my university days.  I don’t know much about the project only that he has chosen to begin with Africa and the program that he had the wisdom to set up a while back.  As a lead in to my initial thoughts upon reading, I’d like to remember a salve for my soul that came by way of NPR a while back.  I was listening to the reports of the celebration of Nelson Mandela and the African correspondent made the point that in Africa, it is universally acknowledged that what we in the west call death is a transition from our material world to the spirit world.  It is a lonely life to hold such truths in solitude and that has been my lot so far.  To hear even a little sentence or two of a place where what I know to be true is the universal knowing feels like a great relief.  Now, back to the book…I read exclusively while nursing and so it was during a side-switch that I was struck by a thought, that in my heart of hearts I am African and yet in this material world I’m pretty far from it.  And then I read this:
Flying a world away, little did I know that Ghana would return me to a welcoming world of childlike curiosity; nor did I “pre-imagine” that daily encounters with its incredible citizenry would remind me, over, and over, and over again of who I am at my core – a person who loves people.
Each day, new introductions and yet another occasion for handshakes.  But no one mechanically shakes my hand; rather, each Ghanaian “stranger” holds my hand compassionately, while making eye contact as though we were old friends.  Many would call me “sister”, opening their hearts to me in a moment – an act seemingly so profound to many, but for me, so beautifully human.  With deep trust, each gave full expression to their belief that, “caring is not just for those in one’s immediate circle of family” – but for every person, “strangers” included.
Retracing my steps…flying a world away, yet again, how can I ever fully describe such incredible showings of trust and trustworthiness to others, back home?  I can’t.  Instead I am left with a grateful heart and the hope that others will get to meet the beautiful Ghanaians who so deeply changed the way I now see the world.  Initially, I feared that I would never experience people so genuine, so caring, so trusting, and so full of faith again.  But then I quietly realized that all of us have these qualities at our core.
All I needed was a little reminding.
-Laura Sewall, Studio ’12

With that passage, I shed a tear, felt my gratitude, and had a renewed sense of knowing and courage.  These places of our individual lives are but constructed stages.  The real and enduring place is deep within ourselves and I would dare to say that Africa is the vast place on this planet of ours that holds that place of true connection sacred.  Indeed, we ought each to be very grateful to that continent and what it holds for “each of us” in holding the knowledge that there is only the “all of us”.

Every word in this chapter could serve as the beginning of a lengthy and interesting conversation.  I will say this much more, that Africa is indeed the place to start and I thank my professor for acting rightfully on his knowledge of that.  It is the essential place on this planet, the place where we can each return to the basic truths of our existence and from that point of departure, survey the vastness of possibilities that is life in every moment.

II.
I have NPR to thank once again because last night during my 7 minute drive to my chiropractor I was (atypically) tuned in (these days our classical station is our music of choice since I a doing my best to cultivate a certain knowing of musicality in my young son).  It was a very productive 7 minutes because I also realized that my husband had less than 24 hours to initiate his health insurance research.  And while we are grateful to have been clued in, what followed wasn’t exactly fun and this post is pretty much about things that make me so grateful I cry, so the great rush for health insurance doesn’t apply.  What does is the news story about a Federal Judge in Utah who has enabled thousands of couples in that state to apply for a marriage license.  In hearing that piece of news I felt a swell of joy, perhaps a taste of the feeling that those who are finally permitted to express their love and commitment in a public way feel.  In any event, I am grateful to bear witness to the  the opening of the love-floodgates even if while making a quick drive.  I personally believe that marriage is an important rite of passage and I can’t imagine a good reason to prevent any two people who wish to cross through that passage from doing so.  The timing seems all the more special for the folks who stand to benefit the most from the judgement of one person – what a Christmas gift!

III.
Last Saturday, just after the hour of its closing, I made a fast and frenzied trip to our farmer’s market to pick up veggies and Swedish Bitters.  Although my basket was heavy with purchases upon departure, I was was walking lighter with the joy that I have discovered a little place of community at that weekly market.  Rupam Henry is such a force of love and kindness, I am always comforted in her presence even when I pay her booth a very brief visit.  Each visit proves that I am not the only person who is nurtured by Rupam and I have enjoyed discovering  the community that surrounds our local healer.  Beyond her small space is the market at large.  Because I work on the weekends, and because I am a working mom, it is rare if not never that I have the time to visit a marketplace leisurely, and we are blessed with many such marketplaces here, but this one has something special.  Even popping in and out, I am grateful to be a resident of Oakland.  This city of ours that is full of so many cultures, and much grist for our collective mill, always gives me something to think about, a way to open my heart a little wider, and all the comforts of home.

And now, I must begin the final preparations for our family’s Christmas celebration.  We must prepare ourselves for Santa’s brief but oh so momentous visit!
I Send A Very Merry Christmas Wish to All!

Yuletide Treats: California Turtles

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california turtles

I grew up in Michigan, the child of typical midwesterners.  My Dad is oft to say pithy things like, “California is the land of fruits and nuts,”  and “Ann Arbor is a little piece of California right here in the midwest.”  Naturally such statements piqued my interest.  So I attended university in Ann Arbor, and shortly after graduation, I moved to California.  Because if there’s two things I like, it’s fruits and nuts (in all connotations of both).  And it turns out that “old dad” was right.

When I got here I spent an entire year being perpetually cold to the bone.  It was strange, but true.  My t’ai chi teacher recommended that I discontinue eating any raw food.  That helped a lot.  So I spent my first year in California snacking on dried fruits and nuts.  During that time I discovered what I still consider to be the ideal fruit and nut pairing:  roasted almonds and golden raisins.

A couple years ago I started making treats for all the people who help me get through my days as a new mom.  I got all sorts of ideas online.  I’m coming up on year three and while I really want to continue the tradition, this year my resources are a bit limited.  So I realized that I’d have to pick just one of my tastily selections to prepare and share.  Given that I’m pretty sure my California Turtles are an original idea and my personal favorite, it seemed obvious which one I should pick.  I love these candies because when I get them just right, the flavors balance beautifully.  The chewy sweet raisins are caramelesque but nutritious too.  The goodness of almonds and dark chocolate are self-evident, I think.

I’m pretty loose when it comes to making things and this year was no exception.  Some of the almonds got a little too roasted.  And most of the turtles were too chocolatey since I opted to use mini cupcake papers and that threw off my proportions.  Also, I used regular raisins since the golden ones were from China and given that I live right here in the land of fruits and nuts, purchasing fruits from a distant continent seems superfluous among other things.  I’m sure that folks will make do with the result (and so far these little tasty treats have indeed been well-received).  Besides, the fact that they were homemade with lots of love and the Brandenburg Concertos playing in the background must count for something.

Here’s How I Make Them
turtles ingredients

First I soak the almonds to break down the phytic acid and dehydrate them.  Then I roast them.  Then I melt chocolate along with the scrapings of two vanilla beans in a double boiler while I make little piles of three almonds.  When I add the raisins the almonds scatter which makes me realize that I should put them in little cupcake papers.  This contains everything, but somehow gives me the idea that I should put more chocolate than the usual just-enough to keep the little pile together.  I set the candies in the fridge.  Then I wrap them up and deliver them with a smile (and most likely some sort of explanation about their many imperfections).  I regret not sprinkling a bit of celtic sea salt on each candy, but I was out of time…next year perhaps?  Within twenty-four hours, I recall that I have three candy mold sheets that would probably have been perfect for holding the little clusters of fruits and nuts so that I can retain the circumstances that encourage the proper balance of all three flavors that make these California Turtles the perfect homemade confection.

Welcome Yule!

I Say YES

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Face Down

Face Down

I’m not going to mince words.  Aside from spending most of my spare waking hours crafting, I’ve been in something of a funk.  A FUNK.  It’s been pretty unpleasant for me and those who spend a fair amount of time in my company.  But I learned something last week thanks to an interaction which I think it’s best to keep private but to say that I saw myself and the other person clearly in that little span of time.  It took a while to sort it all out, but with the help of my trusted bodyworker and MFT, I eventually did.  (I have some amazing support people in my life and I am very grateful to them all!)  Here’s what I learned.  I learned what my anxieties look and feel like.  I learned a little bit more about what another person’s anxieties look like.  And I stayed with myself enough to catch a glimpse of what it might feel like to operate apart from my anxieties in a stressful moment.  Sort of like the first break in a great big wall of glass.  And now I’m more eager than ever for the wall to fall.

The thing about this all is that I was able to flip my viewpoint on what happened just enough to entertain another possible approach.  Generally when my buttons get pushed, I get upset and then I sort of stick my head down and just hope that the situation or the person will disappear.  But of course it, or (s)he eventually comes around again and then I repeat my reactionary response.  In sorting through the details of what happened I was able to see the precise points when our personal anxieties were expressed and those moments were the exact opposite of what I’d thought!  Somehow that realization granted me enough space to view the entire situation differently and what a relief that was.  I still have my anxieties, and no guarantee that if the exact situation replicated itself I would act differently.  But I’ve had an insight that jives with all the little aphorisms that I’m always repeating to myself.  And so I have some hope that perhaps I’ve made a little shift.

Perhaps today’s insight is an example of this shift.  Given my funk of late, I’ve been decidedly unenthusiastic about the upcoming holiday celebrations.  I know that I’m not alone in experiencing a lot of button pushing with holiday time.  And yet in the past my enjoyment of the season always eclipsed my frustrations.  This year is different, and I have been fantasizing about all sorts of ways to escape the reality of the holidays.  Which is a pretty big indicator that I’m facing down a big mountain of personal anxieties.  Which would explain my funk.  Okay, we’re clear on that point moving on…

My point is that I’ve always been a “yes” person and while I see that plenty of people extol the virtues of becoming a “no” person, I have to say that I’m not convinced.  For me being a “no” person would mean shutting the door on my anxieties and while that may offer me some short term relief, I’m pretty sure that they’ll be back.  With a vengeance.  No, I’d like to stay a “yes” person, but I’d like to be a yes person who actually enjoys it.  And that means I’ve got to get crystal clear on when and where my anxieties are expressed.  And then I’ve got to face them down and usher them out, in a kindly fashion of course.

Who knows what all this will do for me?  But I do know one thing thanks to my realization earlier today:  I’m approaching the once dreaded holiday events on my calendar with a new sense of purpose, namely having an express opportunity to face down what keeps me bound.  That and I’ve finally gotten enough space inside my head to write something.  Those two things together have made for a much merrier season already.

What a Batch of Gluten Free Pancakes Taught Me

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gluten free pancakes

On a recent morning my boy and I were embarking on a new phase of our life together.  Since one of our nannies has moved on we have more time together.  This is mostly fun for both of us.  But as is typical of transitions there were some challenging moments when my patience was thin and when my boy’s change in routine was frustrating for him.  It was in the midst of one such moment that my suggestion of making pancakes for breakfast was enthusiastically received.  From the onset, I thought of mashing up a banana since it was the best fruit that we had on hand and I’ve come to think that pancakes with fruit are extra special.  It wasn’t until I’d gathered nearly all the grains out of the fridge that I realized we were out of flour.  All-purpose flour, that is.  We had buckwheat flour, oat flour, almond meal, and corn flour on hand.  After a frantic moment of regrouping I realized that we had what we needed for pancakes even with that omission.

The mixing involved more of frustration on both our parts, but we got the job done.  Seeing the cakes on the griddle reminded me of a character in a since-returned library book that my son really loved, I made the mistake of mentioning it.  The immediate inaccessibility of the book initiated another meltdown.  And an idea.  We headed to the bookshelf and my son selected a book to read.  We pulled the beanbag chair into the kitchen and enjoyed another family favorite while the cakes browned to perfection.

Aside from a full belly, I came away with three good lessons:  how to make tasty gluten-free pancakes on the spot, that mashed banana makes an excellent pancake ingredient, and that taking a break to read a good book makes for perfectly cooked pancakes.  All that in 30 or so minutes.  This kid sure does pack in the lessons!

Here’s the recipe that we ended up with.  The original came from the Joy of Cooking.

Dry ingredients:

  • 1 1/3 cup buckwheat flour
  • 1/3 cup corn flour
  • 1/3 cup almond meal
  • 1/3 cup oat flour
  • 2T coconut sugar
  • 2t baking powder
  • 1t salt
  • 1/2 baking soda
  • 1/2t cinnamon
  • a sprinkle of nutmeg

Wet ingredients:

  • 4T melted butter
  • 1 mashed banana (minus a baby bite)
  • 1 3/4 cup milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1t vanilla extract

Heat Griddle.
Whisk dry ingredients.  Mix banana and butter.  Whisk eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Whisk banana and butter with other wet ingredients.  Combine everything.  Add fat of choice to griddle (in lieu of our usual butter, I used coconut oil with excellent results).  Using a ladle or a 1/4 measuring cup, slowly pour the batter onto the griddle coaxing it into a round shape.  Wait until the tell tale bubbles have popped before flipping your cake.  If your stove is like mine you may have to shift your cakes around to get them evenly browned.  Enjoy a good read and then enjoy your pancakes.  These were so filling that we had lots of leftovers for future breakfasts.

What We’ve Been Watching on Youtube Lately

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I do believe that it’s time for another youtube share.  Yes, my kid watches youtube.  I’m slowly coming to terms with it.  Neither of my parents had a TV when I was very young.  My mom got one when I was around five but my dad held out until my stepmom grabbed the bull by the horns when I was nine.  I went to a waldorf preschool right up the street from our home.  I have been holding that life in that beautiful neighborhood with watercolors, swings, classical music, and lovely books read aloud in front of the fire ever since its conclusion.  I always thought that when I became a parent I’d recreate it.  Clearly the world is a different place than it was in the late seventies.  Computers, ipads, iphones and a big screen on our living room wall are permanent fixtures.  My husband is a techie, there’s no way out of that reality.  It was pointed out to me by a very wise person that an important part of being a parent is sharing our life with our children.  All these gadgets are part of our life, we derive all sorts of pleasures from using them.  It would be incongruous to prevent our child from having that same opportunity.  Clearly I’m working through this….

All that aside, I must admit that it’s been fun to see what my son finds when he goes searching around.  Obviously, he’s not the only one who finds cool stuff on youtube.  Here’s the latest round up.

My kid is apparently part of the majority in that he loves to watch cats, he found this himself:

This one came by way of my t’ai chi chuan teacher, it’s a testament to the power of full bodymind  control:

This one came by way of the same Aunt who makes the tasty chocolate mint squares.  Another testament to full bodymind control:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nr9KrqN_lIg

My husband found this one.  It is good for a creating a shift in perspective:

And here’s another one from my husband.  I took it as a valuable reminder of the ever-changing nature of reality.  Constancy with respect to anything other than change is a myth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMByI4s-D-Y

Happy Viewing!

Pilates is About….Stretch

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this-is-living.jpg

I read somewhere recently that Joe Pilates was often heard saying that there’s no stretching in Pilates.  This sounds so funny to me given that in my time Pilates was defined as Stretch, Strength, and Control.  Apparently his point was that the stretch is always part of a whole which included strength and control.  Okay, point taken.  But today, I’m inclined to focus on the stretch part of the definition.  Partly because it’s next on my list and partly because I’ve got a new project in the hopper and my thoughts on stretch have a lot to do with how it’s coming together.  But there I go getting ahead of myself again.  Today, stretch.

First, a little story:  there was a period in my training where I was doing a lot of pelvic tucking.  The point of this particular position, as I understood it for the brief time that I worked with it, was to create an opening in the low back and at the front of the hips.  And indeed, I did experience a sensation of the musculature in those areas opening and releasing – for a time.  I also experienced muscle spasms in my pelvic floor (thanks to my tailbone injury) and two massive spasms in my psoas and surrounding muscles that lasted for several weeks in each occurrence – not good.  During this period of pelvic tucking I was working diligently on balancing my asymmetries in my hips (yep tailbone injury strikes again).  Despite lots of cajoling and focusing and just plain trying my absolute hardest under the watchful eye of a teacher for whom I hold deep respect, I had no luck.  The muscles that didn’t fire couldn’t fire.

An alternative view on pelvic position was presented to me by another teacher for whom I have an equal amount of respect.  This view jived with the other material I was learning at the time (from Jay Grimes, this book, photos of Joe himself, this other book, this technique, etc) .  This view was based on a simple goal of creating space internally with the muscles engaging in a two-way stretch.  It proved to be the antidote to the consequences of all the tucking that I’d been doing and it gave me access to the entirety of my musculature like nothing else had before.  I was sold.

I’ve come to think of length first when it comes to Pilates because of this learning experience.  Time and again, with my own body and with the bodies of my clients, I see that more space gives access.  When we are compressed and condensed we are more likely to stay stuck.  When we create space within our bodies we also create an opportunity to find a more ideal skeletal alignment which gives our muscles the opportunity to activate.

What’s more, space is essential for movement (think of how little you move sitting between two people in the coach compartment of an airplane).  The two-way stretch creates space in our joints enabling them to actually articulate.  When we are compressed, the movements in the joints are significantly hampered, at least that’s what it feels like.  (Try jamming the fist of one hand in the palm of the other and moving them.  Then put a little space between them and see how they can articulate individually).  In the studio, I am often saying that the word for joint in Spanish is articulación.  It just seems to bring the point home.

So it would seem that without stretch, opportunities for strengthening would be significantly minimized.  And while we may experience a sense of control over a stable and tight body, without stretch we really don’t have access to its full capacity.  Come to think of it, I’ve talked myself into the idea that stretch might very well be the most important component to Pilates, sort of a gateway to the depths of the work.  (How ironic given Mr. Pilates’s assertion.)

Which brings me to one other point about stretch that I feel compelled to make even though this post is getting longer by the minute:  less is more.  In order to activate the two-way stretch, most of us are going to have to give up a fair amount of muscular engagement initially.  There is a controlled and deliberate release that is essential in Pilates.  That release gives way to a depth of engagement that is strengthening and empowering to the whole self.

Okay I think I’ve made my point.  Happy stretching!