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.

Increase sales and drive traffic to your business by appearing in the 2008 Pilates Style Resource Guide, the largest and most comprehensive guide to all things Pilates ever published.

Click here or call Brian Kelly at (212) 262-2247, ext. 308, or Kelin Long at ext. 323.

Kickstart your fitness in the New Year with Pilates Style’s most exciting conference yet. The biggest names in Pilates will gather in Los Angeles January 23–25, 2008. Just take a look at the all-star line-up: Lolita San Miguel, Kyria Sabin, John Garey, Elizabeth Larkam, Lynne Robinson, Michael King, Clare Dunphy, Chrissy Romani-Ruby, Kathy Corey, Ana Caban and many more.

Pulling Through Breast Cancer with Pilates
By Deirdre Shevlin Bell

In honor of National Breast Cancer Recovery Month, Pilates studios around the country are holding events to raise awareness and drive support for breast cancer research (find more information at pilatesforpink.com). For one Pilates instructor, connecting breast cancer patients with Pilates instruction is a matter close to the heart.

Doris Pasteleur Hall, a second-generation Pilates instructor who has been teaching since the 1970s, had her first run-in with the disease in 2001. After being diagnosed with stage-2 breast cancer, Hall had a mastectomy and transverse rectus abdominis muscle (TRAM) flap reconstruction, followed by chemotherapy, radiation and medication. The treatments left her fatigued and in pain, but the biggest challenge was the way the TRAM flap surgery torqued her body. “I was cut across the abdomen, and they pulled a rectus up on a diagonal from the left pelvis over the external oblique, and then over the breast,” Hall remembers. “I slowly was rotating toward the midline, my whole right side. It created a lot of fascial distortion.”

It took three years, but with dedication to movement and her Pilates practice, Hall reformed her body. When she first started, she paid close attention to all the ways her body had been altered. “My core really changed a lot, because all of a sudden I didn’t have a rectus; I couldn’t roll up anymore,” she recalls. “The stability of the obliques really changed a lot—my right internal oblique got very weak.” So she worked on strengthening her weaker side and squaring her ribcage over her pelvis.

She had to make some modifications, of course. For example, she noticed she couldn’t do weight-bearing exercises on her full arms, so for about a year she did them on her forearms. And if she did weight-bearing exercises too fast, she would feel pressure and swelling in her right arm. She didn’t do Snake, Twist or similar moves because she sensed her body just wasn’t ready.

Once she made her body more square, Hall began to work on rotation, which took about a year to get back. She then started on flexion and extension, slowly moving the fascia. All the while, she paid close attention to her breath. “When I first started, I did a lot of breathwork—there’s a lot of mental stress, especially when you go up higher on the stages.” Her breathwork was recuperative, she says, and it reminded her to approach Pilates differently than she had in the past. “It wasn’t ego-driven. I had a goal: I wanted to get back to three-dimensional movement, but I really listened to my breath, my lymph system, really paid attention to my energy.”

Just recently, Hall underwent another (less invasive) surgery to have a lump removed from her other breast. She again underwent radiation, though it’s a more localized form this time. Her personal experience with breast cancer gives her a unique perspective in working with clients who have gone or are going through it. Still, though, each client’s experience is unique, and Hall is careful to remember that. “It’s very individual, because all their operations are a little different. The thing that’s really interesting is the way that people cope with the issue, so you have to pay attention to where the person is not only physically but also mentally, and you have to respect that. You have to create a trust.”

Tips for Breast Cancer Survivors:

Work with a highly skilled and experienced teacher—preferably one who has worked with other women recovering from breast cancer.
Trust your body. Don’t overexert yourself or you’ll end up feeling overly fatigued and possibly injured.
If you’re undergoing radiation and are positioned with your arm over your head while doing the treatments, ask for pillows or towels to support your arm and shoulder.
Don’t be afraid to move (with guidance and within your limitations); the longer you avoid movement, the more your muscles will “freeze” in place.
Get massaged. Massage can help break down scar tissue to facilitate healing.

Doris Pasteleur Hall teaches Pilates instructors at Movements Afoot in Manhattan and at a few other studios in the New York area.

Be Your Own Private Dancer with Top Dance DVDs
by Lecia Wood

Nine-time U.S. Professional Ballroom Champions and 2004 World Show Dance Champions Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova, use Pilates to complement their demanding performance and rehearsal schedules. You may have seen dancing a Viennese waltz to a Meat Loaf song last season on Dancing with the Stars or for the Wimbledon of ballroom dancing at Blackstone.

Says Wilkins, “From a dancing standpoint—though it doesn’t matter what sport you do—Pilates gives you a good workout. It’s perfect for me because it doesn’t create bulk. I want my muscles to get leaner, more flexible. Pilates works, absolutely.”

When they’re not hip-hopping the world, they’re at home in New York and at True Pilates, but when traveling they frequent favorite Pilates studios and use DVDs.

If you want to practice up at home, try these DVDs.

Rock Your Body, Jamie King, $19.98, amazon.com
Dance with Lisa: Dance to Enhance, $14.95, trucompany.com
Dance with Lisa: Red Hot Salsa II, Lisa Nunziella, $9.99, trucompany.com
Doable Dance Grooves, Petra Kolber, $14.99, razorfitness.com
Bellydance Basics, Princess Farhana, $14.99, razorfitness.com
Prevention Fitness Systems: Dance Yourself Thin, Marie Forleo, $14.98, preventionfitness.com
The Seasons of Fitness: Melange, Sue West, amazon.com
Samba Dance 1 and 2 Brazilian Dance Workout, Vanessa Isaac, $14.99 razorfitness.com

Kick up your heels and read Lecia’s full article in the September/October issue of ‘Pilates Style.’

Close-Up: Side Kick 2—Up and Down
By Linda Farrell (lindafit.com)

Sidekick

Maintaining a strong, stable base of support in the trunk and pelvis during Side Kicks strengthens the hip abductor and external rotator muscles, the abdominal muscles and the back extensor muscles. Side Kicks are great for promoting stability in the spine, shoulder girdle and pelvic while improving pelvic and leg disassociation skills.

Set-up: In neutral spine, lie straight on one side with your shoulders and pelvis vertically stacked. (Lining up the body with the back edge of the mat is a good way to help students find their neutral spinal and pelvic alignment.) Bring your legs slightly forward on a diagonal without letting your pelvis tuck under. Lift your top leg up in line with the pelvis, keeping it parallel and softly pointing through the toes. Place the hand of your top arm in front of your navel, fingers pointing toward the top of the mat. Prop yourself up on your bottom elbow with your bottom hand holding the back of your head, chin lifted off your chest. Engage the abdominals, back extensors and lateral trunk flexors so the spine is in neutral with the sides of the waist narrowing equally. As your spine lengthens up from the pelvis, reach strongly down through the bottom support leg with a balanced action.

Begin the move: Continue to engage the abdominals, pulling them in and up. Externally rotate the hip without letting the pelvis roll back. Inhale and reach the leg out and up toward the ceiling, pointing through the toes. Exhale and flex the foot, and lengthen and control the leg as it glides back toward the floor without letting it touch the bottom leg. Repeat 8–10 times.

Modifications:
Beginners: Bend the bottom leg for a broader base of support; lengthen the bottom arm down to the floor, letting the head rest gently on top of it; if head is down, towel can be placed underneath the neck for extra support.

Advanced: Use both arms support head; prop up on to forearm; turn bottom leg out with toes tucked on floor.

Visualization: Imagine your working leg anchored firmly into the hip socket with a buoyant spring attached to your foot. Let the spring take you up with control, but then you must pull it down slowly creating as much length in the thigh as possible while keeping the leg integrated into the hip socket. For precision and proper placement, imagine a paintbrush on the end of the foot. Can you paint the same line through each repetition? Do the pelvis and spine rotate back as you lift the leg? Can the leg reach for the opposite side of the room as it lowers without losing the stability and placement of the pelvis and spine?

Tips:

The head and chin must not collapse and drop forward. Maintain proper cervical extension and axial length.
The top shoulder must relax away from the ear, with shoulder blades gently sliding down the back. No hunched shoulders!
As the working leg moves up and down, the spine and pelvis must stabilize. The distance between the ribs and pubis should stay the same, the pelvis should remain vertically stacked and the bottom waist should stay lifted. To enhance stability, start by cueing the working leg through a smaller range of motion, cue the working leg to reach out and up instead of just lifting up, and also cue the working leg to stay externally rotated as it moves up.
The working leg must lower with control, or brake against gravity as it approaches floor. Do not let it collapse down.
The working leg must stay placed directly over the bottom leg throughout the repetitions. Work for precision.
Lengthen up through the spine and down and out through the bottom support leg.
Use the breath fully and dynamically throughout; inhale up and exhale down.

What’s in Your Gym Bag?

There are minimalists, and then there’s Elizabeth Larkam, Pilates Style’s own fitness editor. We asked her what she never hits the gym with out, and we were surprised by all the health- and beauty-promoting stuff she can fit into her bag.

“Since I work daily in Pilates studios and gyms all over the world, I keep these items with me at all times,” says Larkam. “I like to keep these essentials close by since they help me feel well and keep me moving easily. You’ll see that my gym bag contents resemble a portable natural pharmacy.”

Individual bags of Green Tea bag to put in my water bottle just in case I need a boost
Stainless steel water bottle
Emer’gen-C Lite with MSM—sans fructose.
Arniflora Arnica Gel and Triflora Gel (homeopathic remedies that relieve aches, pains, swelling, stiffness)
Rescue Remedy, the Bach flower remedy in the mini-spray dispenser for instant calm and clarity
A 2-ml bottle of an essential oil blend from Oshadi called Stress Relief. Between clients I take a whiff or dab a bit on my wrist just to clear the field. I alternate the Stress Relief formula with the Deep Breath formula.
Lavender-scented hand sanitizer from Whole Foods.
Singer’s Saving Grace Throat spray in case, during long days of instructor training, my vocal cords needs soothing.
Herbal supplements, particularly for when I’m run-down or jet-lagged: Wellness Formula from Source Naturals; Yin Chiao Chinese herbs in the rare event that I feel a hint of a sore throat; Gan Mao Ling Chinese herbs and one vial of the homeopathic oscillococcinum just in case a flu needs to be arrested
Hand lotion—usually a product sample that is paraben-free and non-greasy so no hand prints on the equipment and no slipping on the yoga mat.
MyChelle Lip Plumping Treatment (instead of lip gloss)
MyChelle Skin Brightening face spray for antioxidants, refreshment and light, instant skin care
Oily T-zone blotting papers from Burt’s Bees
A mini travel toothbrush
Hair band for taking yoga classes
Mini spray bottle of leave-in conditioner for color-treated hair

So that’s how Larkam always manages to look so cool, calm and beautiful!