Office work or Towel work?

Hello! It’s time for another exercise you can do right from your computer chair. You can strengthen your arms and shoulders, while opening up your back and chest right from the chair you are glued to. Grab a winter scarf (or bathrobe belt or necktie or sweatshirt—whatever you have that has a little give) and pull it taut.

Sit tall at the front edge of your chair.

Start with some shoulder shrugs to release any tension AND to make sure your shoulders are all the way down the back. Then press your arms back. Imagine you are trying to touch the wall behind you. Start small and little by little, increase your posterior range of motion.

TIP: Try not to pinch your shoulder blades together. It feels more like you are wrapping your shoulders down the back. Try to keep your arms straight and chest open. Imagine the towel weighs 500 pounds, so you have to use every back and belly muscle to hold it up. #chairlates #pilates #exercise #deskjob #posture #strength #stretch #alignment #hunch #backpain #tuesdaytip #moveyourbody #projektpilates #office 

Stand tall in 2023!

Have you made a New Year’s resolution yet? Here’s one: stand tall! It’s so easy to hunch over and feel like a slug. These back stretches are called high releases. With hands behind the head for support, lift your chest to the ceiling and arch your upper back. Turn that hunchback inside out!

TIP: Maintain your neck alignment by keeping the back of the neck and throat long. Try not to have any wrinkles in the back of the neck. Sit really tall on the edge of your chair. Move slowly so you have time to FEEL the stretch.

Calling all Mermaids!

Here is another lovely movement from the Pilates repertoire that you can do at home, comfortably seated in your chair: Sidebends! When you sit sideways in Pilates, it is referred to as “Mermaid”. I always think of a mermaid seated on top of a coral reef, with her tailfin out to the side. Maybe brushing your hair? Anyway, go ahead and sit sideways on your chair. Hips and Shoulders are square to the direction you are facing. Take your outside leg and extend it slightly behind you, in parallel, toes flexed, heel lifted. Reach your outside arm (same arm as extended leg) and reach over into a sidebend.

TIP: Keep everything in alignment, head stacked over ribs, stacked over pelvis.

BONUS TIP: Keep your pelvis scooped so that your hip stays open. Keep your chest lifted so your spine is as long as it can be. This will provide you with the deepest side stretch. Good luck!

Don't underestimate the POWER of the CHAIR!

I hope you’re sitting down right now! So many of us, especially since the pandemic, sit A LOT! However, there are a number of ways you can incorporate your chair into Pilates—er, um, Chair-lates. Here’s a simple, crowd-pleasing stretch to relieve tight butts:

Simply scooch to the front edge of your chair.

Cross one ankle over the opposite knee, creating the shape of the number 4.

Sit as tall as you can and then hinge forward with a flat back.

Repeat on both sides.

NOTE: Try not to collapse through the chest or tuck your butt because you will lose the intensity of the stretch. You’ll feel it the most by reaching out though your sitz bones and lifting through your sternum.

Post-Thanksgiving Blues

Whenever I take a vacation (this past Thanksgiving week for example!) it is always challenging to recover. I suppose it’s a combination of the traveling, free time, lack of schedule and just being away from all my usual responsibilities. As a kid, I remember returning to ballet class after a holiday, and the teacher always commenting on how much we had improved, how taking a vacation was a great way to lose bad habits. I found this to be true then and still now. Somehow, as much as I feel the need for a vacation from my vacation, after a day of rest, I am re-motivated and ready to get back into it all. And it applies to my Pilates practice as well! After a week off, my respect for Pilates is refreshed. I feel things in my body in a new and exciting way. I have those mini-revelations we all know and crave as we feel the work on a deeper level.

So, if you have been on vacation from exercise for a while, that’s ok! There’s no bad time to start moving around. You will feel revived after an hour of Pilates, breathing deeper, wringing out your muscles, and getting back in touch with your body.

Bonus holiday pic: my daughter and niece doing tricks on a slack rope during the holiday. Oh, to be young again!

The Fight for the Soul of Pilates

Here’s a recent NYT article about who gets to share the legacy of Joseph Pilates.

Here’s why Virgil Avenue is L.A.’s coolest street right now

Time-out says so :)

https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/news/heres-why-virgil-avenue-is-l-a-s-coolest-street-right-now-082522