What's the Scoop?

In Pilates we are always elongating the spine.  We want to decompress the spine, countering the compression that gravity is constantly exerting on the spine, and lengthen, and strengthen the muscles that help the spine maintain its length and mobility.  One of the main ways we do this is by activating what we call, our "scoop".  In Pilates, we begin our sessions on our backs.  One of the reasons for this is so we begin our work with our spines flat and supported (not working against gravity). 

To find your scoop, lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, hip width apart. Lengthen the back of the neck so that your head is resting more towards the bottom of the skull.  Allow the collar bones to soften and the shoulders to fall back to the floor and down away from the neck and ears.  Breathe down into your belly with soft natural breaths. On your next exhale, draw the front of your ribcage together and down the front of your body towards your waist. Continue breathing gently into the belly. 

Now, pull your transverse abdominis muscle (the abdominal muscle that is between your navel and your pubic bone) back into your body towards your spine.  Keep your tailbone down as you do this, do not allow your pelvis to curl.  Activate and release this muscle a few times until you feel comfortable doing so.  Now add the "scoop". Pull your transverse abdominis muscle back towards your spine and then draw your navel up under your ribcage while keeping your ribs pulled together and down. Again, do not let your pelvis tuck or curl during this movement.  Feel how your waist and muscles around your spine lengthen.  

Joseph Pilates teaching at Jacob's Pillow

Pay attention to your scoop the next time you are in class and see how activating in this way deepens all of your exercises!

Knee - Stretch

Joseph Pilates performing Knee Stretch Series - Knees Off

In Case You Forgot....

It's the Mind Itself Which Shapes the Body

It's the 

mind itself 

which 

shapes 

the body.
~ Joseph Pilates

Adding Essential Oils to Your Oil Pulling Routine

Essential oils have many uses.  They can add a pleasing aroma, stimulate the senses or calm the senses, and aid in the well-being of the body.  They can be taken internally, applied topically, and defused into the air.  Below are just a few essential oils that you may consider adding to your oil pulling practice.

Oregano

Oregano oil is a "powerful antimicrobial that can help fight off infections. Oregano oil also has antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties." Dr Mercola  http://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/oregano-oil.aspx 

Yesterday, I started to feel the slightest sore throat coming on, so I decided to add oregano oil to my coconut oil pulling regimen.  I use my rounded tablespoon of coconut oil and add 5-8 drops of oregano oil into the spoonful of oil and then proceed as normal, holding, swishing, and pulling the oregano infused coconut oil in my mouth for 20 min. I am repeating this process 3-4 times/day as I am fighting off an infection.

Oregano oil can also be ingested. It has a strong burning quality to it so if it is too strong, you can add it to a carrier oil such as coconut oil, or we even use just a teaspoonful of cream or half & half to swallow it down.  We often take 4 drops/day on a regular basis as a preventative.  If you find that the oil bothers your stomach, try eating some food with it or you can also take it in a capsule by either adding a few drops to an empty capsule or buying it already encapsulated.

Frankinsense

"Due to its antiseptic properties, frankincense oil is a great addition to any oral hygiene regimen.... It can help prevent dental health issues like tooth decay, bad breath, cavities, or oral infections. You can also consider making your own toothpaste by mixing frankincense oil with baking soda." Dr. Axe  http://draxe.com/what-is-frankincense/

Lavender

"Lavender oil is known for its anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antidepressant, antiseptic, antibacterial, and antimicrobial properties. " Dr. Mercola  http://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/lavender-oil.aspx





Tea Tree

"Tea tree oil has been long valued for its antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. In the 1920s, it was used in dentistry and surgery to clean wounds and prevent infections." Dr. Mercola http://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/tea-tree-oil.aspx

Peppermint 

Peppermint oil extract is shown to be more effective than the mouthwash chemical chlorhexidine in preventing the development of biofilm that contribute to cavities. It can also prevent bad breath. To use, just add one to two drops to your toothpaste. Dr Mercola http://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/peppermint-oil.aspx

"Nothing makes me feel like I'm back in my body more than Pilates."

Kate Hudson tells Self magazine,"...when she really wants to whip herself into shape, she focuses on Pilates. 'Nothing, literally nothing, makes me feel like I’m back to my body more than Pilates,' she says. 'I’ll travel, and I’ll go for a run or I’ll Spin. But when I go home and get on the Reformer or the Cadillac, my body immediately goes back. I can see an instant shift.' "

Oil Pulling

I love oil pulling!

I discovered oil pulling a few months ago and I do it almost every day without fail.  I keep a jar of organic cold processed unrefined coconut oil in my bathroom and a tablespoon, and "pull" for 20 min while I shower and dry off. (FYI, one time I accidentally bought "processed" coconut oil and the feel in the mouth and the taste were horrible! I couldn't use it.)

To oil pull you will take enough oil to give a full feeling in the mouth, but not so full as to feel that you can't hold it for long.  For me, this is a rounded tablespoon.  Less than a tablespoon feels like I begin to have more saliva than oil and it can be hard to swish, and more than a tablespoon feels like I can't hold it for the full 20 min. During the warmer months, if the oil becomes liquified, you can either refrigerate it or you can just "drink" it out of the jar.

Take the oil into your mouth and within a few seconds it will melt. Begin to swish it in your mouth and "pulling" it between your teeth.  When you first begin oil pulling, you may develop a lot of saliva or the muscles in your mouth may feel like they can't swish for a full 20 min.  Just go for as long as you can, spit it out and start over with a fresh spoonful. Soon your mouth will not produce so much saliva and your muscles will quickly adapt to the regimen.

When you spit the oil out, spit it into a container and then throw it in your trash (we usually have an empty bag such as a frozen fruit bag or chip bag that I use).  You don't want to spit down the sink or into the toilet as the oil will begin to congeal in your pipes.

After pulling, rinse your mouth and spit. (I give my teeth a quick light brush before pulling, but other places will tell you to brush after pulling).

My experience with oil pulling is that my mouth feels fresher and cleaner than I can get with brushing and flossing.  I feel as if my gums, tongue, and inside of my mouth have been cleaned and moisturized (I have used tongue cleaners before but oil pulling feels even cleaner).  Even my throat and lips feel moisturized.

I have receding gums and deep pockets around my molars and about once every year or two, I will develop an abscess in one of these pockets.  If you have ever experienced a tooth infection, you know how painful this can be.  In the past I have gone to the dentist to get the pocket cleaned or have treated it at home with Tea Tree oil.  The abscess usually takes about a week to run its course and I have a lot of pain.  Shortly after beginning oil pulling, I developed an abscess. I continued to oil pull and within two days it was gone and I had almost no pain.

Oil pulling has become a favorite part of my morning routine.

Here is a link to an article and a video by Dr. Draxe with more information about oil pulling.

http://draxe.com/oil-pulling-coconut-oil/

Get Your Wrap On

In Pilates we talk a lot about "engaging your wrap", but what does this mean?
Remember, we are always working with the body in proper skeletal alignment and then activating, strengthening, and balancing the muscles that help hold this alignment.  To wrap means to bring the legs into a slight turn out (approximately big enough to fit your fist between the knuckles of your big toes) by engaging the rotator muscles where the upper leg connects with the pelvis, the glutes, and the muscles of the pelvic floor. It should feel as if you are trying to draw your sits bones together and you should be able to feel a stabilization of the hip girdle and muscle activation where the backs of the thighs meet the glutes.  Do not clench or squeeze the glutes. Now, l-e-n-g-t-h-e-n your inner thighs, reaching your heels as far from your hips as you can while pressing your heels together.  As you engage your wrap, you should notice that your quads and hip-flexors can now release their gripping tension that is so common when we attempt to engage our legs.

Joseph Pilates

Level 1 Mat workout

Glad to hear so many of you are using the video!

Level 3 Mat

Whew! This was a tough one. I kept having video problems and wouldn't know it until I had finished the full routine. Had to film this one 3 times back to back to finally get a good video.
Now your turn. Do this workout 3 time quickly :))

6 Pilates Guiding Principles

Pilates is a dynamic, multi-faceted, mind-body movement method. As a Pilates practitioner, you will find that the longer you practice, the deeper your practice will take you.  If you will think back to when you first started your Pilates practice, you may remember feeling awkward with the equipment and how to move your body.  The way we align our bodies and how we engage our muscles during a Pilates session is meant to help bring the body back into balance and proper alignment.

At fist, just getting used to how the equipment moves and where to put our hands and feet, etc can feel disorienting so in the beginning, the focus is on just getting used to the equipment (including the Mat!) and the bigger muscle movements of the exercise and engaging the core.  As we become more comfortable and we have learned proper engagement of the core for initiating movement and stabilization, we begin to go deeper into alignment, full body engagement, and what are referred to as the Six Guiding Principles of Pilates.
These include:

Concentration
Centering
Control
Breathing
Precision
Flowing Movement

Concentration
Pilates is a complex system. Every movement should engage the whole body from head to toe. During a Pilates movement we are being aware of our imbalances, and then lengthening, stretching, engaging to bring the body into balance. This often requires moving the body and
engaging muscles in ways that are not our habitual way of moving, so without concentration we will just continue to move the body in old patterns and we will not reap the benefits and change that Pilates is intended for.

Centering
All movement comes from the center of the body. Even if we are simply moving our hand, the body first stabilizes the spine, and then movement emanates into the extremities.  This is why proper engagement of our core is the first thing we learn in Pilates. When our center is not strong the rest of our body can not be in alignment (Ah! that is a whole other blog post!) In Pilates we refer to our core as the Powerhouse, and the Powerhouse includes our low abdominals, or Transverse Abdominus, our low back, our glutes, and our inner thighs.  Often in class you will hear the cue to draw in and up your centerline. This means to engage your Powerhouse and lengthen your spine, bringing your focus to creating a long, strong center.

Control
When Joseph Pilates was teaching, it was not called, Pilates. He called it "Contrology", which means the study of control.  In Pilates, every movement is with intention and every movement is an exercise.  Because we have spent so many years living in our bodies without thought of how to properly support and move the body, we have developed many imbalances, many of which we do not even notice but they greatly affect our bodies' health and efficiency. For example, we tend to sit a lot in our culture - at our desks, in our cars, and on our sofas. This can cause our hip-flexors to become tight. When the hip-flexors become too tight, they "shut off" the reciprocal muscles, or the muscles on the other side of the joint. In this case, that would be the glutes.  The glutes are a very big muscle and when they stop working properly and stop engaging when they should, the body compensates by recruiting other muscles to do the work that the glutes should be doing. Now the body starts trying to get the rotator muscles of the hip to do the work that the glutes should be doing. However, the rotators have a different function and therefore their axis of rotation and movements are different. They are also much smaller than the glutes so the load put on them is more than they were intended to bear.  Soon, these smaller muscles become overworked and aggravated, and an aggravated muscle stays in a state of contraction. This causes decreased circulation and adhesions to form in the muscle.
Now we have pain :(
So it is important, especially during a Pilates session, to bring our focus and Concentration back to proper muscle engagement and control of movement.

Breathing
Breathing is what brings oxygen to the cells and flushes many toxins and waste from the body. If we do not exhale deeply, we do not empty the lungs of waste and, we cannot inhale completely.  The breath is often a component that enhances an exercise, for example, by increasing pressure in the abdominal cavity which helps to stabilize the spine. And often an exercise has a component of strengthening the breath, such as wringing out the lungs during twisting movements.  In Pilates, we do not use percussive or unnatural breathing as Joseph Pilates believed that if the breath can remain deep and calm while the body experiences the stress of exercise, then in our daily lives when we experience other types of stress, whether physical, emotional, or mental, our breathing will remain deep and calm helping to reduce the strains of stress.

Precision
Precision is like combining Concentration and Control. Bringing precision to your movement is to engage the intended muscles to their fullest, and to perform the exercise cleanly and to the best of your ability without sloppy extraneous movements. In Pilates, every movement has a purpose.

Flowing Movement
When thinking of Pilates, think of "effort with ease". We move the body with intention, purpose, and precision, but never with tension.  Each Pilates exercise should have a fluidity and grace that reflects this and each exercise should flow into the next. This is one of the reasons why proper transitioning from one exercise to the next is so important.  Our workout should feel like one continuous exercise with each movement flowing smoothly into the next, never losing our connections or engagement, and all the while maintaining our focus.

As you begin to memorize the routine of the exercises so that you can move through your session without stopping, and deepen your practice of these six guiding principles, your practice will become a meditation in movement and will reveal much more to you than just a beautiful, strong body!

...like you love yourself.

Chia Seed Pudding

Chia seeds are a great source of fiber and antioxidants. One of my favorite ways to enjoy chia seeds is what I call "Chia Seed Pudding".

In a bowl combine

Coconut milk (the kind in a carton, not what you get in a can to cook with)
Chia seeds
Maple syrup
Cardamon
Cinnamon
Nuts
Fruit

Stir well.

This is all to taste. Chia seeds take about 30 min to swell, If after the seeds have swollen my pudding is too thick or too thin, I will add either more coconut milk or more chia seeds.

Cardamon has a strong flavor so a little goes a long way!

I enjoy slivered almonds and either blueberries or apples in mine, but add whatever you like!

Chia seeds and coconut milk (or almond milk, hemp milk, etc) is your base. Play around with different flavors and let me know what you enjoy :)

This is a great healthy treat that really feels like you are indulging but is super low in calories and high in fiber and nutrition.

Green Drink

This is my favorite! I have it 3-5 times/week. I know most of you have seen me drinking it during class :)


In a Vita-mix, combine:
1-1/2 cups of water

1 large handful of Power Greens
Cilantro
Fresh Mint Leaves
Turmeric Root
Fresh Ginger Root
1/2 Apple (red will make it a little sweeter, green a bit more sour)
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 - 1 cup ice cubes

Chia seeds - optional

Turn on high and blend for 2 min.


As you know, with a Vita-mix, the food will become hot if blended for this amount of time so the ice is important to prevent your drink from getting hot.

Play around with your amounts. More mint will make the juice sweeter. I tend to like around 5 leaves.

Turmeric is a great blood cleanser and anti-inflammatory. I have found fresh turmeric root at Sprouts sold in plastic clamshell containers like berries are sold. I use a root about the diameter of my pinky finger and around 1.5 inches long.

I like my drink a little spicy so I will use about  1/2 - 3/4  inch of peeled ginger root.

Lime helps to brighten the flavor of the drink and limes are great alkalizers.

If you would like to add chia seeds for extra fiber and Omega-3 wait until you have blended your drink for the 2 min, then turn on the lowest speed and add 1-2 tsp chia seeds and "stir" for just a couple of seconds. I like the texture of chia seeds (like tapioca) in my drink when they swell (they take about 30 min to swell) so I don't like to blend my seeds. However, if they are not stirred in well, they will sink to the bottom and can glue together.



Like drinking a glass of sunshine!