itty bitty teaser

Maybe it's the holiday season that's made me think about Christmas stockings - or perhaps it's the cold air that's making my feet so chilly in the drafty studio, but I've been looking for socks that will keep my toes warm but not slippery. There are only a few different styles (and somehow all the cute colors are sold out in my size) either with or without toe-separators, so I don't have too many options but I went ahead and ordered a few pairs. I'll post a review of my favorites once I've had the chance to try them.

In the meantime, all of my sock-surfing led me to the cutest baby onesie ever: the Itty Bitty Teaser. I've always suspected that my niece, who despite lots of time spent at Mommy and Me Yoga (and her apparent crush on Uncle Ted, the yoga-studio-dude) is actually a pilates pro. Her teaser puts my own wobbly attempts (yes, still...) to shame.

easy does it

When doing roll downs -- the sloooowww, painful kind where you stop at the hardest point and then hold-hold-hold-I'mgonnadie-hold-hold-release -- the other night Madison reminded us of yet more advice that applies on and off the reformer:

"When it gets really hard, just make it look easy. If it looks easy, it actually feels easy."

Sounds sort of ridiculous, but he has a point. Feigning effortless doesn't lead so much into cheating and finding shortcuts, but actually getting so deep into the hard stuff that you're learning something new and in effect teaching your brain/body a new trick.

pilates for pink

It's October, which means that the color of changing leaves is being overshadowed by the newly omnipresent color of fall: pink. It's breast cancer awareness month, and it's hard to avoid the connection between the disease and shopping. That is, the increasingly successful marketing of the disease as a sort of sisterhood through the power of the (pink) purse.

Don't get me wrong: this is a serious disease that tragically affects hundreds of thousands and kills thousands of women (and yes, a few men) every year. But every illness, every serious social issue, should be so lucky as to benefit from the marketing dollars spent (and contributions raised) for awareness, research and treatment. While a very serious disease, the rates of death compared to other diseases affecting women are lower than the abundant attention to the disease might suggest.

It seems that the companies who take part in BCA month cause marketing initiatives benefit from the halo effect as much or more than the companies who receive the donations generated. When Campbell's soup last year changed its iconic red/white soup can labels to pink/white during October, the mom friendly product made a bold move - and albeit a relatively small contribution to the cause. Their $250,000 contribution to research is generous, but feels small compared to the amount of good will to the brand that the campaign surely generated. The Marketing to Women Online Blog suggests that the actual amount contributed works out to $.035/can. Yikes.

The "pinkwashing" of the disease has even generated an anti-marketing backlash and the San Francisco-based organization Breast Cancer Action makes the excellent point: " If shopping could cure breast cancer it would be cured by now." The organization's "Think before you pink" website and related outreach provides an interesting counterpoint to pink-lanthropy that encourages consumers to look beyond effective cause marketing at the sources of risk factors for the disease, including car and cosmetics companies whose pink-beribboned products may be helping cause increased rates of the disease. And, it provides a list of ways of taking action that don't involve shopping, from using public transit (fewer cars on the road = less pollution, a risk factor for breast cancer), to using non-rGBH dairy products.

So, Pilates for Pink? It's basically another attempt to raise dollars for companies, and yes, the disease, this October. Led by Shape magazine in conjunction with a number of advertisers (including Honda, granted a car company that is making some effort to build environmentally friendlier cars), the program seems to be a exposure opportunity for the magazine's key advertisers under a conveniently alliterative umbrella.

My pilates studio is getting behind Pilates for Pink and having a few classes this month that raise funds for breast cancer research. Knowing how little pilates teachers make (teaching is often their source of income to support dance or other creative and low-paying careers), I'm all the more grateful that they'll donate their time to this effort.

So yes, I'm critical of some of the pinkwashing, but on a personal note, I'm grateful for the abundant exposure the disease gets and only wish other serious issues did too. At risk of sharing too much, I found a lump in my breast last, yes, October, while in a remote part of the world (think electricity every other day... if god was willing and the creek didn't rise). Miles from the nearest Internet connection, I was grateful to have a copy of the October issue More Magazine with me which explained the likely (and not so likely) possibilities of what I found. Bottom line, I probably didn't need to worry... but it was hard not to. Six months later, I had surgery and was relieved to learn that it was just a lumpy lump; not cancer.

Will I be at Pilates for Pink classes? You bet. But I'll be wearing my t-shirt to encourage investing in women to overcome extreme poverty, and maybe a red AIDS ribbon, too.

so what about that teaser challenge?

Teaserme was actually started as a challenge to myself -- to be able to do a teaser by the end of the summer. The action/blog challenge was inspired by another interesting challenge: Trash Talk to carry one's own garbage for 2 weeks as a way of building awareness of how much garbage you really generate and the simple things we can all really do (yeah, I know, blah blah, Al Gore, blah, but it's true) to reduce our waste.

So while the Trash Talkers' challenge has helped them come to terms with their wastefulness and perhaps inspired them to make some truly lasting changes that may contribute in a teeny tiny way to the global environmental crisis we are facing... what has my pilates challenge done or the world? In a word, nothing. And what has it done for me? Again... not so much.

I'll plead busy: Work has consumed me this summer. And bad weather: The coldest winter anyone ever spent was a summer in San Francisco (global warming anyone? They say it'll just put us under water - and possibly make it even colder here. Lose lose, people.) I'm not sure why bad weather has prevented me from teaser-ing, but there must be an excuse in their somewhere.

That said, I'm rededicating myself. I got that first glimpse of fall tonight on my way home. It was 7 pm, but there was something about the light that made me think of wool sweaters and blister-inducing back to school shoes. The summer is almost over, and I have not made enough progress. I call my weekend swims waterlates, but let's face it, I'm just splashing around hoping I'm burning off some Pinkberry.

I'm going to class on Wednesdays and Fridays. And home-practice one night per week, plus swimming on weekends. I've always been the procrastinator and somehow can pull these things together in the last few days of the term... I'm counting on that ability this time. I will teaser.

in and out

Wise words from Madison last night: He started the class by reminding the importance not just of entering each pose, but of exiting with grace and control, too. It's very easy to start with perfect composure and control but once the powerhouse is burning and the pose is almost complete to just sort of dissolve into quivering muscles and let everything flop. But starting, being in, and then completing each move quietly and with consistent focus is not just difficult but enhances the whole experience.

east coast or west coast?

East Coast and West Coast rivalries extend beyond just politics and fashion. From swing to rap to pilates, the coasts have very different perspectives on just about everything and that includes pilates.

When Joseph and Clara Pilates came to the US, they settled in New York City where they worked with dancers who naturally benefited from the exercise both for training and rehabbing from injuries.

Ron Fletcher, a dancer with Martha Graham, studied with Joseph and Clara, and moved to Los Angeles, where he opened his own studio in the early 70's -- effectively west-coast-izing the work. Tupac to Joe's Biggie -- but without the guns.

Perhaps it was California in the 70's and 80's but it seems that west coast pilates uses more aspects of yoga and is often considered less true to the original work... according to east coasters. I think those of us on the west coast recognize that we are just innovators at heart and while committed to form, find room for further development of the practice. Whatever you choose to believe, the work is slightly different: East coast inhales on the muscular effort and exhales on the release, while west coast exhales on the muscular effort and inhales on the release. The former may be more difficult and a good explanation is here.

Personally, I've done both types of breathing and don't find a significant difference between the two, other than just remembering to be consistent.

pilates history

Most every Pilates student knows the basic history of "Joe" and his German roots, the reformer having been invented as a rehab tool for people confined to their hospital beds. A good historical perspective on Joseph and Clara Pilates illustrates how the exercise came into existence and then spread virally nationwide.

pasta and pilates at the poppy farmhouse

Does it get any better than this? Italian cooking classes (and eating) combined with pilates classes -- not simultaneously, I hope. Too messy. And in a beautiful part of Italy, to boot (ha!).

Although I'm a Dr. Agatston devotee, I think I could make an exception for a few days here: http://www.cascinapapaveri.com/index.php?pageID=1

My husband thinks it looks like a nightmare, but I guess I can just leave him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Camp_nou.jpg

petilates

Madison gave me an interesting tip recently. He suggested I sit on a squishy, half-deflated (or half-inflated depending on your perspective) ball while at work. The ball basically keeps you uneven and unbalanced, so your hips, butt and abs work both to balance and hold you in place -- while keeping you from crunching up in one position and sitting in it all day. Interesting. This could help with my increasingly tight hips. Good balls can be found at pet stores.

Interesting side note that I have no documentation for: apparently in the height of the dot com boom, some of the earliest successes were pet-related plays, i.e. pets.com. Remember this guy? Their success was based on the fact that obsessive pet owners would spend tons of money on toys. Nope, not food (to bulky to send), not medicine or even those little boots that lucky pups wear. Pet toys were running the economy there for a while, folks.

Notice that pilates started to hit the mainstream right at the peak of the dot com boom -- right? I mean, I had heard about it, but didn't find a teacher until 2000 (and by the following year I had lots of free time to dedicate to practicing because I was out of work... laid off from a failed startup like everyone else). Maybe all those online pet retailers were really successful -- for a while at least -- because they were selling pet toys to pilates teachers? I mean, how many classes have you taken that involve little balls or stuffed chew toys to use at props?

redecorating

The time has come to replace both our living room couch and chair, and I'm wondering if I should just kill two birds and redecorate with pilates equipment: My European husband should appreciate the "Euro style day couch mat" and Wunda chair that converts to, well, a real chair.

wundaful

I'm a huge fan of the Wunda chair and have recently had more opportunities to practice. On Friday night, Madison put us through our pilates paces and after class, I got to try a full pike. This is one of the hardest exercises, as far as I'm concerned, and at first I couldn't do it without guidance -- namely, Madison's arm across my waist as I bent over it, both providing some lift and also a frame of reference for where to bend. That said, once you get into it the full ab experience is pretty intense and it's really an amazing full body stretch. It's like an entire hour long session wrapped into about 20 seconds.

Rael Isacowitz describes it as "you must perform and to understand how profound it is. Viewing from the sidelines simply does not impart full appreciation of its intensity, but those who attempt it will never look back. If one exercise can guide you to discover the sensation of working deep into the abdominal's, this is. The abdominal work is profound and often leads to a sensation of muscle activation never before experienced."

He goes on to compare it to a handstand, but I feel more like it's sort of an inverse teaser (maybe that's just two ways of saying the same thing, though). The positioning is sort of similar and while there is more arm work needed, it's easier to do with even tight hamstrings. The ab experience is similar and the overall stability is greater, perhaps because you're resisting against the chair rather than trying to balance arms, legs and abs all at once.

pilates 1, yoga 0

Friday night classes always ends with a glass of bubbly and conversations about weekend plans. This weekend, we're all off for points north and east (and hopefully, sun).

Conversation last night turned to pilates vs. yoga. Now, we're all a little biased, standing around a pilates studio after class, our scoops still tingling. "Yoga's just to ooommmm la la la" for me," said Madison, my new favorite teacher. Agreed. I'm not a huge fan of the chanting or how culty people get about certain classes or teachers. Or even how I feel afterwards, like a stretched out rubber band.

As one of the teachers pointed out, "Pilates is about form and staying within your joints while yoga's about getting into the pose no matter what, even if it means getting out of your joints."

Maybe I just haven't found the style that works for me, or maybe there are simply too many to choose from. One of my classmates, Ipanema, told us about a naked men's yoga class that one of her teachers takes (tho she's clearly not qualified to attend). Does the world need naked men doing yoga together? The possibility that it's bikram is even worse to think about.

Kathy Smith on iVillage explains the difference like this: "Generally speaking, I think it's fair to say yoga is more about how it makes you feel while Pilates is about how you look -- how you carry yourself and move." On first read, my inclination is to disagree totally. Pilates is not about how I look but how it makes me feel. Then again, there's no difference between how I carry myself and move and how I feel since I started Pilates. I have better posture, feel (and look?) taller, and of course, my RSI is much improved. I look and feel better, and it's clearly coming from the inside.

so-so psoas

Today's one of those rare perfect summer days in Fogville (warm, not too windy), and everyone but me played hooky from class. Score! Good weather AND a private. We spent the hour on teaser issues and I think I have part of the problem figured out. My psoas (psoases? psoaii? psoasim?) are weak. That, combined with tight hamstrings seem to be preventing me from holding my legs up. My abs are strong and when I pull my lower abs back, back, back -- and have my legs even semi-supported -- I'm ok. But when my legs are in the air and I'm just balancing on my sacrum, my legs start shaking and everything goes down.

I also think that I have sort of pixie stick legs that are too light to balance out the weight of my upper body. That's just a theory, and not an excuse for the real work that needs to be done, namely (and in flat back):

- bridges with leg lifts,
- the fives -- especially double leg and hamstrings,
- leg circles, and
- corkscrew

Good times, good times.

pilates video review

Day 2 of the challenge. I attempted 6 separate teasers (3 using my ball, but I was actually able to hold it for more than 4 seconds), thanks to the pilates video stylings of "Power Pilates: Connect to your Body's Core - Intermediate Workout." I can't complain, I feel good and sore in that "my deep abs are smiling" kind of way. Or maybe that's just the 3 glasses of wine I had with dinner.

Anyway, this seems like a good opportunity to introduce a new feature to TeaserMe: the pilates DVD review.

First, the criteria for judging:

- The overall score will - of course - be calculated on a scale of 1 to "the hundreds," with 100 being the peak of pilates perfection
- The overall structure of the class will be taken into account in terms of whether it's a single class or made up of separate modules that can be mixed and matched (pros and cons to both)
- Backdrop, look and feel of the studio and the on-screen class participants will be noted. Points will be deducted for videos that seem like they were shot on a set between takes of "Debbie Does Pompeii" because they feature lots of bed like mats, columns and candles.
-Pace
- Use, content and quality of verbal cues
- Overall tone of the instructor (effective? annoying? menacing?)

Now on to the first workout:

Overall, I liked that this DVD has several sections that can be done according to time available. I did the 45 minute combo and that was perfect given the amount of time I had -- I feel like I got a good work out, and also know that if I had 15, 30, or a full 60 minutes I could do workouts to fit that. Normally I hate when DVDs waste 10 minutes of the total on learning about neutral spine, how to breathe, etc. This one not only didn't have that, but it actually jumped right in with the 100s. I prefer to get to that about 1/4 to half way through my workout. That said, if I had done my normal warm up first, I would have been all set.

Anyway, the 45 minutes started with a good 20 minutes of mat work with all the standards from roll ups and swan to legwork and swimming. The fives are interspersed nicely. I wasn't crazy about the neck pull demo as it was basically just a roll down without that initial upper backbend that feels so good but is so hard to get timingwise without braining yourself. Or maybe that's just me.

After the mat work, I was guided to use my magic circle, a Theraband (which I substituted with a combination of my circle and a yoga strap since I somehow don't have a band), and a ball. Yippee! All the toys were well-used!

My main complaint is the pace. Yes, this is intermediate, but that doesn't mean it's pilates on crack. Maybe I just prefer to focus on form rather than speed, or maybe if I was truly an intermediate my form would be so perfect that I could zip through each exercise. But part of the joy of pilates is the focus and deliberateness of each move as it is timed with breathing. The pace of this class was causing me to hyperventilate.

While the cues were good -- especially for focusing on your abs (yes, I know, but it never hurts to have a reminder) I could have used other cues as well in terms of when to be in neutral or not. Again, I do know, but sometimes it helps to hear it.

The backdrop: Yes. It looked like the set from a douche commercial. Do flowing white curtains really help?

And finally, the instructor. She's blonde, she's perky. And she's sometimes unintentionally hilarious: reminder during double leg kick, to replace our face cheek on the floor. Thanks for the clarification.

Overall score: 82

about those hamstrings

One day into the challenge, and here I am typing, sitting at my desk and yes... not doing any pilates. I still feel sore from yesterday's home workout (excuse) but I did manage to walk for a good 45 minutes around the neighborhood and do an additional 25 minutes on my elliptical trainer. I think that may be causing some lower back issues, or maybe it's that plus sitting plus my already tight hamstrings?

Anyway, 'String theory (don't worry, I can barely handle things physical, so I'm not even going to touch physics) has a great overview of what's going on and how I can fix it. I'm clearly living the 90/90 lifestyle. Or in my case, 90/90/90: 90 degrees of hip flexion with 90 degrees of knee flexion, 90% of my day. Good thing I can stand up while talking to my computer.

the teaser challenge

So my goal for this summer is to be able to nail the teaser. That probably doesn't sound terribly ambitious, but I'm approaching seven years of pilates practice... and it's about time already. Maybe in another seven I'll be working up to the boomerang, but for now this seems like a challenge. Slow but steady... I mean, Joseph Pilates practiced til he was in his eighties so I do need something to look forward to.

The rules are as follows:

- 1-2 pilates classes at my studio per week; more depending on budget and time. At each class when the teacher asks for requests I'll ask for teaser related challenges
- at home pilates practice 1-2 hours per week (including my regular arm/injury stretches on my foam roller) with each session to include some teaser and related activities
- daily hamstring stretches. Or every other day. Ouch. As much as I can take.
- focus on relaxing my shoulders all the time and also during practice
- when rolling like a ball I'll really use my abs and not cheat with momentum (ok, that's not totally teaser related but I'm sure it can't hurt -- and for open leg rocker which is essentially a rolling teaser, it'll certainly help)

by way of background

I first discovered pilates in 2000 when I was first starting to heal from a serious repetitive stress injury. It's a long story, but suffice to say I will keep these blog posts short as I still try to limit the amount of typing I do. I started with weekly mat classes and in January, 2003 I was introduced to the reformer thanks to an amazing MD/acupuncturist who believed that that combination of treatment can fix just about anything.

Since then, I've survived a writing intensive masters degree program (writing my thesis in 4 days using voice recognition software) and continued to study pilates. I try to take a class at least once a week (some combination of reformer/springboard/mat/ball) and then practice at home.

My injury still causes some issues. My wrists can't tolerate a lot of plank work and my upper ab curl could be a little stronger. But I can't blame my injury on the fact that I can't do a teaser for more than 3 seconds without falling over. My hamstrings are too tight? My balance is funky? I'm just plain uncoordinated? All true.

Pilates is supposedly helping me with all of these things, but I feel like I need to focus a little more if I want to take my practice to the next level. The teaser is sort of the quintessential pilates move and if I can achieve that I'll feel like I've made true progress in moving past this stupid injury (which it really is -- injured in the line of... typing? Now that's just ridiculous).

Will it happen?