You may or may not recall a movie, from the nineties, called The Fifth Element. It starred Milla Jovovich, and it held the premise that there are the usual four elements – fire, water, earth, and air – along with an additional element, the ultimate one. The four elements are the “brick and mortar” of life, but the fifth element powers it. So what actually is the fifth element? Well, in the futuristic movie, it was “Aether, a pure substance that permeated...
“Where the eyes go, the body follows” is an old adage that was drilled into my psyche long ago. “Look up, go up” is another one. I heard them over and over again in yoga classes, and now I say them in my own classes because of their simplistic truth – where you are literally and figuratively placing your attention is the direction you’re heading in. A deeper thought still….have you noticed how, when...
Seasons change and schedules change. There are very obvious things happening like a later/earlier sunrise, a change in weather or perhaps an increase/decrease in work demands, but there are subtler, more individual, shifts too. Some of us feel an end of summer sadness (oh, it’s over so quickly!). Some of us feel freer with kids heading back to school. Some of us feel dread with seemingly so much to do suddenly. For me, when September hits, it feels like the final leg of...
In the US, Labor Day weekend is upon us. Monday (Labor Day) is commonly a day off, and it’s known as the summer’s send off, where people barbecue, lounge by the pool or kick back at the beach. Ironically, it’s about not laboring. It has occurred to me that I’ve never ever had an un-laborous Labor Day weekend. It has always felt unsettled as it is a major cusp, where some things are leaving and new things are coming. There’s a subtle panic of,...
I advise not labeling your fitness level, or anybody else’s for that matter. What’s “beginner” anyway? Someone could have been taking Pilates class for years and still call themselves a beginner. And what does “advanced” mean? I had a legit professional cyclist take my class last week. He raced in the Tour de France and had big sponsorship from a bike manufacturer, but he struggled to sit cross-legged at the starting line of yoga. Fitness...
Interestingly, if you dissect the latin word for blood, which is sanguis, you get san meaning health and guis meaning to soar, so I think it’s a sign – your blood is meant for high flying health! My first acupuncture appointment was at age 30. I went to a walk-in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic that was for doctors-in-training. It was only $25, and I scraped together the funds to go. I had debilitating menstrual cramps at the time and a friend said acupuncture would “fix...
There’s a term in our culture, a woman’s intuition, that references how women can be extra clued into an inner knowing. In fact, upon googling a woman’s intuition, the first thing that pops up is: feminine energy is intuitive. However, to throw a wrench in it all, when you scroll down on that very same page, you’ve got a sponsored medical site that avers, “There’s no such thing as a woman’s intuition.” Well, as a woman, and also as...
I find it difficult to socialize these days because all anyone seemingly talks about is medication, ailments and doctor’s appointments. More and more people are spending their lives in a “woe is me” state, where health problems have taken over whole identities, snuffing out actual living. Too many people feel and act helpless, and are waiting for a doctor’s appointment, a surgical procedure, or for a prescription to take effect. They are staying within the system. Often, it...
If you were to imitate Grace Kelly, the late actress and former princess of Monaco, one of the first things you’d do is bring your shoulder back and down. No one would tell you to bring your shoulders back and down, you’d just take on that alignment quality because it’s a cornerstone of great posture and connotes regality. Grace Kelly was queen of shoulders back and down and famous for her outstanding posture and alignment. “Shoulder back and...
Pilates Fusion has arrived, and it’s the type of workout I teach regularly. It’s effective, it feels good, and it works for just about every body. The Pilates Method is a series or exercises, but it is also a way of looking at the physical body in both a zoomed out/big picture way, and in a zoomed in/micro-focused way. The goal of Pilates is better-ing the body. That includes better body awareness, better movement control, better balance and...
