As a new year begins, it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that if you just stepped up your practice in the studio, added in new workouts and pushed yourself harder in class that you might really reach your movement goals.
It’s true that showing up to class, developing a consistent practice and working to fine tune exercises that are tailored to your body’s needs are all important in helping you gain strength, mobility and better body awareness. But the ultimate work of creating true change in how you feel requires taking your practice off the mat or machine and into your everyday life.
Applying Pilates principles to your everyday movements can seem heady or complicated, but it’s truly an act of repetition and checking in on how you’ve aligned your body in different activities. After all, it’s no secret that better alignment helps your body move easier.
To start, let’s look at a few ways alignment can help you move through your daily activities with less tension. Our joints are made to move, but each joint is going to have a place where it naturally moves the best.
Every person’s body has a starting point and an end range. The starting point is where the joint has the most freedom to move in any direction available, while the end range is the place where you are out of options and where most injuries occur. How does this relate to posture?
Think of the body as a set of blocks tethered together and balancing over one another with a big bowling ball on the top. It’s all about weight distribution. If that big block in the middle moves forward or back, then the ball on top also has to shift forward or backward to keep the shape from falling over. When there is excessive tension at a block to keep the bowling ball from falling over, that connection is at end range which means pain and/or injury. When we find the best alignment for those blocks, moving them around becomes a much smoother task.
The next time you find yourself standing in line or waiting for your kid to get their shoes on, instead of allowing the grumpies to kick in, try this little posture game.
First, take a deep breath and exhale fully, relaxing your body, find your feet and feel the earth, try to let go of any irritation you may have (you don’t need to add that to your plate). If you don’t have any stress to reduce, allow yourself to be grateful for your present state. When you’re all set, begin to tune into your body and notice where you feel tension. Hopefully, you caught yourself in a very natural posture for your body. Are you leaning on one hip? Is your weight in your toes or your heels? Do you feel tension anywhere in your back? Is your head learning forward?
The first step to making change is awareness. The art of catching yourself in your pattern daily and becoming a gentle observer – no judging. This art of being aware of what you are doing when you are doing it is how you make small changes that lead to big improvements in how you feel.
At Awake Bodies, our goal is to evolve your relationship with your body to a place where you can move with more awareness and fluidity. If you’re looking for new ways to deepen or expand your practice at home, check out our Virtual Library and learn how to gain access to our insightful, expertly led virtual classes – designed for all levels, ages and body types. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay connected to our studio happenings and find new ways for you to become more Awake inside your own Body.
Love,
Hali