Two upcoming conferences on the West Coast that may be worth checking out: The 5th Annual Yoga Journal San Francisco Conference from January 18-21) features some of the bigwigs from the yoga world, including Saul David Raye, Shiva Rea, and Rodney Yee, as well as various others from complementary fields including Dr. Dean Ornish. In addition, Seane Corne, is leading, among other sessions one on Monday (appropriately, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) that sounds interesting called "Off the Mat, Into the World: Yoga, Spiritual Activism, and Social Change."
The second is the Pilates Style Magazine conference in Los Angeles the following week which also includes some of the big name pilates teachers including Rael Isacowitz, Ana Cabán and Mari Winsor, as well as a number of Romana Kryzanowsk's proteges. Should be an interesting mix of teaching styles and techniques.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
crouching tiger, winking skull
One of my favorite aspects of being a pilates student is that I get to glean interesting tidbits of anatomical information from my teachers. In some cases, their level of expertise is only somewhat better than my own which is somewhere between being able to sing "the foot bone connected to the ankle bone" song and quoting the learned Dr. Nick, a graduate of the Mayo Clinic Correspondence School. But a number of my teachers are former dancers, physical therapists in training, or otherwise anatomy wonks who share their knowledge in the form of detailed cues that help students achieve better form.
A great resource for learning on human anatomy can be found at at WinkingSkull.com where you can see detailed drawings of muscle structures, and even quiz yourself on the various parts if you're into that sort of thing. There's a fine line between anatomy geeks and ninjas.
A great resource for learning on human anatomy can be found at at WinkingSkull.com where you can see detailed drawings of muscle structures, and even quiz yourself on the various parts if you're into that sort of thing. There's a fine line between anatomy geeks and ninjas.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
teaser 2008
You can probably guess what my New Year's resolution is. I gave up on the goal of perfecting my teaser by the end of the summer and realized it's probably going to take way longer than that.
At a group class-turned-private (no one showed up but me - I love the holidays sometimes!), I did some chair work and discovered the "twisted teaser" which proved that I'm nowhere near my goal. The twisted teaser - and there are, as with all things pilates, surely a number of variations -- as done on the Wunda chair is sort of like a cross between a teaser, the spear-a-fish roll and a side-over.
I'm not even going to try to write a description as it would probably be wrong, and someone would try it and land on their head and I'd get sued. Not good. Anyway, suffice it to say, I was shaky and off balance, and if I can't do a teaser the proper way there's no way in hell I can do it while also rolling from side to side on a small platform. But it was great oblique work and (is fun the right word for that level of pain and poor coordination?) a good way to tie together some of the many pilates skills that are so often done a piece at a time, over and over.
It'll probably take more than a year to perfect the teaser, but I'm working on it.
ps. this is a good mat-based twisted teaser (see number 4) courtesy of Pilates Style Magazine, that I will add to my at-home mat repertoire.
At a group class-turned-private (no one showed up but me - I love the holidays sometimes!), I did some chair work and discovered the "twisted teaser" which proved that I'm nowhere near my goal. The twisted teaser - and there are, as with all things pilates, surely a number of variations -- as done on the Wunda chair is sort of like a cross between a teaser, the spear-a-fish roll and a side-over.
I'm not even going to try to write a description as it would probably be wrong, and someone would try it and land on their head and I'd get sued. Not good. Anyway, suffice it to say, I was shaky and off balance, and if I can't do a teaser the proper way there's no way in hell I can do it while also rolling from side to side on a small platform. But it was great oblique work and (is fun the right word for that level of pain and poor coordination?) a good way to tie together some of the many pilates skills that are so often done a piece at a time, over and over.
It'll probably take more than a year to perfect the teaser, but I'm working on it.
ps. this is a good mat-based twisted teaser (see number 4) courtesy of Pilates Style Magazine, that I will add to my at-home mat repertoire.
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