HAPPY NEW YEAR!
WELCOME TO 2024! A YEAR OF GREAT POSSIBILITIES!
I hope you have had some time to have fun, rest, laugh and enjoy!
Whatever resolutions you have made, or none! Whatever you plan for 2024, or goals you have set, I hope you will include self-care into your intentions! Look after your mental and physical health.
Happily, Pilates is a "complete coordination of body, mind and spirit." [Joseph Pilates "Return to Life Through Contrology"] When you do Pilates you MOVE BETTER, BREATHE BETTER and FEEL BETTER!
To Keep in Shape: Move like an Animal!
In a really interesting article by Robert Wernick in the "Sports Illustrated", 12th February 1962, Wernick writes about his experience of attending, "exhausting but exhilarating sessions at the Joseph H. Pilates Universal Gymnasium on Eight Avenue in midtown Manhattan." He describes the "rational tension and relaxation of the muscles, and ... a profound knowledge of bodily kinetics begun ... when Joe as a child in Germany began observing his fellow children at play and animals bounding through the forest. Later, when he was making a living as a boxer and a circus tumbler her began developing a series of exercises to relax him after an exhausting day.
His circus was caught travelling in England when the war broke out in 1914 and Joe and all the others were interned in an abandoned hospital on the Isle of Man. Here, as weeks lengthened into months and years, he watched his fellow-prisoners sink into apathy and despair ... with nothing to look at but an occasional starveling cat streaking after a mouse or a bird.
It was the cats which did it. For though they were nothing but skin and bones ... they were lithe and springy and terribly efficient as they aimed for their prey. Why were the cats in such good shape, so bright-eyed, while the humans were growing every day paler, weaker, apathetic ...?
The answer came to Joe when he began carefully observing the cats and analysing their motions for hours at a time. He saw them, when they had nothing else to do, stretching their legs out, stretching, stretching, keeping their muscles limber, alive. He began working out an orderly series of exercises to stretch the human muscles, all the human muscles."
There are some great anecdotes about training with Joseph Pilates, and worth a read. This is the link to the Facebook page.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1573454782878131/permalink/3522104011346522/
I particularly like Joseph Pilates' greeting and introduction to new students, "He lay down on his eighty-year-old back and commanded, "Step on me." I hesitated. "Don't be afraid," he said. "STEP!" Gingerly I put one foot on his belly, one on his chest. "You see," he said. "It's easy." Not that I am intending to do this to new clients in the Pilates Now! studio!
Start Your Day by Pandiculating!
What is extraordinary is how ahead of his time Joseph Pilates was. With the clinical studies of fascia we now know about pandiculation, how important it is and how good it feels! "Why does stretching and yawning after waking up feel so pleasant and what are the benefits? [Marie Ayres, 9th February 2022] "The stretching you do after waking isn't really stretching. It is a process involving the nervous system called pandiculation. yawning is also pandiculation.
The process happens in three stages: contraction, release and then lengthening of the muscles to their natural resting length. It is a release of tension, the sensation of the muscles softening that feels so good.
Pandiculation on waking resets the tension and resting length of the skeletal muscle, by activating the spindles - sensory receptors located within the skeletal muscles. Its purpose is to prime the muscles for movement."
"Pandiculation is a fundamental part of our neuromuscular functioning. In fact, when it comes to maintaining health, pandiculation is equal to exercise and eating a balanced diet." [Sarah Warren. Somatic Movement Center, September 2023] "When we stop pandiculating, our muscles become tight; we experience pain, poor posture and limited movement; and over time, the structure of our body breaks down."
So, pandiculate when you wake up. Pandiculate before you get out of bed. Pandiculate when you get out of bed. Pandiculate if you have been still for a while. Pandiculate if you have been sitting down. Be a cat! Be a dog! The important thing is to move, move, move!
"Change happens through movement and movement heals." Joseph Pilates
So look after yourself, make 2024 the Year of Pandiculation!
JANUARY SALE
To get 25% off the Introduction to Classes package use the code: JANUARY25 at the checkout. £40 off the full price. Offer ends 31st January so hurry! Tell family and friends! 4 sessions - 1 one-to-one and 3 classes for £120.
We ask all new clients to come to a one-to-one before joining classes so we can do a postural & movement analysis; find out your health details & your goals; go through the Basic Principles underlying all Pilates exercises and write you an individual exercise plan, which we use in subsequent sessions.
The One-to-One Introduction Package is still available: 4 One-to-One session for £200, saving £80.
Book your passes here
LOYALTY POINTS
I hope I have fixed the problem, thanks to Wix support. To use your Loyalty points, go to 'My Account' and check your rewards. Copy the code to get £5 off and paste it in the promotion box at the checkout. The code will only last a short time so make sure you copy it somewhere safe!
Hooray for the bright, sunny mornings we have at the moment! It maybe cold but wrap up warmly and bathe in the Vitamin D!
Enjoy January and remember that however cold or wet it gets, KEEP YOUR SHOUDERS DOWN!
Take care,
Ris
Pilates Now! Studio & Online
Email: info@pilatesnow.org
Mobile: 07768762826
Website: www.pilatesnow.org
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