Life is all about learning, unlearning and relearning. Even though I know this, I couldn’t help but feel completely devastated when, at a Pilates On Tour in Venice, Tom McCook told us to take a stroll around the room without moving our pelvis. Puzzled faces, lifted eye-brows, robotic movements still trying to defy human anatomy in an attempt to do the exercise. Nope, it wasn’t
possible. His follow-up question to the exercise was: why do we teach pilates trying to keep the pelvis completely still if when we walk our pelvis is constantly moving? A cry of nooooo! Was heard on one side of my mind: I had just learned this whole new system called pilates in which the goal of so many exercises was to keep the pelvis still and now someone was telling me that the
system didn’t make sense in terms of human biomechanics and functionality.
Curiosity and a passion to help my clients to the best of my ability forced me to explore this new way of teaching pilates: a more functional way stemming out of human biomechanics and gait pattern. Through the years of teaching Pilates, I’ve come to define what I myself think of Pilates: it’s like taking omega-3 supplements in addition to one’s diet. It’s a supplemental resource to strengthen your body, your mind, your soul and the connection of the three to prepare it for what I call functional movement: for all the movements you do in your daily life. Think of when you reach for something high up in a cupboard: you must lengthen the whole side of your body, your arm must go overhead, you must stand on the tip of your toes. Think of when you need to take a heavy piece of luggage from the lowest suitcase compartment on a train: if you just bend over, you will only use your back muscles, so its best if you squat down use your legs to drive the ground away and stand up from the stronger upper leg and glute muscles.
Pilates teaches you about your body; strength training prepares you for moments of more physical challenge in your life, like carrying heavy luggage, jumping over a puddle or doing a workout. This is why I view pilates as supplemental work, a strong root from which a tree grows healthy and sturdy into the expansive possibilities of an eternal blue sky.
Pilates, strength training and any movement practice should be a deep conversation with your
anatomy and a tool to live your dream life with joy and energy.