Artistic Language

In an observed teaching I was participating with yesterday there was a discussion between myself, my teacher and our instructor about the art of language.Good Communication is the most important tool I believe a person could have on their tool belt. I have talked before about how in Pilates the cues we give one client may not work for another client.  Having a progressive, dynamic word bank helps achieve the results in any client and in my mind could help to increase your clientele in many directions.

Why am I talking about this? I have had the pleasure and pain of acting as the body for a few of my peer Pilate's trainees. I say pleasure because  I get to move my body for free , listen to whats being asked of me as an educator , and learn allot about the things i need to work on within my body. I say pain because  some of what you hear is brutally honest and sometimes brings into light things you were not aware of ,which at first can be hard to deal with. Example: I never in a million years thought my inner thighs were weak or that access to my pelvic floor was difficult because of my weak lower abdominals. When you leave a lesson hearing the words weak, non accessible, difficult...it can leave you feeling deflated and unsuccessful. I mean granted in this program I have to take those things with a grain of salt and work through them for in the end all of it, is what gives me the joyful wisdom to become a great teacher to my clients and myself.

 Artistic Language may be defined in many ways and is a very general term. For instance someone yelling profanities on the street could be considered artistic language, a soft, sweet, love song, deliberations, sounds of lovemaking, interpretive dance, in my mind they all are forms of artistic language.The basic fundamentals I believe that make up a good artistic linguist are the words chosen to complete the sentence/s. The second most important fundamental in my opinion( and this is all in my opinion readers) is knowing awareness of your audience or client.

 Just recently I had a light bulb go off when I realized that I used the word "tight" quite often with one of my clients in relevance to overused muscles. Realizing the negative effect it was having on her i opted to change the word with something that would provide a positive spin on the way it was being used, so I simply said "overworked". It's amazing what one little word can do for a persons emotions but since I switched it up she has been able to work through that tightness in a more desirable approach.

 An artist who looks at a blank canvas looking for inspiration from the vast emptiness of the white cloth  carefully or maybe with aggression makes the first stroke and from there builds to achieve the image that he wants, so does the musicianwho strums many a chord looking for the right tune to match his lovely words, the photographer who sits for hours looking at the same scene, waiting for the perfect light, it might take these artists years to accomplish something their actually proud of, truly, truly but they keep waiting, stroking, and strumming until they do. Just as you and I can keep practicing using our words perfecting our artistic language.

Knowing who your talking to is the second fundamental tool important in using artistic language effectively. I have clients that range from doctors to surfers, to computer nerds ( i use the term nerd endearingly here i love a nerd i think their sexy as hell) there is no way that i can speak the same speak with all of them, they just wont get it. Some minds are more analytical than others so I always feel with those clients I better have my answers ready. With the event planner who just wants to move and feel things just because i may know big words for the human body she may not want to hear them, which is fine its not about one upping my client showing off my brain, its about feeding them in a way that is useful and beneficial to both of you.

So I take it to the streets...Just as it is in the studio to be mind full of your words so it is in real life, they hurt be careful . Know who your talking to, are you talking to a long time friend or someone you just met, not everyone is going to get you and you may not get everyone at first, but I believe if you practice  art in the form of language the world and everyone in it is your oyster.

I am NO where close to perfecting this skill and I make word choice mistakes all the time, but perhaps  a third fundamental tool to practice is awareness for when the mistakes been made acknowledgement, apologize if necessary and be more careful the next time.

My favorite word in the whole world of words is " Perseverance", whats yours?



 Wikipedia has its own definition for artistic language which is an art in and of itself but feel free to review.

Have a colorful Day!

Sweet as the PSOAS.

First, before minds are being blown by the Psoas knowledge, my apologies to all my beloved readers for taking a month off. Short and sweet version why?... New job, new people, new distraction, new places, new lessons, new bedtime...That's heaps of news which in itself creates a hell of allot of Fun! So there you have it, no excuses just been getting down like the beats they spin underground.

  Through all my playfullness and good times I have had some amazing breakthroughs in my Pilates practice. Completing a straight leg tendon stretch was seemingly an impossible task to me three weeks ago but voila, now its the reverse, side leg, tendon stretch that seems to be blowing my mind. Teaser another movement that causes a huge sigh to escape from my lips has become interesting in my body in a way that causes experiments in the movement instead of giving up on it. I have become slightly addicted to the feeling of my psoas muscle running along the front of my body acting as my internal suspender straps, thus my theme for this post.

  A little background on the Psoas muscle, the iliopsoas is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the muscles we commonly speak about in the human body. I say ‘that we commonly speak about’ because there are many other muscles that we don’t know that much about either. Coming into my training program I had no idea what my Psoas was or what it did for me and that's with an undergrad in Sports Medicine and ten years of being in the field, my bad or was it never addressed in dealing with body language. The psoas muscles are the bridges between the upper body and the legs. They are the only muscles that directly link the spine to the legs. The psoas attach directly from the lower spine to the top of the inner thighs at the lesser trochanter of the femur. They do not attach directly to the pelvis, but influence it through their connection to the iliacus muscles, which are attached to the walls of the inner pelvis.The psoas is a combination of slow and fast twitching fibers. The Psoas is responsible for flexion and external rotation in the hip joint. One of its orgin points is T-12 of the thoracic spine, which is why with psoas connection and control your low belly is fired up! Most of us dont think twice about picking our legs up but think about every step we take we HAVE to pick a leg up and everytime we do we stand on one foot, think walking up stairs. I'd take a bet half of america hauls from their superficial hip flexors and overdeveloped quads thus causeing in the long run back pain and knee joint sorrow. 

   Try to find your psoas.
      Take a seat now take yourself on the backside of your sits bones...Do you feel your low belly? From that position try and and lift one leg and then the next...suspenders? If you felt that awesome in me it feels oh so good, if you havent had the sensation keep trying sometime the nervous system has to be shaken up quite a bit to get the cells to fire their signals effectively. 
  

Utilizing the Psoas Teaser and Breastroke.

The crave that is Kombucha!

AH! They are my weakness and the lack of control that comes with tasting just one is a bit terrifying. 

Me and Kombucha

I fell in love with Kombucha before ever moving to Cali. I had just moved back from overseas and an old friend that i lived with for a spell happened to be brewing it in her kitchen. I remember the first taste was not very pleasant but my palette turned to like it, then to love it, then to kinda crave it. 

Me and Chocolate (sweets in general)

 I get it from my father and his father and probably his father father. It is a need that seems to be never met. No matter how full or un hungry i may be there is always room, always. 

Me, Kombucha, and Chocolate

  Living on the east coast the introduction to Kombucha was slow going I suppose, therefore making it harder to get your hands on, and the flavors not so plentiful. Moving to the west coast however changed the availability completely and wherever I turned there was the beloved bottle and a new flavor i had yet to try, so inevitably I went on a Kombucha kick for months. Everyday I would at least have two, morning and afternoon, sometimes evening. A very interesting thing happened that i didn't realize until this very afternoon, as i walked home through the park, it hit I HARDLY HAD SWEETS when I drank the stuff on the regular, my body did not crave the sweets!

 Now I arrived to this kind of conclusion that Kombucha kicked my eating sweets habit after two different conversations.

  The first one was last night while talking to my friend Jeni, we spoke of how we hadn't had regular Kombucha intake in a month, like seriously I realized at that moment I hadn't spilled the sweet fermented liquid down my throat in a month at least. My next realization that sweets and Kombucha were linked was talking to my teacher today. I was speaking to her about how i felt yucky because I had been eating allot of sweets lately, like allot. Brownies, Cookies, bars, ice cream, apple crisp, graham cracker chews, ugh its gross really. Then as i was walking through the park it hit me , like a rogue wave to the face " Drinking Kombucha on the regular totally killed my sweet tooth cravings!".

Now, this all seems pretty logical but i needed some back up in case anyone was gonna second guess my miraculous finding so here are a few links that give me some back up and why I am certain that it works for me the way it does. Looks like i wasn't the only one to find this out.

http://www.kombuchakamp.com/2011/02/sugar-and-kombucha-faq-top-10.html

http://robbwolf.com/2012/05/23/crazy-kombucha/

http://www.rawliving.eu/blog/tag/kombucha/

For me I drank the stuff because i knew it was somehow good for me and yes i liked the taste and it gave me energy, but knowing what I know now makes me appreciate the stuff even more and will certainly be not taking too many more extended vacations away. If you one of those people like me (uhhum Dad) then I would highly advise you to take the thirty day Kombucha challenge. Sugar is one of the highest reasons we as a nation are so obeist, sluggish, and lazy so go one see how you feel and then tell a friend. There is a reason for every Craze.

                          By the old gods and the new gods I do declare the stuff wondrous! 

Game of thrones anyone:)

Using our Hands in a Digital Age.

Today my teacher spoke of wrist/hand movement and the importance of using our fingers in such a way that we can become connected in our whole body.

I have spoke often of the feet and the importance of noticing how we walk, stand, run, etc...Like many of you reading this you probably don't pay much attention to your hand positions as until today i didn't either. Equally as important to our feet however is our hands and wrist,when you think about it , duh , how we could we not pay attention to these imperative extremities that can give us so much strength and health.

We have taken ourselves out of our yards and gardens where we tilled the ground with our hands weeding and digging in the hot sun using the strength from our fingers and for arms to harvest the earth. We have become lazy in the way that now we have bread makers and fancy bakeries to take us out of the kitchen and away from the exhausting task of kneading our bread. We no longer wash our clothes by hand down by the river, or sew our own clothes, on a continuous everyday basis and if you do I apologize and want to extend a huge "GOOD FOR YOU", keep it up!


No alas most of us have found ourselves glued to a computer screen or sitting behind a desk or traveling around in a car for most of our days. This is evolution, this is inventions, and progression the world changes we must change with it or be left behind but that is no excuse to stop paying attention to our bodies and how we use them in our ever changing lives, Kabeesh!

To continue  I would like you to do this EXERCISE with me. Place your hand flat on a surface of any kind, perhaps you are also laying flat on your back hands to your side. Now just notice your body, notice how your upper back feels, your shoulders, your arms, your belly. Now with intent press your thumb further down so your really using the finger pad, and repeat with each finger, taking notice of what turns on, and any other sensations you will find... beautiful is it not?

What you are feeling is the connection that each finger gives us to the rest of our body, two very important ones being the thumb and pinkie, finger, PINKIE very good to get in the habit of using! There are no real muscles in the wrist so using out finger pads and palm muscles is key to any weight bearing activity you are doing.  Your finger pads and palm have a direct correlation to your arm muscles, rotator cuff, shoulder girdle and core. Along the front fascia line of the arm/shoulder girdle
 your thumb connects the radius -> corcoid process-> pec-minor-> and ribs. Along the back fascia line your pinkie finger connects ulna->triceps->scapula->rhomboids->rotator cuff
You might have felt one or perhaps all of these turn on as you changed the pressure application to each of your finger pads. There are countless more angles we could travel into this discussion together but i just ate ice cream and am now sleepy :)

 SO in conclusion while our hands are wrapping around the rolling pin or your grasping your heavy suitcase handle use your palms press your finger pads so you can find a whole body connection. our bodies are designed so that not one muscle or group of muscles has to do all the work, in taking out the old fashion ways we used to live we have taken out the old fashioned ways we used to move.Let's evolve but lets do it healthfully with a connection to not all thats around us but with all that is in us.

Sweet Dreams my little fireflies may you sleep sound.

Brew that is good for You!

Do you find yourself cramping up on long runs? or maybe when working the foot in a new direction? or perhaps right before you drift off to sleep?
You could be in need of Potassium and I know a great brew that could give you just that and much much more.  Okay here we go so simple, so easy, and the abundance you get can be frozen to save or give away to help a friend.

What you need:

•  The SKIN from three potatoes (scrub the taters but lightly as to keep the potatoes minerals on the skin)adding the potato whole by the way creates a much to much starchy brew, so just the skin.
•  1 onion cut in half leave the SKIN ON
•  2 whole cloves of Garlic SKIN ON
•  Carrots I use 3 cut into large pieces
•  Celery again 3 into large pieces
•  Mushrooms I like shitake and at least 8 whole
•  Ginger to your liking again SKIN ON
•  Lots and Lots of KALE and I mean LOTS

Cover all ingredients just so with water bring to boil then simmer. You can simmer for forty minutes if your in a hurry but i like to simmer for at least a couple if not a few hours. Strain into mason jars, let cool and then place in fridge or freezer.

Such a good brew and so good for you, kinda looks like urine but a great replacement to morning coffee or tea, add spinach to it for a healthy lunch or dinner. I like to sometimes add soy sauce or sesame oil to drink as a aperitif to dinner or snack, reminds me of Miso that way.

  The amounts of things to due with this killer potassium brew are endless, give a whirl and your body will live for it, promise!

 Its not that complex, so go ahead brew your blues aways!!

JellyFish

 So Im one day away from the first of 8 exams in my program! I had a rough week last week but the bounce back has been nothing short of magnanimous. I have amazing teachers who understand because they have been there, they get it, I have friends who keep lifting me up, I have my family, I live in such an amazing place with strangers who remind you that the universe
is here to build you up not tear you down so let it unravel its mysteries in time. Everything has a time and place wait for it and the magic reveals itself, try pulling at it or forcing it and the magic retreats like the setting sun behind the horizon. Do you believe in Magic? I do.

  Right now just take notice of your shoulders...where are they in space? are they shoved up to your ears? rotated forward? tight? loose? just take notice...Many of us suffer from tight necks and shoulders, you might have noticed. With all the activities that we do where we lean forward with our shoulders acting as leaders and our bodies following, such as bending over, cooking, washing dishes, sitting at a desk, driving, and typing its easy to understand why our shoulder girdle area can get tight, sore and over and under developed. The good news is a regular practice of Pilates from the studio to the streets can help strengthen these areas resulting in strong shoulder girdles and decreased pain and tightness.

Our shoulder girdle is compromised of bones, muscles, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels. The bones  that compose the shoulder girdle are the scapula (shoulder blades) and clavicle ( collarbone). Its primary function is to help move the humerous to support activities that the hand performs, such as holding, pushing, pressing, throwing , drawing, typing, holding, etc...If we have weak shoulder girdles it is hard for body to stay connected ex keeping your arms plugged into your back as you paddle or row your boat or as you climb a tree or swing from the nearest branch, i swing from branches whenever i can lucky for me I can do it properly now:)

As a little girl my family and I used to listen to this one radio station I forget the station now but once a week maybe a sunday they had request night and I always requested the song "Your neck bones connected to your back bone..." I loved that song!! Now as an adult it means so much more to me, everything is connected and we have to take care of those connections because if one point of contact fails so do all the rest and the spiral continues. Such as in life we can remember the same rules apply practice is on going to reach some version of success. Even the most advanced Pilates instructors still have shoulder girdle work to work on, its a life long practice and again so is life, we will never be perfect but we can continue the good work in hopes to elevate pain and be granted ease fulness in our day to day journeys.

Ease full ness

When you move like a jellyfish        

Rhythm don't mean nothing 

You go with the flow 

You don't stop 

lyrics by Jack Johnson

Getting It.

 "There is a light at the end of the tunnel"
 " There is bad so you know good"
 " keep your chin up"
 " It can only get better" 

and many many more to enlighten us as we push on through to whatever side we are headed. There seems to always be a breaking moment ,at least in my world, a point where the whole entire universe is crashing down on my head and my legs are breaking underneath of the weight.  My heart is heavy with emotion and my brain is weak from trying to support the universe, a daunting task for any non super hero. I wonder to myself "why?". When life is going great, things are starting to look up, things are working out and lives a cruise "why?" then do we get the big plunder? For whatever reason it happens , maybe its a reminder to us that we are not actually super heroes or gods but humans and although we are built amazingly smart we are fragile are skin and bones will crush under weight and pressure , it is important we always remember to equalize.

  I have much to say as much has occured since I last wrote in this space but I feel as though this week I have succumbed to the swamps of Sadness and fear if I revel in that place i most certainly will drown. So in saying that i finally get the metaphor used in one of my favorite movies The Neverending Story" don't let the problems of your day or even your week/month /year get you down, have a cry, do what you have to do then MOVE ON. Leave it be , pick yourself up and GO ,climb onto your luck dragon and fly high for if you don't you will most likely find yourself with bed sores on prozac, FYI I do not have bed sores nor am i on Meds, but i was sad/mad. My pill is Pilates and I need more of it and i need to find a way to make that happen. Stability and Pilates are my prescription for moving on and i am the only one who can fulfill that prescription,just as you are the only one who can fulfill yours.

Never give up and good luck will find you.