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.