Pilates 17/03/14

Today we used the elastic bands to perform some of the poses we practise in pilates.

Even though they assisted in the positioning of my pelvis and was able to stabilise my core further, they used a lot of upper body strength originating in my biceps and triceps which was where my focus kept wondering to.

However, I was able to increase the depth of the poses by pulling upon the band to pull, for example, my leg closer to me.

It was nice to introduce something new that could help with the poses, similar to the 'roller' we have also used to stabilise poses and deepen stretches etc.

I felt the benefits of the bands as my balance and general stabilisation was better at the end of the session than it was at the beginning.



Pilates 10/03/14

Today I began Pilates with good balance and focus, but not feeling particularly strong and therefore dreading some of the positions. However, I have been feeling more determined lately to overcome the points each of my movement studies teachers have been repeating to me e.g. in Katye's contact improvisation lessons I need to work on relaxing my jaw, and in Pilates I need to work on "quiet ribs" similar to what Natalie says to the whole class in Release-based contemporary. So in order to maintain these "quiet ribs" I need to engage my core more but drop my centre/pelvis, which was the feedback I got from Jane in Pilates. I found positions such as the 'plank' much easier than usual by working on these focus points.

Other points Jane mentioned to me was that I need to pretend that I am on the roller when performing some exercises such as the bicycle so that I maintain stability in my core, pelvis, and that my moving leg doesn't move my opposing hip. This visualisation of imagining myself on the roller helped my stability and allowed me to maintain the correct position.