Last week, we talked about Pilates breathing. This week, I’d like to focus on posture that will help you protect your back as well as improve your appearance. Maintaining good posture is hard enough whether you’re slouching over a keyboard or balancing a baby on your hip. But it is especially important when you are pregnant and the arch in the lower back (lordosis) increases. We do this by learning to imprint.
Lie on your back on a mat or a rug. Feel your entire back become heavy on the floor. Try not to sink or tuck -- there will be a slight arch in your lower back. Try to imagine that you are lying in sand and would leave a perfect imprint of your body when you got up. Engage your powerhouse, that band of muscles wraps around your body between the pubic bone and the ribcage, front to back, by pulling your navel to spine without tucking. Practice your breathing, in through your nose, out through your mouth in a long sigh, expelling all of the air out of your lungs.
Imprinting seems simple but it’s so important. You need to learn to control your body while lying in the floor so that you can work your legs without straining your back. If you feel your back arch when you lift your legs, it means you may be pushing away from the floor and straining your to lift your leg, rather than engaging your leg from your powerhouse and protecting your back. Learning to pull your navel to spine while imprinting will help you learn to control your legs from your core and protect your back. But be careful that you don’t tuck or tense up – you want to learn to elongate your spine and lift from your core, as if you had a string pulling from the top of your head, at the same time that you are pulling your navel to spine while your body is relaxed. (Remember the idea of working in opposition from last week? Imprinting is all about control and relaxation!)
If you are pregnant, you should practice imprinting against a wall after the first trimester. The object is to allow your body to relax enough so that your spine will go into its natural alignment, avoiding the hyperextension that many women experience during pregnancy. Work on feeling your shoulder blades widen, whether you’re working at the wall or on the floor. For pregnant women, this helps you combat the tendency of your neck and shoulders to round forward as your belly grows. But anyone who spends a lot of time bending over a desk, counter, or stove can benefit from learning to widen and relax your shoulders.
Interested in more? Vist my website, Pilates for You, where you can find my DVD series, More than Mat for beginning, intermediate and advanced students, or my Pilates for Pregnancy DVDs and workbook.
Try to keep the posture that you felt on the mat or against the wall all day, navel to spine, lifted from the core, yet relaxed in your shoulders. See you next week when we’ll talk more about the principle of navel to spine. Meantime, let me know how you’re doing.
Sarah
Lie on your back on a mat or a rug. Feel your entire back become heavy on the floor. Try not to sink or tuck -- there will be a slight arch in your lower back. Try to imagine that you are lying in sand and would leave a perfect imprint of your body when you got up. Engage your powerhouse, that band of muscles wraps around your body between the pubic bone and the ribcage, front to back, by pulling your navel to spine without tucking. Practice your breathing, in through your nose, out through your mouth in a long sigh, expelling all of the air out of your lungs.
Imprinting seems simple but it’s so important. You need to learn to control your body while lying in the floor so that you can work your legs without straining your back. If you feel your back arch when you lift your legs, it means you may be pushing away from the floor and straining your to lift your leg, rather than engaging your leg from your powerhouse and protecting your back. Learning to pull your navel to spine while imprinting will help you learn to control your legs from your core and protect your back. But be careful that you don’t tuck or tense up – you want to learn to elongate your spine and lift from your core, as if you had a string pulling from the top of your head, at the same time that you are pulling your navel to spine while your body is relaxed. (Remember the idea of working in opposition from last week? Imprinting is all about control and relaxation!)
If you are pregnant, you should practice imprinting against a wall after the first trimester. The object is to allow your body to relax enough so that your spine will go into its natural alignment, avoiding the hyperextension that many women experience during pregnancy. Work on feeling your shoulder blades widen, whether you’re working at the wall or on the floor. For pregnant women, this helps you combat the tendency of your neck and shoulders to round forward as your belly grows. But anyone who spends a lot of time bending over a desk, counter, or stove can benefit from learning to widen and relax your shoulders.
Interested in more? Vist my website, Pilates for You, where you can find my DVD series, More than Mat for beginning, intermediate and advanced students, or my Pilates for Pregnancy DVDs and workbook.
Try to keep the posture that you felt on the mat or against the wall all day, navel to spine, lifted from the core, yet relaxed in your shoulders. See you next week when we’ll talk more about the principle of navel to spine. Meantime, let me know how you’re doing.
Sarah
posted by Sarah Picot @ 10:04 AM
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