"Never trust a teacher who isn't committed to ongoing training".... was something I used to preach when I was tutoring. The world of health, fitness and exercise is ever evolving and as soon as we learn something new, we find a hundred more things we still need to know.

For me, it gets my grey matter working, gives me a reset and just shows me how much more I still need to learn. I come home with pages of notes, spend hours researching and studying and hope I can retain at least 50% and put it into practise.

Pilates is a unique form of exercise and while people may be frustrated if they don't "feel the burn" or find that it is not a weight loss option, this is to slightly miss the point. I love mixing it up and we often step away from Pilates in its purest form and then BANG! I go total technique nerd and we go back to "The Method" and, as we found this week, it is just something else! There is nothing else like it.

We have the Pilates Principles that are applied in our practise and today I want to talk about Centering  . There are various ways to understand this but fundamentally, we want to move from a stable centre (or trunk) to stabilise and support the spine, maintain correct posture and permit movement. This can often mean that we move less and that our range is much smaller while we learn the ability to keep that centre connection.

We are familiar with the terms "neutral" and "imprint". While imprinting is a correct adaptation to engage additional abdominal muscles to support the spine, the progression or end goal is to be able to move from a neutral place. Scientific testing has shown beyond all debate that to go into "imprint" is to switch off the posterior chain of muscles so while we have the added support of the "global" or more superficial abs., we have lost the power of our deep, postural back muscles and we are therefor not fully embracing "being centred".

While I have always taught that we want to progress from imprint to neutral, it was during my recent training with Michael King that we did some movement tests and I really GOT this in a whole new way..and I cannot wait to share this with you. We have been working on a much slower, more neutral approach this week and I have had some wonderful feedback on how hard you have worked.

Joseph Pilates wanted us to move with more balance and efficiency and through his work we find what muscles aren't moving and learn how to to get them woken up and active.

I LOVE throwing in weights, using a band or making it pacy and burney - we like to have fun and add variety.... but then we press pause, take it back and practise The Method in it's purest form, no excuses and it is a humbling rain check on how hard it is, as we slow down and keep that centre connection - it is SO powerful. These skills help us lift our weights with better form and coordination, help us lift heavy bags or small children, spend all day in the garden or do whatever it is we love to do.

Remember -

We don't come to Pilates to get better at Pilates. We come to Pilates to get better at LIFE!