Use Your Breath to Massage Low Back Tightness Away
One side effect of shallow breathing is low back discomfort and tightness. Over time, this habit can leave the lumbar spine and surrounding muscles and fascia feeling tight and inflexible. While the tendency might be to search for an external solution, like a massage, or a stretch, you already have a perfect solution built right […]
Use Your Breath to Relieve Back Pain and Tightness
Today’s exercise is a go-to solution I give clients for homework, especially if they are needing back pain relief, or chronic feelings of tightness in their back. It’s inspired by an exercise from Marie-José Blom’s Smartspine™ System.
Stress and poor alignment habits can change how you breathe, resulting in shallow breathing, or breathing that inappropriately uses your neck and shoulders. Poor alignment and breathing habits can also contribute to poor spine health and can leave your back feeling chronically stiff.
This is my absolute favorite exercise for relieving my back!
How to Initiate a Roll-Down – Part 3 of 3
Today we’re going to put everything we’ve learned so far together and you’ll see exactly how to initiate a roll-down correctly and safely. I’m excited to share it with you because now you’ll have what you need for a successful roll-down every time. Why does all this careful focus on the roll-down matter, you ask? […]
How to Do the Ultimate Pilates Roll-Down — Part 2 of 3
Today, in part two of The Anatomy of a Roll-Down, we’re going to cover the next key movement and how that feels when you’re doing it correctly so you can fine-tune and perfect your roll-down. I’m excited to share this exercise with you because it’s rarely taught, or mentioned, yet it’s critical to doing […]
Are You Damaging Your Pelvic Floor with Ab Work?
Mastering the basics will help you avoid damaging many body parts, but in this article we’re going to look at how to avoid damaging your pelvic floor. You might be surprised to learn just how common a problem this is in many fitness circles, not just Pilates.
Mindful Breathing for Health, Posture and Pilates
Recently I had the pleasure of spending time with my grandmother. She’s 85 and in great health. Like me, she has scoliosis and sometimes suffers from back pain that gets pretty severe. We were sitting outside on a beautiful day. The subject of back pain and stress came up. She looked at me and […]
