Pilates Style

Welcome to the Pilates Style monthly newsletter. Each month we bring you a calendar of the must-know Pilates events around the country, updates on our conferences, Pilates-related news, original feature articles and bonus material from the current issue of Pilates Style magazine. We want to hear from you! If you have, or know of, a Pilates event, or have news to share with your community, email us at newsletter@pilatesstyle.com.

Lessons from Joe and Clara: Memories of a 1st Generation Teacher
By Siri Dharma Galliano; Additional Reporting by Heidi Dvorak

First Generation Master Teacher Jay Grimes, who was interviewed for the May/June issue of Pilates Style, has even more to say about his work with Joe and Clara and his opinion of the state of Pilates today. The gifted instructor now works out of Estrella Pilates in Beverly Hills, CA, and teaches workshops and master classes around the world.

Q: What was the difference between Joe and Clara’s teaching styles?
A: Joe would size you up in a matter of seconds and sometimes turn around and shout “Clara!” Like so many geniuses, he wanted to challenge you and he wanted you to challenge him as a teacher, so he was constantly on his toes. Clara was a far better teacher. She was a real teacher and amazingly kind and understanding. Joe was like a Mack truck. If you got in the way, you got run over.

Q: You continued your studies with Clara after Joe died. What was she like?
A: I’ve never known anyone quite like her—gentle, kind and stern at the same time. She had an amazing instinct. She could have her back to you and, from your breathing, could tell what you needed. She also had amazing hands. When she put them on you it was like wrestling with an octopus with eight arms, she was so strong. She rarely spoke.

Q: So, how did she give instruction?
A: She’d poke you and say “dis, dis.” She never used medical or clinical terms, she’d just say, “dis” to convey what she wanted. Extraordinary. She was always in her little nurse’s dress, with white pumps and white stockings. No one ever saw her do an exercise but she had to have done them—maybe at five in the morning—because she had an incredible understanding of the body.

Q: What religion was Joe?
A: I never thought of him and religion in the same breath, but he was certainly an evangelist about his method.

Q: Did he say anything about diet?
A: I think Joe was a meat and potatoes man. All I remember him saying about diet was that a construction worker should eat more than a secretary.

Look to the June issue of our newsletter for more from our sit-down with Jay Grimes.

Celebrate Pilates Day!

Saturday, May 3, Pilates studios around the world will celebrate Pilates Day with special events, open studios and informative sessions about the method. Pilates in the Schools (PITS), under the auspices of the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), will mark the occasion at St. Philip’s Academy in Newark, New Jersey, where PMA Board Member Marggi Vangeli has been teaching Pilates to fifth-graders since February.

The PITS program seeks to educate and motivate students, teachers and families in developing physical, emotional and social skills to handle the challenges students experience in their home, school and community environments. It teaches physical skills while incorporating awareness of the body and focusing the mind.

Vangeli, Owner of Bodies in Balance Pilates Studio in Madison, NJ, is thrilled with the kids’ focus and progress. “After 30 years of practicing Pilates and 10 years of teaching, this experience has given me a fresh look at the lifelong benefits of healthy habits. Whole body, whole mind—it’s good lesson for the kids or anyone.”

Tell us how you celebrated Pilates Day! Send stories and pictures to newsletter@pilatesstyle.com by May 15. We’ll feature some of the entries in our next newsletter.

Pilates on Ice
By Anna Scheumann

New York Giant R.W. McQuarters and Miss America Kirsten Haglund (coming in our July issue) both use Pilates to help them reach their goals. Pilates Style’s own Web Production Associate, Anna Scheumann, tells us how Pilates helped her become an internationally ranked ice dancer:

The summer I turned 19, I got a new ice skating partner and spent a couple of months training with him and his coaches around Washington, DC. I was looking forward to the change of scenery but I walked into the rink expecting the typical routine: somewhere between four and six hours of ice time, a ballet class, jazz, ballroom and, if the program director was feeling creative, maybe a modern dance class and a session or two with a nutritionist. When the coaches announced that twice-weekly Pilates classes would be added to our grueling schedule, I was skeptical but up to the challenge. A couple classes in, I was hooked. Pilates provided me with the perfect supplement to my cross training regimen: It provided great muscle toning while maintaining flexibility and increased my core strength in a more balanced way than I ever could at the gym. I found myself leaving each Pilates class feeling rejuvenated, relaxed and stretched. To this day Pilates is something that I recommend whole-heartedly as cross training for anyone in a dance related field—especially everyone out there who spends the better part of their waking hours skating on a quarter inch of steel!

We would love to hear how Pilates has helped you reach your goals. E-mail your story to email@pilatesstyle.com, and please include a picture. We’ll share our favorite success stories in next month’s newsletter.

Arabesque
By Kathy Corey

In the May/June issue of Pilates Style, Kathy Corey helps us find balance with a little-used piece of Pilates apparatus: the Pedipole. This innovative piece of equipment that Joe created decades ago is even more relevant today as most of us spend our days hunched over computers and steering wheels. Check out the article for a full workout using the Pedipole, but here’s one exercise Corey saved just for newsletter subscribers.

Notice how the pole indicates how we shift our weight instead of maintaining our center point. This exercise works the full range of movement for the entire body.

1. Inhale, raise your left knee to hip level and extend both arms out to the sides, slightly above shoulder level for balance.

2. Exhale and extend your left leg in front of you, toes pointed.

3. With control, inhale and slowly circle your leg behind you, resting on your toes with arms outstretched overhead, slightly in front of you. Then raise your leg behind you at hip level, toes pointed, and exhale as you stretch your torso forward into the pose.

4. Inhale and with control, slowly lift your torso. Exhale as you return your knee in front of you at hip level. Repeat 3 times and switch legs.

Multi-tasking Studio Contest

We asked you to write and tell us why your studio should be voted as the hippest, most happening, most multi-tasking Pilates studio in America. Although the prize went to Lora Anderson of Pilates Studio City in Studio City, CA, we thought the runners up deserved a shout-out, too. Here are some of the most impressive entries we received.

WINNER: Lora Anderson, Pilates Studio City, Studio City, CA
Pilates Studio City is a multi-tasking studio at its CORE. Opening our doors in April 2004, our mission was and is still to build a community where teachers, clients and the neighborhood have a place to experience Pilates, Gyrotonic and Nia, try new modalities, broaden their horizons about fitness & health and learn about everything from nutrition to hip hop. . . Read more.

Honorable Mention #1: Tina Collison, Yoga, Pilates Studio, Norfolk, NE
To keep my studio functioning, I have to come up with creative ideas to generate additional income. I have been doing birthday parties for quite a while but have branched out into hosting parties for local schools. Each month I choose a different theme: “It’s a Girl Thing Spa Fling,” where did yoga, chocolate facials, makeup and glamour photos. . . Read more.

Honorable Mention #2: Nina Aronson, Soulistic Studio & Spa
We are definitely a very multi-tasking, unique and hip Pilates studio. We offer group classes in Pilates, Yoga, Hip Hop, Belly Dance, Salsa, Capoeira, Boxing, Belly Dance, BOSU and prenatal classes in our 1,000 square foot studio with beautiful views of downtown Chicago. The Pilates studio adjoins with French doors. We offer Pilates privates, Reformer classes, semi privates and mat classes and teacher training. . . Read more.

Feeling inspired? Read about the rest of our honorable mentions on the web at www.pilatesstyle.com.

What’s in Your Gym Bag

We’re firm believers in the idea that if you really want to get to know someone, you need look no further than her gym bag. What we tote around with us everyday tells a lot about who we are. So we asked this month’s cover model Ana Cabán to open up and reveal all. Here’s what this start Master Fitness Instructor and Pilates video star doesn’t leave home without:

Lululemon workout pants
Sneakers
Ribbed boy tank
Joe’s Pila-t-Shop or WE Pilates long-sleeve tee
A bandana to rope down her short, but thick, hair
A hand towel
Her iPhone, which serves as her calendar and is loaded with her favorite music and audio books
Noise-canceling headphones
Filtered water in her own bike bottle—saving the earth one bottle at a time
Almonds (a great pick-me-up that travels well)
Hand sanitizer
Aquaphor for her always-dry hands
Lip gloss of some sort
Oil-free, SPF 30 face cream
And, of course, Pilates Style (and—confession time—sometimes a gossip mag)

Get to know Ana even better at anacaban.com.

Close-up: The Leg Pull
By Linda Farrell (lindafit.com)

The Leg Pull is a great exercise for stabilizing the entire body. In an inclined plank pose with one leg reaching up into space, you strengthen the extensor muscles of the shoulders, trunk and supporting hip while stretching the hamstring muscles of your working leg.

Set up: Sit up tall over your hips with your legs together, lengthening on the floor. Lengthen the arms directly underneath or slightly behind your shoulders with your palms facing down and fingers facing forward. Shoulders can also externally rotate with fingers pointing out a bit.

Begin the move: Inhale and contract your abdominal and back extensor muscles, and exhale and lift your trunk and hips up from the floor into an inclined plank position. Press the soles of your feet down (or flex your feet) and strongly engage your shoulders, trunk and hips to support the inclined plank. Maintaining the stability of the plank, inhale and reach one leg up as high as possible while softly pointing through the toes. (Flex your foot instead to maximize the stretch of the calves and hamstrings.) Then exhale and slowly lower and control the leg back to the floor; repeat with the other leg. Try for 3 sets, with rests in between if needed.

Visualization: Imagine your body strong like a plank of wood, diagonally reaching into space supported by the vertical plank of your arms. Don’t allow your plank to sink and become like a swinging, unstable hammock. Then imagine as you reach one leg straight up and down, that you are as graceful, long and strong as a Rockette.

Tips:

From head to toes the inclined plank must stabilize. Shoulders, hips, knees and heels connect in a plumb line.
Keep your head in neutral extension—not hyperextension. Your chin can come slightly forward if needed.
Stabilize the distance between the ribs and pelvis: Soften the front ribs in and keep the sit bones lifted. Maintaining balanced abdominal and back extensor co-contraction will support the alignment.
Don’t hyperextend your knees. Draw your kneecaps up, and do not let the back of the knees sink. Press down into the heels or soles of your feet to engage the hamstrings. The feet can be flexed or pointed depending on what is more comfortable and accessible.
Maintain stability at the shoulder complex. Glide the shoulder blades down and allow them to stabilize on to the back ribcage while your arms integrate you’re your shoulder sockets.
Watch for hyperextended elbows and do not let your weight collapse unduly onto your wrists. Press down through your finger pads and palms to distribute your weight evenly across your hands.
When the working hip flexes, the shoulder, back, abdominal and supporting hip extensor muscles must engage more acutely to stabilize the plank. Make sure the plank doesn’t collapse and sink when you lift your leg. Stabilize!

Lengthening up through the crown of the head while pressing down through the feet or heels offers more stability through dynamic opposition. Deep breathing and concentrating on correct plumb line alignment can prevent muscle gripping.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Pilates-style

When a four-alarm fire broke out just doors down from San Francisco’s EHS Pilates, destroying several homes, the studio’s instructors knew they had to do something to help. The St. Patrick’s Day fire raged for hours and displaced 60 of EHS’s neighbors. To help them, EHS planned a week-long fund-raiser in which instructors donated their time and the studio donated all proceeds to the American Red Cross.

The week culminated in a picnic and raffle in Dolores Park. Local eateries donated the food, and retailers provided the items for the raffle. In all, EHS Pilates succeeded in raising $5,200 to give back to their community. “We were so touched by the generosity of our trainers, clients, neighbors and community as a whole,” says Nancy Myers, CEO of EHS Pilates, Inc. For more information about EHS Pilates, visit ehspilates.com.

Celebrate National Women’s Health Week

Trinity Fitness + Spa in Dulles, Virginia, in partnership with themomlink.com, Eminence Organic Skincare, GAM Printers, Reston Limousine, Robeks, NutrientChef, Country Way Florist and Dominion Fertility, will be supporting National Women’s Health week, May 11–17, with events, education and prizes aimed at honoring women’s health. The theme for the week that kicks off on Mother’s Day is “Nourish Your Mind, Body + Spirit.” Just like mom nourishes you with love and chicken soup, Trinity and its event partners will nourish you with relaxation, fitness, education and fun. Women are invited to workout for free the entire week. In addition, special events such as an organic tea party, will take place throughout the week. For more information visit trinityfitness.org.

Mark Your Calendar: Functional Anatomy for Movement & Injuries (FAMI) Workshop

Designed exclusively for fitness and movement professionals and held within a medical school, the FAMI Workshop is an intensive 4-day course on anatomy and injuries. This powerful resource, created by a team of clinical and fitness experts, brings the best of medical education to the movement world. In the gross anatomy lab, fitness professionals get up close and personal with the human body through hands-on experience with cadaver prosections.

You’ll touch the inside of a shoulder joint, feel a knee replacement, see the spinal cord and glimpse 3-D views of the pelvic floor. In the lecture hall, gain new insight on the human form from distinguished anatomists and get your questions about injuries answered by physicians. The workshop also includes practical integration sessions where you can apply your new knowledge to client scenarios.

The course is suited for anatomy novices and advanced students alike and is targeted to all fitness professionals, including Pilates instructors, personal trainers, yoga instructors, bodywork therapists, physical therapists, GYROTONIC® instructors and dance educators. Ultimately, the FAMI Workshop bridges the gap between movement and medicine, providing fitness professionals with the knowledge and resources needed to master the body and train clients safely and effectively.

The next course, FAMI Workshop 2008, will be held June 19–22 at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. For more information on the course, continuing education credits and how to register, visit famiworkshop.com.