Balance and coordination in your exercise regime are just as important as getting your core strong and your bum beautiful. We all want those abs and a fabulous bottom, but your nerves, equilibrium and breath are just as important.
Recent scientific studies have come up with some amazing news;
- Coordination exercises, i.e. those using right brain/left body-left brain/right body, can help delay or may even prevent neurological diseases such as Dementia, Motor-neuron and Alzheimer's..etc...(We have coordination exercises on the reformer, mat and many other pieces of apparatus)
- Breathing through the nose has shown significant benefits for better sleep and digestion, weight loss, hormone balance, immune function and releases nitric oxide, a molecule that's essential for increasing circulation and delivering oxygen to every cell in the body. (One of Joseph Pilates' favorite sayings was that the nose is for breathing and the mouth is for eating)
This is another reason I LOVE CLASSICAL PILATES, our exercises hit all these marks, leaving no cellular stone unturned. From your muscles to your nerves, your breath to your balance, the exercises that Joseph Pilates created on his ingenious apparatus' make you bullet proof.
There are foot, toe and spine correctors to correct imbalances, a neck stretcher, a breath-a-cizer for breath control, sandbags to strengthen your wrists and correct shoulder position, weights and springs to find better posture with ease...is there nothing this man didn't invent???
When I was working in the West End, performing 8 shows a week and going to dance class in my spare time, I started contracting terrible injuries. In fact, my osteopath said were I to continue down the same path he could see me in a wheelchair by the time I was 35 years old. He advised me to look into Pilates. After trying several different methods, I felt a little better, but was still experiencing quite a lot of discomfort. That's when I came across Classical Pilates. I studied it in Los Angeles with Jacqui and Bill Landrum, who then encouraged me to work with Romana, the protégé of Joseph Pilates himself. My body changed so rapidly I couldn't believe it. I was pain free and the strongest I'd ever felt. My balance improved and my reflexes were something else. If I tripped while walking down an uneven pavement, I caught myself with ease.
There's so much more to say, but I'll leave you with this;
My teacher, Romana, used to change her shoes between teaching students/clients. She wanted a different heel level for each one so her body never became complacent. It's just one of the many gifts that she passed on to me. Keep changing your goalposts.
I can truly say that Classical Pilates has changed and bettered my life in every way.
Life throws a lot of unexpected things at us...Let's be ready for it.